[SOLVED] Best Value CPU today for office use ?

[Regev]

Im building a rig for my assistant, what's the best CPU today (preferably with integrated graphics) for the money?
Will be used solely for doing office work with many open Chromium tabs simultaneously.

Thank you!

 

[Hellfire13]

You can go with any current gen. Intel/AMD processor with graphics as per your budget. They are all capable of doing simple office work as long as your tasks are not graphics intensive. Chromium tabs are more taxing to Memory than CPU.

 

[Regev]

Well, which one would you go with ?

 

[Hellfire13]

Well, which one would you go with ?

What is your budget for the PC and location?
Typically you can go with Alderlake i3/i5 or Ryzen 5xxx APU.

 

[Regev]

Can be as low or as high as needed, as long as it won't suffer any speed or 'choke' issues in heavy browser-based office uses. It's for my business, all tax deductible anyway

 

[Hellfire13]

Can be as low or as high as needed, as long as it won't suffer any speed or 'choke' issues in heavy browser-based office uses. It's for my business, all tax deductible anyway

For simple office work, something like this should be good...

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i5-12400 2.5 GHz 6-Core Processor | $208.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard | Gigabyte B660M DS3H DDR4 Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard | $122.98 @ Newegg
Memory | Silicon Power 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory | $54.97 @ Amazon
Storage | Western Digital WD_BLACK SN750 SE 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive | $49.99 @ Amazon
Case | Cooler Master MasterBox Lite 3.1 MicroATX Mid Tower Case | $47.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply | Corsair CXM 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply | $59.08 @ Amazon
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $563.99
| Mail-in rebates | -$20.00
| Total | $543.99
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-02-08 04:47 EST-0500 |

 

[Nighthawk117]

Im building a rig for my assistant, what's the best CPU today (preferably with integrated graphics) for the money?
Will be used solely for doing office work with many open Chromium tabs simultaneously.

Thank you!

It depends on what you define as office work, but generally it doesn't matter what you buy as they will all be fast enough. CPU's I would look at would be the i3 12100, i5 12400, Ryzen 5600G. I would stick to 12th gen Intel and Ryzen 5000.

 

[USAFRet]

And don't forget to add in the cost of a valid WIndows license. ~$100.

For this use, a prebuilt something is often a better deal.
That also gets you a warranty, as well as the OS license.

Possibly Dell Outlet, for a refurbished something.

 

[Regev]

i forgot to mention - I can get the Intels for a nice disocunt through the employee program. As for the OS, I'm using Linux Debian - no need for a Windows license

 

[Regev]

I checked the store: they have the i5-11400 for $90, 11500 for $99, 12600K for $150, 12700K for $215, 12900K for $300.

Considering the prices of the other parts (MB, memories, nvme, etc), which one would you order for that system?

 

[Nighthawk117]

I checked the store: they have the i5-11400 for $90, 11500 for $99, 12600K for $150, 12700K for $215, 12900K for $300.

Considering the prices of the other parts (MB, memories, nvme, etc), which one would you order for that system?

I guess it depends on how much you want to spend. You say you don't want the CPU to choke, the reality is none of them are going to do that, they are all more than capable of running MS Office apps and web browsing.

Do you have a preferred budget range? I wouldn't bother with the 12900K, it's an enthusiast chip, you don't need that to browse the internet. If it were me I would pick the 12600K and pair it with 32GB of DDR4. That give's you 6 P cores and 4 E cores for a total of 10 and plenty of RAM for heavy browsing and multi-tasking. Should be completely over the top and last for many years.

 

[Hellfire13]

I checked the store: they have the i5-11400 for $90, 11500 for $99, 12600K for $150, 12700K for $215, 12900K for $300.

Considering the prices of the other parts (MB, memories, nvme, etc), which one would you order for that system?

The 12600k would be reasonable for your use case as anything above that is pretty much waste of money and resource. Even a 11500 is good enough but its previous gen.

