Build advise for NON-gaming computer

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welchs101

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Sep 18, 2008
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Hi,

A friend wants to build a non-gaming computer to do work related "stuff" like excel, power point, publisher, surf net, check email, etc.

I have come here before asking for build info.........i typically build about 1 computer every 2yrs for family and friends. I am not a novice but i am NO expert. Its hard for me to stay on top of current cpus and mother boards to use for best non-gaming computer.

Could someone help me identify components to use for a good non-gaming computer?

thanks.
 
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azaran
Good call on going with the ATX mid tower. Unless you absolutely need to go smaller the extra breathing room is always nice to have. The blu-ray reader looks good, just keep in mind in order to play Blu-Ray movies you will need a software suite to do it. There are way people have gotten VLC to do it for free, but I cant answer to that since I've always had some media software or another to play on. If you want to try and go free, look up VLC blu-ray playback, if not then look up CyberLink PowerDVD. The current version is CyberLink PowerDVD15. Since its sale weekend they're having a good price on it.

And Windows 10 will run just fine on all of that.
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All I have for you is, non-gaming PC doesn't need a dedicated GPU, the built-in is fine. Depending how big the spreadsheet/how many open taps, I would go for a I3 to I5 depending on budget and 4G ram minimum (u'd be amazed how much ram browser takes). The rest up to your budget.
 
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If you are talking about using basic office applications and Internet surfing, maybe playing the odd video then you can get away with a very modest machine.

So you could for example use the new Skylake Pentium G4400, coupled with a H110 chipset motherboard. You would not require an additional graphics card in this build so select a motherboard that provides you with the desired connectivity (i.e. HDMI / DVI / VGA). I would suggest going with a DDR3L board as the RAM is much cheaper at the moment and you could get away with 4gb, however RAM is so reasonably priced at the moment you might as well go with 8gb of DDR3L. Then I think the most important thing to use is an SSD. Speak to your friend and determine their storage needs, if they are modest try to only use an SSD in the system it will make the system run much quieter, significantly quicker and without having to add an extra HDD it makes file management easier for the end user.

Intel is the most straightforward to put a build together IMO, you could use an AMD APU but personally I think these are better suited to a HTPC role.
 
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I personally don't think you will benefit from the extra two threads of an i3 using the applications outlined by the OP. With an SSD in the system, if you put an i3 and a Pentium side by side running office and internet explorer I doubt very much you would see any difference and the Pentium is half the price.

The i3 has a better integrated GPU, however if they genuinely don't need it then again there is no point. A Pentium will still playback a blu-ray with no issues... it just won't handle 3D.
 
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Really outside of a high end video card, what makes a good gaming rig also makes a good general use computer. Whats your budget?

General guideline.

CPU: AMD or Intel. AMD will be less expensive and their APUs have a better built in GPU, but I've grown to prefer the Intel line ups. Cycle for cycle they're stronger CPUs at stock settings, but they are more expensive. Go for a Skylake CPU (6th gen LGA1151). Aside from being the newest, it does have a better performance level than Haswell. Also since I'm guessing you don't need anything fancy video wise, the Skylake chips have a better integrated GPU. You could get away with an i3 but really I'd recommend an i5. Its a bit overkill but every time I run in to an i3 based system a year or two out of the gate the performance for even every day stuff just seems to drag. There will likely be an AMD fan in here at some point, and they will probably be right as well. For basic stuff, either will do the trick.

CPU cooler: Skylakes dont come with one, pick up a Cryorig h7 if you're getting a decent sized case. They're cheap, easy to install, quiet, and will keep everything cool.

Motherboard: Pick up something in the H170 line up. You don't need the over clocking of the Z170 boards but the H110 series cuts out a few SATA and USB options. As someone with way too many usb devices I like having options. I've had good results with Asus, Gigabyte and Asrock. Of the 3 I've only heard/experienced good things with Asrocks customer support. ATX if you want a full sized case, Micro ATX if you want smaller build. A good write up on the differences in the many chipsets can be found here.
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Z170-H170-H110-B170-Q150-Q170---What-is-the-Difference-635/

RAM: With a H170 chipset you can only use DDR4 2133. Find a good vendor like G.Skill, Crucial or Corsair that has a decent price on 8GB kits. You can go 16GB, I always like a bit more than less but for basic computer needs its over kill.

