Recommendation for an office computer

[PascalT]

I need to build a computer rig for my girl's dad, for his office. He doesn't handle anything special on it, but he wants something "fast".

The guy he went to see quoted him on a p4 3.0ghz system but I recommended him an AMD setup since it is cheaper.

Was thinking of this:

AMD 64 2800+ 754
s754 mobo with IGP
512mb pc3200 Kingston
a 80gb drive

any help is appreciated

 

[Sunbird]

Well, what kind of applications does he intend running?

That 2800+ and 512MB should let him use it as a normal office application machine for quiet a number of years, but maybe up the size on that hard drive, those are the thing that fills up the quickest.

 

[PascalT]

Typical office stuff.. word, powerpoint, pictures, etc.. I will probably up it to 80gb yes.

 

[biostud]

get a silent CPU cooler and a Seasonic S-12 330W PSU to keep noise down.

 

[imported_llama]

using an LCD i would say a 9200 with a DVI port

 

[doinmybestatlast]

Dell

 

[imported_Kensai]

Originally posted by: doinmybestatlast
Dell

For an office system.

 

[wisdomtooth]

Originally posted by: PascalT
I need to build a computer rig for my girl's dad, for his office. He doesn't handle anything special on it, but he wants something "fast".

The guy he went to see quoted him on a p4 3.0ghz system but I recommended him an AMD setup since it is cheaper.

Was thinking of this:

AMD 64 2800+ 754
Abit NF8
512mb pc3200 Kingston
A Radeon card (suggestions?)
a 40gb drive

any help is appreciated

I would just get a motherboard with everything on it (video, LAN, yadda yadda).

Get yourself an MSI RS480M2-IL which has a Radeon 9600LE on board, and put the cheapest Winchester Socket 939 AMD64 CPU on it with a Zalman CNPS7000 heatsink. Put it in a nice case with a quiet PSU like the Seasonic that Biostud suggested, and voila-- You got a quiet office computer.

IF you don't want to do tech support for your GF's dad, you also want to consider just getting a Dull for him.

HTH.

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: doinmybestatlast
Dell

Let Dell remain his tech support long after you and his daughter part ways. :laugh:

 

[MobiusPizza]

Originally posted by: wisdomtooth
Get yourself an MSI RS480M2-IL which has a Radeon 9600LE on board, and put the cheapest Winchester Socket 939 AMD64 CPU on it with a Zalman CNPS7000 heatsink. Put it in a nice case with a quiet PSU like the Seasonic that Biostud suggested, and voila-- You got a quiet office computer.

Socket 939 is an overkill. Sempron 754 does the job quick and clean
He gonna use Windows 64bit or not?

 

[wisdomtooth]

Originally posted by: AnnihilatorX

Originally posted by: wisdomtooth
Get yourself an MSI RS480M2-IL which has a Radeon 9600LE on board, and put the cheapest Winchester Socket 939 AMD64 CPU on it with a Zalman CNPS7000 heatsink. Put it in a nice case with a quiet PSU like the Seasonic that Biostud suggested, and voila-- You got a quiet office computer.

Socket 939 is an overkill. Sempron 754 does the job quick and clean
He gonna use Windows 64bit or not?

The reason why I recommended that board is because it's cheap at just $90-- No need to purchase both a mobo and video card.

And why not go S939? Cool-running 90nm Winchester AMD64s are getting cheap these days. A 3K+ Winnie costs $142, which is only two Andrew Jacksons more than a 90nm Palermo Sempr0n at the same speed.

 

[stimpy1]

A Dell only if doesn't like her dad, haha. Dell's tech support couldn't be worse. He might not call you for support if you recommend a Dell, but he'll be calling you something else if you do recommend one and he ends up buying it, lol. On second thought, he'll be calling you anyway because their tech support sucks a##.

 

[ShadowBlade]

Originally posted by: doinmybestatlast
Dell

for office situations, its best to buy a manufactured computer

 

[xsilver]

Originally posted by: ShadowBlade

Originally posted by: doinmybestatlast
Dell

for office situations, its best to buy a manufactured computer

and for a GOOD computer its probably best NOT to buy a manufactured computer

 

[Tostada]

Originally posted by: AnnihilatorX

Originally posted by: wisdomtooth
Get yourself an MSI RS480M2-IL which has a Radeon 9600LE on board, and put the cheapest Winchester Socket 939 AMD64 CPU on it with a Zalman CNPS7000 heatsink. Put it in a nice case with a quiet PSU like the Seasonic that Biostud suggested, and voila-- You got a quiet office computer.

Socket 939 is an overkill. Sempron 754 does the job quick and clean
He gonna use Windows 64bit or not?

I have to agree with this.

The Radeon Xpress 200 boards look like a good deal, but ATI doesn't have good support on anything but their non-mobile Radeon cards, and I wouldn't trust them to stick with their 1st chipset which might not ever catch on. If you're that concerned with saving money, it's really not very reasonable to go with a 939 CPU in the first place.

