Prize for Speccing an Office PC for 800 + VAT

Mayoor

Mayoor

Mayoor

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Joined
9 Jun 2004
Posts
165
I have 2 new staff joining who need PC's for

Considerations

- Must have dual 27" Monitors (1440p) for good productivity and clarity
- No need for a Windows licence as we have sparfe licences
- Main drive must be an SSD, with no storage drive needed for speedy boot ups
- A good keyboard and mouse for typing emails at a fast pace but not needed for gaming

The machines will be used for a variety of apps from Office through to Photoshop, but mainly internet based and heavy on Chrome/browser usage, hence the multiple monitor requirement as we often have a lot of large statistic tabs open with lots of rows/columns to display.

The Budget is £800 + VAT

Many thanks for the saint that puts this together. Winner gets bottle of single malt in the post.
 
EsaT said:
Do you mean monitors must be included in the price?
That's going eat budget.
This seems to be cheapest 27" 2560x1440 model:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/acer...zel-flicker-free-monitor-black-mo-071-ac.html

Though thanks to AMD good amount of cores/threads to handle lots of simultaneous tabs/programs is available for reasonable price.
Click to expand...

Yes monitors included in the price please and yes would definately consider AMD over Intel if we can get a better performing spec for it.
 
A single Philips BDM4350UC/00 42" 3840x2160 IPS (£438), with 8,294,400 pixels, would have more resolution real estate than dual 2560x1440 with 7,372,800 pixels, only cost £10-20 more than the latter, and if even more screen real estate was required in future, adding another would be better than triple or quadruple 2560x1440s. Have you considered this option already and discounted it?

There are cheaper 4K IPS screens (for example at £360) but 42" provides more physical real estate than those.
 
yeah def need to look at something like dell/Lenovo/hp if you want to hit that budget. the monitors will be something like benq, you wont get HP or Lenovo for that. need to google other sites that we cant mention
 
tfEEIRI.png

Both the monitor and the graphics card have HDMI 2.0 so can drive 4K at 60Hz.

If you prefer dual 2560x1440 you can get 32" IPS variants in for a bit more physical real estate than 27", for the same cost as that 42" 4K. Or dual 27" for a few pounds less.

Intel six core would be a bit better for Photoshop but would lack hyperthreading to help out with all the browser activity and general multitasking. It's not easy to judge how much this would affect the multitasking. If fast(er) performance in Photoshop is more essential, then consider Intel. Otherwise go with AMD for the extra CPU multitasking headroom.

No keyboard and mouse. I'm thinking if you buy a few things from a certain place (and since you're buying double) you can ask them if they'll throw in a keyboard and mouse at no extra cost. At least one of the places is bound to say okay, to seal the deal. This would allow you to squeeze in the max bang for buck into the actual systems.

As has been pointed out, you might find better in a prebuilt even though you have no need for Windows (or maybe a 1TB HDD that some of them bring) so compare what's out there. But at the same time self-build is doable for that budget.
 
Should be noted that the better AMD chips require a graphics card. I found this offset the savings from Intel for me, so going from Ryzen 2600 plus a GT 1030 to i5-9600k saved about a pound. Plus it freed up a PCIe slot which i specifically needed.

That said, Ryzen 2200G/2400G have integrated graphics and might do nicely.
 
Danny75 said:
A single Philips BDM4350UC/00 42" 3840x2160 IPS (£438), with 8,294,400 pixels, would have more resolution real estate than dual 2560x1440 with 7,372,800 pixels, only cost £10-20 more than the latter, and if even more screen real estate was required in future, adding another would be better than triple or quadruple 2560x1440s. Have you considered this option already and discounted it?

There are cheaper 4K IPS screens (for example at £360) but 42" provides more physical real estate than those.
Click to expand...

I have a 38" LG Panel at home and as beautiful as all the screen real estate is, the productivity of that vs dual monitors is poorer. Would much prefer dual panels.
 
Mayoor said:
I have a 38" LG Panel at home and as beautiful as all the screen real estate is, the productivity of that vs dual monitors is poorer.
Click to expand...

Well of course, that LG 38" probably has 1600 vertical resolution, not 2160, and therefore 6,144,000 pixels so less than dual 2560x1440s. Apples to oranges.
 
Intel i7-8700 six core with hyperthreading, with no discrete graphics, mobo with some VRM cooling as well as HDMI and Display Port for the dual 32" 2560x1440 IPS monitors:

l3JMVfC.png

The WD Blue M.2 SSD is on Today Only special at OcUK.
 
Danny75 said:
Well of course, that LG 38" probably has 1600 vertical resolution, not 2160, and therefore 6,144,000 pixels so less than dual 2560x1440s. Apples to oranges.
Click to expand...

The vertical resolution has to nothing to do the lack of productivity. I wont go into why but its not a subject for this thread. I have requested dual monitors as that is my personal preference.
 
