Opinions needed new build

[sirhc6]

So my mom hired me to get her three three new desktops set up for her business. The company she deals with sent her the info for the computers they get for $860, and its really overkill.

So I figured they already have the monitors/keyboard/mouse/speakers/HDD/Optical Drive..

Not sure about the power supply I cant see why I cant re-use that too...

so really its just a mobo/cpu/ram/OS upgrade (32 to 64bit)

so I spent the night on ncix and came up with these

AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Quad Core Processor AM3 3.4GHZ 8MB Cache 125W 45NM Retail Box - AMD - HDZ965FBGMBOX

ASUS M5A97 AMD970/SB950 ATX AM3+ DDR3 2PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 SATA3 USB3.0 Audio CrossFireX Motherboard - ASUS - M5A97

G.SKILL Ripjaws X F3-10666CL9D-8GBXL 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1333 CL9-9-9-24 Memory - G.Skill - F3-10666CL9D-8GBXL

and the desktops they have are brand name so I figured a cheap case

Zalman Z9 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case Black 3X5.25 1X3.5 5X3.5INT No PS W/ Fan Controller & Temp Display - ZALMAN TECH - Z9 Plus

So first question, should I save money and re-use the old PSU's? I'm not sure how many watts atm.. since they aren't running and video cards or anything what wattage should I be looking at? is 500 to much?

Second, how bad are brand name cases? I'm not overclocking anything so it doesn't need to be super cool or anything..

also I honestly only know how to make sure the parts are compatible, I dont fully understand how everything works so if anyone could take a look at the parts I chose and recommend something better that would be great! Mainly I just found a cheap quad-core with good reviews, found a cheap mobo that had the am3 socket type, then went to the asus sight for qualified ram to find dimm 4 (do I even need dimm 4?) 8gb memory and I remember using 1333 for my personal build so there was only one option on ncix.


Some extra info - they have a lot of programs open at a time, but they dont do any intensive tasks like video editing/gaming.

Thanks in advance I'd really appreciate any help!

actually I just realized two of them I can swap out any parts but they do in fact need one more full computer so i'll have to buy at least one case and PSU..(I can figure the HDD and optical drive stuff out).

[The Quicken]

What functions will the desktops be serving? If it is just simple administrative tasks (email, office docs etc) 4 GBs of ram is fine, but remember DIMM ram works best in pairs so maybe go 4GB x2 per system ($50 max).
I would go intel dual core (E5800) and cut back on the flashy cases (it's an office setting yes?).

Use this to calculate need psu wattage eXtreme Power Supply Calculator

You didn't mention OS $$ What are you using? Suggest nothing less that Win7 Pro OEM (about $140).

[sirhc6]

They are for financial advisors/dealing with the stock market..A lot of administrative type tasks but also a bunch of stock programs, and everything is usually open at the same time..

Good point, I should look into a case without lights and such. (it is an office setting) Thanks that flew right by my head.

Yes sorry, win 7 64 bit was the plan

[The Quicken]

Originally Posted by sirhc6

They are for financial advisors/dealing with the stock market..A lot of administrative type tasks but also a bunch of stock programs, and everything is usually open at the same time..

Good point, I should look into a case without lights and such. (it is an office setting) Thanks that flew right by my head.

Yes sorry, win 7 64 bit was the plan

Than go with 8GB of ram (pairs) for multiple tasks. Are they using single or Dual Monitors?

[sirhc6]

what do you mean by pairs? 4x2? The one I found is 2 sticks of 4 and it is dimm4... do I need dimm4 ? I obviously dont understand it because I thought dimm4 was for 4 sticks not 2!

They are all using single monitors.

[The Quicken]

Originally Posted by sirhc6

what do you mean by pairs? 4x2? The one I found is 2 sticks of 4

My bad, thought you chose an 8GB stick! lol.

Have you asked/considered their needs that might need upgrades on your choices in the future? Reason why I asked about dual monitors. I agree with you choice of USB 3.0 on the mobo for this reason.

[sirhc6]

They have had their computers for about 5 years I think and they are just getting pretty slow, and besides getting me to reformat my mother thought it was a good time to upgrade. If I have 8gb ram, a quad core cpu, and usb 3.0 I cant really see any upgrades they could want that putting in a pci card couldn't fix! None of the employees really need that much screen real estate.

[The Quicken]

Speaking of Mobo, you already have your Video Cards? This board doesn't have on board video so you need to install a GPU....

[sirhc6]

woow, thankyou, I had it in my head that all mobos come with onboard video, ill keep looking


would you still recommend just the dual core?

[sirhc6]

ASUS M5A88-M mATX AM3+ DDR3 AMD 880G 1PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 1PCI USB3.0 SATA3 DVI HDMI Motherboard - ASUS - M5A88-M

there aren't to many reviews on this, anyone heard anything?

This looks like the next best for the money (with gpu! )

would need matx case though

and the ram I chose isnt on the qualified vendor list.

Hmm guess I am basically starting from scratch