I need to build a PC for the office. Nothing fancy. AMD.

Integrated sound
Integrated NIC
17" LCD
40GB-80GB HD
Floppy
dvd/cd burner
speakers
wireless mouse/keyboard
512MB-1GB memory

What suggestions do people have? I messed around with numbers and figure I should be able to do it relatively cheap.

I built my daughter a nice Sempron 3000+ socket 754 rig, using a Via mb chipset (K8m800) with integrated video, lan, and sound, and even has a sata raid controller; add drives and 512mb of PC3200 mem, case/ps, runs about $500 or less....(THe Sempron 3000+ offers roughly A64/2800+ performance, which is plenty for Office work)

(ALthough there are Dells avail for as low as $300, whic are hard to ignore as an option, although I dislike the bloatware on such rigs, preferring a fresh format/install of my own when dealing with them)

For monitors, look at Dells....inexpensive, and when on sale, darn good deals...; I got a 19" E196fp from them 6 months ago for $265...

Agree with mdd. If all your going to use this pc for is office work, and internet surfing then a sempron is the way to go. I'd suggest going for value RAM and save same bucks. Dell offers good LCD's at a cheap price. Their ultrasharp 17 inch was 260, their analog is the same price at the moment. You just need to wait for certain times of the year for sales. At the end of summer is usually a good time, though I don't know if you would want to wait that long.

I figured I'd go the Dell route on the monitor since I've done that before with my 2405fpw and 2005fpw...30% off coupons etc, unless I get another suggestion for a 17".

It's the system I'm not sure about. I'm not sure about value MB's, I'll probably do value Corsair PC3200 memory, and I'm not sure about doing a cheap video card (AGP?) or integrated...

Sound like the perfect job for nForce2 IGP.
EPoX 8RGA+ if you can still find one.

NEC 3540A is about the best cheapo burner you can get. BenQ DW1640 shouldn't be any higher in price either.

Foxconn 760GXK8MC-RS motherboard with a socket 754 Sempron. BenQ FP71G+ LCD monitor. My two cents.

Also recommending Winfast Leadtek Foxconn board:
http://www.foxconnchannel.com/prod [...] K8MA-8EKRS

Why use nForce2 IGP, when you can use nForce4 IGP ?

Using the onboard GeForce 6150 IGP it will be far nicer for watching WMV-HD video on, as it has 5:4 deblocking instead of the usual 3:2.... that and it can actually decode WMV-HD video which will become more common for business (eg: CEO Videocasts, HD video training more important than some think on PCs, and nicer for reception point style machines with a video on loop, etc).

Other onboard video solutions can't claim they'll do this w/o issues.

As you can see from: http://www.pcstats.com/ArtVNL.cfm? [...] 865&page=9 ; the gaming performance is also acceptable compared to low cost AGP drop-in video card solutions, the 3DMark scores are low but no game pushes 3D as complex as 3DMark'05, a score over 5,000 in 3DMark2001SE is enough to play many games, and even current titles smoothly at low - medium quality settings.... It sports a PCIe x16 slot so when / if upgraded the onboard video is totally disabled, no performance penalties, or other issues when done, etc (assuming PSU is up to spec for 1 video card, most decent 350w PSUs are).

Cost is also very low, but will need a Socket 939 CPU to pair with it instead.

Antec TX350 or TX640B for case, or anything similar: http://www.antec.com/us/productDet [...] odID=61635 ; as 350w will suffice more than fine.

Maybe a Samsung HDD, as their international price seams lower than competitors and they are quiet and very reliable..... possible discount if you pair a Samsung DVD+/-RW and Samsung 17" TFT, but one of their lower end models with 12 - 16ms response time, or a cheap Samsumg 900 series. - Mostly suggesting as if you bundle all three and are buying 25+ the cost might be lowered even further than normal.

No, you need to buy a PC for the Office. Get a Dell. I would be the first to admit they are not the best PC's, but they are Increadibly Cheap, reliable and come with a years warranty.

Of course being a Dell it will crumble away like a piece of stale cheese after 3 years - but hey, just buy another one. Dells are cheap enough and office PC's are tax-deductable

Have you ever though about nForce2 IGP boards being half the price of nForce4 IGP boards??? Or the cheap AhtlonXP/Sempr0n CPU???

6150 939 with onboard VGA, GigE, audio $80

AMD64 3200+ $166

512MB Corsair Dual Channel $69

LiteOn DVD burner $39

If you shy away from the options, a Dell desktop is generally the most cost effective PC out there for mundane office work.

