$750 Office PC

[Bert R]

Hey all,
Last summer I used your help to build a kick-ass gaming PC for myself. It was surprisingly fulfilling and I love to use it. In fact, I'm using it right now. So, anyway, I got a friend onto using tom's after having the good experience, and he recently asked me to have you guys offer up another build. I told him what I would recommend, but he still wanted to see what you would have to say. And, frankly, so do I. So, without further ado, here is what he wants:

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: soon

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: adobe programs i.e. photoshop and dreamweaver, movies, office things

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: anywhere you trust

PARTS PREFERENCES: none

OVERCLOCKING: possibly

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I know that the $750 budget is high for a regular old office PC, but he wants to be able to run more intensive programs like adobe pretty smoothly and I also wanted to allow room for expansion in how he can use it in the future. But, for now, specifically, he just wants something that can run more-intensive office programs.

Also, I was wondering if a dual-core would actually be more plausible in this situation since adobe doesn't seem to take advantage of quad cores very well.

The floor is yours.

 

[swifty_morgan]

glad i just read this an hour ago........ save time trying to explain. read the photo shop section and it'll say a fast dual core with a lot of cache........ me, I kinda like the quads. So a fast dual/quad with 4gig of fast memory would be my first suggestions.

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews.php?reviewid=880

A micro atx gigabyte/asus board/fast DDR3 ram/.... fast ( large cache processors )....64bit opsys... not an expensive build at all and will be quality. Large drive/500mb/1t.

 

[Bert R]

Thanks. I'll see if I can assemble a list. Also, would AMD be better in this price range or does intel still reign supreme (in terms of CPUs)?

 

[dndhatcher]

Without the need for a gaming graphics card, you can probably afford an i7 860/P55 system for massive multi-threading if you want. If you just want fast dual core then either the new i5 dual core/h55 motherboard or an AMD Phenom II x2/AM3 motherboard. The advantage of the AM3 is if you messed up and really want more cores you can swap in a quad or even 6 core Phenom II later.

 

[swifty_morgan]

While you're looking things over....... take a gander at the i5-750 and see what you think. ..........

 

[lunyone]

Is this build w/monitor, OS, keyboard, mouse, etc??? What do we need EXACTLY for this build. This really helps out when making a build.

 

[Bert R]

Okay, I put together an example list of parts. This was my first try at a mid-range PC, so it might be a little overkill for what my buddy needs. So, feel free to make suggestions on it and if it is overkill, I would greatly appreciate any other ideas for CPUs or graphics cards, etc., since it would be nice to get it $50 lower. Thanks!

 

[dndhatcher]

Thats a huge amount of money for a graphics card that could totally dissapear if you went with and AM3 motherboard with onboard graphics and a Phenom II x4 955 CPU. You could then get a much smaller power supply like an Antec 380W earthwatts.

If you really want the i5 and dont want to game on it then drop the graphics card to a $50 or less card and a smaller power supply (like the 520W Antec Neo Eco).

There is also the new 5670, which is at least cheaper than the 5750.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150466

 

[Bert R]

Would the AMD give me similar performance? I don't prefer either at this price point, it just seemed from charts and reviews I read online that the i5 was noticeably better than anything AMD similarly offered. But, again, those were mostly centered around gaming.

EDIT: I re-made the list according to some of your suggestions. Now it is $50 under the limit. That's fine by me, but is there anything anybody wants to recommend to upgrade since now there is some extra?

 

[dndhatcher]

No idea how reliable that thermaltake power supply is. I try to stick with 80+ certified Antec and Corsair PSUs. Bad power makes a system run flakey.

 

[swifty_morgan]

I have no aspirations to build a machine for what you're doing with it...... I build for gaming, but they both look fine. Me, I'd go for the one with the newer card.....5700 series. I've been looking into the i5 lately. Good choice IMO. But I'm a freak for something that's a little better - a lot better.