Generic Intel Office PC

[SCS]

Approximate Purchase Date: Tomorrow

Budget Range: Up to $500 before rebates (see additional comments)

System Usage from Most to Least Important: MS Office, Quickbooks, Internet, Occasional Quark use

Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS (will run 7 Pro)

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com, amazon, Microcenter brick & mortar

Country: US

Parts Preferences: Intel based, DVD burner required, 4GB RAM to run Quark

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: No

Monitor Resolution: 1024x768

Additional Comments: This will be replacing a 6+ year-old Dimension 9150 with a Pentium D that is just worn out.

Got a lot of ideas from the BestConfigs thread, but I'm trying to cut the price closer to $400 or less. Basically, I've been given $500 to spend on this build and whatever cash/rebates are left at the end is my bonus/payment for building.

Also doesn’t need much local storage. Most data is stored on NAS – currently using 56GB on internal drive including XP. Considering just a 128GB SSD for OS and local storage – thoughts on that? Would it offer noticeably faster performance?

 

[jmsellars1]

Yeah, any SSD will be noticeably faster than a hard drive. I would go for it if he doesn't need much space:

Intel Core i3-3225 - $144.99
2x4GB Crucial Ballistix Sport 1600Mhz 1.5v C9 - $35.99
ASRock B75M-DGS - $54.99
Crucial M4 128GB - $89.99
Antec BP350 350W PSU - $29.99
Fractal Design Core 1000 - $39.99
Samsung DVD Burner - $15.99

Total - $411.93 on Newegg


That should be perfect. The HD 4000 graphics and 8GB RAM probably aren't necessary right now but it isn't much extra and it should hopefully last him a while.

 

[g-unit1111]

The above build is pretty decent but Quark Express doesn't really need that much power.

Maybe try this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Pentium G2120 3.1GHz Dual-Core Processor ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock B75 PRO3-M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($77.55 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($37.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: OCZ Vertex 4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($121.74 @ Mwave)
Case: Fractal Design Define Mini MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling Silencer MK III 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($64.58 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.89 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $489.73
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-12-05 15:03 EST-0500)

This is an MATX build with B75 (yes) and a lesser but still powerful CPU than the one that was previously recommended. Also included a strong PSU in case you want to add a graphics card or more storage later on.

 

[jmsellars1]

So what did you go with in the end?