New non-gaming extremly cheep build

mf2780,

Given the use for this computer, the budget, and to reduce the fuss factor, you might consider buying a used Dell Optiplex with a dual core CPU, having a reasonable clock speed and including a monitor- all ready to go, and reliable. This kind of purchase can even beat your budget- and remember there's no fussing with ordering, assembly, configuration, problem solving >

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-OptiPlex-780-C2D-E8400-3-16Ghz-4GB-160GB-DVDRW-WIN-7-Pro-LCD-1708Fpt-/261202927164?pt=Desktop_PCs&hash=item3cd0e85e3c

> which is a current listing for a minitower Dell Otiplex 780 > Dual core E8400 @ 3.16GHz, 4GB RAM, 160GB HD, Windows 7, the excellent SK-8135 multi-media keyboard, and a 17" LCD, all for a "Buy It Now" of $245. That has a 1333 FSB so it can actually use a large variety of good quad core CPU's up to 3.2GHz, but I think the current dual core at that speed is enough for the intended use. You could add a reasonable graphics card for $60-70, and though it doesn't seem necessary, a larger HD, wifi card, add or better CD/DVD-R, or whatever.

You could also buy something like this as CPU only a for say, $120 (I recently saw a similar Optiplex 760 sell for $95). Here's a 3GHZ 760 w/o OS >

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DELL-Optiplex-760-Desktop-PC-w-Intel-Core-2-Duo-3-0GHz-1GB-80GB-CDRW-DVD-/130842697985?pt=Desktop_PCs&hash=item1e76d52101

> that sold for only $56. The slim desktop case ones are even cheaper. Because of the cost of adding the OS and RAM, though, it's generally still better to spend more- say $120, and have a system closer to the final specification, so you might only add a graphics card ($60), a dedicated PCI soundcard and speakers ($60), and a budget 23-24" monitor ($140) and still be well under your $400 budget- and it's ready to BookFace, email, YouTubbies, Netflats, and surfitize the DotComs right away.

Of course, if you'd rather build, the other posters have good ideas and all of those systems would outperform this kind of thing in computing power, but the advantage of used where high performance is not necessary is that it puts the costs where it's important- in the output components > a dedicated video card instead of integrated***, much better sound, and larger monitor.

*** [ My mother has an 8 month old triple core AMD and the change from integrated video to a $30 GT 240 (1GB, Newegg refurbished) and becuase the integrated video scored an embarrassing 23 on 3D (a GTX 660 can score 5500), the GT 240 alone changed the Passmark system rating from 362 to 1394!]

I've had as a 3rd computer, an Optiplex 740 with a 3.0GHz AMD Althon X2 64, 6GB RAM, Quadro FX580, 750MB HD Windows Ultimate 64, and it ran AudoCad, Revit, Solidworks, Maya, Inventor, Adobe CS4, just fine and completely reliable. That was a $90 computer, with the CPU change from 2.3 to 3.0 costing $40, the OS was $65- yes a full retail and legal version, and the FX 580 card was spare from the Dell Precision that replaced it. I replaced it with a Dell Precision T5400 so as to have more processing power and more cores (8) for rendering.


Cheers,

BambiBoom