PC Upgrade

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I want to upgrade my wife's desktop (old PC Specialists pre-built) and am a bit out of date. I upgraded the Mobo, CPU and RAM a few years ago (it has an i5-3!) and want to do the same again. It is not going to be overstressed, certainly no gaming - I just want to future proof. From a bit of browsing, and because I have had Gigabyte before and always Intel, I have come up with this:
My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £411.01 (includes shipping: £11.10)​

  • I am not sure if I need a new PSU - I should check what it has already - but maybe a modern 80 plus item is worthwhile anyway?
  • CPU - I guess I could go 1 generation forward and have CORE I5-11400F 2.60GHZ (ROCKET LAKE) SOCKET LGA1200 for another £25, but not really necessary.
  • 16GB is over the top, but while I am at it... I went for Crucial but see this mentioned here (£70): Teamgroup VULCAN Z T-FORCE 16GB (2X8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHZ DUAL CHANNEL
  • Not sure if I need a cooler, but saw this referenced in these forums at £33 COOLER MASTER HYPER 212 EVO V2 CPU COOLER - 120MM
  • SSD - PC doesn't currently have one so will replace and keep the HDD in the case for backup.

Any thoughts or gotchas please? Motherboard / CPU and SSD sockets all make sense?
By a spooky coincidence, this seems to have come out at £400 before shipping, which is pretty much the number I 1st thought of, but if I have missed any bargains, please let me know.
 
What is your graphics card situation? I deduce by the 450W PSU that you don't intend to use one, then Intel F CPU models are not for you, F designates no (F all) integrated graphics.

I do recommend to go with i5-11400, a very good CPU, definitely worth the price bump over 10400.
 
What is your graphics card situation? I deduce by the 450W PSU that you don't intend to use one, then Intel F CPU models are not for you, F designates no (F all) integrated graphics.

I do recommend to go with i5-11400, a very good CPU, definitely worth the price bump over 10400.
Excellent, thanks Alec - that's exactly why I asked! Indeed, wasn't planning to use external GPU.
 
If the desktop is just for basic office stuff and browsing then a 6 core CPU is mega-overkill and she won't notice any difference. I assume you have a spare GPU because you have chosen a CPU without integrated graphics, so I'd get an i3-10105F (on OCUK for £70).

I would definitely get a better cooler (than stock) since for a desktop pc quality of life is going to be important, arguably more important than how fast it is.

For similar reasons I'd consider a gold-rated PSU with a hybrid (off at low load) fan mode. It'll be much more expensive, but it'll have a longer warranty (10 years) and hopefully last you for a very long time.

If it's noisy I'd consider replacing the HDD entirely with a SATA SSD. If you're using M.2, B560 and a Comet Lake (10th gen) CPU it can impact on usable M.2 slots compared to 11th gen, just a heads up.
 
If the desktop is just for basic office stuff and browsing then a 6 core CPU is mega-overkill and she won't notice any difference. I assume you have a spare GPU because you have chosen a CPU without integrated graphics, so I'd get an i3-10105F (on OCUK for £70).

I would definitely get a better cooler (than stock) since for a desktop pc quality of life is going to be important, arguably more important than how fast it is.

For similar reasons I'd consider a gold-rated PSU with a hybrid (off at low load) fan mode. It'll be much more expensive, but it'll have a longer warranty (10 years) and hopefully last you for a very long time.

If it's noisy I'd consider replacing the HDD entirely with a SATA SSD. If you're using M.2, B560 and a Comet Lake (10th gen) CPU it can impact on usable M.2 slots compared to 11th gen, just a heads up.
Thanks for all of that Tetras - Alec has already pointed out my error in not realising that the F suffix meant I would need a GPU (which I do not already have). That's why I came here :)
  • Is an i3-10nnn worthwhile? I had a very bad experience with an i3 is a laptop and thought I would always go i5 after that. It was terribly slow (possibly for other reasons of course - it was a ThinkPad E series for my daughter). There is presumably a reason why Intel has not bothered with an i3-11nnn.
  • Wow, PSUs can get expensive...
  • I don't understand how 10th gen vs. 11th gen in B560 makes a difference to M.2 slots. I don't think I am going to have another reason for using an M.2 slot, so I am not sure that will be a constraint for me, unless I am missing something. M.2 SSDs seem to be a lot cheaper than 2.5" style SSDs.
 
I don't know about laptops but the desktop i3-10 is a quad core and somewhat equivalent to the old i7-7700K, so if your wife is doing something that exhausts that level of performance, this is no average desktop machine! It can even play most newer games (with a suitable graphics card, obviously), so it's not a weak CPU at all. Only if you were planning to play games or use the PC for workstation tasks (photoshop 'n stuff), would I put a hex core as a baseline.

The m.2 slots, since 10th gen CPUs lack the PCI-E 4.0 lanes that 11th gen have, one M.2 slot is usually disabled in a B560 motherboard. Which isn't a big issue with integrated graphics, but with a graphics card, the slot remaining is under the GPU. For a system that doesn't game it's unlikely to matter, but it's not a popular slot.
 
I don't know about laptops but the desktop i3-10 is a quad core and somewhat equivalent to the old i7-7700K, so if your wife is doing something that exhausts that level of performance, this is no average desktop machine! It can even play most newer games (with a suitable graphics card, obviously), so it's not a weak CPU at all. Only if you were planning to play games or use the PC for workstation tasks (photoshop 'n stuff), would I put a hex core as a baseline.

