Office PC

Defiler Of The Coffin

1. What is your budget?

It's a PC for my uncle. He would probably go as far as €1000 but anything in and around €500 would be nice.

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? [Gaming/Video editing/3D Modelling/HTPC/Internet] (If gaming include which games)

Mainly for browsing the internet and using MS Office.

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [Yes/No]

Yes

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? [Hard drive/DVD Drive/Case/PSU/etc.] (If possible state brand and model of the parts to ensure compatibility)

Possibly speakers but that's about it. His current PC is an Windows XP OEM build and probably too ancient to harvest any parts out of.

5. Do you need a monitor? [Yes/No]

Yes

5a. If yes, what size do you need. [19'/20'/22'/24'/etc.]

24' minimum.

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [Keyboard/Mouse/Wireless Card/Card Reader/Speakers/etc.]

A decent keyboard and mouse would be needed yes.

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [Yes/No]

No

8. How can you pay? [Bank Transfer/Credit Card/Laser]

All methods

9. When are you purchasing? [In x days]

Hopefully within the next day.

Would appreciate any tips or advice! Thanks in advance!

..Brian..

This is how I'd spend my money.

I didn't include a hard drive as I don't know if it's required. Windows will take up about 20gbs leaving you 100gb for files and photos and the like which is loads. If you think he'll need more, here's a 1TB HDD for €50.

There's a 22" monitor included. If you're dead set on 24" try this one for an extra €25.

Run each component through http://www.skinflint.co.uk/eu/ and select Hardwareversand to get a slight discount.



Keyboard and mouse bundle from Dabs €20

Get Windows here for ~ €15

Defiler Of The Coffin

Thanks Brian. This what I'm going for:



Will get a mouse and keyboard off Amazon as I have a prime account. Going for a hard drive as the uncle will need the space and two different drives might be a bit confusing for him.

TerrorFirmer

You might as well save the €13 and get a G3220 instead of the G3258.

The G3258 is an overclockable processor, if you're not overclocking - and you won't be on an office machine in any case - there's no real point.

TerrorFirmer

I would advise that you don't ditch the SSD. It will make by far the biggest difference in an office PC.

Defiler Of The Coffin

Thanks for the advice. Will take it on board.

Slutmonkey57b

Definitely don't ditch the ssd. You say MS office but don't indicate whether it's all or part of the suite, out what level he's working at. If it's mostly word or PowerPoint then you can practically do that on a calculator. If it's excel, access or vba then I'd invest in a big monitor with decent resolution, an ssd and bump up the processor a bit.

I'm a reasonably heavy excel user and I'd murder for a 1440p 27 inch monitor over the 1080p 24 inch I'm using. If I was opening spreadsheets with a few million cells, or a 1gb access file with a userform supported by 200 queries, I'd want the extra processing grunt.

If it's only for keeping a household budget, and writing the odd letter, then it's back to the "do it on your phone" option.

Defiler Of The Coffin

Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

Definitely don't ditch the ssd. You say MS office but don't indicate whether it's all or part of the suite, out what level he's working at. If it's mostly word or PowerPoint then you can practically do that on a calculator. If it's excel, access or vba then I'd invest in a big monitor with decent resolution, an ssd and bump up the processor a bit.

I'm a reasonably heavy excel user and I'd murder for a 1440p 27 inch monitor over the 1080p 24 inch I'm using. If I was opening spreadsheets with a few million cells, or a 1gb access file with a userform supported by 200 queries, I'd want the extra processing grunt.

If it's only for keeping a household budget, and writing the odd letter, then it's back to the "do it on your phone" option.

For Office use he would mainly be using Outlook for email and organisation, Word and perhaps some light Excel, but certainly nothing like the scale you've mentioned above.

I know I could probably go with less powerful components but I want to keep it reasonably future-proofed and he's happy to spend a bit more for the extra power. All in all he's happy with the build that has been presented here.

One more question, do I need to buy any extra SATA or power cables or is it all included in the above build?

Slutmonkey57b

The spec you've mentioned will be fine for that sort of use, in fact you won't really be stretching it at all.

Defiler Of The Coffin

Hello guys, will I require extra SATA cables or will they be included?

mayordenis

2 sata cables come in with the motherboard, so 1 for dvd drive and 1 for the HDD, you'll need another only if you do get a SSD, which like others I would really really suggest.

Defiler Of The Coffin

Computer built and working fine. Thank you all for your help.

And a big thanks to Hardwareversand for going into administration after shipping the parts!