The right choice nowadays would be ... ?
 

Well, due to long inactivity i'm finding myself completely out of touch with recently released processors and whatnot.

To keep it clear and simple, i'm looking for a new setup that has to meet just a few basic demands:

- a simple office setup, mainly aimed at office & school work, with a little recreational photo editing on the side
- i'm looking to keep the above rig, plus a 17" LCD in a budget of about €750 to €1000

Of course, being a little bit futureproof is a big pro for such a system. I'm leaning towards an Intel Core2 Duo processor, but i need to do some reading up before deciding on this actually :). On the other hand, there are some things i'm certain about:
- no need to spend big on the GFX card,
- HD can be kept relatively cheap since I have an 80Gb on the side that's meant to be data storage,
- onboard NIC and audio will be more then good enough,
- preferably quiet, this thing will most likely not be OC'ed (i'm only saying this because it's not for me :) )

I'd be more then grateful if some of the enlightened (and more up to date) minds amongst us could give me a gentle push in the right direction. =)

Core 2 is a real powerhouse.
Even the cheapest (E6300 - 180 euro) paired with a budget minded (asrock - 60 euro) board is capable of beating any AMD FX...

Of course, to be a bit futureproof and intel 965 based mainboard (tagged ~110 euro) will be better. But then again, PC is never future or upgrade proof. New CPU is most of the time newer mainboard with different chipset. So in my eyes the asrock will suffice.

Core 2 means DDR2. No need for high end memory (AM2 DOES need high end memory). A 1 Gig kit DDR2 533 Mhz can be found somewhere near 110 euro.

GAming, I would say a Nvidia 7600GT. (180 euro) This will be capable of playing any game at 1280*1024. Not always with highest detail, but surely with a decent detail level.

But if it's really a simple office pc, get yourself a AMD AM2 sempron or A64 (80 euro for cpu + 50 euro budget mainboard). I have something like that as a mainrig at the moment; works fine. I'm even using the onboard Geforce 6100 :)

I made you something. It's only as a referral, do with it whatever you want :).

NIC and Audio onboard, you can easily ditch the HD if you want to.
Passive cooled graphic card, only good for desktop apps...

Enough cpu power for a few years ;).

expensive shop :)

Forcom 17inch TFT 8ms Black € 169
Samsung 720N TFT silver/Slimline 8ms € 189.95
Iiyama E1700SV-B1 17inch TFT 8ms Multimedia € 189.95


Corsair DDR2 1024MB 533MHz Dual channel kit (2 x 512MB) € 135

But two times the following will work just as good.

Twinmos DDR2 512MB 533MHz € 58.95

That's why I said "referral" :p ;p.

still got a TV for you here :)
don't spend to much...