The m.2 slots, since 10th gen CPUs lack the PCI-E 4.0 lanes that 11th gen have, one M.2 slot is usually disabled in a B560 motherboard. Which isn't a big issue with integrated graphics, but with a graphics card, the slot remaining is under the GPU. For a system that doesn't game it's unlikely to matter, but it's not a popular slot.
OK, will consider the CORE I3-10100, not that it looks a lot cheaper.
So, in the interests of future proofing, is the B560 the wrong choice? Is that restriction avoided by another at a similar price?
 
OK, will consider the CORE I3-10100, not that it looks a lot cheaper.
So, in the interests of future proofing, is the B560 the wrong choice? Is that restriction avoided by another at a similar price?
I can't imagine a desktop machine will need much storage and if it does need more, you could use a 2.5 SATA SSD (or two) instead. M.2 is handy for reducing cable clutter and not needing any drive caddies, but it's definitely not essential for the average user.

The i3-10100 is supposed to be £100 and the 10105 a little more, stock is hard to find at these prices, but it does exist. You're right though, they're not worth £150.
 
Thanks again - here's another thought - do I need to worry about TMP2 and Win11? Does the B560 support it?
Edit: Ah - looks as though this may be a BIOS thing rather than a separate hardware module.

And here's yet another thought - with the suffix-F CPUs being significantly cheaper, is it worth getting a e.g. CORE i3-10100F (c£80) AND a discreet GPU? I know nothing about GPUs, so what would be a good budget choice please? MSI GeForce GT 710 Passive Silent PCIe 2.0 (x16) 2GB £45?

And showing my ignorance of suffix-F and GPUs here: the motherboard has video outputs and so does a GPU - if you use a suffix-F and GPU, do you just use the GPU outputs, or do the mobo outputs work too, courtesy of the GPU?
 
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Thanks again - here's another thought - do I need to worry about TMP2 and Win11? Does the B560 support it?
Edit: Ah - looks as though this may be a BIOS thing rather than a separate hardware module.

And here's yet another thought - with the suffix-F CPUs being significantly cheaper, is it worth getting a e.g. CORE i3-10100F (c£80) AND a discreet GPU? I know nothing about GPUs, so what would be a good budget choice please? MSI GeForce GT 710 Passive Silent PCIe 2.0 (x16) 2GB £45?

And showing my ignorance of suffix-F and GPUs here: the motherboard has video outputs and so does a GPU - if you use a suffix-F and GPU, do you just use the GPU outputs, or do the mobo outputs work too, courtesy of the GPU?

I wouldn't worry about the tpm thing at all. It would be more of an issue for old boards and even then probably could be bypassed.

The GT 710 is really bad, even the integrated graphics would be a lot better.
If you wanna utilize a graphics card you will always need to connect to it directly, if you wanna utilize the integrated graphics you will always need to connect to the motherboard itself.
 
I wouldn't worry about the tpm thing at all. It would be more of an issue for old boards and even then probably could be bypassed.

The GT 710 is really bad, even the integrated graphics would be a lot better.
If you wanna utilize a graphics card you will always need to connect to it directly, if you wanna utilize the integrated graphics you will always need to connect to the motherboard itself.
Thanks - I am learning a lot, which was half the point of the exercise. My shopping list is taking shape.
 
Thanks again - here's another thought - do I need to worry about TMP2 and Win11? Does the B560 support it?
Edit: Ah - looks as though this may be a BIOS thing rather than a separate hardware module.

And here's yet another thought - with the suffix-F CPUs being significantly cheaper, is it worth getting a e.g. CORE i3-10100F (c£80) AND a discreet GPU? I know nothing about GPUs, so what would be a good budget choice please? MSI GeForce GT 710 Passive Silent PCIe 2.0 (x16) 2GB £45?

And showing my ignorance of suffix-F and GPUs here: the motherboard has video outputs and so does a GPU - if you use a suffix-F and GPU, do you just use the GPU outputs, or do the mobo outputs work too, courtesy of the GPU?

OCUK have the i3-10105F for £68.99, don't forget to check the 5 ones.

The GT 710 is fine for a desktop that's only browsing and office stuff, but prior to Covid and crypto-madness they were about £20-£25. £45 even for a non-gaming PC is just horrible value (and you could get a 10100 or 10105 for that). I'd rather try and grab a used HD 5450 / 6450, or NVS 310 for a tenner. But, these might be unsuitable for watching high definition movies, if you're doing anything like that I'd choose more carefully. If you want a recent entry level card then it's RX 550 or GT 1030 (GDDR5), but they're nearly £100 in today's market which is pointless to spend if it's just a browsing PC.
 
OCUK have the i3-10105F for £68.99, don't forget to check the 5 ones.

The GT 710 is fine for a desktop that's only browsing and office stuff, but prior to Covid and crypto-madness they were about £20-£25. £45 even for a non-gaming PC is just horrible value (and you could get a 10100 or 10105 for that). I'd rather try and grab a used HD 5450 / 6450, or NVS 310 for a tenner. But, these might be unsuitable for watching high definition movies, if you're doing anything like that I'd choose more carefully. If you want a recent entry level card then it's RX 550 or GT 1030 (GDDR5), but they're nearly £100 in today's market which is pointless to spend if it's just a browsing PC.
Thanks Tetras. I think I am going to stick with i3-10100/5 if I can get for a decent price - I think £120 from Scan is winning at the moment.
 
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