Hard Drive: You can pick up a 1TB WD or Seagate for $50. Easy as. If you want to grab an SSD to make things a bit faster, the Samsung Evo line is cheap, fast and quality.

PSU: A Evga G2 550watt is like $80-$90. Its worth getting something decent. If the CPU is the brain, the PSU is the heart.

Video Card: You probably dont need one. Most motherboards will come with DVI, HDMI and some have display port and vga.

Case: Totally subjective on here. Go find something you like the looks of and make sure it fits the format of the motherboard you get. I like Nzxt for the $60 and up range.

Operating System: Grab a copy of Win10 home. Roughly $90.
 
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For a family pc, I´d highly suspect to be some gaming needs, no?
Also, you should mention a budget, and consider if the budget should cover mouse, keyboard, monitor etc or just a cabinet-pc and nothing else. Reused items can shave some bucks off as well.
 
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For what you are talking about, its not worth the time or money to build a PC. Dell or HP make some very nice basic/small desktop PC's that will that will do everything you have listed for around $500, are spec'd quite nicely, again for what you are saying you need, and they come with warranties and support. That's my 2 cents worth.
 
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My wife uses her PC for non gaming applications. Despite being 7 years old it boots quickly, never struggles with Windows updates or virus scans, and is always responsive. The reason it is still good - it is an AMD Phenom II Quad core 3.4Ghz. The processor is near to top spec for a machine of that era (the PC was originally used for gaming.)
My Mum also has a non gaming PC. I built it with the cheapest processor available because all she does is browsing the internet and playing solitaire . It is 3 years old, and boot up times are getting noticeably longer already.

I guess the question you need to ask is, how long do you want the PC to last?
Spending an extra £100 on the processor will probably double the useful life of the PC, and you won't need to spend any more on the other components.

I like stuff that lasts, so I would go for an i5 on a h81 motherboard with onboard graphics
 
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He's not wrong really. You could put together a build for cheaper but it'd only be by a few bucks and you'd be your own tech support. HP at least lets you customize some aspects of it.
 
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What you want in a "business class" machine above all else is reliability and longevity. So here are my guidelines.

I stay at least one generation back from the "bleeding edge" on everything. That helps with cost also.

AMD processor. There's no reason to spend the extra money on an Intel processor. Two cores at 3.0 to 3.5 GHz are usually enough. The last one I built had a motherboard that had a "core unlocker" feature so I got three cores out of a Phenom II but only paid for two. I usually put a third party cooler on the CPU because the ones that come with the boxed CPU's are engineered to save money but usually don't have much head room.

Some OEM's are now producing business class mobo's that are inexpensive. The type of business and what extra hardware peripherals they need may partially determine the mobo. A lot of vendors have stopped including a serial port on the mobo but some older peripherals may need it. Primarily look for reliability and support in the OEM you choose. Staying back 1 or 2 generations here ensures any bugs have been worked out of the BIOS, drivers, etc. This also narrows the choices down somewhat because the vendors discontinued the older products.

I stay away from SSD's for business class machines. They had problems with power outages losing data in the early days. That's been pretty much solved now but the $/Gb just don't work for a business class machine. Don't expect business class users to be conscientious about their backups. Study's show Western Digital and HGST HDD's to be the more reliable. Don't skimp on money here - reliability is the key. Spend a few more bucks to get reliability. I do, however, usually just go with 7200 RPM drives though rather than 10k RPM.

RAM capacity and speed is pretty dependent on what the mobo will support and which OS you choose. If they use a lot of older software or are highly dependent on one specific older software application, stick with a 32-bit OS. 64-bit Windows has some hoops to jump through to get older software and batch files to run properly. In terms of RAM, that limits you to 4Gb but if you go with a 64-bit version go to 8Gb because the OS will perform much better.

I usually go one or two notches up from what the minimum PSU is for a particular build. That puts less stress on the PSU so it will last longer. If the machine is to be used in a warehouse or other harsh environment I'll go up two notches. Again, don't skimp here because everything else in the box depends on the PSU. You want quality components above all else for the PSU.

Plain Jane cases are good because they save money but it has to have good air flow.

With all of that said, it's really about support. Do you want your friend coming to you for support when things "go bump in the night"? If so, build it. If not point them to a nearby computer shop where they can build a reputation with the vendor. They might want to buy from a "big box" store to save a few bucks but I point out the lack of support going that route. And I definitely tell them to stay away from Dell and HP because they usually have proprietary components that can only be had from them which prevents the user from going to the nearest computer shop for a part to repair a down PC.

