Best Cheap Office Build

extremedeal on 16/10/2013 - 11:17
Last edited 16/10/2013 - 12:10

So a bit of background, attempting to build an economical office computer for my dad, whose current computer (10+ years old) has died. Thing is, due to legacy software, he needs to run windows 2000 on it…

Basically just trying to build the best bang-for-buck cheap PC I can, which will hopefully last a while.
Here's the build I've got so far (prices from MSY):

Patriot Signature 4GB Single DDR3-1600 - $44
Intel Pentium G3220 3.0GHz 3MB - $75
Seagate 3.5" Barracuda 1TB SATA3 7200RPM 64MB HDD - $67
Asus H81M-E Intel H81 S1150 - $67
Thermaltake VO700A1N3N Versa II USB3.0 Tower Case with 500W PSU - $79
MSI DH-20AS6 20x DVD Writer- $16
Total - $348

Thoughts?

Also, I'm considering dropping the hard drive to Seagate 3.5" Barracuda 500GB ST500DM002 SATA3 7200RPM 16MB
(he doesn't need much space), but this drive has 16mb cache vs. 64mb in the 1tb drive. This would save $11, but will it also take a performance hit?

Computing

Comments

  • Flurogreen on 16/10/2013 - 11:29

    Probably cheaper to buy one?

    http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2013/10/is-building-a-pc-really…

    • extremedeal on 16/10/2013 - 11:37

      Like what/from where?

  • grammarstickler on 16/10/2013 - 12:03

    I recently had the same situation with replacing my father's PC. I ended up buying him a secondhand Dell Core Duo for $100 off Gumtree - runs Office and his old software like a champ, also no problems with running the latest version of his Internet browser. It did seem to me that even the cheapest new PC would be overkill for his purposes. With the money I saved I got him a bigger and better monitor and that has been the key thing for him - he's in his seventies.

    • extremedeal on 16/10/2013 - 12:08

      Hmmmm, yeh I've asked him but he doesn't want to buy second hand…

      • altomic on 17/10/2013 - 02:25

        buy a second hand PC and a new case. and transplant.

  • _Bruce_ on 16/10/2013 - 12:52
    +2

    The windows 2000 requirement seems very strange to me. XP and 2000 are almost identical except for the ugly green button, have you tried on XP?

    Additionally XP and 2000 run very well in virtual machine these days. Window 7 professional comes with a licence to run an XP VM.

    • extremedeal on 16/10/2013 - 13:02

      Hadn't considered, that, in the past the software he uses has been a bit picky about which operating system it runs on, although I might try out Windows XP

    • [Deactivated] on 20/10/2013 - 10:32

      Windows 2000 is Windows NT5.0. Windows XP is Windows NT5.1.

      Fun fact: Windows 7 is Windows NT6.1 and Windows 8 is NT6.2. They really are just upgrades of Vista (NT6.0).

      • _Bruce_ on 20/10/2013 - 12:09

        You are talking about the kernel versions. It is definitely true that Windows 8 kernel hasn't changed much from Windows 7, but a lot of other stuff has. The 'OS' once referred mainly to the kernel, but these days that is only a minor piece of the picture.

        At the end of the day any numbering system is also just up to people to pick a number. The NT developers could just as well have renamed 6.2 to 7.0 (or even 8.0). Remembering NT started at 3.1.

        As for 'just upgrades of Vista', (almost) all OS releases are an upgrade on the version prior.

  • umartsydney on 16/10/2013 - 18:00
    +1

    Umart Online Sydney (02) 9099-2688

    Kingmax 4G PC-10600 1333MHZ DDR3 Single Stick $44.00
    CoolerMaster RC343 Black M-ATX With 420 W $63.00
    Seagate SATA3 1TB 7200RPM 64mb Cache $68.00
    Samsung SATA Black Internal DVD/RW Drive $ $18.00
    Asus H81M-E 2xDDR3 PCI-E 2xSATA3 2xUSB3.0 DVI D-SUB $62.00
    Intel PENTIUM G3220 3.0GHz/3MB CACHE/LGA1150 $75.00

    $330.00

    • extremedeal on 16/10/2013 - 19:44

      Ooh looks good, but would the shipping cost to Melbourne still make this a good deal?

      • scrimshaw on 19/10/2013 - 08:59

        Try Melbourne branch of UMART.

    • ethereal88 on 17/10/2013 - 16:52
      -3

      Bleh RAM, bleh case+PSU, no SSD, cripped Haswell chipset (does that even have a USB 3 internal header)?, CPU is OK for a basic box but you may as well go Celeron for ultra cheap. Haswell celerons are coming, IVB is it right now.

  • [Deactivated] on 20/10/2013 - 10:29
    +2

    Most current chipsets don't have official support for Windows 2000. Some don't even have Windows XP drivers (which will normally work on 2K). So be careful of that.

    • extremedeal on 21/10/2013 - 11:39

      I've built the machine with the spec in the OP… Thinking of just installing windows seven and using a virtual machine to run Windows 2000…thoughts? Will this be useable daily?

      • scrimshaw on 21/10/2013 - 11:59

        I would try running the legacy software in Compatibility mode first, before resorting to using MS Virtual PC or Oracle's Virtual Box.
        Both options are free to use, but you must have the ISO image for the OS and also the product key for Windows activation.

      • _Bruce_ on 21/10/2013 - 12:56

        If you are runing Windows 7 Professionsal you get a licence to run XP in a VM, but not 2000, so you will have to get a copy. MS are also a bit dodgy on what versions they 'let' you run in a VM.

        As scrimshaw suggests you can try runnign natively, but if you do run a VM I strongly recommend VMWare Player. It is free, supports the free XP licence and works very well (much better than Virtual PC on both integration and performance).

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