New Build for Work

Looking to replace the motherboard, memory and cpu in a 6.5 year old computer. It has a dedicated video card, a brand new 550W Corsair PSU, a SATA hard drive, an optical drive and a case... all of which will not be replaced. The computer is used for web browsing, MS Office including the ever sluggish Outlook, ACT by Sage (customer management database) and Quickbooks. The computer is connected to 2 19" monitors (not sure if that matters). Computer will run XP 32bit.

Any suggestions for a new CPU, Motherboard and Memory?

Thanks in advance.

Tushon

Budget? How forward looking to do you want it to be?

Gargoyle

Good news is that something cheap will work for you, and probably be many times better than what you had in there. Before knowing your budget, I'd say get a cheap dual core from AMD or Intel and you'd be good to go. If you can afford a Core i3, you'd probably really notice the difference.

Thrax

Or a cheaper AMD A8 APU with any one of several inexpensive dual monitor-ready motherboards.

/shillmodeengaged

Cliff_Forster

I was going to suggest the AMD A8 as well.

Tushon

Those were the two things I was going to suggest, with a budget preference for A8

phuschnickens

I'd love to be under $200 for all 3 parts.

phuschnickens

Oh and in terms of how forward looking... We have no plans of upgrading any software on this computer for a very long time with the exception of anti virus, flash player, adobe reader, browsers, and Quickbooks. That's it. Fa real. We all know plans change sometimes, but I'm budgeting for very little upgrading.

Tushon

What is current video card you use?

Tushon

32bit build (/<4GB memory limit)<br />
G.SKILL 2x2GB DDR3 1600
ASRock A75M and AMD A6-3650 (2.6GHz Quad core) Combo

$201+shipping

or
Gigabyte Mobo same design and chip combo
$196 + shipping - $10 rebate (72 hour sale from earlier today)

Tushon

Intel Build:
G.SKILL 2x2GB DDR3 1333
ECS H61H2-M2
i3-2120 (3.3 GHz dual core)

$220 + shipping - $15 MIR

phuschnickens

I believe the video card is a Radeon 7000 (VE family?)

Thanks for the tips. I guess my biggest question is always about the need for CPU specs. I'm usually not up on the "latest and greatest" (and more importantly the "decent and acceptable"). You've given me a sufficient start. Now I just have to convince the boss that it's cruel and unusual to make an employee use a 7 year old, dying computer.