Spec me: Cheap but good office PC... Is it worth building?

azibux1

azibux1

azibux1

Soldato
Joined
11 Oct 2011
Posts
3,335
Location
UK
Hi all,

As above I'd like a cheap (but good) office PC for my parents business. It is just used for general web browsing, and a small amount of word processing / excel

I would have created a spec list to get started with, but I have been out of the PC parts loop for a while now, so thought I'd see what you guys can give instead please

Is something like this really worth custom building? Or better off with just a pre-built from somewhere?

Ideally:
- SSD of around 120GB (hardly any files stored on it)
- Cheap as possible, while still being a decent PC that won't struggle with simple tasks
- Just needs to run 1 1920x1080 monitor

Just the tower is required, no OS and no monitor etc

Hope someone can help

Thanks :)
 
YOUR BASKET
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TPKD38G1600HC11DC01) £59.99
1 x SK Hynix 128GB SSD SH910A SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (HFS128G32MNB-2201A) £49.99
1 x Antec ISK 600 Small Form Factor ITX Chassis £49.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 350W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £41.99
1 x AMD Athlon 5150 1.60GHz Quad Core Processor - Retail (Socket AM1) £35.99
1 x MSI AM1I AMD AM1 (Socket FS1b) Mini ITX Motherboard £24.95
Total : £272.50 (includes shipping : £8.00).




YOUR BASKET
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TPKD38G1600HC11DC01) £59.99
1 x SK Hynix 128GB SSD SH910A SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (HFS128G32MNB-2201A) £49.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 350W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £41.99
1 x AMD Athlon 5150 1.60GHz Quad Core Processor - Retail (Socket AM1) £35.99
1 x Gigabyte GA-AM1M-S2H AMD AM1 (Socket FS1b) DDR3 Mirco ATX Motherboard £23.99
1 x Zalman T1 Plus Mini-Tower USB 3.0 - Black £19.99
Total : £245.44 (includes shipping : £11.25).




A little something.

Small and very low power.
 
Thanks Stulid

Worth maybe changing the processor for the 5350 instead? Seems to make sense for the small amount of extra money. Am I correct in saying it is still compatible with that mobo you spec'd?

Also, never really looked at cheap SSDs... Will I still see a good speed increase with that SSD over a standard drive? As if it is not worth it, then I already have a standard SATA drive I could use instead and save the £50

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD Athlon 5350 2.05GHz Quad Core Processor - Retail (Socket AM1) £43.99
Total : £47.90 (includes shipping : £3.26).

 
stulid said:
The APU is still compatible with the boards.

An SSD (that is actually a quick model) is so much nicer to use than a regular HDD, you will never want to go back to mechanical again.

http://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/bob/hynix-sh920-ssd-128gb-review/
Click to expand...

Yeah I know you can't beat a good SSD... Just I'd never heard of Hynix before :D haha so was just checking... Is that specific SSD going to give a good boost over a standard drive?

Leaving the SSD in there then (providing it is good), can you see anywhere else to cut costs? Or is that the best it is going to get?

Still that is pretty good money for a brand new PC, just seeing if any more money can be saved :p

Thanks :)
 
azibux1 said:
Yeah I know you can't beat a good SSD... Just I'd never heard of Hynix before :D haha so was just checking... Is that specific SSD going to give a good boost over a standard drive?

Leaving the SSD in there then (providing it is good), can you see anywhere else to cut costs? Or is that the best it is going to get?

Still that is pretty good money for a brand new PC, just seeing if any more money can be saved :p

Thanks :)
Click to expand...

Stulid* (Lucky I noticed the auto correct on my iPad! :p)

Recently recommended the SK Hynix for my new gaming rig and I have had no problems what so ever and boots windows, loads applications super fast very responsive.

My MSI 970 Gtx (£299 card) and many other high end graphics cards are shipped with Hynix memory so they are in the game lets say!
 
Thinking outside the box here.

Windows 8 Tablet with Office 365, Memory card slot, HDMI out and Bluetooth for Under £100 Then just add memory card and cheap bluetooth mouse / keyboard and hook it up to a Monitor / TV via HDMI

These do actually make really nice desktop PC's as long as you don't expect to be playing FarCry 4!
 
Gilbert89 said:
Stulid* (Lucky I noticed the auto correct on my iPad! :p)

Recently recommended the SK Hynix for my new gaming rig and I have had no problems what so ever and boots windows, loads applications super fast very responsive.

My MSI 970 Gtx (£299 card) and many other high end graphics cards are shipped with Hynix memory so they are in the game lets say!
Click to expand...

