$750 build

[strep3241]

My dad is wanting me to build him a new computer for around $750, could go over a little bit. His main use for this machine is typical office type stuff, using microsoft word and excel, quicken, listening to music through windows media player, browsing the net. He doesn't do any gaming at all, don't plan on doing any overclocking. Plan on buying as soon as possible.

Will not need a video card, can use integrated graphics or I have a few spare ones he could use. He is just running a 19" monitor. Don't need a sound card, keyboard, mouse, monitor or windows.

For the CPU, would like to stick with intel brand if possible. But not ruling out AMD.

He is currently running an i5-760, Asus p7p55d-e lx mobo, 4gb's of ddr3 ram, 2 wd black hard drives, windows 64bit

Ty in advance for the help

 

[whm1974]

How is this for a start?
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/xfdVd6

 

[4K_shmoorK]

Is there a specific reason he wants to spend $750? A build for word processing, multimedia, and web browsing doesn't need to cost $750. Maybe something like this for about $560?

Should be quiet and clean with the full modular PSU. Perhaps add another fan for a bit more airflow, preferably a quiet one. When I think office PC, I think quiet and quick boot.
EDIT: oops, copied wrong list

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i3-8100 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($126.25 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI - Z370-A PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($100.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial - Ballistix Sport LT 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($88.49 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital - Blue 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($79.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.89 @ OutletPC)
Case: Corsair - 100R Silent ATX Mid Tower Case ($56.99 @ B&H)
Power Supply: EVGA - B3 450W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($49.88 @ OutletPC)
Total: $562.37
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-01-31 12:42 EST-0500

 

[DaveSimmons]

Have you priced prebuilts with warranty since this isn't a gaming PC?

I've had 2 Dell office desktops (Vostro model) and 2 Acers (desktop, mini-ITX) and all have been quiet and well-designed. The mini-ITX is my music jukebox (lossless FLAC) and the other 3 were/are for work.

I build my own gaming PCs, but it's hard to compete against decent prebuilts if one has the specs you want. Also, if you buy from Dell Business there's less bloatware, or PCs from the Microsoft Store have none.

 

[VirtualLarry]

https://www.newegg.com/promotions/intel/18-0228/index.html?cm_sp=Homepage-Top2016-_-P9_intel/18-0228-_-https://promotions.newegg.com/intel/18-0228/1920x360.jpg&icid=432599

One of these would be PERFECT.

My advice, would be to add/replace RAM, 16GB will run you $160-200 these days. Or just add a 4GB stick (I hope that they have two slots?), for another $40-50.

(In case that link dies, I'm liking to a promo page on Newegg, where they show a pre-built complete NUC kit with a 7th-Gen Core "U" CPU, an i3, an i5, and I think an i7, ranging from under $500 to over $700. All with HDDs and Optane Memory drives.)

Edit: All three models of NUC have a 2C/4T CPU, so get the middle one, and add a 4GB stick of DDR4 (SO-DIMM, I assume), or replace with a 16GB kit (2x8GB SO-DIMM DDR4).

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=83-800-029&Tpk=83-800-029

Seriously, just get that one. Add a 4GB SO-DIMM DDR4. Done.

 

[strep3241]

Is there a specific reason he wants to spend $750? A build for word processing, multimedia, and web browsing doesn't need to cost $750. Maybe something like this for about $560?

Should be quiet and clean with the full modular PSU. Perhaps add another fan for a bit more airflow, preferably a quiet one. When I think office PC, I think quiet and quick boot.
EDIT: oops, copied wrong list

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i3-8100 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($126.25 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI - Z370-A PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($100.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial - Ballistix Sport LT 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($88.49 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital - Blue 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($79.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.89 @ OutletPC)
Case: Corsair - 100R Silent ATX Mid Tower Case ($56.99 @ B&H)
Power Supply: EVGA - B3 450W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($49.88 @ OutletPC)
Total: $562.37
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-01-31 12:42 EST-0500

No real specific reason.

About the storage, a 1tb storage drive would be more than enough.

