Just build a system for friend and not happy with his. Time for me too build a FAST system. I do not game, just spread sheets and Video editing. Running a old P4 #.0 now would like something faster. My budget is around 1000.00 dollars. I do not need a monitor. I want you young guys too make a old guy Fast. LOL. I would like too stay with Intel stuff, is this a good idea.    Thanks for any support you can give me.
 
My friend has a Asus,P5KC,q6600,2meg DDR2-800, 160 GB 7200 sata WD drive. Running XP Pro and I"m not impressed.

What!?!? How could you be not impressed by a Q6600? What is his graphics card? If you only do spreadsheets, etc of course you wouldn't notice much. But if you run Photoshop CS3 or other video editing software you WILL see a major difference between a Q6600 and say a X2 5200.

Most of the people would suggest some thing like this (for a $1000 build):

P35/X38 motherboard
2GB+ DDR2 800+ RAM
160GB+ HDD
Q6600/8xxx/6x50
8800GT 512/3850/3870/8800GTS
 

Well, we told you to make sure the Q6600 system is operating as well as it can in the other thread.  If it is and it still isn't fast enough for you and your P4 3.0 seems faster to you, then I would say stick with it as it is only for spreadsheets.  The Q6600 should be around 4-6 times faster at video encoding than the P4 but the editing part will be only a little faster.  If you want something that feels faster than a P4 for spreadsheets and video "editing" then the system that Shadow recommended with a C2D E8650 and matching motherboard will do.  At 3.0 Ghz on a Conroe core it should seem much faster than the P4 you have now even on spreadsheets.  My C2D E4300 at work loads the Excel splash screen faster than my Pentium D 820 did, but entering the numbers didn't go any faster.  BTW what video card did you put in your friends system?

^Agreed.

i would still say take the E8400 over the 6750, but madmike's logic applies... excel isn't exactly the best place to show off a quad's power...

For business graphics, there's no need to waste money on an 8800-class GPU.  An 8400 would be fine.  Put any extra into more RAM and/or a larger or second hard drive.

^Agreed. You can run a business apps (ie MS Word etc) and a vid. editing stuff like CS3 fine on a 8400GS.

I dont think a  Q6600 is going to get you more noticeable frames per second in like expanding tables on your excel spreadsheet    or help your ping lol...  
 
 

Agree with other's here. You want a fast dual core, like an e8400, a couple of fast harddrives, (like Raptors- 1 for your OS, 1 for your programs and files) and 2-1gig sticks of decent memory if you want your PC to "feel" fast using spread sheets and office apps. The dual core/fast harddrives will really speed up video editing as well.

Raptors are now a waste of cash.
Spreadsheets and a half hour of video work?
Get a mid priced Core 2 Duo, two gigs of ram and a couple of Seagate 7200.11 32BM cache drives, a nice middle of the road motherboard, and two good dvd  burners.
As to a video card. I would get one with 512mb on it and try no to spend over $100 for it.

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