Cheap Office PC Build : Opened my Mouth and got money shoved in it.

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Cyric30

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Oct 5, 2009
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Hello All, i don't use the forums often to post, but I've been building my own gaming PCs for years, so i can do the building no problem,but this is a bit out my knowledge base so here's the story.

Today i was troubleshooting the old PCs at my work and made the comment that, "i bet i could build a PC twice as good as these old POS for 200-300 dollars". well the boss looked at me and said "really, we been talking about upgrading, why dont you see what you can do and i'll talk to the owner about it." so now ive got money shoved in my mouth on an offhand comment. thankfully the PCs are OLD so i think my boast may be within reason.

Where using old Dell Vostro 200,s with the E2160 Pentiums at 1.80ghz, 2GB ram with a 150GB HD
there used mainly for typical office work
I just know very little about what makes an Office PC different from a gaming rig i do know that they are diffrent creatures though. so i hoped some the kind folks could help me out.
so i would like to ask for some help.i just need the Box not any peripherals or software
Would like to stick with what i know so tword that end:

Intel CPU
Nvidia GPU if on board isn't present or isn't strong enough
120GB, SSD would be nice, but not totally necessary
2GB memory, 4 would be nice though

again, i just need the Box not any peripherals or software

Ask me questions, i'll reply, i hope with your help, i can turn an idle boast into reality, shows me to keep my mouth shut if nothing else.
 
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Ok. So, it depends what type of office work you do. If it's photoshop, go for an i3 build and if it's the an Microsoft office build, go for a pentium. But remember, low budget builds such as these may not be worth it and a pre built PC may be worth it due to it being cheaper
 
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Red Robin
Thank you for the Reply, im totally willing to go that rout if i or someone can find a PC that pre-built that better or equal to the build that are posted, im not picky as to how to get the open mouth slip accomplished 😛
i cant really describe the software thats used on it, other than its a price changing and coordination program, but definitively no Photoshop used

Cyric
 
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Office pc ?

Here you go:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/jYrvrH

Okay so let me explain all this, No you don't need an Nvidia Gpu for an office pc people are just gonna do word processing sending emails/browsing ect, preparing slideshows and if some guy wants to play a game he can run minecraft or cs go without any problems on 40-60fps with the built in intel hd 4000 graphics, Intel is gr8 but you can also use amd but for the sake of this being an office pc less power consumption is necessary, tell your boss how the new pcs will use lesser power compared to the old ones these build above will be able to run windows 10 64bit chrome and office 365 flawlessly and any other software your office might use.
 
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I did not intend to hit best solution on Faalins post, i intended to hit the link, , not taking away from anyone else or Faalins builds, was just a fat finger on my part, apologies to all, please continue postings if you are so inclined
 
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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G4500 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($87.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B150M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($76.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($46.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive ($66.97 @ OutletPC)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1500 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($55.99 @ Directron)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 350W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($42.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $377.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-12 15:24 EST-0500

Lowest possible power use , latest DDR4 memory that can be expanded in future , onboard graphics are fine , plenty of RAM for spreadsheets and database work
 
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Hello All
here's 2 builds came up with and some whys what i came up with.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/LgqdLk

I liked the mini itx idea Faalin came up with in the first post G3285 Intel was a common theme on 2 builds and was a possessor i was looking at as well so keeping that idea, but also took Xtergos advice of no stand alone GPU to heart. upgraded the SSD to a Samsung 850 Evo series cause i have had dealings with them and seem to be rock solid, down graded the Power supply some think 500W was a bit over kill, but hay according to this, 400 is overkill as well. that brings me in under 300$ with a bit for shipping.

2nd Build

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/j9kwWZ

Second Build is an mini-atx build based off Xtergo's build
Again CPU is G3285, w/ still using on-board graphics Traded out the HD for SSD Samsung tweaked the PS and got a cheaper case as i know they dont care about the looks only that it works this comes in at just under 250.00

So whats your thought on the 2 builds? any glaring mistakes? why would you pick one over the other? any changes you would make and why?

Thank Each of you for your time patience and Advice

Cyric
 
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There is a high probability that the h81 motherboard has an old version BIOS which is not compatible with the Pentium 3258... until the BIOS is flashed to a newer version. And you'll need an older cpu (pre-haswell-refresh) in order to flash the BIOS. So I recommend dropping the G3258 and use the G3220 which will be absolutely compatible with the H81 mobo. A very small performance difference when not overclocking, and I assume you have no intention of overclocking the 3258.

Also, I don't agree with your choice to use single-channel ram when a dual channel kit (2x2gb) is only a few dollars more. I would suggest 4 gb of dual channel 1333... forget the ssd in favor of a WD Blue hard drive with 64mb cache, it's plenty quick for your purpose. And the G3220 is more impressive than you might expect. I have a Rosewill FMB-02 case and it's nice for the price but the front fan is loud... I've disconnected mine in an identical build and am very much enjoying it. Although I do have a video card (GT730).
 
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The AMD A8-7600 Kaveri scores higher than the Pentium in most office productivity & content creation applications (see Toms latest Skylake CPU article) with better video --- it pulled an extra 1w at idle.

Single-channel RAMs is a bit of a ding, too, as noted -- that will cost you 5%+ on average in performance, higher in memory intensive applications.

Remember -- memory is inexpensive these days and if the Boss keeps the machine(s) as long as your Dell (7 years?) it will be outrageously expensive to upgrade down the road.

 
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I don't know why people have gone like "WE NEED MORE PERFORMANCE" (No offence to anyone i am just saying), This is not that kind of office pc that would make content, check out atm they run on old Win XP machines, point of sales at a local supermarket they have p4 with 1gig of ddr1 , thats not all photo-editors running old Photoshop versions and amd Athlon 2 gigs of ram and a GT 9400.

So the most of the things we would be doing here is making excel spreadsheets, downloading email, sending and receiving emails,

So we don't need the following:

-More than 4GB RAM (8 would be k as they very close but still 4 is enuf).
-APUs or video cards, intergrated graphics is enough,
-Aftermarket coolers, why ? if you say you need quiet, try shutting up the old ribbon printer instead (or whatever that noisy thing is called) any who forgot the multiple phones ringing at once either the where you are or nearby.
- ssd (can be added l8r cuz they eat up the budget)

What is REally needed:

- An processor consuming less energy
- long lasting / durable
- as cheap as possible
 
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