Another €400 build

Johnboy1951

I am trying to source a PC for a friend, whether a pre-built unit or a self build makes little difference.

The two big specifications are cost and physical dimensions.
The combined PC Tower + Monitor must fit side-by-side within 27" width, including some room for manoeuvring and air flow.
A 21.5"/22" monitor would be ideal, if the chosen tower/case would fit along side of it.

There would probably be some little lee-way with budget to get the best possible within the space limitations.

Because of location ..... essentially 'built-in' ... the cooling of the PC is also a concern. It would need to be efficient as the ambient temp will be on the warm side - probably about 22C.

The use of the PC is for light general use ...

1. plenty of multiple tabbed browsing
2. youtube etc.
3. video playing so a 1080 monitor would be preferred
4. picture viewing and light tweaking - resizing and such.
5. email
6. general home office use .... letters etc .... again nothing heavy
7. games ..... card games such as solitaire etc
8. Video Chat

Essentially a low end machine but hopefully ok for a few years.

I expect an i3 with on die graphics would be suitable.
Card reader and DVD player/burner will be needed.
Can use existing speakers, keyboard, and mouse.
A new Win licence will be needed.
OpenOffice will do for the home office side of things.

Something like this should suffice
http://www.dell.com/ie/p/inspiron-3252-small-desktop/pd
[that was available under 400 last week (Pentium) but that seems to have been withdrawn.]
or I can build it for him if required.
Heck I feel that an Intel i5 NUC would be sufficient for his needs but I haven't costed that with HDD and RAM. It would surely overcome any space problems I have never used one for anything other than media server .... also it would need external card reader and DVD burner and begin to get a bit messy.

He never upgraded his present PC, so it is unlikely he will ever need to do so in future.

It would be my preference to get an SSD sufficiently large to accommodate the OS & software (128GB), and to either use the drive from the existing build as a data drive or if necessary to add a new drive.

So after all that the real bother to me is the slimline case and monitor with very slight bezel at the sides, to ensure we can get as large a monitor as possible.

Suggestions welcome ...... once the physical devices fit in the available space and the PC is capable of the little he needs and is somewhat future proofed, he will be happy.

There is no problem with buying from EU using Paypal or CC.

Thanks.

K.O.Kiki

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G4400 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor (£48.57)
Motherboard: Asus H110M-K Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£47.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (£25.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial MX300 275GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£63.04 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H24 ATX Mid Tower Case (£27.47 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX TS 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£38.70 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer (£12.17 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: Asus VP228TE 21.5" 75Hz Monitor (£82.87 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £346.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-03 18:11 BST+0100

Intel system.

Windows 10:
http://www.howtogeek.com/244678/you-dont-need-a-product-key-to-install-and-use-windows-10/

€400 is really tight once you add a monitor.
A Windows license would be 25% of the overall budget.

Lu Tze

Given the space requirements, I would look at an external DVD drive, unless its in use almost all the time. Built in DVD drives neccesitate bigger case typically. Definitely look at the nuc, and if you want to build, you can get itx cases (antec have one) which you can mount on the back of a monitor which has vesa mounts, could be a good option given the space restrictions

Johnboy1951

Spoke to mate ...... he would be happy to have Win XP which is apparently what he has now, except it is unsupported.
I know little of purchasing Win licences .... last Win I bought was Win2K
€100 for Win licence is too much given the budget to do a self build. XP would likely be missing drivers for some newer hardware. So maybe something in between would be available at reduced cost?

I wonder if I could persuade him to use Linux ..... probably not ....

K.O.Kiki

Don't install XP.

Too many security issues to deal with tbh; use Windows 10 for free* or Linux.

ShadowHearth

I did not knew that trick with Windows free. That's neat. If you want to activate it, can you use later key from reddit? Or only ms in store keys work for that?

My next upgrade is to get SSD amd windows 10, but in this case I moght just get SSD and key from reddit, if it works then grand, if not I will buy later on from Amazon proper copy.

TerrorFirmer

You can use a key from reddit once you've gotten the key to match the version of Windows.

I never activate my Windows anymore, Win10 literally only has a tiny watermark in the corner of the screen that I don't even notice. There are no other restrictions.

The watermark does appear in the corner of videos but once you get used to it, your eyes stop seeing it.

Easiest €100 you could ever save on a new build to be honest.

Cuddlesworth

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

You can use a key from reddit once you've gotten the key to match the version of Windows.

I never activate my Windows anymore, Win10 literally only has a tiny watermark in the corner of the screen that I don't even notice. There are no other restrictions.

The watermark does appear in the corner of videos but once you get used to it, your eyes stop seeing it.

Easiest €100 you could ever save on a new build to be honest.

Ha, I thought it was just me. I even have a MSDN account and I've stopped caring.

ShadowHearth

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

You can use a key from reddit once you've gotten the key to match the version of Windows.

I never activate my Windows anymore, Win10 literally only has a tiny watermark in the corner of the screen that I don't even notice. There are no other restrictions.

The watermark does appear in the corner of videos but once you get used to it, your eyes stop seeing it.

