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~$400 Office Computer Build

L

Landmine

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 19, 2011
Messages
402
Trying to compare what we get building our own vs buying a Dell (Or other generic computer)

We have a $400 budget to replace some Dell Desktops from 2003. I know its not much, but we need new computers and times are hard.

We absolutely need Windows 7 or 8 Professional as they need to be able to join our domain and be able to hookup 2 monitors.

Current build: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/rhQ7

Can anyone post recommended builds for a general office computer?
 
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Have you tried talking to a Dell rep? If you have to replace enough PCs, they may cut you a discount and such. Or check out Dell Outlet?

Also, you chose the wrong OS there: You chose the regular Windows 8 when you've stated that you need Windows 7 or 8 Pro:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116992
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832416552

Also note that the drive you selected is a refurb, not a new drive. In addition, why add a dedicated video card when that AMD already has a built-in GPU?

Just so that we can get a better idea of what's happening here, what exactly are these PCs being used for? How many monitors will be hooked up to these PCs? Has anyone in your company actually tested Windows 8 to see if it'll play well with whatever software you guys are using and your network? What about Windows 7 for that matter?
 
I will call Dell tomorrow and see what they can do.

Thank you for correcting the OS and pointing out the refurb drive.

We need the PC to support 2 monitors at 1080p.

They will be running Microsoft Office, Google Chrome and a small dispatch program. We currently have Windows 7 machines as well and Windows 8 has been successively tested with our software and network.

Updated the build.
 
Do all of the PCs really need a DVD drive?
And I'm guessing none of the monitors have VGA?

You still have that refurb drive in your list BTW.
 
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Amazon seems to have the best WD HDD prices lately.

Not in love with the Rosewill FBM-01 CASE FOR $35 shipped.
 
Any more recommendations? I was thinking about dropping the HDD for an SSD since the computer will not need a lot of file storage, most files will be on the server.
 
Well upgrading the CPU/MOBO is probably the best thing you can do to a 2003 build. Those new buses and architectures are going to do some wonders for those people who need to use the machines daily. So far it looks pretty solid, but since it's a $400 build I'm wondering if there is anything you can recycle? Cases and CD/DVD burners especially.

With that budget I wouldn't recommend an SSD, at least not without knowing the task demanded for each machine. Unless you want to be rockin a 32-40GB SSD for the same price that barely has enough space free after the OS for critical apps.
 
Lets say we already had a copy of Windows 7 Pro, what would your hardware selection be?
 
Landmine said:
Lets say we already had a copy of Windows 7 Pro, what would your hardware selection be?
Click to expand...

So did you raise your budget to $540 or something? You already said earlier that you don't have a copy of Windows 7 Pro for this office build. As such, you're gonna have to pay for it in the end. So let's be honest here: Are you actually going to raise your budget by $140 to cover the cost of OS or what? Otherwise, really no point in discussing what kind of build you'll get if the cost of OS was covered.

Also, please answer my previous two questions.
 
Turns out we may have 5-8 licenses left in our VLKs.

They dont absolutely need optic drives as I have a few usb drives we could us when we rarely need them.

The monitors we plan on buying do have VGA and DVI.
 
http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/Le...n-II-X2-B26-3.2-GHz-Monitor-none/2602756.aspx

Dual core with only 2 gigs of memory but it is a single 2gb dimm and it has 3 open memory slots. Buy it and upgrade the memory. System has 7 pro 64 on it and comes with a 3yr onsite warranty.

Not a great machine but overall not a real bad cheap one. We got a few of them for a client looking for something on the cheap(these are slim towers). Seem to be fine.

FYI with volume licensing. The desktop licenses are upgrades. You can't just load them on a machine, it has to be stickered for windows already.

Edit: The machines came with vga and display port. I did hook up a display port to dvi adapter and get dual monitors working on one. It was more to just check it though.
 
Any clever and legal way to use the Windows 8 upgrade promo price from the old computer?
 
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