If you are going to build it you can look at the "Best Of" series here. They usually have business class stuff listed.
 
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You haven't read his question correctly. He says that the PC is for his friend to do work on it
 
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You´re right, my apologies. Gaming needs are cross off the list, but they budget and what it should cover is still very relevant.
 
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This is a quicky build, so I didnt research the hell out of board selection to find an ultra low cost, but this is something to at least give you an idea. As I said before, an i-5 is kind of over kill for every day work. But like Lodders said, and I'm of the same mind, build bigger than you need now and it'll last longer. An i-3 with 4gb of ram would do the job for now but it wont in a fairly short time with the bloat that a lot of programs, especially Microsoft office, adds in to their program.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/VwFPCJ


CPU: Intel Core i5-6400 2.7GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.50 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H170M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($91.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws 4 series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($48.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 750GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($46.00 @ Amazon)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H15 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($35.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24F1ST DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($90.75 @ OutletPC)
Total: $613.19
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-13 09:12 EST-0500
 
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A lot of advice in this thread appears to be from people that don't actually build computers and are just regurgitating their interpretation of various reviews and accepted misconceptions of what is required to build a good machine. I build machines frequently and I am an advocate of the correct component for the correct job and not spending money needlessly. My suggestion still stands, to suggest needing anything above an i3 for this machine you must be smoking the good stuff. It would be a huge waste of money. Using the correct components is the key, if you put an i3 in a machine with a 1TB drive and a Pentium in a machine with an SSD the Pentium will thrash the i3 in 75% of the jobs a home user would utilise a desktop for.

I don't suggest AMD in this situation, I am an advocate of AMD for the correct application but they do not make sense for an office PC. They are not as efficient as the Intel counterparts and you do not need the graphics processing power of an APU. Also FX chips really need to be reserved for enthusiasts, they have their applications but for use in a family computer they are a terrible choice.

As for 'just buying a HP/Dell' suggestion, wash your mouth out!
 
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I am actually with you on this. Even through the hostility, I´d say that i3 is sufficient for office programs and the likes. SSD is one the best investments you can do for your pc considering the price.
 
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Sorry I wasn't meant to be coming across as hostile, I am quite passionate about hardware and some people read things on these forums and believe it to be the truth. It's easy to get a 'CPU expert' tag on your name and then think you are the source of all wisdom.

I don't profess to know everything but some of the suggestions in this thread are mad.
 
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No, dont get me wrong, I quite understand. Most techwiz people actually enjoy hard problems and questions. If we didn't, we wouldn't and shouldn´t be here. And sometimes what comes off like hostility or arrogance is just a automatic response to people who seem to be unwilling to think for themselves.

And that´s totally fine in my book, since we're volunteers - taking time out of busy lives to give valuable input in forums.
 
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wow, i had no idea i would get so many responses. In the past i have used AMD cpus for the home/office computers.

i would like to get a SSD to boot from. i dont need a monitor, keyboard or mouse. i just need the case, ram, cpu, psu, ssd.......dvd r/w drive. i think thats it..........the OS my friend already has.......i think he has windows 10.

my hope was to spend around 400 to 500 us dollars.
 
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Normaly I'd agree with you but as one of the people thats suggested going over an i3 on the build, it do it for 2 reasons.
One, cost. the difference between the Skylake i3 and an i5 is about $50. In the life of a build that's nothing if it can give some measure of performance increase down the line that will prevent an otherwise unnecessary rebuild.

Two, like you I build and deal with system repair all the time, and included in that job is working with a few labs full of computers running the software the OP is talking about. Microsoft and other productivity software developers are increasingly putting larger burdens on the software thats running. While Windows may have gotten a bit more streamlined I can tell you that Office and other software like it have only become more bloated and resource hungry.

As for the Dell/HP thing, yeah I felt a little dirty agreeing with it but sometimes the trade off of built in tech support can be enough to offset the midrange gear you get.
 
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in reviewing the cpus and the information posted here by you guys.........i need to pick the cpu first and then everything else.
If i choose an intel cpu: choices are I3 or I5.......but there are so many I3 and I5 options which do i choose
If i choose an amd cpu: i was thinking about picking the amd A10 series but which one do i choose
 
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