Decent office pc - comments please

[cpl625]

I'm building my father a new pc for his office. He's an accountant, so the heaviest load on the computer will come from Quickbooks and Excel (no games, no movies). I thought it would be easiest to buy a barebone case and mobo, and then to add on the rest. I'm looking to spend less than $300, so mission accomplished there. What do you think?

MSI MBOX Barebone $94.99
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+ $59.99
Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600AAJS 160GB SATA $49.99
A-DATA 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM $35.99
Sony NEC Optiarc Combo Drive $22.99
Logitech Internet 350 Black USB Keyboard w/ mouse $14.25

TOTAL: $278.20 + $24.19 shipping = $302.39

Thanks

Just as an aside - What do you think of this hd SAMSUNG SpinPoint T Series HD501LJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA? I need some more space for my own pc.

 

[Mithent]

Looks fine for an office PC to me. I guess he already has an OS and monitor?

 

[Gorankar]

Quite honestly, for a simple office pc, I would go with a Dell/Gateway/Compaq. The warranty and not ending up as my fathers sole source of tech support would be worth the extra money imho. You can often find the low end Dells on sale for around $300-$400.

Otherwise I think you did fine with the budget you have.

 

[Hurdler]

You're going to want to add at least $100 to that, since you need an OS. If you already have one though, then it looks good!

 

[cpl625]

We have XP and a 19'' lcd, so that's covered. Thanks for the the responses.

 

[Dangman]

The Samsung HDD is a good and quiet drive. Should be fine.

As for your dad's work rig, I recommend going the prebuilt as well. In fact, right now, Dell has a deal going on a Dell Poweredge server. Granted it is using server hardware BUT it can be used as a desktop. For $220 shipped, it's not a bad deal considering how good Dell's Business support is:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1272843

Specs:
Dual Core Intel® Pentium®E2160, 1.8GHz, 1MB Cache, 800MHz FSB
No Operating System
512MB DDR2, 667MHz, 1X512MB Single Ranked DIMMs
No Keyboard Option
80GB 7.2K RPM Serial ATA 3Gbps 3.5-in Cabled Hard Drive, Primary
Onboard SATA Controller - No RAID
No Floppy Drive
No Mouse
On-Board Single Gigabit Network Adapter
48X CD-ROM Drive
Electronic Documentation and OpenManage CD Kit
Onboard SATA, 1 Drive connected to Onboard SATA Controller - No RAID
1Yr BASIC SUPPORT: 5x10 HW-Only, 5x10 NBD Onsite
No Installation Assessment

Add a 1GB stick of DDR2 667 RAM from newegg for ~$10, keyboard and mouse for ~$14, and for ~$245, you can get a much more reliable system and slightly faster system for much less than the barebones route.

 

[cpl625]

I'm considering the Dell - that server looks good. Is there any bloatware installed, and would there be anything unusual since it is a server? Any idea why it is so cheap?

 

[Dangman]

I'm considering the Dell - that server looks good. Is there any bloatware installed, and would there be anything unusual since it is a server? Any idea why it is so cheap?

There is no OS, thus no bloatware and lower price. As for why it's so cheap, no idea.

 

[AMD_RULES]

I'm considering the Dell - that server looks good. Is there any bloatware installed, and would there be anything unusual since it is a server? Any idea why it is so cheap?

no bloatware installed, since it has no OS
I've worked with one. It's basicly a desktop called a "Server."

 

[cpl625]

I think I'm gonna go Dell then. It looks great. Can I buy another 512 DIMM from newegg and have both working together?

 

[AMD_RULES]

I think I'm gonna go Dell then. It looks great. Can I buy another 512 DIMM from newegg and have both working together?

it would depend on the speed and configuration of the ram itself, but you'd be better off just buying a 2x1GB ram kit or something of that sort instead.

 

[Dangman]

I think I'm gonna go Dell then. It looks great. Can I buy another 512 DIMM from newegg and have both working together?

You can. But I'm not too sure if that server uses regular DDR2 RAM or registered/buffered/unbuffered/ECC DDR2 RAM.