Gidtrina

Budget: up to $1000
Brands: no
Multitasking: yes but not too much
Gaming: some. Age of Empires III, World of Warcraft III
Calculations: don't think so
Overclocking: Don't plan on it. What is overclocking?
Storage: 600 ish GB
Legacy Support: no
Operating System: Windows XP or Vista
Case: Sure, um... standard?
Accessories: maybe
Recycled Components: if I can
Monitor: No
Stores: http://www.futureshop.ca
Location: Canada


Hi, I'm trying to help my boss save some money.
He asked me which one of these he should get.

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/pro...87&catid=10607

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/pro...27&catid=10607

So I thought it would be better if I just built one. First, this will be my first build. Because it's for a company, should he just buy from a department store, I don't want to cause any problems building it?
Second, he currently has:

HP compaq d220, win XP Pro 5.1
Intel Celeron cpu 2.00 GHz
504 MB RAM
No additional audio, or video cards.


Gidtrina

Phædrus2401

By work computer I'm assuming you mean for things like Office programs, internet, and minor data storage, rather than CAD or element analysis, right?

Overclocking is where you increase the speed at which a component runs above the manufacturer's spec. It entails needing a larger power supply and more cooling. Since this is for work you probably don't need a huge amount of computing power, so no need to worry about it.

$1000 is maybe a bit of overkill for a work computer budget. You might manage two computers on that. Since you won't need a separate GPU that'll shave off a couple hundred. No need for a quad core CPU or anything, a Core 2 Duo at 2.2 - 2.6GHz should do fine, get a couple of 500GB HDDs.

Thing is, what matters in office computers isn't so much what's inside, as what's running on them. As long as you have a basic machine with an okay processor, a couple gig of RAM, and a decent hard drive, you're fine. You should get a $200-400 computer, then spend the rest of the money on a really nice printer, or copy machine, or projector, or on another computer, or on a server, or software and antivirus, or just throw it back into the business's money pool. Office computers are last year's gaming machines, and last year's gaming machines are cheap.

Just don't get a Dell, they're a ripoff.

Gidtrina

yes.

Thanks for the info.

Ok. Will I have to worry about the sound or video cards, for the games that are played?

Thank's for the reply, and the software thing.

linderman

I would have to disagree with Dell being a rip off, although I am a custom build lover personally, our company buys a fair numer of Dell machines every two years. These machines have been very dependable and trouble free. Always easy to set-up etc etc etc

if you want a gaming machine, or high performance machine or you are someone that likes tweaking and upgrading, then dell is not the best choice for you.


you stated in the spec requirement listing above: "Gaming: some. Age of Empires III, World of Warcraft III"

the gaming desire removes onboard graphics solution and also removes some of the "less robust" options (like slower memory and less of it)

but getting a machine for a $1000.00 budget is certainly do-able

linderman

of the two machines you linked the HP is better, it listed the memory speed of 800 and has a deciated video card, the other link is onboard video

Gidtrina

Thanks linderman, that helps.

grimx133

Have to agree there, the HP is much better, won't be playing much for games with the Acer.

On another note, Futureshop is good for buying prebuilt things, but not for components. Some of there stuff is junk (power supplies come to mind), but everything is overpriced, for things like video cards you can get a much larger selection elsewhere, at a much more attractive price.

It's not a store for the computer enthusiast. I do shop there now and again, but just for stuff like blank discs, music, movies, appliances, things of that nature.