basic office build - what do you guys think?

[Turbonium]

Recently edited.

Note: the system will primarily be used for basic office tasks, but needs to be able to hold its own in terms of other tasks from time to time, like content creation, perhaps gaming, and multitasking in general without slowdown. It also needs to last at least 5 years.

Keep in mind I'm in Canada, so prices should be a bit higher than in the USA as I understand it.

Parts have been ordered as follows:

CPU: Intel Pentium G850 ($70)
RAM: Kingston 8GB (2X4GB) 1333 MHz (Cas9) ($35)
mobo: Intel DB75EN mATX LGA1155 B75 ($82)
storage: salvaging from old system ($0)
optical: ASUS DRW-24B1ST 24X ($20)
PSU: Antec Earthwatts 380W (incl. with PSU)
case: Antec NSK3480 mATX ($100)
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit ($100)

(total was ~$407 + shipping + taxes)

Going to use an old 120GB or 320GB SATA drive I got lying around, so no HDD/SDD was purchased.

Thank you for your input all.

 

[ElFenix]

core i3 is overkill for standard office activities. so is a big SSD.

frankly for office stuff a mass market matx box from hp, lenovo, or dell suffices just fine.

 

[Termie]

Buy a smaller SSD just for the OS (like a Samsung 830 64GB) and use one of your old hard drives for storage. You'll save ~$125 and have the same performance. Also, if it's available where you shop, consider something like the i3-2100, which will save you $20-30 compared to the 3225. A Pentium model (like the G850) would also be fine for office tasks, although Excel would benefit from the hyperthreading on the i3. You might also be able to trim a few dollars off the motherboard by shopping around for non-Intel models.

 

[Turbonium]

frankly for office stuff a mass market matx box from hp, lenovo, or dell suffices just fine.

Yea, but that's no fun.

I should mention that while this is an office machine, it may be used here and there for some light content creation and gaming. It should be a good all-around machine, hence the specs.

Budget isn't a huge issue (+/- 50 bucks isn't going to matter for the buyer).

 

[Termie]

Yea, but that's no fun.

I should mention that while this is an office machine, it may be used here and there for some light content creation and gaming. It should be a good all-around machine, hence the specs.

Budget isn't a huge issue (+/- 50 bucks isn't going to matter for the buyer).

Gaming? Well, in that case the 3225 is probably worth it.

Skip the big Intel SSD, though. Terrible value. If you must have a big SSD, get a Samsung 256GB.

 

[Turbonium]

Gaming? Well, in that case the 3225 is probably worth it.

Skip the big Intel SSD, though. Terrible value. If you must have a big SSD, get a Samsung 256GB.

Here's the thing: this computer is for my dad, and there's a good chance I won't be around to fix things if anything breaks (and this computer will be used for a good 5 years at least). The Intel SSD has better quality flash afaik (i.e. lasts longer), and a 5 year warranty to boot. I'm going for reliability here, even at a bit of a premium; unless I'm getting totally ripped off, I don't really care if it's good value or not for a component or two. In the end, it's a cheap, low-end system that can hold its own for years to come in basic computing tasks and the occasional foray into more intensive computing applications.

Oh, also: I'm hellbent on an Intel SSD. I won't get any other type of SSD, simply because of the validation processes Intel puts their drives through.

I hope that makes sense.

 

[Termie]

Here's the thing: this computer is for my dad, and there's a good chance I won't be around to fix things if anything breaks (and this computer will be used for a good 5 years at least). The Intel SSD has better quality flash afaik (i.e. lasts longer), and a 5 year warranty to boot. I'm going for reliability here, even at a bit of a premium; unless I'm getting totally ripped off, I don't really care if it's good value or not for a component or two. In the end, it's a cheap, low-end system that can hold its own for years to come in basic computing tasks and the occasional foray into more intensive computing applications.

Oh, also: I'm hellbent on an Intel SSD. I won't get any other type of SSD, simply because of the validation processes Intel puts their drives through.

I hope that makes sense.

The problem is that the Intel 520 is a SandForce drive. There's only so much Intel can do to prevent it from failing.

Samsung's SSDs are considered the most reliable SSDs on the market - even Anand himself recommends them over and over, because Samsung has total control over every component of the SSD, unlike Intel.

Your build is fine, but extremely expensive for a general Internet surfer/office system.

 

[Turbonium]

I'm just going to ditch the SSD altogether and re-use an old drive.

Thanks for your input.

 

[tcsenter]

$80 will fetch you an improved B75 or H77 mobo, rather than the now-dated H61.

 

[Turbonium]

$80 will fetch you an improved B75 or H77 mobo, rather than the now-dated H61.

What's the point of going H77?

I modified the OP into a B75 mobo. Good call. Thanks.

 

[Raincity]

Do you have a Sandy bridge CPU to use to flash the bios on that board. I doubt the stock bios will support a Ivy without a flash. I have a very similer system for my office/ secondary machine. I used a Intel BH77EB board and Samsung 1600 and Intel 330 120g intead.