Danny75 said:
Intel i7-8700 six core with hyperthreading, with no discrete graphics, mobo with some VRM cooling as well as HDMI and Display Port for the dual 32" 2560x1440 IPS monitors:

l3JMVfC.png

The WD Blue M.2 SSD is on Today Only special at OcUK.
Click to expand...

Very Nice! Are you sure these monitors can be powered by the onboard gfx?
 
Mayoor said:
Very Nice! Are you sure these monitors can be powered by the onboard gfx?
Click to expand...

Powered yes, but I'm trying to double check one detail about the HDMI on it. It says it's HDMI 1.4 which theoretically should run 1440p @ 60Hz. But the way ASRock have worded it says this one doesn't:


- Supports HDMI 1.4 with max. resolution up to 4K x 2K (4096x2160) @ 30Hz
- Supports DisplayPort 1.2 with max. resolution up to 4K x 2K (4096x2304) @ 60Hz

https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/B365M Phantom Gaming 4/index.asp#Specification
Click to expand...

Maybe worth contacting them to check if the wording is correct, or just swap motherboard. The specs for Gigabyte B360M D3H also leave that question up in the air. As does the MSI B360M Mortar. None of them seem to want to guarantee 60Hz at 1440p through their particular HDMI 1.4.

30Hz would not be very pleasant so hold up till you get confirmation of one that does what's needed (unless you go with a discrete graphics card option).
 
Hello,

On our website we only list the maximum resolution, with the refresh rate it can run at for that maximum resolution.
Lower resolutions can be used at higher refresh rates.

2560 × 1440 at 60 Hz is supported since HDMI 1.3 already, so that should also work fine

Happy Easter weekend!
ASRock Support
Click to expand...


Well, no, you don't only list the max resolution (4K) with the refresh rate for it, you also list 2K as being 30Hz!

But at least they confirmed that 2560x1440 will be fine at 60Hz (and hopefully 75Hz as the monitors can do 75). Which is as it should be. The same should apply for different motherboards with DP 1.2 or higher and HDMI 1.4 (or 1.3) or higher.

And regarding the monitors, according to pcmonitors.info the accessories include a HDMI and DP cable already:


A VGA cable, HDMI cable, DP cable and power cable is included in the box.

https://pcmonitors.info/reviews/aoc-q3279vwf/
Click to expand...

That review is a handy link to keep hold of when it comes to tips for setting them up with the best colour, best Low Blue Light setting, etc.

Hope this helps.
 
Danny75 said:
Well, no, you don't only list the max resolution (4K) with the refresh rate for it, you also list 2K as being 30Hz!
Click to expand...
They don't mention any resolutions other than 4k, I'm confused. 2k is in the 1920x1080 Full HD family but isn't mentioned. QHD (2560x1440) also isn't mentioned. I'd have gone with the HDMI 1.4 spec as they didn't give any reason to doubt it.
 
small form factor + board with wifi
ryzen 2600 hex core + separate gpu + 16gb ram
2 x 32 inch 1440p monitor
case is oos at ocuk currently - can be bought elsewhere
cpu and monitors cheaper elsewhere
total = ~£1000 (£800 ex vat) if you source the parts appropriately

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,092.12 (includes shipping: £26.34)
​
 
LuckyBenski said:
They don't mention any resolutions other than 4k, I'm confused. 2k is in the 1920x1080 Full HD family but isn't mentioned. QHD (2560x1440) also isn't mentioned. I'd have gone with the HDMI 1.4 spec as they didn't give any reason to doubt it.
Click to expand...

You're right. Looking back, I could have sworn it was an "&" instead of the "x" that it actually is lol:


- Supports HDMI 1.4 with max. resolution up to 4K x 2K (4096x2160) @ 30Hz
Click to expand...

i.e. I mistook it for 4K & 2K. I was up to my ears looking for motherboards for HDMI and DP, couldn't find anywhere with a specific filter for that. So brain fart combined with some posts out there saying they couldn't get 2560x1440 @ 60Hz over HDMI 1.4 (probably dodgy cable or something) which made me doubt whether that refresh rate was guaranteed or whether motherboard vendors, for example, had some leeway.
 
Danny75 said:
You're right. Looking back, I could have sworn it was an "&" instead of the "x" that it actually is lol:




i.e. I mistook it for 4K & 2K. I was up to my ears looking for motherboards for HDMI and DP, couldn't find anywhere with a specific filter for that. So brain fart combined with some posts out there saying they couldn't get 2560x1440 @ 60Hz over HDMI 1.4 (probably dodgy cable or something) which made me doubt whether that refresh rate was guaranteed or whether motherboard vendors, for example, had some leeway.
Click to expand...
It doesn't help that we've changed naming convention basically every step! We used to say HD, then incorrectly referred to QHD as 2k, and now we call UHD 4K most of the time. I think resolutions are one of the biggest minefields for the consumer :)

Thankfully, something that follows the HDMI or DP spec (usually) meets the entire spec in order to have the badge on packaging etc.
 
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