Suggestions for a business build

[SputnikSweethrt]

Hey all,

My dad asked me to put together a build for his office. He's currently running on a Intel Celeron 2.4ghz with 256MB of RAM and he says it's so slow it drives him crazy.

He's a huge multi-tasker. He needs to have Quickbooks running in the background at all times, and be able to juggle a number of excel and other office programs back and forth.
He also does some photo editing work with Photoshop.
GPU Needs to support dual screens and widescreen resolutions.
Budget is around 900$ including CD-RW, DVD-RW and Windows XP Pro.

I would love for him to have a dual-core processor for his multitasking but I'm not sure if it would be overkill. I'm not new to builds but I'm new to budget builds lol..
so I'd like some suggestions, particularly for CPU (AMD Preferred) and Mobo please

[blue60007]

The cheapest option for AMD is the 3800+ X2 at $300 and the Intel side is the 930 at $175. An AMD dual core might be a bit tricky for $900 as the CPU takes up 1/3 of the budget.

Wait...you are in Canada...doing the conversion that's about $800USD. That might be even trickier to do (not impossibly I don't think). You might also give the Intel idea a thought (either one will do what you want very well, and I think dual core is an option worth looking into).

[SputnikSweethrt]

Oh I meant my budget in USD

Yea I was looking at the Pentium Ds.. they are so much cheaper than AMD Dualcores. why ?.?
I might have to go with Intel then, unless someone gives me a convincing reason to do otherwise.

[blue60007]

Ok, I think either one is possible with $900USD. Will you be buying your parts from Canada? I don't know how the prices rack up in Canada, it might not be a perferct conversion...

[SputnikSweethrt]

I usually buy my parts locally at http://www.canadacomputers.com
Or if they don't have it, I buy from http://www.ncix.com
Newegg doesn't deliver over here, unfortunately
900$USD would be about 1000$CAD and it's a flexi-budget so it doesn't have to fit like a glove. ^_^

thanks for helping me out blue

[blue60007]

ASUS A8N5X - $92
3800+ X2 - $330
Corsair Value Select PC3200 DDR400 Kit 2x512MB - $108
X550 - $70 (has 1 VGA and 1 DVI, or do you need dual DVI?)
Antec Sonata II w/450W PSU - $120
Western Digital 80GB - $55
LITE-ON DVD-RW - $40
Win XP Pro OEM - $160

$965 (minus shipping/tax)

Intel Build:
ASUS P5LD2 - $140
Intel 930 - $220
Corsair VS DDR2-533 2x512MB $106
(plus other stuff)

$911

[jayb1234]

You could probably get by with an Intel D 805, about $110 us or D 820, about $165 us.

[glc]

The 9xx series is much better than the 8xx - worth the relatively small premium.

If he can wait a couple months, start looking at the Core 2 Duos.

With all that multitasking, see if you can squeeze 2gb of ram into the budget.

[SputnikSweethrt]

blue, that Intel build looks about perfect for him!
I'll need two DVIs but I can get an adapter.
I'll get 1 gig RAM for now, he can buy more later if he feels the need.

I would wait for Core 2 if I knew I could get it by August, but there seems to be too much speculation on avaliability and my dad is not known for his patience (netiher am I xD). I will, however, wait for the July price cuts.

thanks you guys!

EDIT:
as a side note, I took apart my dad's work computer today to see if any parts were worth keeping.
The RAM's brand seems to be ... 'Mr.RAM' .. lovely!

[blue60007]

I wonder if you'll notice a quality difference between the two monitors using an adapter? What's his current set-up like? (ie, adapters?)

Agreed with glc about the 9xx series...they've got double the L2 cache and run cooler. Core 2 Duo is definitely an option worth considering too...yeah, I'm not sure how the availability will be...all the OEMs will be snatching up the first batches.

Also, if you can't squeeze in 2GB of RAM now, that's an option for the future.