 

[Turbonium]

Do you have a Sandy bridge CPU to use to flash the bios on that board. I doubt the stock bios will support a Ivy without a flash. I have a very similer system for my office/ secondary machine. I used a Intel BH77EB board and Samsung 1600 and Intel 330 120g intead.

Thanks for letting me know, but I was already aware of the issues. I couldn't guarantee I was going to get revision 209+, so that's another reason for the B75 motherboard I'm getting instead.

 

[tcsenter]

I was thinking you may be open to mobo brands other than Intel to save a little more. I see the B75 Intel board is $10 more than the H61. Still, I think its worth it. The B75 has some better features and doesn't give-up anything over H61. It doesn't support Intel RST or RAID, but neither does H61.

As others mentioned, you could definitely get away with a lesser CPU for your needs. Good luck.

 

[Ken g6]

If this computer is going to be used for gaming, that's a use case for AMD Trinity. In most cases, performance shouldn't be noticeably worse than an i3, and the graphics performance should be much better.

The only problem here is I know nothing about socket FM2 motherboards. But there appear to be a number of them in your price range on Newegg.

 

[mfenn]

Contrary to popular belief, reliability of a computer system really has very little to do with avoiding failures. Reliability is about recovering from failures as quickly and transparently as possible.

This screams for a refurb Optiplex from the Dell Outlet. It comes standard with a 3-year warranty and you can upgrade to 5 years if you want. If anything breaks, there is a Dell tech at your Dad's door the next day with a replacement part in hand.

 

[Turbonium]

Um, just so you all know, I went ahead and ordered the parts a few hours ago.

To everyone who suggested a pre-made box: that's just no fun, and I'm itching to build a new system. This is sort of an expensive hobby after all, is it not?

Let me nerd it up in peace.

 

[mfenn]

Sure, building a system is fun. Getting called by a family member who lives 100+ miles away to fix said system is a whole nother kind of "fun". :awe:

 

[Turbonium]

Sure, building a system is fun. Getting called by a family member who lives 100+ miles away to fix said system is a whole nother kind of "fun". :awe:

Stop raining on my parade.

 

[Turbonium]

Ok, so lapse in judgement on my part: the PC won't be used for gaming after all. Like ever. I should have gone with a Pentium Gxx0 model (not the end of the world, but I don't like to go overkill).

The parts haven't shipped yet (and won't for another day or so because the motherboard is basically backordered), so I'm going to try and get them to exchange the CPU for a cheaper Pentium. So which Pentium do you recommend? I want the system to run smooth as silk in the Win7 environment, to play 1080p movies without a trace of stuttering, and for the stock HSF to be as quiet as possible.

I'm thinking a G620. Or is that too slow (if marginally)? Is the G850 noticeably better at the above mentioned tasks? Another 300MHz with the exact same architecture doesn't sound like it would really matter at clocks this high.

EDIT: I found a G850 for super cheap, so I'm just going with that.

 

[Raincity]

Have fun with that build. I noticed when I flashed the motherboard bios on my setup. The UEFI had been rehaled into a much better interface than the pervious one. Im sure it was a universal change with all the current Intel boards. Something you may want to look into.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

i would spend $25 more or $50 more and get a faster chip. pentium chips are great but if youre building for someone else chances are they wont replace very often so you want to get them something that will good for as long as possible

 

[iluvdeal]

Honestly, you should have put you Dad'd needs over your own desire to build. I mean what's he gonna do if the hard drive fails or PSU goes out? Can he wait weeks or months for you to come home to repair it? Guess he'll have to call Geek Squad. There's a time and place to DIY, this ain't it.

 

[Turbonium]

Honestly, you should have put you Dad'd needs over your own desire to build. I mean what's he gonna do if the hard drive fails or PSU goes out? Can he wait weeks or months for you to come home to repair it? Guess he'll have to call Geek Squad. There's a time and place to DIY, this ain't it.

((RAIN CLOUDS))
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[my nerd parade]

 

[Termie]

((RAIN CLOUDS))
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[my nerd parade]

I'll just chime back in here to help blow some of those rain clouds away...

I first built my mom a computer in late 2006, after her HP failed just after the 1-year warranty expired (dead hard drive). I fixed it but she decided to give it away to someone who needed a computer, and so I built her a C2D system. I have since built her two other systems, and you know what...

...in six years, not a single blue screen, not a single hardware failure, not a single complaint. My dad now has the first one, my brother has the second one. So, for those saying "but who's going to provide support", well, I say that if you pick your parts well, it will turn out to be much more reliable than an OEM machine. And furthermore, many questions that arise aren't due to hardware problems but general usage issues that would occur on any system (in particular, my family had a habit of getting some nasty spyware infections before I locked them down with Malwarebytes). So, I'm not against building systems for friends/relatives...although I don't think you actually save any money on the low-end of the spectrum.

 

[iluvdeal]

By far the common failure I've seen with computers is hard drives, and box makers use the same drives so you won't get any reliability help there by buying it yourself. Luckily the chance of drive failure is lower with SSDs so it's good he's not using platter based drives in the system.

For any friend/relative where going days without access would be a huge issue, offering to build it means you should be able to support them in case their system goes down as well.