Small form-factor Office build

[gradyhawks]

Hey up,

Just looking for some advice for a small build I'm doing for an office, with the potential of getting 3-4 of them built later on if its all good. Now they will be doing just general office work, word, excel etc along side internet browsing but over 2 1080p screens. I don't need to worry about having an OS installed so don't need to factor that into the price.

Looking at cases, I think I want to go with the Li-Lan PC-Q07B Mini-ITX Case, since it looks nice, is very small and has everything I'll need (if anyone can recommend something else, please do). I'd like to go for an AMD processor, since they are cheaper but am worried about 2 things. 1st, how hot the inside of the case will get. I don't want to save money on AMD and have to spend it again on extra fans. 2nd is how loud the stock coolers are on the AMD cpus, I've heard they get really loud. Since this will be in a office, with maybe another 4 machines, I don't want it sounding like a server room!

Here is a spec up of what I've got so far:

Case
Li-Lan Mini-ITX Case - £46
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-180-LL&groupid=2362&catid=2279
CPU
AMD A6-5400K Black Edition 3.60GHz- £48
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-329-AM&groupid=701&catid=1967
Motherboard
MSI A75IA-E53 AMD A75 Motherboard - £70
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-226-MS&tool=3
PSU
Corsair Builder Series XC 430w PSU - £38
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-115-CS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=2462
RAM
Kingston HyoperX 4gb (2x2GB) Ram - £38
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-095-KS&groupid=701&catid=8
HDD
Seagate 2Tb HDD - £66
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-255-SE
Optical
Asus DVD Drive - £20
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-056-AS&groupid=701&catid=10

Total Cost: £331

If I can, in terms of upgrades, spend a little more I was thinking of upgrading the ram to 8gb for an extra £22 or maybe getting an aftermarket fan for the CPU instead of the one that comes stock. I'd have loved to be able to throw in an SSD to make boot times nice and quick, but I don't think I have the budget for it. Max I can go is £350 I would have thought.

What is peoples opinions? Is there an intel build that can be done for the same price? Is the A6 to much for simple office work? Should I spend £20 more here and get a quad core?

Another note, will I need a graphics card to be able to duel screen? Or will the motherboard be able to do it for me.

Thanks allot,

Grady

 

[gradyhawks]

Thanks for the help chaps. Maybe a mix of the above two then. Going with the A6 along side the superflower PSU. Its a shame that the case needs a mini-ITX, as that adds an extra £30 or so onto the cost of a motherboard... but I do want a nice looking case since its going in a rather trendy office.

Comes in at £340 with shipping. Might be able to get a mini-ITX board for cheaper elsewhere as well. If so, I can get the A8 instead with the cash saved.

 

[gradyhawks]

Fair enough then, I have found the G3420 Intel CPU for the same price as the A6 anyway, so will be going with that. Bench marks are better and also gives me some more options for the motherboard as well.

Thanks for the help everyone!

 

[gradyhawks]

Can either of you two fine chaps recommend on then? No idea what they are like tbh, so not sure what to look for.

How would something like this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-001-GI&groupid=43&catid=2502&subcat=2625

Compare with the above build (comes in at a similar price when the RAM and Storage are added in), how does it manage? On paper it looks like the only advantage of the thing is the size.

EDIT: I assume when you say NUC, you mean the above thing right?