Have you priced prebuilts with warranty since this isn't a gaming PC?

I've had 2 Dell office desktops (Vostro model) and 2 Acers (desktop, mini-ITX) and all have been quiet and well-designed. The mini-ITX is my music jukebox (lossless FLAC) and the other 3 were/are for work.

I build my own gaming PCs, but it's hard to compete against decent prebuilts if one has the specs you want. Also, if you buy from Dell Business there's less bloatware, or PCs from the Microsoft Store have none.

I have looked at prebuilts but not real close. For just an office pc, a prebuilt would be fine in his case but my main concern with prebuilts is they tend to use low quality psu's. Now I know many people buy prebuilts and last for years and years with no issues and also realize this system is not going to be pushed hard at all. He will be keeping this system for several years.

Now if I was to consider a prebuilt, would there be any specific brands to stay away from?

 

[DaveSimmons]

> Now if I was to consider a prebuilt, would there be any specific brands to stay away from?

Lenovo has been caught a couple of times recently shipping PCs and laptops with back doors and malware so I'd hesitate to buy a desktop. I loved the trackpoint on my old IBM Thinkpad so I'd still consider them for a laptop.

Like I said above I've had good experiences with Dell Business and Acer Home (which does come with bloatware if not from the Microsoft Store). I've heard Dell Home has lower quality and masses of bloatware.

Larry's NUC idea is interesting, though they are slower laptop CPUs and have little fans that might get whiny over time. If he's fine with the size of a mini-ITX or micro-ATX desktop it will probably be faster and/or cheaper than a NUC.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Well, there's always the DIY NUC-style option. That's what I chose last year (before I got my Ryzen-based ATX/mATX PCs). Look up ASRock DeskMini. Like a NUC, but takes desktop CPUs.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I like the idea of NUCs and might get a low-speed fanless one for my next music jukebox. But in a home office with just one PC the big desktop will usually not take up enough space to matter and will be easier to cool, keep quiet, and fix or upgrade than a NUC.

 

[strep3241]

On the NUC's, I am guessing they use special parts? Are these special parts harder to come by and will they be harder to replace? He does like to keep his house a little on the warm side so not sure if heat would be a problem with these.

He does not have a problem with the size of a regular desktop. Guessing that parts on a regular desktop would be easier to replace than a NUC? Also the NUC's don't have any optical drives and he does still use cd's and dvd's.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Also the NUC's don't have any optical drives and he does still use cd's and dvd's.

That would be a "no", then, on the NUC, if you still need optical drives.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

That would be a "no", then, on the NUC, if you still need optical drives.

USB slim DVD-RW is $25. "Still use CD's and DVD's" could mean he's running a duplication service, or it could mean he burns a CD every six months. For infrequent use, a USB drive in a desk drawer is fine.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

No real specific reason.

About the storage, a 1tb storage drive would be more than enough.

If 1TB of storage is enough and there's slack in the budget, I'd suggest doing an SSD-only build with a single 1TB drive.

 

[strep3241]

Is there a specific reason he wants to spend $750? A build for word processing, multimedia, and web browsing doesn't need to cost $750. Maybe something like this for about $560?

Should be quiet and clean with the full modular PSU. Perhaps add another fan for a bit more airflow, preferably a quiet one. When I think office PC, I think quiet and quick boot.
EDIT: oops, copied wrong list

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i3-8100 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($126.25 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI - Z370-A PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($100.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial - Ballistix Sport LT 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($88.49 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital - Blue 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($79.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.89 @ OutletPC)
Case: Corsair - 100R Silent ATX Mid Tower Case ($56.99 @ B&H)
Power Supply: EVGA - B3 450W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($49.88 @ OutletPC)
Total: $562.37
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-01-31 12:42 EST-0500

So how does this build look? Besides maybe changing the 2tb to a 1tb drive, what about the rest?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

So how does this build look? Besides maybe changing the 2tb to a 1tb drive, what about the rest?