No, you need to buy a PC for the Office. Get a Dell. I would be the first to admit they are not the best PC's, but they are Increadibly Cheap, reliable and come with a years warranty.

Of course being a Dell it will crumble away like a piece of stale cheese after 3 years - but hey, just buy another one. Dells are cheap enough and office PC's are tax-deductable

The last time I checked Dell only offers a 90 day warranty. If you want a year warranty I think the price was $154 extra. Now thats not so cheap once you include shipping and handling.

Oh...Shipping and handling for the cheapest Dell is $100

Dimension B110 Qty 1
Intel® Celeron® D Processor 325 (2.53 GHz, 533 FSB), Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition Unit Price $589.00

Dimension B110 Intel® Celeron® D Processor 325 (2.53 GHz, 533 FSB) WB325H [221-9758] 1

Operating System Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition WHXP [412-0688][412-0721][420-4834][420-4927][420-5460][420-5476][420-5769][463-2282] 11

Memory 512MB DDR SDRAM at 400MHz 512M4 [311-5384] 3

Keyboard and Mouse Bundles Dell Wireless Keyboard and Optical Mouse WIREKM [310-4164] 4

Monitors 17 inch E773 (16 inch viewable) Conventional CRT E773 [320-4544] 5

Video Cards Integrated Intel® Extreme Graphics 2 IV [430-3900] 6

Hard Drive 80GB Ultra ATA/100 7200RPM Hard Drive 80 [340-3274] 8

Floppy Drive 3.5 in Floppy Drive FD [341-2759] 10

Mouse Mouse included with Keyboard purchase NONE [310-5678] 12

Network Interface Integrated 10/100 Ethernet IN [430-0441] 13

Modem 56K PCI Data Fax Modem DFAX [313-2279] 14

Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 6.0 AAREAD [412-0705] 15

CD or DVD Drive Single Drive: 16X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW)
w/double layer write capability 16DVDRW [313-4097][420-5782][420-5789] 16

Sound Integrated 2.0 Channel Audio IS [313-2758] 17

Speakers Dell A215 Speakers A215 [313-3207] 18

Office Productivity Software (Pre-Installed) No Productivity Suite - Corel WordPerfect® word processor only COREL [412-0803] 22

Anti-Virus/Security Suite (Pre-installed) No Security Subscription NS2 [412-0850] 25

Hardware Warranty 90 Day Warranty, 90 Day At-Home Service, and 90 Days Technical Support S90D [900-3961][902-7990][960-6480][983-2207] 29

Internet Access Service 6 Months of America Online Membership Included AOLDHS [412-0687][412-0787][420-3224][420-5256] 37

Choice of Mail-in Rebate or Dell Gift Card Save $50 with mail-in rebate. Price shown before rebate PA50 [464-6014] 81

Miscellaneous Award Winning Service & Support B110AEB [465-0210] 82
Operating System Re-Installation CD Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition re-installation CD XPHMED [310-6832] 135

Dell Digital Entertainment Starter Entertainment Pack -Basic digital Music, Photo, and Casual Gaming SEP [412-0856][412-0865] 399

TOTAL:$589.00
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Total Price
Sub-total $589.00

Shipping & Handling $99.00

http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersio [...] ID=1939463

$553 + S&H

Quite competive if you ask me even compared to Dell

The only thing I might buy from Dell is the LCD.

The speakers I put in are VERY basic because I didn't know what your needs are.

I normally recommend headphones in a work / office environment.

Motherboard:
I would suggest MSI K8MM-V, Socket "754". I have used over 60 of these in office PCs without any problems.
- 1 floppy port supports 1 FDD with 360K, 720K, 1.2M, 1.44M and 2.88Mbytes
- 1 serial ports COM1
- 1 VGA port Onboard
- 1 parallel port supports SPP/EPP/ECP mode
- 8 USB 2.0 ports (Rear x 4 / Front x 4)
- 3 audio ports in vertical (Line-out, Line-in, MIC)
- 1 RJ-45 jack 10/100 NIC
- Supports up to 2GB DDR333
- Ultra DMA 66/100/133 master mode EIDE controller
- Integrated dual channel native Serial ATA/RAID controller that will supply 150MB/s and support RAID 0, RAID 1
- AGP Slot 8X - Video Card Upgrade Path if you don't like the onboard video. Onboard video should be fine for the office PC anyway.
$51
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] TC-17exta6

Processor:
AMD Sempron 3000+ 1.8GHz Socket 754 Processor Retail
$90
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Prod [...] ate=nextag

Memory:
Kingston KVR333X64C25/512 512MB DDR333 PC2700 Memory
$40
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Prod [...] ate=nextag

