Low cost home work computer

[nododgy]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Almost strictly a work computer. Office programs, web browsing. May end up doing some programming on it as well.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
I don't have a defined budget, per se, as I don't know what is needed(though I don't believe I will need a serious setup for the task). The cheaper the better.

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
US: NJ

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget?
CPU, RAM, Mobo, a video card(maybe?), Operating system(Prefer Windows 7 over 8, if still possible)

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Antec Earthwatts 430w power supply, Centurion 5 case, Hard drive(basically the reusable parts from the backup computer listed in my sig).

6) Will you be overclocking?
No.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
Must run 2 monitors. Currently own a 22" Acer, and may pick up this monitor:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824113034
Max screen res: 1920 x 1080

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Soon.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
Onboard video would be nice if it would be capable of filling my needs.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
No.

I am currently stuck at home with a broken foot. I'll be starting a work-from-home job soon, and would prefer to have a computer set up in a quiet section of the house that I can use to "go to work." Tech requirements for the job are pretty basic: 3ghz cpu, 4gb ram, 2 monitors. I haven't really been paying too much attention to hardware, and Danny has been a big help in the past, so I figured I'd make a quick post on here.

Thanks for the help in advance, as always!

 

[Dangman]

Why not reuse your main or backup rig for this work?

 

[nododgy]

The main rig needs to stay where it is. It'd be a big hassle to move it every day from where it currently is, to where I will be working. My wife uses my main computer as well, that is a factor.

As far as the backup goes, I haven't really touched it in quite some time. I don't know how well the cpu has aged, especially if I was running Windows 7. I would have to upgrade the ram, which almost seems like a waste.

 

[Dangman]

I think for your needs, the backup rig's CPU should still be ok even with Windows 7.

With that said, gimme a few minutes to come up with a new build just in case that backup rig is defective.

EDIT: Are you near a Microcenter?

 

[nododgy]

Unfortunately, I am not

 

[Dangman]

$121 - Intel Core i3-3220 CPU
$73 - Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3H Intel B75 mATX Motherboard
$59 - Corsair CMX8GX3M1A1333C9 8GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$99 - Samsung 840 120GB SSD
$91 - Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64bit OEM
----
Total: $443 shipped

I included a SSD since that'll make a big difference in the overall responsiveness of the PC.

However, there's another option you can do: Get the SSD and Windows 7 and install both into your backup rig. But make sure that Windows 7 is installed in 30 day trial mode (don't input the key) and on the SSD. This way you can see for yourself how well Windows 7 will run on your backup rig. If it's still not fast enough during that 30 day trial mode, you can buy the rest of the above parts and move over the SSD and reinstall Windows 7 again. Since it was in trial mode, the OS key won't be tied to the motherboard.