Easiest €100 you could ever save on a new build to be honest.

Why am I finding out about this only now?!

Looks like I can just order SSD so. Cheers lads.

Johnboy1951

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G4400 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor (£48.57)
Motherboard: Asus H110M-K Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£47.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (£25.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial MX300 275GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£63.04 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H24 ATX Mid Tower Case (£27.47 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX TS 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£38.70 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer (£12.17 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: Asus VP228TE 21.5" 75Hz Monitor (£82.87 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £346.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-03 18:11 BST+0100

Intel system.

Windows 10:
http://www.howtogeek.com/244678/you-dont-need-a-product-key-to-install-and-use-windows-10/

€400 is really tight once you add a monitor.
A Windows license would be 25% of the overall budget.

Thanks for the suggested build

Unfortunately it hit the size limitations so will not work with that monitor and case.
Case is >8"
Monitor >20"
Space available 27"

Still trying to figure out a solution to this problem.

I am thinking that maybe a case that could be placed under the monitor might be a solution. Something like a HTPC case maybe.
It would definitely get rid of the space limitations.
It would likely affect the viewing angle though which could be a problem .... yet it seems to be the only reasonable solution to the space limitation.

I will go, hopefully tomorrow, to see the location. Maybe I will get inspired

EDIT:

Maybe something along the lines of this case, but large enough to take a standard ATX PSU

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/aerocool-cs101-micro-atx-case-black-ca-152-ae.html

K.O.Kiki

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G4400 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor (£55.37)
Motherboard: Asus H110M-K Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£47.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (£32.49 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial MX300 275GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£63.04 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: Asus VP228TE 21.5" 75Hz Monitor (£82.87 @ Amazon UK)
Other: External DVD drive (£10.00)
Other: CiT S012B Slim Micro ATX/ITX Case w/300W PSU + card reader (£31.99)
Total: £323.75
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-05 01:52 BST+0100

Should fit.

Monitor size is diagonal; actual width is 51.3cm

Johnboy1951

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G4400 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor (£55.37)
Motherboard: Asus H110M-K Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£47.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (£32.49 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial MX300 275GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£63.04 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: Asus VP228TE 21.5" 75Hz Monitor (£82.87 @ Amazon UK)
Other: External DVD drive (£10.00)
Other: CiT S012B Slim Micro ATX/ITX Case w/300W PSU + card reader (£31.99)
Total: £323.75
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-05 01:52 BST+0100

Should fit.

Monitor size is diagonal; actual width is 51.3cm

Thanks again.

I had looked at a few CiT cases last night but was concerned about the quality of the PSU. I have no experience with CiT products.

The other concern I had was the connections from the PSU .... I could not find a listing so could not determine what connectors are available for modern boards, particularly for the CPU power line.

Yes the 21.5" monitor is 51.3cm wide ...... which is >20" (20.2) as above.
This CiT case is about 4" wide (100mm) and it seems the space available could take a 6" wide (~150mm) case which might be better if I can find one within the price bracket.

I failed to find a suitable case designed to go underneath the monitor.

K.O.Kiki

Rosewill R379-M is your only other option in this price range tbh.

TBH I wouldn't worry too much about power draw with this build - all you have is a Pentium and 1x SSD.
Motherboard power connector is standard.

Cuddlesworth

NUC? Lets you put whatever monitor you want in.

Johnboy1951

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Rosewill R379-M is your only other option in this price range tbh.

TBH I wouldn't worry too much about power draw with this build - all you have is a Pentium and 1x SSD.
Motherboard power connector is standard.

Thanks. Had a look.
The CiT case is better value (and includes card reader).

The case would have
1 x SSD
1 x HDD
1 x Card Reader
1 x DVD burner

The PSU should be well capable if it is of reasonable quality.

Johnboy1951

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

NUC? Lets you put whatever monitor you want in.

Gets messy with external PSU, external card reader, external DVD burner and PSU and with the addition of drives and memory cost rises.

I will be proposing something like that, but I believe it would not be acceptable ..... he seems to want everything in one case.
He even asked about 'all-in-one' monitor & PC.

JoyPad

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

He even asked about 'all-in-one' monitor & PC.

Lenovo C20 has integrated DVD writer, but no card reader.

Johnboy1951

JoyPad wrote: »

Lenovo C20 has integrated DVD writer, but no card reader.

Thanks, yes I looked at that.
All of those within his budget seem to be only 19" screens, which I think might be a bit small, but I will be discussing it with him.

Johnboy1951

Just back from a visit with my tape measure

I believe I have things sorted .... in my mind anyway

I can use his existing case, laid on its side with the monitor over it.
It actually helps with viewing the monitor.
So no more space constraints, and the PSU in his present case is 350W so that will suffice.
It has a card reader and SATA DVD, so good there too.

All I need is to get motherboard, CPU & RAM and a new monitor.
I reckon less than €250 will see him right.
I will deal with the OS problems as they arise after that.

Thank you all for the help with this.
Pity it took a visit to sort it out, but he had not considered raising the monitor and that was the key it seems, as there is plenty height and he sits in a rather high position anyway (big lad).