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I'm looking at this computer:

Processor: Intel® Core™ i5 2400 Processor
Motherboard: Asus P8H67-M PRO/CSM Motherboard
Graphics: Integrated Intel® HD Graphics 2000 (inside CPU)
Memory: Kingston Value RAM 2x2GB 1333MHz DDR3 Memory
Hard Drive: Seagate 500G SATA II HDD
Optical Drive: 22x DVD+/-RW
Chassis: Velocity IW-Z583 Mini Tower
Power Supply: Powerman 400W Power Supply

with these additions:

Seagate 2TB HDD
2 sticks of this: Kingston ValueRAM 2GB PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM, which would double the RAM to 8GB

Also interested in a video card so I can run a dual screen setup. Never bought one before so I don't know what I'm looking for. Memory Express has a list of their video cards here.

The computer is $700, the HDD is on sale for $60, and the RAM is another $54. So $814 before a video card.

Main use will be spreadsheets, word processing, and web browsing, but I'd like to set it up to stream content to a PS3 or something to the TV, and some video editing/processing/converting will probably the the heaviest demand placed on it. Maybe some video games from the last ten years.

Your opinions? Is the power supply sufficient for my needs? Would I be better served by an i7?

I'm looking to spend under a grand for the computer.


Sidenote:

14x USB 2.0 ports available (10 through onboard headers)
2x USB 3.0/2.0 ports.

Holy shit, 16 USB ports? Is that typical on a modern desktop?

If you plan on editing HD res video then I would heartily recommend an i7.

The built-in Intel Graphics comes with the following tag: Guaranteed Epic Fail

Seriously, get a decent graphics card. Even low end ATI or Nvidia cards have better performance and better compatibility with almost everything out there. You might as well get one from the get-go, since the answer to most graphics problem questions with setup is to buy a separate graphics card.

The Intel card is fine for email, web surfing etc common everyday tasks, but if you want to play games or do any heavy lift graphics or video processing, the onboard chip won't cut it.

Phantasee wrote:Sidenote:

14x USB 2.0 ports available (10 through onboard headers)
2x USB 3.0/2.0 ports.

Holy shit, 16 USB ports? Is that typical on a modern desktop?

Most of the Cougar point motherboards I've seen have ungodly numbers of USB ports. Mine has 10 just on the back, and using the headers I've got another 10 on the front. It's effectively 19, though, as one of the USB 3.0 ports on the back has a pass-through plugged into it for the USB 3.0 port on my card reader.

As for the PC you linked, the only concerns I would have that you haven't already addressed are getting a decent video card (this one is the best bang for your buck, IMO, at least on that site) and maybe a power supply. Even with a fairly powerful video card in there the wattage should be sufficient, but I've never heard of Powerman and I've had problems with generic PSUs dying before. If you go with any of the product replacement plans, though, I wouldn't worry about it.

What kind of PSU should I look for? How many watts would I need to be safe? Quieter is better.

Edi wrote:The built-in Intel Graphics comes with the following tag: Guaranteed Epic Fail

The HD 2000 is actually pretty decent, though the variants with the HD 3000 would be better.

The Intel card is fine for email, web surfing etc common everyday tasks, but if you want to play games or do any heavy lift graphics or video processing, the onboard chip won't cut it.

The SNB GPU is very good for video processing - it does hardware-accelerated H.264 encoding.

Phantasee wrote:What kind of PSU should I look for? How many watts would I need to be safe? Quieter is better.

The stock PSU is fine; if you want to upgrade something like a Seasonic or Corsair 400W-or-so PSU would be fine.