Dumb Question

[mickeymutt]

I work at home. I do print brokering. I have as many a 8 programs open at one time. My present computer is an Emachine with a Celeron D 352 w/ 4G DDR2 running PX Home Ed. I may open Quickbooks, an estimating program, Illustrator, Acrobat, Firefox w/ gmail all open at the some time.
Price being a big consideration, what would be the best bang for the buck for me?
Thanks

[tehboris]

If you are using an integrated graphics card I'd be tempted to get a dedicated card just for the memory. Other wise get a new CPU. You can probably get the fastest your board supports for not much money, unless it support the core2 duos.

[mickeymutt]

What graphics card would you recommend? Also, the Emachine uses an Intel MB D101GGC. I think it will take a Pentium D 960 or 950. Would this work?

[tehboris]

http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-Intel/D101GGC.html

http://www.intel.com/products/motherboard/D101GGC/index.htm

http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SL95V

Small issue: http://www.google.co.uk/products?q=Pentium+SL95V

on the other hand: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/INTEL-Pentium-D-Dual-Core-3-4GHZ-4MB-800-950-SL95V-NEW_W0QQitemZ350153143075QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_Def aultDomain_0?hash=item350153143075

Getting a Pentium D 3.4GHz SL95V should make a noticeable difference. I notice that it's integrated graphics card is a ATI X300. The only reason I would suggest to get a better card is just so the graphics card has it's own dedicated memory so any thing that works would be an improvement.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-171-SP

[xcorvis]

Interesting that these give different results.
http://www.google.co.uk/products?q=Pentium+SL95V
http://www.google.com/products?q=Pentium+SL95V

If you've got money to spend, like $500 or more, you can get a dual core system for pretty cheap. For a single low cost upgrade the processor is probably the best bet. Just going from a Celeron to a Pentium D should make a big difference, even if you don't choose the fastest available. A Pentium SL9KA (3 ghz, as opposed to 3.4) is cheaper, at least on some sites.

[gta_bmx]

He says price is a big consideration, so I don't think he'd want to spend $500, but he really doesn't need to spend that much to get a solid dual-core system.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4387673&CatId=31

This $129 kit comes with a case with a 450w PS (prob. way better than the eMachines PS), motherboard, dual core AMD CPU, and 2 gigs of RAM. Then he can add his DVD drive, HD, RAM, and OS from his current system into it for a full system. And it'll be a lot faster than his current rig (more cache, faster CPU), and it'll have the ability for future upgrades like a PCI-e graphics card and a Phenom CPU. Then he can sell his eMachines on ebay and some sucker will probably pay $70-$80 for it -- recouping most of the $129 back or keep the eMachines as a spare. There are other kits on TigerDirect like a Biostar kit that comes with a dual-core Intel for $149 (case, mobo, CPU, RAM).

[gta_bmx]

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4387931&csid=ITD&body=MAIN#detailspecs

This kit will probably be my next PC. Great Asus mobo, fast dual-core AMD CPU, cool looking case, and bigger PS than I have now. I'll just need to add my drives, RAM, and Vista OS from my current 1.5 year old system. Then the 1.5 year old box will get Ubuntu and be used as a podcast/media viewer on my living room TV.