Thanks! Good to know :)

So it currently looks like this now:

YOUR BASKET
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TPKD38G1600HC11DC01) £59.99
1 x SK Hynix 128GB SSD SH910A SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (HFS128G32MNB-2201A) £49.99
1 x AMD Athlon 5350 2.05GHz Quad Core Processor - Retail (Socket AM1) £43.99
1 x Antec VPF350 350W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £34.99
1 x Gigabyte GA-AM1M-S2H AMD AM1 (Socket FS1b) DDR3 Mirco ATX Motherboard £23.99
1 x Zalman T1 Plus Mini-Tower USB 3.0 - Black £19.99
Total : £246.44 (includes shipping : £11.25).

 
pumaz said:
Thinking outside the box here.

Windows 8 Tablet with Office 365, Memory card slot, HDMI out and Bluetooth for Under £100 Then just add memory card and cheap bluetooth mouse / keyboard and hook it up to a Monitor / TV via HDMI

These do actually make really nice desktop PC's as long as you don't expect to be playing FarCry 4!
Click to expand...

Hmmmm... Not sure. Will a £100 tablet really match the performance of the PC? Needs to run full Windows 8 also, not RT, as I don't want to be restricted to the apps/programs I can run on it
 
Depends on the PC :p I've been doing general web browsing Linx 8, works fine. Although I've not put Chrome on it simply because it seems to be really bloated lately, IE works fine though. There are a few threads on here about the Linx tablets, have a quick flick through.
 
loftie said:
Depends on the PC :p I've been doing general web browsing Linx 8, works fine. Although I've not put Chrome on it simply because it seems to be really bloated lately, IE works fine though. There are a few threads on here about the Linx tablets, have a quick flick through.
Click to expand...

Comparing it to the PC in the spec list above :p

I'll take a look
 
Not a huge saving I know... But just realised I also still have the Cooler Master Elite 430 case my PC used to be in :D Which is micro atx compatible :)
 
azibux1 said:
Hmmmm... Not sure. Will a £100 tablet really match the performance of the PC? Needs to run full Windows 8 also, not RT, as I don't want to be restricted to the apps/programs I can run on it
Click to expand...

Well all Windows Tablets come with full Windows 8.1 and will run everything that a "normal pc" will. It will do everything you wanted it for.

To give you some idea of what they're capable of - I bought a Toshiba Encore 8 and installed the following Office, Chrome, Steam (COD 4, Counterstrike Source, Unreal Tournament 2004, Trackmania Nations, Quake 3), XBMC (Kodi), CCleaner and a ton of other bit's like emulators etc. and all work really well.

Only restrictions will be on modern demanding games and heavy applications.
 
stulid said:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-039-AR&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517

That RAM is the same price but slightly better timings so may be .0000001% faster.
Click to expand...

Sorry I missed this post... It has flashy LEDs too ;) Haha

Is Avexir a good brand? Compared to TeamGroup?

pumaz said:
Well all Windows Tablets come with full Windows 8.1 and will run everything that a "normal pc" will. It will do everything you wanted it for.

To give you some idea of what they're capable of - I bought a Toshiba Encore 8 and installed the following Office, Chrome, Steam (COD 4, Counterstrike Source, Unreal Tournament 2004, Trackmania Nations, Quake 3), XBMC (Kodi), CCleaner and a ton of other bit's like emulators etc. and all work really well.

Only restrictions will be on modern demanding games and heavy applications.
Click to expand...

Hmm I guess

The other things slightly putting me off that idea are:
- The ability to run two screens in future if necessary (a possible requirement, that a PC will be easily upgrade-able to if necessary)
- If something in the tablet fails. That's it. Whereas the PC the parts can be easily replaced
 
azibux1 said:
Sorry I missed this post... It has flashy LEDs too ;) Haha

Is Avexir a good brand? Compared to TeamGroup?



Hmm I guess

The other things slightly putting me off that idea are:
- The ability to run two screens in future if necessary (a possible requirement, that a PC will be easily upgrade-able to if necessary)
- If something in the tablet fails. That's it. Whereas the PC the parts can be easily replaced
Click to expand...

I just put the Tablet out there as a quirky alternative which I personally feel is pretty good for Office work and browsing when you consider you can get these things from £60 it's worth thinking about. But for upgrading and running dual screens they'll never compete with a PC.

On your last point "If something in the tablet fails"
A single component in a PC costs about as much as one of these Tablets. Something to think about ;)
 
Been a while since I've bought things like this. Just to check I'm not missing anything, will anything not in the basket, be needed for the build?

Except thermal paste possibly which I have

Do SATA cables come with the mobo?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom