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Intel or AMD for office computer upgrade?

ntemples1

ntemples1

ntemples1

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Haven’t built a pc for a while got to upgrade my father in laws pc, looking to replace an old core 2 duo system

He wants fast as possible mobo/cpu/ram for £300 what’s best to go for?

Advice greatly appreciated, thanks!
 
Considering 8 GB of RAM will be around £100 you're a bit restricted. For an office PC you can still do fine for that price though. The only downside is it'll be far better to wait a couple of months. Why? Well right now, going AMD would mean needing a separate GPU, and going Intel would mean plumping extra for a high end motherboard since the cheaper ones aren't out yet.

hondo said:
100% + 1
I paid almost double that for a bundle consisting of Mobo. CPU & Memory. & don't consider that in the fast bracket.
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Glanza said:
That's quite the restrictive budget for 'fast'
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It's an "office" PC, how much power do you need?? I had a Core 2 Duo on my work PC until very recently and it wasn't that bad.
 
Thanks for the great advice guys, I realise it’s not going to be a high end pc, but was try to get as fast as possible for the budget. As I’m not very aware of the lower end offerings from both companies and also how they’d compare to an old core 2 duo system.
 
As above, if it's for an office PC his current one should still do the job.

If anything, a SSD upgrade would be best and will speed load times up.
 
I would get a Q9550 2nd hand and chuck Windows on a 256GB SSD. No way you'd tell the difference between a Core2Quad and a Ryzen or i5 for basic office work. We have some old Intel E5200 machines that we managed to resurrect with an SSD and they are super quick for anything that doesn't involve massive Excel sheets.
 
What is he struggling to do on his current system? I am just waiting to buy a 2400g for my lounge as it will be perfect for an HTPC and light 1080p gaming. If he isn't going to clock it you can put a cheap A320 motherboard with it and then the fastest ram that you have left in your budget... just check that it has been pre-flashed to work as all existing stock of AM4 motherboards will need to be updated to work with 2000 series AMD chips :)
 
Thinking from a business standpoint. I would go to Dell or HP as you may get a little more for your money. Also he will get a warranty for the whole machine incase of any issues. The last thing you want when running a business is to wait for the son in law to fix it.
 
matthab said:
Thinking from a business standpoint. I would go to Dell or HP as you may get a little more for your money. Also he will get a warranty for the whole machine incase of any issues. The last thing you want when running a business is to wait for the son in law to fix it.
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Plus the ear ache that will go with it.
 
Ddr2 ram is very cheap second hand, so up that to 4 or 8gb.

Stick ssd in.

Buy a quad core chip, again very cheap, about £12 to £15

That's as fast as you need for an office machine.
 
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