Question Best workstation build for CPA.

[steedfj]

My wife is a CPA and is extremely unhappy with her current computer situation at work. I would like to build her a computer than is more than capable of zooming through all her work tasks. She uses quick books with dozens of company's and there files as well as excel. Its not uncommon for her to have large spreadsheets open containing 100 pages or more. I have a little experience with building mid-tier gaming machines but I've never done something just as a workstation. Not sure what is over kill but, i also want to guarantee a fast, clean experience for her. Anybody done something like this lately?

 

[13thmonkey]

How much memory does she have now, and how much is she using, how big is the page file? This will give us an idea about memory sizing, then it's just a reasonable storage system and a reasonable number of cores, i5-9000 or R5 2600 something like that. Unless setting benchmarks the difference in single core speed will be barely noticeable.

 

[steedfj]

How much memory does she have now, and how much is she using, how big is the page file? This will give us an idea about memory sizing, then it's just a reasonable storage system and a reasonable number of cores, i5-9000 or R5 2600 something like that. Unless setting benchmarks the difference in single core speed will be barely noticeable.

Thanks for the quick response.

Her current build is a core 2 duo e7500 @ 2.93GHz with 8 gb ram. She's also booting from a HD which I would like to change. I don't have access to her file sizes right now.

 

[13thmonkey]

Any modern processor, 16gb of ram and a nice nvme drive will be a world away from what she has. Then it all comes down to budget.

 

[steedfj]

Any modern processor, 16gb of ram and a nice nvme drive will be a world away from what she has. Then it all comes down to budget.

Great, thanks for your help.

 

[13thmonkey]

Like this for instance: https://www.newegg.com/intel-660p-s...4728&cjevent=3c5d0f5c911c11e9834701f00a18050c

 

[steedfj]

Can you recommend mobo that supports this? No gaming will be done on it. (AM4 socket)

 

[13thmonkey]

Any board with an M.2 interface will do it, nothing special about a non gaming build.

 

[steedfj]

Any board with an M.2 interface will do it, nothing special about a non gaming build.

I know but, everything on newegg seems to be gaming this or gaming that and I feel like prices are marked up if it's got the word gaming plastered on it. Plus I don't know how to tell if a basic one is a reliable choice. Thank you again.

 

[13thmonkey]

asus pro (wifi) series, i've been running one slightly OC'd since may 2012, network port has just started giving me grief but that's all.