Hard Drive:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 - Hard Drive - 80GB - Internal - 3.5IN - SATA 1.5GB/S N
$63
http://newsite.pagecomputers.com/s [...] Fid=687686

DVD-RW:
Liteon SHW160P6S05 16X Dual Layer DVD±RW Bare Drive
$40
- Read CDs
- Read DVDs
- Burn CDs
- Create and burn DVDs
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Prod [...] ode=170674

Monitor:
This is a personal choice but here is a low cost monitor for use in the office. We use these monitors in our office and they are fine.
Acer AL1716b 17in LCD Monitor
$210
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Prod [...] ode=239049

Speakers are a personal choice. Decent speakers low end (office use) around $20.
$18 Creative Labs SBS-260 2.0 Speaker System
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Prod [...] ode=360234

Wireless keyboard and mouse:
Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop Sets OEM
$42
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Prod [...] icegrabber

Estimated cost - $554(us) Includes the 17" Monitor or $344 Without the monitor!
Plus case and PS ($40 and up) At least 350 watt PS
Plus Floppy ($12)+/-
Plus OS if needed: XP Home ($90ish), XP Pro (140ish). Recommend XP Pro if going to network with other office PCs now or plan to in the future.
Plus Office if needed: Recommend Office 2003 Small Business Edition ($220ish)
- Word
- Excel
- PowerPoint
- Outlook
- Outlook Buisness Contact Manager
- Publisher

I hope this helps.

Here it is broken down for your viewing pleasure:

[code:1:c300a451ec]
1 COOLMAX CV-570-GRAY W/O PSU Gray 0.6mm Steel/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Model #: CV-570-GRAY W/O PSU $14.99 $14.99

1 BIOSTAR GEFORCE 6100-M7 Socket 754 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Model #: GEFORCE 6100-M7 $59.99 $59.99

1 FSP Group (Fortron Source) ATX300-PA version 2.0, SATA, 300W Power Supply - OEM
Model #: ATX300-PA $22.99 $22.99

1 AMD Sempron 64 2800+ Palermo 800MHz HT Socket 754 Processor Model SDA2800BXBOX - Retail
Model #: SDA2800BXBOX $75.00 $75.00

1 CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model VS1GBKIT400 - Retail
Model #: VS1GBKIT400 $69.00 $69.00

1 MITSUMI Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive - OEM
Model #: D359M3D/D359M3B $7.99 $7.99

1 Western Digital Caviar SE WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM
Model #: WD800JD $55.00 -$2.00 Instant $53.00

1 Rosewill RKM810SLV Silver-Black USB RF Wireless Standard Keyboard Mouse Included - Retail
Model #: RKM810SLV $18.99 $18.99

1 Acer AL1714A Silver/Black 17" 6ms LCD Monitor - Retail
Model #: ET.L1809.232 $192.99 -$3.00 Instant $189.99

1 LITE-ON Black IDE DVD Burner Model SHW-160P6S - OEM
Model #: SHW-160P6S BK OEM $37.99 $37.99

1 DCT Factory OG-691 BLACK 2.0 Speaker - Retail
Model #: OG-691 BLACK $3.75 $3.75

Subtotal: $553.68
[/code:1:c300a451ec]

http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersio [...] ID=1939463

$553 before shipping

Should you decide to run Linux your software cost will be $0.00 for the OS and $0.00 for the office suite.

FC4 i386 or x86_64 / ubuntu / OpenSuSE / any other distro + openoffice.org can do 99+% of what M$ XP Pro can do + M$ office 2003 Pro ($140 + $360)

Linux can even run some windoze games apps using WINE or Cedega and virtually anything you want in a VM or emulator like VMWare, QEMU or DOSBox.

This is another good option. I would recommend the MSI K8MM-V over the Biostar. Everything else would work fine (and even that board would work)

I might spend a little more money on the PSU. If this goes it might take everything else with it. Might look into an Antec PSU - may cost more now but save you $$ in the long run.

Another good option: Should you decide to run Linux your software cost will be $0.00 for the OS and $0.00 for the office suite.

I normally recommend ASUS, Epox, DFI, Abit, MSI, etc

The BIOSTAR was the least expensive nvidia 6100 board I could find that didn't suck that's why I picked it :-)

As far as the PSU is concerned I too recommend ANTEC ( virtually all my PCs are in ANTEC cases and use ANTEC PSUs ) but I put in a Fortron to keep the cost down.

The Fortron / PSP Group is supposed to be a decent budget PSU MUCH better than 80% of the PSUs on the market from what I hear.


Again Linux can save you a FORTUNE in software costs