PC build for browsing

Donny84

Donny84

Donny84

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Joined
6 Mar 2013
Posts
286
Hi guys,
I was hoping I could get some help with specs on a PC upgrade for my Dad.

I think the motherboard has finally given up on his 12 year old DDR3 PC and so am looking to upgrade the mobo, ram, processor and maybe a very cheap GPU?
He would like to keep the cost as low as possible. I have only recently upgraded his PSU, case and SSD/HHD's, so no need for new ones.
He only uses the PC for browsing and watching videos etc.

All help is grately appreciated.
 
This is overkill really, but at least it doesn't need a graphics card and is a recent system supporting Windows 11 & AV1 decoding on the IGP.

Intel Core i3-12100 3.30GHz (Alder Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail - £128.99
Gigabyte H610M S2H - Intel H610 DDR4 Micro ATX Motherboard - £89.99
Lexar Hades 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C18 3600MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit - £39.94

Grand Total: £266.92 (delivery charge included: £7.99)

A520 + 4600G/5600G would have stronger graphics if he does any light gaming.
 
Donny84 said:
Hes got one. But he likes a PC as it's more organized for browsing and stuff. He's old. Stuck in his ways xD
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Just like my old dear then. :D
May I suggest you pick THE cheapest components available then and as Tetras says, you don't really need a graphics card either as you can use the onboard graphics from the M/B
Investigate what processor and ram you already have and just rebuild it with a suitable M/B if currently available M/b's support your old hardware.
ZERO point in spending any more money than that. The SSD alone ((as a boot drive) will make the biggest difference IMO.
 
Fuzz said:
My basket at OcUK:

Total: £242.92 (includes delivery: £8.00)​

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​
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bounced through the shop to select this....Cheaper than Tetras post it seems :D
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The 12100F doesnt have integrated graphics does it? Or am I wrong?
 
Fuzz said:
My basket at OcUK:

Total: £242.92 (includes delivery: £8.00)​

​
​
​


bounced through the shop to select this....Cheaper than Tetras post it seems :D
Click to expand...
But no graphics
 
1 X Gigabyte B550M DS3H (AMD AM4) B550 Micro-ATX Motherboard - £89.99
SKU: MB-5BR-GI
1 X Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK16GX4M2B32 - £49.99
SKU: MY-456-CS
1 X AMD Ryzen 5 5600G Six Core 3.9GHz (Socket AM4) APU with RX Vega Graphics - Retail - £124.99
SKU: CP-3CW-AM
Grand Total: £272.96
 
Donny84 said:
The 12100F doesnt have integrated graphics does it? Or am I wrong?
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Indeed you'll need the non F version, but it's exactly what I built a year ago for someone in my family and was going to recommend the same. The onboard graphics will be fine for browsing. I don't think I paid that much though and that was a year ago. Add in a 250gb or 500gb NVME, case, and PSU and you're laughing for under £400.
 
Might be worth considering a 2nd hand older mac mini? For just browsing/photo and home video backup/writing letters etc, I have a mid 2012 i5 2 core with 16gb ram/sata ssd and it flies on the last supported macos version or you can run windows 10-11 very snappily, or patch it with opencore patcher to a newer macos of your choosing if that floats your boat?

Mine goes for around £120 these days with an ssd/ram... Newer models with m.2 ssd's are not much more.

It comes with 4 usb 3.0 ports, ethernet, wifi, bluetooth, display port/hdmi and is tiny so if you wanted you could even get a vesa mount adapter and steath it behind the monitor as well :)

These things are near silent and will happily destroy browsing and 1080p content, and the newer ones will easily play higher res streamed content...

Mine only uses something mad like 25-30w peak as well (as i've tested it with a plug meter) oh and it's literally silent!
 
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Kirby Wurm said:
I suspect for someone a bit older they'd be unlikely to want to learn a new OS, even if it's very good for the use case.
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So you just quoted that bit and didn't read the rest when I said you could just install windows 10/11 on it if not...
keef247 said:
Might be worth considering a 2nd hand older mac mini? For just browsing/photo and home video backup/writing letters etc, I have a mid 2012 i5 2 core with 16gb ram/sata ssd and it flies on the last supported macos version or you can run windows 10-11 very snappily, or patch it with opencore patcher to a newer macos of your choosing if that floats your boat?

Mine goes for around £120 these days with an ssd/ram... Newer models with m.2 ssd's are not much more.

It comes with 4 usb 3.0 ports, ethernet, wifi, bluetooth, display port/hdmi and is tiny so if you wanted you could even get a vesa mount adapter and steath it behind the monitor as well
:)


These things are near silent and will happily destroy browsing and 1080p content, and the newer ones will easily play higher res streamed content...

Mine only uses something mad like 25-30w peak as well (as i've tested it with a plug meter) oh and it's literally silent!
Click to expand...
 
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Kirby Wurm said:
Apologies, I missed that. Plenty of need for the dramatic bold underlined nonsense I'm sure. :rolleyes:
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Genuinely apologies to you back mate.

Normally I'm polite on here and get abuse so I just assumed you weren't even bothering to read what I put mate, as it seems to be a flame war whenever anyone says anything on this forum, I've never encountered anything like the pathetic trolls on here, clearly a lot of obsese mid life crisis passive aggressive virgins sat frantically refreshing the forum for something to moan about haha!
 
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keef247 said:
Genuinely apologies to you back mate.

Normally I'm polite on here and get abuse so I just assumed you weren't even bothering to read what I put mate, as it seems to be a flame war whenever anyone says anything on this forum, I've never encountered anything like the pathetic trolls on here, clearly a lot of obsese mid life crisis passive aggressive virgins sat frantically refreshing the forum for something to moan about haha!
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Hahaha, its all good! :) I confess I read through quickly and clearly didn't take that (very pertinent) part of your comment in.

These here forums can be trying at times, though I have encountered far worse (I used to post on the Machine Head band forums when it was still alive, they got ugly, all the time!).
 
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