Office PC

[Jonny889]

Looking to build an office PC for my mother in law. She has monitors so its just the system that is required.

Main use will just be browsing the internet and using microsoft office with multiple applications open.

Budget is upto £1000 but ideally less if possible to build somthing decent that wont be used for gaming.

Any build suggestions are appriciated or is it better to just go prebuilt and if so a pointer in the right direction please.

I built my last PC a few years ago at home for gaming but Im a little out of the loop of whats good now and my personal PC could do with an upgrade next year.

 

[Tetras]

A self-build, Intel/DDR4:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Intel Core i3-12100 3.30GHz (Alder Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-6AK-IN) = £119.99
• 1 x Gigabyte B660M DS3H AX - Intel B660 DDR4 Micro ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5AH-GI) = £129.95
• 1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (SKU: MY-0AJ-TG) = £59.98
• 1 x Crucial P5 Plus 1TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 4.0 x4 3D NAND NVMe Solid State Drive (SKU: HD-074-CR) = £62.99
• 1 x AeroCool Trinity V2 Mini Tower PC Case - Black (SKU: CA-23J-AE) = £29.99
• 1 x Phanteks AMP 550W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply (SKU: CA-09P-PT) = £79.99

Total: £482.89 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

 

[spile]

This works well for my office…
1 AMDZZ346 3.9GHz AMD RYZEN 5 5600G 6 CORE CPU (TURBO 4.4GHz)
1 CPUZZ229 DEEPCOOL 200W CPU COOLER (DUAL FAN) - AM5/AM4
1 MAINB012 Gigabyte A520M DS3H Motherboard
2 MEMOR970 CRUCIAL 64GB DDR4 3200MHZ CL22
1 OEMZZ140 MICROSOFT WINDOWS 11 PRO LICENCE E-KEY (64-BIT)
1 PCCAS468 ITEC MIDI PC CHASSIS - ATX,mATX, 120mm FAN, SILENT CASE
1 PSUZZ070 750W DEEPCOOL SILENT POWER SUPPLY (80+ BRONZE)
1 SSDZZ127 2TB CRUCIAL M.2 nVME SSD DRIVE PARTIONED OS C AND DATA D

 

[Defy Belief]

I'd just get a Dell Inspiron 3020 from their outlet and be done with it, i5 13400, 16GB of ram, 512gb nvme gen 4, wifi, £410.

Or, £357 with 8GB of ram, then use the difference to upgrade the ram to 16/32 (this is what i'd do)

£540 if you really want the cores of a 13700 but from your use case I don't think that would ever be required.

 

[Faser Active]

I have roughly the same requirements for an office PC.
What is also important to me is that I would like to connect several monitors or an ultrawide monitor or a TV to the PC. That way I can stream and watch videos while I work.

I didn't want to create anything major myself. I was thinking of an HP Elite Mini or the SFF version.
Intel i7-12700T, 16 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD and integrated graphics. ~£700

Does the Mini variant have laptop components built in or not? Does the SFF version also have laptop components or already "normal" ones?
Or should I stay away from the mini computers?
I would only upgrade the ram, everything else I would leave. That's what I have now with my 10-year-old office PC.

I have the space for a larger case but don't necessarily want a larger PC if it doesn't have to be.

 

[Tetras]

Does the Mini variant have laptop components built in or not? Does the SFF version also have laptop components or already "normal" ones?

There's a review of one with a 12500T on servethehome and even though the 12500T is a desktop CPU, it used SODIMM memory. I think it's basically a laptop, but with a desktop CPU.

I don't know what the sff is, so I can't check.

 

[Noughtboy]

I'd just get a Dell Inspiron 3020 from their outlet and be done with it, i5 13400, 16GB of ram, 512gb nvme gen 4, wifi, £410.

Or, £357 with 8GB of ram, then use the difference to upgrade the ram to 16/32 (this is what i'd do)

£540 if you really want the cores of a 13700 but from your use case I don't think that would ever be required.

I just looked on their website and do not see this (certainly nothing at that price). What am I missing?

 

[Defy Belief]

I just looked on their website and do not see this (certainly nothing at that price). What am I missing?

Go on the outlet, also a 10% black Friday code to get them at this

 

[Noughtboy]

If you are happy to build (as you stated), @Tetras delivered a good base spec. I would personally go for at least a 6C12T (13400) but that is another £40 odd.

Here is my recommendation:

My basket at OcUK:

 1 x be quiet! System Power 9 600W 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply **OEM NO BOX** (SKU: CA-13V-BQ) = £49.99
 1 x Gigabyte B550M DS3H (AMD AM4) B550 Micro-ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5BR-GI) = £89.99
 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 5600G Six Core 3.9GHz (Socket AM4) APU with RX Vega Graphics - Retail (SKU: CP-3CW-AM) = £124.99
 1 x KIOXIA EXCERIA PLUS G3 1TB SSD NVME M.2 2280 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TSH-01120) = £56.99
 1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (SKU: MY-0AJ-TG) = £59.99
 1 x Aerocool Bolt Mini TG Micro-ATX case - black (SKU: CA-234-AE) = £29.99
 2 x Arctic F12 PWM PST Black Fan - 120mm (SKU: FG-054-AR) = £4.99

Total: £433.91 (includes delivery: £11.98)​
​

Similar case to Tetras but with a little RGB if she wants a little colour in her life. Otherwise, just the one Tetras specced. Selected the Kioxia as it looks like it is TLC not 3D so should provide sufficient longevity and speed (comes with a 5yr warranty). Also included two fans for the front of the case providing airflow. There is a similar set for an extra pound that has higher static air pressure but I think these are sufficient as there is very little in the case to block the airflow and they are quiet.