Home office build

hold my beer

Hi all,

I'm looking to build a PC to be used in my home office. Hope I've included everything I need below. Thanks for looking.

1. What is your budget? €1,000 - €1,500

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Microsoft Office applications, industry software (not hugely intensive)

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? Yes

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? Possibly, I have a few old Windows 7 PCs sitting around here.

5. Do you need a monitor? No

5a. If yes, what size do you need. n/a

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? [1920x1080/1440x900/etc.] Samsung Ultrawide

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? No peripherals.

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? Possibly

8. How can you pay? Bank transfer, card etc.

9. When are you purchasing? ASAP

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? Don't need help.

hold my beer

Aggghhh, there's so many options. I'm looking at the following at the minute: -

Motherboard: ASUS ROG STRIX B550-F

APU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G processor 3.9 GHz 16 MB L3 Box

How do I know for sure that these two are compatible? If they are, do I just need a case, memory (m2), RAM, and a power source? Am I missing anything? Anyone any suggestions for these in Ireland preferably?

minitrue

They are compatible, the board has bios flashback so if the bios it ships with is too old to support the cpu you can update the bios anyway. That board is probably over priced really unless you find a bargain as it's up around X570 prices, something like the MSI B550M PRO-VDH or MSI B550-A PRO are a lot cheaper and I doubt you care about the differences (e.g. 2.5GB ethernet) unless you want wifi onboard in which case the common advice is to use powerline adapters instead if you can't just run a cable but you could also pick another board with wifi (e.g. the PRO-VDH wifi) and still save a good chunk.

With a 5600G (or any build using onboard graphics) it's worth spending an extra little bit on faster ram, something like 3600CL16 (there's 3733CL17 from Amazon Germany better priced right now) but there's no point going faster than 4000 and given the use case it's certainly not worth paying a large premium. There's no way you should have to go below 3200CL16 though.

There's nothing you are missing, you could add a cpu cooler to make it quieter but you don't need to.

You will overpay to buy things in Ireland and unless you are vigilant you'll just end up finding that you will be ordering things off someone who will then have your parts shipped in on demand from abroad anyway :( MemoryC do carry a small range of things in Ireland but they don't have any useful AMD processors. MaxBurns also carry a very small amount of stuff here but the only processors they have are 10th gen Intel which you also don't want. Personally I'm still happy enough to order from Amazon uk but Amazon Germany is another option or European stores like say computeruniverse.net

To help yourself you could use de.pcpartpicker.com or uk.pcpartpicker.com, narrowing down the merchants to those you want to bother with, and it will help steer you towards compatible parts and give you warnings about possible pitfalls such as the possibility of the cpu not being guaranteed out of the box support from the motherboard, which I think is unavoidable with a 5600G unless you find a vendor willing to guarantee it.

If you want someone to post up a suggested build I'd suggest you give a bit more details about what you want as your budget is high for what sounds like a basic build so you do indeed have a lot of options. For example do you want it small or quiet or super fast or pretty or would prefer just to keep the budget in check?

hold my beer

Thanks minitrue, very helpful post.

I would really love someone to suggest a build as I'm lost in all the options. To give a few more details: Not really bothered by size but would lean towards smaller at a push. I want it to be fast, and able to handle very large spreadsheets at times, as well as multiple different applications open at the same time. I need decent size storage, so preferably an M.2 1TB or similar. I'd like it as quiet as possible. I think the onboard graphics on the 5600G (or similar) is fine for my use, so wouldn't need an extra graphics card (I'm currently using a PC with a Ryzen5 3400G and it's great - I need to start using it as a server for one application which is why I'm going to build a new one). I'll be using ethernet I think (it will be wired for it anyway) but I've been finding that WiFi in my current house is extremely fast (with Virgin) so I'd like to have WiFi (either on the board already or an extra PCI). Budget wise, I was hoping to build something for about €1,000 but can go to €1,500 at a push if needed and worth it.

Hope that covers everything. Thanks.

Cuddlesworth

Any low-mid spec pc in the last 8 years can handle "very large spreadsheets at times, as well as multiple different applications open at the same time".

If it was me and it was for home work use, I'd buy a new dell with 4 years support. A small form factor optiplex 3080/3090, 6 core, 16 gigs of ram, 1tb ssd/M2, would fit in that budget in one of their twice monthly sales. Its a good time too, this is the slowest part of the year for sales.

It could be delivered built and working within a week.

It will run anything you throw at it.

It will most likely last for purpose for well over 4 years.

When it breaks, after some rough troubleshooting over the phone, they will send out somebody out with parts to fix it.

Its smaller then most things you could build yourself.

You don't get that via self building and if its only office work, I don't think self builds hold any real benefit for that use case. They haven't for years. They have disadvantages, like the fact they are pretty much e-waste when your done with them. But the warranty itself is worth far more then what they charge for it.

hold my beer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118756369#Comment_118756369

Thanks for the post but where's the fun in that....I also hate Dell, anything I've ever bought from them has been crap. There's far more value to be had when self building.

K.O.Kiki

Intel

PCPartPicker Part List: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/bY49JM

CPU: Intel Core i5-12400 2.5 GHz 6-Core Processor (€199.00 @ Amazon Deutschland)

CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Freezer i13 X CO CPU Cooler (€27.99 @ Amazon Deutschland)

Motherboard: Asus PRIME B660M-A WIFI D4 Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard (€166.54 @ Computeruniverse)

Memory: Crucial Ballistix 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (€119.00 @ Amazon Deutschland)

Storage: Western Digital Blue SN550 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (€95.99 @ Amazon Deutschland)

Power Supply: be quiet! Pure Power 11 CM 400 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply (€58.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)

Case: Inter-Tech IT-6865 schwarz (@ ComputerUniverse) (€44.66)

Total: €712.08

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-03-09 16:37 CET+0100

AMD

PCPartPicker Part List: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/hBVbXy

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G 3.9 GHz 6-Core Processor (€222.99 @ Amazon Deutschland)

CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Freezer A13 X CPU Cooler (€18.30 @ Amazon Deutschland)

Motherboard: MSI MAG B550M MORTAR WIFI Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (€162.57 @ Computeruniverse)

Memory: Crucial Ballistix 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (€119.00 @ Amazon Deutschland)

Storage: Western Digital Blue SN550 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (€95.99 @ Amazon Deutschland)

Power Supply: be quiet! Pure Power 11 CM 400 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply (€58.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)

Custom: Inter-Tech IT-6865 schwarz (@ ComputerUniverse) (€44.66)

Total: €722.41

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-03-09 21:12 CET+0100

hold my beer

Thanks a mil for that @K.O.Kiki . I went with the AMD build and bought everything from Computer Universe early last week. It's been a bit of a nightmare so far. Their website was a mess when I was trying to order (kept clearing the basket etc.), payment was a problem as it wouldn't accept my card (had to use Amazon pay), then they issued multiple invoices, some with VAT, some without. When I check the order status on the website now, the total includes VAT. It also says 'Available from stock. Reserved for you.' beside all the items, but there's nothing about when I can expect delivery.

I've been trying to get hold of them since last week by email and today by phone but no joy. Anyone else have any experience like this? The last time I bought from them it wasn't this messy. How do I find out when my stuff will arrive :(

When I bought my gaming pc, I ordered it from pcspecialist, very user friendly site where they’d advise if your selection was incompatible or inappropriate. Great company to deal with.