The 90nm Semprons are excellent chips. I think the 90nm Sempron 2800 with 256K cache is the best deal out there in CPUs right now for $87:
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80143-1

I'd just get that and a cheap $57.50 NF3 250 board if you don't see some reason he needs GB LAN or firewire:
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=13-138-247

If you don't think he'll ever get a nice flat panel, I'd even get a VIA board with integrated graphics. Otherwise I'd get a cheap passive Radeon with DVI, nothing better than the $69 R9600:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-289

The 40GB hard drive seems a little weak. I'd at least get a cheap 80GB Samsung, or a 160GB Seagate if you wanted something nice (although no reason to pay any extra for SATA which is really just a driver hassle on that machine).

Of course, that's just if you want to build the machine. Nothing wrong with buying one.

I'd get a quiet Antec case, and the MS keyboard combos seems kinda cheap right now:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-129-150
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=23-109-132

 

[shoRunner]

if he has alot of important office related stuff on the hard drive a raid mirroring array would be a good idea (and something dell can't do on their cheaper computers). the a64 2800 with integrated gfx is what i'd go with.

 

[wisdomtooth]

Originally posted by: Tostada
If you're that concerned with saving money, it's really not very reasonable to go with a 939 CPU in the first place.

The 90nm Semprons are excellent chips. I think the 90nm Sempron 2800 with 256K cache is the best deal out there in CPUs right now for $87:
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80143-1

I'd just get that and a cheap $57.50 NF3 250 board if you don't see some reason he needs GB LAN or firewire:
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=13-138-247

If you don't think he'll ever get a nice flat panel, I'd even get a VIA board with integrated graphics. Otherwise I'd get a cheap passive Radeon with DVI, nothing better than the $69 R9600:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-289

Your total for mobo, vid card and Sempr0n comes out to $213.50.

My total for the MSI RS480M2-IL with on-board Radeon 9600LE an A64 3K+ Winnie comes out to $234.

Difference is $20 bucks. For all intents and purposes, 20 bucks is not significantly "more expensive." Unless you are on Welfare or something.

 

[mechBgon]

Asus K8S-MX might be worth a look too.

Bigger picture: sweat the security measures with whatever you set him up with. I'd try very, very hard to get him to use a Limited account for all daily usage, and ONLY log on as an Administrator when it's actually called for. OMG Limited-account pimpage 4 U!!!!11!!1 :Q. Limited accounts are a powerful deterent against spyware, adware, and even viruses and Trojans, because a successful exploit of a Limited account still does not give the malware enough privilege to install software, stop the antivirus, take down the firewall, mess with the Windows directory and Registry and HOSTS file... yeah. Good stuff. :heart:

Besides that, budget in a cheap non-wireless router to be his perimeter firewall. Netgear RP614, D-Link DI-604, Linksys BEFSR-series, etc. I'd get him Kaspersky Antivirus Personal 5 and set it up like this, and use the Windows Firewall in conjunction with the router for firewall protection unless you think he can handle occasional prompts from, say, free ZoneAlarm.

Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer and more security stuff

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: doinmybestatlast
Dell

 

[Tostada]

Originally posted by: wisdomtooth
Your total for mobo, vid card and Sempr0n comes out to $213.50.

My total for the MSI RS480M2-IL with on-board Radeon 9600LE an A64 3K+ Winnie comes out to $234.

Difference is $20 bucks. For all intents and purposes, 20 bucks is not significantly "more expensive." Unless you are on Welfare or something.

You're not making sense.

The R9600 is obviously much better than the IGP on the board you're talking about, and I probably wouldn't actually put it in an office machine, so in actuality you'd be saving more like $50. If you got an NF3 250 board, a Sempron 2800 and a Radeon 9250 with 128MB, you'd have similar graphics, DVI, and wouldn't be sharing RAM for the video. The point is that the Radeon Xpress 200 is a slow chipset for bargain boards and it doesn't make sense to pair a bargain board with a relatively high-end CPU. If you look at the RX200 review (on hardware extreme I think it was) you'll see that the RX200 is pretty slow in a lot of benchmarks. Do you even have one? Why are you recommending it? It's so much slower that a Socket 754 Sempron 2800 on an NForce 250 would probably be faster than a Socket 939 Athlon64 3000 on a RX200 in some cases.

Regardless, the real issue is giving a guy an office machine with a new low-end chipset with questionable support. That's what the Radeon Xpress 200 is. It's not a good idea, and it's certainly not worth paying $50 more for. The RX200 is supposed to be all about a cheap board with a decent IGP, but it doesn't have DVI so how useful is it really for an office machine?

 

[wisdomtooth]

Originally posted by: Tostada
[You're not making sense.

