Help with a very budget system...please

[DDY]

You said you're after a budget office PC so there is no point (read: absolutely none) in overclocking, the Intel E2160 does everything an office PC needs and if you were to go for an ATX board you'd need a graphics card pushing up the price even further.

[fresh]

when you say theyll be upgrade packages, what does that mean?? yes im at uni by the way.

thanks for that

now i need to sort out the spec

[fresh]

i know itll only be for office i just like things to load quickly so i was only going to overclock it a bit. so onlyATX boards over?? but you need to buy a graphics card for them?? is that right.

thanks

[DDY]

That's an extra £50 for MS word to load 2 secs faster, you still think it's worth it?

mATX boards have onboard graphics where ATX boards don't.

[Pob255]

please no, don't bother with an sli motherboard, you're not gameing then it's not needed, plus you have the added expensive of a graphics card.

at stock speeds that e2160 (1.8ghz) is going to be better than a celeron D 2.8ghz even though the number is lower. (it comes out around the same as the old Pentium D 3.0ghz if I remember correctly)

If you want to overclock then look at the intel g33 or nforce 630i chipset motherboards (they both have onboard VGA)
However you will be pushing the price up a bit to around £45-55

EDIT: Again I agree with DDY, no real point in overclocking for just office.
And if your at Uni ask them about cheap student software, you might need to any way as quite a few of the places that sell student software need some form of proff that you are a student (normally a letter from them confurming the fact) or only deal directly with the school/uni (some will effectively buy the software then sell it to the students)

[-iceblade^]

upgrade assumes you have a prior copy of XP to upgrade from.

oh, and you're welcome . if i remember correctly, the XP from the MSDNAA is not an upgrade, though i have never used it so i can't comment.

[Cistron]

If it is absolutely budget, I'd opt for an AMD system. The mainboards are cheaper and the 780g is an actually useful onboard IGP solution that might even permit light gaming (of course no DX10 games).

upgrade assumes you have a prior copy of XP to upgrade from.

Can that copy actually be an OEM version?

[-iceblade^]

i would think so... i mean, OEM versions are legal, aren't they? you mean from like a prebuilt manufacturer, ie, Dell, and having the authentic COA on the side or wherever? my guess is yes if that is the case... if it's some hacked version, then no; probably not...

good choice providing the option for an AMD setup; i'd completely forgotten about that one

[DDY]

Vista upgrade can be used on both OEM and Retail, if used on OEM the upgrade can only be used on that same machine that has the OEM license, if the upgrade is used on retail it can go where ever the retail goes.

[-iceblade^]

ooh... forgot to tell you... you can snag a copy of Office Ultimate 2007 for £39 or so from Microsoft, if you can give them your details and you are eligible... The deal ends in April, though...

gonna post this in the Hot Deals section, actually.

(Microsoft presents The Ultimate Steal)

well worth it IMO, if you have the £££. gonna get it as soon as i can source the money

[Pob255]

Must admit I'm yet to see any real benefit of office 2007 over office 2004
and there's not much differnce in 2004 over 2000.

there's a patch thing you can download from MS that lets 200 and 2004 read the new (.xps ??) office files from 2007.
And I really hate it when people redesign all the menu systems so you cannot find anything.

[Thorsson]

I thinks it's 2003, don't recall seeing an Office 2004. And 2003 was simply a lot more stable than 2000. But agree about the 2007 menu system. It sux.

[Biscuit]

Two options from scan which dont include the operating sytem unfortuantely :/

[fresh]

ok agreed, im being ridiculous wanting to overclock it. thanks for the help, will definately speak to uni about the xp on the cheap and will see if i can get the 2007 office at that bargain price. im gonna go with the intel system i think, looks good.

thanks again for all the advice, just gotta build it now.

[Blitzen]

also try ebuyer and novatech, and if you have any family members in higher education, maybe you could get a copy of Windows under the MSDNAA?

Just buy it...its cheap

[Biscuit]

ok agreed, im being ridiculous wanting to overclock it. thanks for the help, will definately speak to uni about the xp on the cheap and will see if i can get the 2007 office at that bargain price. im gonna go with the intel system i think, looks good.

thanks again for all the advice, just gotta build it now.

Yeah much both wil. perform at about the same level anyway i would have thought. I would try and squeeze corsair ram in if you can