I'd probably do something more like this:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/ZRnPm8

 

[strep3241]

Wouldn't a smaller SSD drive and a 500 or 1tb normal drive be cheaper than 1 big SSD?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Wouldn't a smaller SSD drive and a 500 or 1tb normal drive be cheaper than 1 big SSD?

Sure, but if you've got $750 to work with and don't need a GPU, why not get something that will be fast all the time as opposed to something that will be fast sometimes, and slow sometimes, depending on what data you're accessing and where it is?

Heck, I'd be tempted to get 16GB of RAM, too. Similar reason.

 

[aigomorla]

His main use for this machine is typical office type stuff, using microsoft word and excel, quicken, listening to music through windows media player, browsing the net. He doesn't do any gaming at all, don't plan on doing any overclocking. Plan on buying as soon as possible.

Prebuilt.... seriously, if gaming / rendering / encoding / 3D modeling is not anything in the objective, you cant beat the value of a prebuilt.

Look at some HP desktops, and some Dells.
If you want a bit more oomph, then purchase a sammy 850 / Crucial MX500, use data migration software included, and move the OS onto a SSD.

But you can pick up a lot better machine then what most people will part out for you by going a prebuilt for cheaper.

I have looked at prebuilts but not real close. For just an office pc, a prebuilt would be fine in his case but my main concern with prebuilts is they tend to use low quality psu's.

This is so not true.
Where do you hear this?

They however put weak psu's in their systems.
The PSU's are very limited, and do not offer much upgrade possibilities.

But again, if your needs are not what i listed up top, why would you need a beefier PSU?

Do not mix up greed of building, and your dad's wants in the same build.
The outcome will only result in a loud and overpowered machine which he wont need and will consume more power then required.

If all he is going to do is what you listed, he doesnt need a 500W+ PSU, nor a Dedicated GPU, nor even 16GB of ram.

8GB would be ideal for almost any situation.
Onboard IGP
Possibly a quadcore i5 / Ryzen 5 type processor because google chrome is a resource PIG.
And maybe an upgrade to a SSD.

 

[Herr Kutz]

If that is all your dad is doing on his machine I would just install an SSD. I am doing all that and more with no speed issues on an i3-530.

 

[Ken g6]

If that is all your dad is doing on his machine I would just install an SSD. I am doing all that and more with no speed issues on an i3-530.

This sounds good except I think he needs more RAM too. I got fed up with 4GB years ago. DDR3 shouldn't be too hard to find.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I don't know about low-power, exactly, but here's a build I just put together from parts a day or two ago.

AMD FX-8320E ($110 on ebay, currently $120)
Gigabyte 78LMT-USB3 R2 ($56 from Newegg, currently $71)
16GB Team Group Dark DDR3-1600 16GB kit ($0 used, currently $110-120)
480GB Team Group L5 Lite 3D 2.5" SATA SSD ($100 from Newegg, currently $131)
Rosewill Galaxy-03 ATX mid-tower case ($28 from Newegg, currently $56)
EVGA 400W 80Plus ATX PSU w/6-pin PCI-E ($33 from Newegg / maybe ebay, currently? maybe $40?)
Gigabyte GT1030 single-slot w/fan GPU ($85 from Newegg, currently $89)

Total for parts for me was around $500. At current non-sale prices, you'll pay around $630 before OS. Granted, this is last-gen tech, using an FX CPU, but I was pleasantly surprised at how well it performs, with 8 "cores", and L3 cache, and a 4Ghz turbo, while having a 95W TDP. I call it a "winner". Ryzen performs better, but you'll pay $289 for a 1700 CPU.

Something for consideration. An 8-core FX isn't horrible. Not nearly as bad as those single-module "dual core" APUs based on PileDriver, without an L3 cache onboard, and limited clock speeds.

Edit: It should be noted, that board doesn't have Windows 10 drivers listed, but other than having to download the newest NVidia driver for the GPU, everything else was detected and installed by the Windows 10 1703 64-bit installer, including the onboard LAN.

 

[4K_shmoorK]

Ryzen 3 2200G centric build would be my suggestion now.