Office Computer

[greeneggs]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
***Writing papers, reading pdfs, some c++ and matlab programming. Won't be playing any games on it since it will be in my office, which I share. I want it to last me 3 years.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
***I don't have a strict budget. I'm just looking for a decent performance/price ratio considering what I'll be doing.
3) Where do you live?
***MN
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
***CPU, RAM, Case, Motherboard, PSU, GPU, HDD, ODD, Monitors
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
***N/A
6) Will you be overclocking?
***Not decided yet, is it worth it for my uses?
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
***I want two monitors, not yet decided on screen size.
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
***Building, though I wouldn't mind buying if it was around the same price and quality.
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
***Nothing Special
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
***Yes, windows 7 64bit. I'll also be dual booting ubuntu.


I've been thinking about builds, but I don't know enough about what sort of hardware would be good for me since I won't be playing games. I will be doing some programming, but likely nothing too intensive (if so, I'll most likely just build a new computer).

Here's the build I was thinking about:

cpu+motherboard:
The AMD X2 555BE and MSI 785G-E53 motherboard from the microcenter deal http://www.microcenter.com/specials/promotions/0803_AMDbundle.html

HDD+Case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.458444

PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139003

GPU: (do I even need one for dual monitors?)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127472

Ram:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145251

ODD:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204 or equivalent

Monitors (x2): (not decided yet, may go bigger)
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0327567

====================
Will this build work? Even if it does, is it worth it to get a 6core AMD or a intel core i7 and maybe better parts all around right off the bat?

Thank you!

 

[Dangman]

Assuming you're still sticking with the DIY route, that setup would work-ish. You don't really need a video card to drive two monitors with that monitor if you just connect one monitor via DVI/HDMI and one monitor via VGA.

That Corsair does not have a good price to performance ratio at all. All you need for your planned setup is this PSU:
$50 - Corsair 400CX 400W PSU

Ditch the RAM as well since these RAM sets have better price to performance ratio:
$82 - G.Skill F3-10600CL9D-4GBNT 2 x 2GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$98 - G.Skill Ripjaw Series F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL 2 x 2GB DDR3 1600 RAM

Matlab takes advantage of quad-cores AND clock speed. So that X2 555BE would not be a good idea. So switch to the X4 635 if you're on a budget. Yes a Core i7 860 or Core i7 930 would significantly outperform either setups but they cost significantly more.

 

[greeneggs]

Thank you for the help, I really appreciate it! I think I'm just going to stick with this cheap build for now and if I need something more powerful in the future upgrade it then and give this one to my brother or something.

Thanks again!