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Looking for low cost PC

Fanatical Meat

Fanatical Meat

Lifer
For the wife. I'd like something on the smaller side but not essential.
8GB minimum
Intel processor (I'm done with AMD motherboards in the low cost segment)
Windows 10 is required

I made the rookie mistake and built the current machine for her a few years ago and it has been a dog with constant problems.
I didn't follow the "Only build PCs for yourself golden rule"

PC is used for pretty mundane stuff, Facebook games are probably the most taxing thing she runs.


Any suggestions?
 
I've got a nice like G4560 custom pre-built in my FS thread, check that out, it has pics.

But if you were looking for a OEM name-brand pre-built, Newegg seems to perenially have some sort of Acer desktop with an i5-7400 (3.0Ghz base clock) and a HDD (no SSD) for $400-450 on sale.

Honestly, though, it sounds like you had some issues with your prior custom-built. Not all of them will have issues. In fact, one flaky part can cause that "constant issues", especially mobo, RAM, or HDD/SSD (or PSU, if it's poor-quality or defective). I wouldn't necessarily use that one experience to put you off of building for your wife forever. (In fact, OEM pre-builts can have issues too.)

Edit: Also consider an ASRock DeskMini PC for her. Just add desktop Skylake / Kaby Lake CPU, SO-DIMM DDR4 (2133 for Skylake, 2400 for Kaby Lake), and an M.2 PCI-E (no SATA) or a 2.5" SATA SSD, and an OS. It's a cute little box, with built-in AC Wifi and BT.

Though, I did have issues with one of mine spontaneously rebooting, on a nearly-weekly basis. Unsure why.

Edit: Could consider a HP or Lenovo mini-PC, with an i3 "T" series CPU, SSD, 8GB RAM, etc., in a very small form-factor. Would probably have a very high "WAF".

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...1179&cm_re=mini_pc-_-9SIAA0S56N1179-_-Product

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...9348&cm_re=mini_pc-_-1VK-001E-0DSM8-_-Product
 
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VirtualLarry said:
I've got a nice like G4560 custom pre-built in my FS thread, check that out, it has pics.

But if you were looking for a OEM name-brand pre-built, Newegg seems to perenially have some sort of Acer desktop with an i5-7400 (3.0Ghz base clock) and a HDD (no SSD) for $400-450 on sale.

Honestly, though, it sounds like you had some issues with your prior custom-built. Not all of them will have issues. In fact, one flaky part can cause that "constant issues", especially mobo, RAM, or HDD/SSD (or PSU, if it's poor-quality or defective). I wouldn't necessarily use that one experience to put you off of building for your wife forever. (In fact, OEM pre-builts can have issues too.)

Edit: Also consider an ASRock DeskMini PC for her. Just add desktop Skylake / Kaby Lake CPU, SO-DIMM DDR4 (2133 for Skylake, 2400 for Kaby Lake), and an M.2 PCI-E (no SATA) or a 2.5" SATA SSD, and an OS. It's a cute little box, with built-in AC Wifi and BT.

Though, I did have issues with one of mine spontaneously rebooting, on a nearly-weekly basis. Unsure why.
Click to expand...

Yeah I guess it's more I'm afraid of
low cost amd motherboards

I am thinking I *may* put together an intel nuk
 
Fanatical Meat said:
Yeah I guess it's more I'm afraid of
low cost amd motherboards
Click to expand...
Yeah, it's certainly possible to cut corners a little too much, back in the AM2/AM2+/AM3 days.

OTOH, I built my friend a rig with an ASRock 785G board, that has solid caps where necessary, and that little board has held up for nearly 10 years. But I made sure to spec a board with solid caps, and takes up to 140W CPUs, so the VRMs are beefy, for AM2+. Dropped in an Athlon II X4 AM3 CPU, been running for years.

Most boards these days all have solid caps, except for possibly the audio amp caps. Even freaking Biostar boards.

I think a NUC would fit the bill too, but if you want any sort of CPU horsepower in your NUC, then you're going to pay Intel through the nose for it, hence my preference for the DeskMini.
 
VirtualLarry said:
The Lenovo I posted was $220, and it was new, not a refurb. But good idea.
Click to expand...
OP wants 8GB memory and the item got good reviews. 😀

==

CPU Core i5-650 is 7 year old though. 😱

==

OP can buy Lenovo and add his own memory. 🙂
 
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