 

[Bob.B]

I checked the store: they have the i5-11400 for $90, 11500 for $99, 12600K for $150, 12700K for $215, 12900K for $300.

Considering the prices of the other parts (MB, memories, nvme, etc), which one would you order for that system?

You don't need a K model for office use.
Save your money or I should say the tax payers money.

 

[Nighthawk117]

At those prices you might as well have the K chip, $150 is peanuts.

 

[Regev]

They dont have the non-K version yet, only the 11400 or 11500, but to be honest for $60 more the 12600 seems like the better deal, no?

 

[geofelt]

I checked the store: they have the i5-11400 for $90, 11500 for $99, 12600K for $150, 12700K for $215, 12900K for $300.

Considering the prices of the other parts (MB, memories, nvme, etc), which one would you order for that system?

11400 would be more than what you need.
The K suffix prices are great, but they would need more than stock cooling and I would not advise to use one of them.
I have built a couple such office type systems in the past using the older I3-10100 and my perception was that it was a very quick processor.
If there is a 12100 available, that would be as strong as I would go.

The key to quick office system performance is a good ssd. Unless you need lots of storage, a 1tb samsung 980 m.2 pcie or the even the PRO version is as good as it gets.

Another good key would be your monitor. A good 34" double wide lets you keep two web pages on the screen.

As to ram, you need at least a 2 x 8gb ram kit. But, considering the possibility of many chrome tabs open, spend a bit more for a 2 x 16gb kit.

Is there any need for a dvd? cases with dvd space are not common these days.
Look for a good looking ITX case if it will reside on the desktop.

 

[Nighthawk117]

They dont have the non-K version yet, only the 11400 or 11500, but to be honest for $60 more the 12600 seems like the better deal, no?

Even the 11400 is a very capable CPU, so I don't think you are going to be unsatisfied with any of them. It doesn't sound like the 12600K will add a huge amount to the overall build cost though. $60 for the CPU and then probably similar for the motherboard. With the 12600K your getting a lot more for not a huge amount more, it's stupidly powerful for this use case so I would go with that. With the 12700K and 12900K you need to spend more on cooling and possibly the board as well, no problems with getting either of them but they are really over the top. Your better off with having an i5 with more RAM imo.

 

[Bob.B]

They dont have the non-K version yet, only the 11400 or 11500, but to be honest for $60 more the 12600 seems like the better deal, no?

Go for it.
I doubt you will ever need that kind of horsepower for office use.

 

[Nighthawk117]

Go for it.
I doubt you will ever need that kind of horsepower for office use.

Probably not no, but it just means it will last a long time.

 

[helper800]

Something like this would be a beastly office computer that will last you many years for basic browsing and office application use.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-12600K 3.7 GHz 10-Core Processor ($150.00)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S redux 70.75 CFM CPU Cooler ($49.95 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING B660M-PLUS WIFI D4 Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($115.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($126.54 @ Amazon)
Case: Silverstone FARA R1 ATX Mid Tower Case ($68.84 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Super Flower Leadex III Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg Sellers)
Total: $751.30
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-02-08 14:46 EST-0500

 

[Regev]

Wait a second, that 12600K is stronger than my 9900K ?!
Geez, technology goes ahead so fast.

 

[USAFRet]

I checked the store: they have the i5-11400 for $90, 11500 for $99, 12600K for $150, 12700K for $215, 12900K for $300.

Considering the prices of the other parts (MB, memories, nvme, etc), which one would you order for that system?

I'll wager that the difference in CPU, for this use, would be impossible to tell.
The rest of the system has far more impact. RAM, storage size and type, etc.

 

[Vic 40]

If you want latest gen Intel then the 12100 will be fine.

 

[LeviTech]

I would go to the i5 12400

 

[Regev]

Only gen-12 on the Intel employee store is the 12600K - for $150. Other ones I'll have to buy from a store full full price, which would make no sense