Keep the old computer together...there's probably nothing worth keeping. And it doesn't hurt to have a spare/backup. ("Mr. RAM"?? ...)

[flanzig1]

If he uses identical montiors, he probably will see the difference between a DVI monitor and a DVI monitor w/adaptor to VGA. Best bet is to get a dual DVI vidoe card.

[SputnikSweethrt]

Originally Posted by flanzig1 If he uses identical montiors, he probably will see the difference between a DVI monitor and a DVI monitor w/adaptor to VGA. Best bet is to get a dual DVI vidoe card.

My bad.. i meant two VGA ports :x
Using an adapter for DVI to VGA wouldn't affect the quality would it?
EDIT: output to input not input to output ><

[Alaron]

DVI gives a purely digitial signal, while VGA requires a conversion from digital to analogue and back to digital. The conversion can degrade the quality of the picture somewhat. If you are going to use dual monitors, get 2 identical monitors with DVI. Then use a video card with 2 DVI ports to connect them. Then you will have identical, sharp pictures, the best setup you can have.

[blue60007]

Originally Posted by Alaron somewhat. If you are going to use dual monitors, get 2 identical monitors with DVI. Then use a video card with 2 DVI ports to connect them. Then you will have identical, sharp pictures, the best setup you can have.

That's what I was thinking...it wouldn't be an issue for one monitor, but with two monitors there would be a difference between the two next to each other.

If both of his monitors are connected via VGA currently, there won't be any difference between the two if you use a DVI>VGA adapter for the one DVI port on the new card, because you would be using an analog signal on both...if the monitors were DVI capable and you wanted to upgrade to DVI cables, then the best option would be a dual DVI-head video card.

[SputnikSweethrt]

Originally Posted by blue60007 That's what I was thinking...it wouldn't be an issue for one monitor, but with two monitors there would be a difference between the two next to each other. If both of his monitors are connected via VGA currently, there won't be any difference between the two if you use a DVI>VGA adapter for the one DVI port on the new card, because you would be using an analog signal on both...if the monitors were DVI capable and you wanted to upgrade to DVI cables, then the best option would be a dual DVI-head video card.

Well, ok. I see what you guys are saying about paring a VGA input with a DVI input.
But. Alaron, he already has a pair of VGA monitors so using two DVI monitors is not an option. (Sorry my port confusion caused subsequent confusions). So if there is no difference in quality between a VGA->VGA compared to DVI->VGA as blue says, then I don't need to worry about it.. right? @_@ *brain explodes*
EDIT: ok I see what caused the added confusion.. reversed input and output up there..

In anycase I'd like to know if there are any cheap-ish GPUs that support dual DVI. I looked at some and I haven't found one yet. >.>

[flanzig1]

If I understand correctly, you will be reusing 2 VGA input monitors(CRT?) then a video card with a VGA and DVI out will work(use the DVI to VGA adapter on the DVI port).

[SputnikSweethrt]

Originally Posted by flanzig1 If I understand correctly, you will be reusing 2 VGA input monitors(CRT?) then a video card with a VGA and DVI out will work(use the DVI to VGA adapter on the DVI port).

yes.
><

[Kareeser]

However, you might want to keep the option open by getting a card with two DVI ports.

If you have any extra money to play around with, that is.

In the end, a year or two down the road, a monitor might break, and you could suggest getting a monitor with DVI

For the moment, it'll still be backwards compatible.

[glc]

Yes, I know Newegg does not ship to Canada, but this is the cheapest PCI-E dual DVI card they carry:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814131011

That is going to be considerably more expensive than an X550 if you can find one at a Canadian distributor and it only comes with one DVI to VGA adapter.

[SputnikSweethrt]

Originally Posted by glc Yes, I know Newegg does not ship to Canada, but this is the cheapest PCI-E dual DVI card they carry: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814131011 That is going to be considerably more expensive than an X550 if you can find one at a Canadian distributor and it only comes with one DVI to VGA adapter.

Thanks for the find GLC. I'll look out for it.