The R9600 is obviously much better than the IGP on the board you're talking about, and I probably wouldn't actually put it in an office machine, so in actuality you'd be saving more like $50. If you got an NF3 250 board, a Sempron 2800 and a Radeon 9250 with 128MB, you'd have similar graphics, DVI, and wouldn't be sharing RAM for the video. The point is that the Radeon Xpress 200 is a slow chipset for bargain boards and it doesn't make sense to pair a bargain board with a relatively high-end CPU. If you look at the RX200 review (on hardware extreme I think it was) you'll see that the RX200 is pretty slow in a lot of benchmarks. Do you even have one? Why are you recommending it? It's so much slower that a Socket 754 Sempron 2800 on an NForce 250 would probably be faster than a Socket 939 Athlon64 3000 on a RX200 in some cases.

Regardless, the real issue is giving a guy an office machine with a new low-end chipset with questionable support. That's what the Radeon Xpress 200 is. It's not a good idea, and it's certainly not worth paying $50 more for. The RX200 is supposed to be all about a cheap board with a decent IGP, but it doesn't have DVI so how useful is it really for an office machine?

Just read Anand's own review of the Radeon Xpress 200 HERE.

General performance only a bit lower than the NForce 4.

Graphics performance less than a standalone X300SE, but way ahead of the standard for office machines-- Intel's IGP used by everyone in the business world and their dog in the ubiquitous Dells, most of which don't need DVI anyway (17" LCDs or smaller). Interesting that Dell would pair what you would call a "bargain board" (i865s with Intel integrated graphics, NO DVI) with a premium CPU (Pentium 4s) in many of their office machines, eh?

And if one is so worried about support in the business environment, others as well as I have suggested one should NOT be homebuilding an office machine in the first place-- Just get a Dell.

 

[Tostada]

wisdomtooth:

How does any of that make the RX200 system worth paying $50 more? Just going by Newegg's prices (and ZipZoomFly is probably cheaper on most of this stuff):



Biostar or Soltek K8M880 IGP board = $65.99
Sempron 2600 (Socket 754, 90nm, 1.6 GHz, 128K, retail) = $79.98
$145.97

If you want to save money on an office system with IGP, this seems decent.



Biostar NF3 250 = $57.50
Sempron 2800 (Socket 754, 90nm, 1.6 GHz, 256K, retail) = $90.98
Radeon 7000 (64MB, DVI) = $33.00
$181.48

If you want to spend $40 more, have a real video card with DVI and double the CPU cache, this is a good deal.



Epox NF4 Ultra = $92.99
Athlon64 3000 (Socket 939, 90nm, 1.8 GHz, 512K, retail) = $146.99
Radeon 9250 (128MB, DVI) = $42.50
$282.48

Here you're getting a really good chipset and a really good CPU for a good price.



MSI RX200 board = $94.49 (out of stock)
Athlon64 3000 (Socket 939, 90nm, 1.8 GHz, 512K, retail) = $146.99
$241.48

Now where exactly does this setup fit? It seems like the worst of all worlds. If you think you need a 64-bit system, this questionable motherboard setup with an IGP is only saving you $40 when you could have a real NF4 chipset with a real video card. If you're trying to save money, you could get a Socket 754 setup for $100 less.

I don't see in what reality the Radeon Xpress 200 is a good idea.

Like I said, I would go as high as a passive Radeon 9600 on an office system if there was any chance of it being used, but if you're going to argue about integrated graphics and shared memory, I'll keep the price down in my examples.

 

[PascalT]

Thanks for the replies. Very appreciated.


The socket 754s here (in Malaysia) are the same price as the 939s, the difference in the motherboards though is a good 100+. I am thinking spending more on the 939 is pretty useless, as he doesn't really need anything "on the edge of technology". Is there any good reason for an office comp to go with the 939 route instead?

After I posted I talked to him some more and figured that integrated graphics is a must, as he doesn't need 3D power or anything like that. Just a nice 2D card will do, that's why I mentionned a Radeon, as they tend to, or use to, have better 2D quality.

What's a good 754 board with IGP? Keep in mind I am in MAlaysia so the choices are thin. I see here on their list alot of Abit/Asus/MSI/Gigabyte boards. No Biostars or Soltek or Epox. I don't think he uses an LCD, I will ask him later tho.


So this is what I have so far:

80GB Diamondmax Plus 9 (ATA)
512mb pc3200 Kingston
Lite-On CDRW
DVD drive

 

[mechBgon]

Hit Newegg's selector here and filter for Socket754 with onboard video. I was thinking about that Asus K8S-MX to upgrade my home system (1GHz Duron / Radeon 7500, ouch! ). It's about US$70. Or they have a bunch of others starting at US$56. Hopefully that gives you some models to search for in your market.

 

[PascalT]

That asus board seems decent. How is the SiS chipset though? I doubt it makes much of a difference in an office computer eh?

I don't have any experience with onboard graphics, is it even good enough for watching movies and office things? Can he run a high resolution with it?