Hi, I want to build a PC for my home office work. I need a new build because my current desktop PC, which I built about six years ago, went belly-up (motherboard failure, from what I’ve been able to gather), and I want to move to Win7 anyway (have it on my work laptop and really like it), and I figure that Win7 is never going to run acceptably on six-year-old hardware.
I’m thinking about basing my configuration on either the AMD-based Office PC or Intel-based Office PC in recommended configurations:
http://www.tomshardware.com/system-configuration-recommendation-51.html
Approximate Purchase Date: ASAP, want to build it next week
Budget Range: 500-1,000 before rebates
System Usage from Most to Least Important:
It’s really an office PC. I’m really not a gamer or serious number-cruncher, so high-powered graphics or mega computing power isn’t really necessary. I just think it's cooler to build than to buy a stock Dell.
■Want to run Win7, thinking about 64 bit in order to be able to use more RAM.
■MS Office applications: a lot of Word, some Excel. Often have 8-10 Word files open at once; performance stability with a lot of windows open is very important to me.
■Dual monitor: Use a two-monitor setup. Currently, run one monitor using VGA and one using HDMI because that allows two monitors from my work laptop docking station.
■Use two KVM switches (one VGA, one HDMI) to switch between my home desktop and a docking station for my work laptop (Dell E6410).
■Quicken
■Mozilla Thunderbird
■Web browsing
■Managing my Zen MP3 player
■Skype
■Picasa for digital photos
■Standard system utils like Norton Antivirus, Backup, etc.
Parts Not Required:
LCD monitors (Acer P191W, Dell 1905FP) ,
keyboard, mouse (Logitech Wireless Wave Combo MK550),
**Include Power Supply Make & Model If Re-using**
In trying to debug my motherboard problem with my old desktop, I very recently bought an Antec Earthwatts 380W power supply V2.3. Could I reuse this in either the AMD or Intel build? I ask because they are recommending either a 430W or 400W power supply, respectively.
Have an Antec Sonata case (the original, about six years old). Could re-use that unless it’s a bad idea.
I have a Plextor 712SA optical drive I could re-use, but with the low cost of optical drives these days, re-use is not a priority.
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Usually newegg.com, open to suggestion
Country: US
Parts Preferences: Tower case for ease of build
Overclocking: No
SLI or Crossfire: No
Monitor Resolution: Generally, 1024x768 or 1280x1024. Might upgrade to larger monitors in the future (22” or 24”).
Additional Comments as to what’s important to me:
■I’d like to build and have it last for a while (as I said, my previous build went six years), so absolute cost minimization isn’t my highest priority.
■Stability in general: Don’t want things to crash. I power down my desktop when I’m not using it, so I don’t get a lot of crashes anyway, but stability is important.
■Faster boot time. Since I do power down often, a quick boot would be desirable.
■I really like quiet. When reading Proximon’s “A Guide to Choosing Computer Parts”, I was reminded that water cooling is quieter, and thought, “Hmmm, maybe that would be work the extra effort.”
Other specific questions:
■Will getting a solid state hard drive to act as my system drive speed up boot time significantly? It seems whenever I start my current system, it boots somewhat slowly, and then the hard drive thrashes for 3-4 minutes (perhaps it Norton or Windows update downloads or whatever else XP does to wake up) and the system is somewhat sluggish until that’s all done.
■Any strong opinions on AMD vs. Intel? Six years ago, I built my PC using the book Building the Perfect PC by Robert Bruce Thompson. (maybe 1st edition or something like that), and he recommended Intel motherboards for stability/not having problems reasons. Is that out of date? Competition always tends to raise the bar.
■Was thinking about putting a second 1TB drive to either mirror the main drive or to use as a backup drive. Thoughts/opinions? Can’t seem to find much on Tom’s Hardware about backup recommendations.
I’m thinking about basing my configuration on either the AMD-based Office PC or Intel-based Office PC in recommended configurations:
http://www.tomshardware.com/system-configuration-recommendation-51.html
Approximate Purchase Date: ASAP, want to build it next week
Budget Range: 500-1,000 before rebates
System Usage from Most to Least Important:
It’s really an office PC. I’m really not a gamer or serious number-cruncher, so high-powered graphics or mega computing power isn’t really necessary. I just think it's cooler to build than to buy a stock Dell.
■Want to run Win7, thinking about 64 bit in order to be able to use more RAM.
■MS Office applications: a lot of Word, some Excel. Often have 8-10 Word files open at once; performance stability with a lot of windows open is very important to me.
■Dual monitor: Use a two-monitor setup. Currently, run one monitor using VGA and one using HDMI because that allows two monitors from my work laptop docking station.
■Use two KVM switches (one VGA, one HDMI) to switch between my home desktop and a docking station for my work laptop (Dell E6410).
■Quicken
■Mozilla Thunderbird
■Web browsing
■Managing my Zen MP3 player
■Skype
■Picasa for digital photos
■Standard system utils like Norton Antivirus, Backup, etc.
Parts Not Required:
LCD monitors (Acer P191W, Dell 1905FP) ,
keyboard, mouse (Logitech Wireless Wave Combo MK550),
**Include Power Supply Make & Model If Re-using**
In trying to debug my motherboard problem with my old desktop, I very recently bought an Antec Earthwatts 380W power supply V2.3. Could I reuse this in either the AMD or Intel build? I ask because they are recommending either a 430W or 400W power supply, respectively.
Have an Antec Sonata case (the original, about six years old). Could re-use that unless it’s a bad idea.
I have a Plextor 712SA optical drive I could re-use, but with the low cost of optical drives these days, re-use is not a priority.
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Usually newegg.com, open to suggestion
Country: US
Parts Preferences: Tower case for ease of build
Overclocking: No
SLI or Crossfire: No
Monitor Resolution: Generally, 1024x768 or 1280x1024. Might upgrade to larger monitors in the future (22” or 24”).
Additional Comments as to what’s important to me:
■I’d like to build and have it last for a while (as I said, my previous build went six years), so absolute cost minimization isn’t my highest priority.
■Stability in general: Don’t want things to crash. I power down my desktop when I’m not using it, so I don’t get a lot of crashes anyway, but stability is important.
■Faster boot time. Since I do power down often, a quick boot would be desirable.
■I really like quiet. When reading Proximon’s “A Guide to Choosing Computer Parts”, I was reminded that water cooling is quieter, and thought, “Hmmm, maybe that would be work the extra effort.”
Other specific questions:
■Will getting a solid state hard drive to act as my system drive speed up boot time significantly? It seems whenever I start my current system, it boots somewhat slowly, and then the hard drive thrashes for 3-4 minutes (perhaps it Norton or Windows update downloads or whatever else XP does to wake up) and the system is somewhat sluggish until that’s all done.
■Any strong opinions on AMD vs. Intel? Six years ago, I built my PC using the book Building the Perfect PC by Robert Bruce Thompson. (maybe 1st edition or something like that), and he recommended Intel motherboards for stability/not having problems reasons. Is that out of date? Competition always tends to raise the bar.
■Was thinking about putting a second 1TB drive to either mirror the main drive or to use as a backup drive. Thoughts/opinions? Can’t seem to find much on Tom’s Hardware about backup recommendations.
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