Lenovo IdeaCentre 300

[Patent Attorney]

I'm trying to figure out if the Lenovo IdeaCentre 300 will be suitable for my purposes:

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/desktops/ideacentre/300-series/300/

The mobo in my old rig died (I think, I checked all the ram, tried replacing the PSU, and it still turns on, only stays on for a few seconds, and shuts off). It was an old Ivy Bridge chipset. However I did have a 512 GB SSD and an r9 280 video card in it that I would like to continue using. I don't have a lot of time to build this myself, unlike ~5.5 years ago when I put together the old rig.

So I looked for a bare-bones prebuild at a low price, and saw the ideacentre 300. I'd like to put my ssd and r9 280 in it, and obviously will have to replace the PSU. The mobo for this system is an h110 "express." I can't find the exact mobo anywhere, so I can't plug it into pcpartpicker. I know my r9 280 will work with a regular h110, but I don't know about an "h110 express." I'm also uncertain whether I'll need a small form-fact PSU for this system, since the case is a "mini tower," which is much smaller than my old rig. Again I can't find the exact case used, so I can't plug into pcpartpicker.

Can anyone provide any guidance? Thank you very much in advance for any help anyone can provide.

 

[notlim981]

You'll be better off building a budget system yourself than going with any pre build pc.

 

[captaincharisma]

yea dont go prebuilt. you will just end up replacing more parts later down the road

 

[Patent Attorney]

Thanks for the replies so far. When I add up the cost of buying a new mobo, cpu, ram, win10 separately, it's about the same, or more than, the $400 for this prebuild. And like I said, I don't have a lot of time in my life anymore like I used to. I'm a married attorney now, very different situation than 5.5 years ago. I just don't have the time to do this myself.

 

[Patent Attorney]

Does anyone have any guidance on using this prebuild in the way I intend?

 

[notlim981]

By going prebuild you might be at risk, for instance, of your PSU or GPU does not fit the case. Also, a prebuilt system usually does not have any room for cable management, which might cause the system to get hotter than usual, which may decrease the life spam of the components. Also bear in mind that the parts used on a prebuilt pc are cheap in order to keep final cost down. So when you put all these things on the table, you might spend a just a little more and have a much more durable and reliable machine by building one yourself than you would with a prebuilt upgraded pc.

In any case, if you still want to make it with the prebuilt, you should put a few bucks more on your budget and go with the i5 option. Just my opinion though.

 

[captaincharisma]

Thanks for the replies so far. When I add up the cost of buying a new mobo, cpu, ram, win10 separately, it's about the same, or more than, the $400 for this prebuild. And like I said, I don't have a lot of time in my life anymore like I used to. I'm a married attorney now, very different situation than 5.5 years ago. I just don't have the time to do this myself.

unless you work a job 24 hours a day, 7 days a week then you have 5-10 minutes to put a proper computer together. by doing it yourself you are able to build a better quality computer than you would get with any prebuilt