Looking for $500 Office Build

[Sayed Waly]

I want to buy a PC for my office.

Approximate Purchase Date: e.g.: this week (the closer the better)

Budget Range: (e.g.: 500) Before Rebates; After Shipping

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Office Use. It needs to be able to support dual monitors. Most of the work is having a bunch of browsers open and using one real estate appraisal software

Are you buying a monitor: Yes. I am buying 2 monitors with it and that should be included in the budget. I prefer 20 inch monitors



Parts that needs to be in the system: It needs to have 8 gigs of ram, with support for dual monitors. And it must have SSD drive. It doesn't need to have any other storage device. So I am thinking of getting the Samsung EVO 120 Gig SSD

Do you need to buy OS: No


Preferred Website(s) for Parts: (Amazon and Newegg, but I could use others as well provided that there is a big difference in price)

Location: Lathrop California

Parts Preferences: no preference

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: No dedicated Video cards necessary, as this computer will be used for office only.

Your Monitor Resolution: No preference

Additional Comments: I want a quiet PC

 

[eatoro6]

With your build I'd recommend an amd a-series processor since you don't need any special graphics, and those have integrated graphics in them and are cheap. I knew you'd need four cores, and I pretty much figured that you don't need speakers because you'll just listen to music and stuff on your phone. I also put in a regular 40 buck 1 TB hard drive for your storage because I don't think any normal person needs only 120 GB of storage, especially an office user. The monitors, they aren't too good and you'll have to connect with dvi, but that should work out ok. If you do decide to buy it with the 1 TB hard drive, you'll have to watch some of this video, where this guy shows you how to use an SSD as your boot drive, because that will make your computer faster if you do that. Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxaVBsXEiok This video is about the boot and operating systems, and parts one and two are about getting your components and building the physical computer. And here is the build for you to look at:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD A10-5800K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor ($81.95 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-G1.Sniper A88X ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($76.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($60.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Intel 530 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($68.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($39.99 @ Best Buy)
Power Supply: Antec 450W ATX Power Supply ($28.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($12.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Monitor: Acer S200HQLbd 60Hz 19.5" Monitor ($79.99 @ Best Buy)
Monitor: Acer S200HQLbd 60Hz 19.5" Monitor ($79.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $505.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-06 18:43 EST-0500

 

[Sayed Waly]

I don't need Optical Drive, plus don' need the 1TB drive as pretty much everything of use would be stored on our Server. And this computer isn't meant to be used for personal use. It is for an employee working in office.

The network is 1Gbps.

 

[mastrom101]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4150 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($99.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($63.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($60.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($117.98 @ OutletPC)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Acer G226HQLBbd 60Hz 21.5" Monitor ($91.98 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Acer G226HQLBbd 60Hz 21.5" Monitor ($91.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $586.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-06 22:45 EST-0500

Well worth the additional funds. Powerful CPU, great SSD, HD screens.

 

[eatoro6]

This is a different version of the build I just had there:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD A8-5600K 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($73.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-G1.Sniper A88X ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($60.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Intel 530 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($68.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($38.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Antec 450W ATX Power Supply ($28.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Monitor: Acer S200HQLbd 60Hz 19.5" Monitor ($79.99 @ Best Buy)
Monitor: Acer S200HQLbd 60Hz 19.5" Monitor ($79.99 @ Best Buy)
Wireless Network Adapter: TRENDnet TEW-805UB 802.11a/b/g/n/ac USB 3.0 Wi-Fi Adapter ($24.99 @ Micro Center)
Total: $526.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-06 23:13 EST-0500
But, you could get this build for even cheaper, because I don't know why you want two monitors, you could get a really nice one that's in this build:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD A8-5600K 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($73.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-G1.Sniper A88X ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($60.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Intel 530 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($68.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($38.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Antec 450W ATX Power Supply ($28.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Monitor: BenQ GW2265HM 60Hz 21.5" Monitor ($128.99 @ NCIX US)
Wireless Network Adapter: TRENDnet TEW-805UB 802.11a/b/g/n/ac USB 3.0 Wi-Fi Adapter ($24.99 @ Micro Center)
Total: $495.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-06 23:18 EST-0500

 

[vertexx]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD A8-7600 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($84.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A88XN-WIFI Mini ITX FM2+ Motherboard ($87.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 Low Profile Red 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($72.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Transcend SSD370 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($63.58 @ Amazon)
Case: Antec ISK 110 VESA Mini ITX Desktop Case w/90W Power Supply ($59.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $369.54
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-06 23:18 EST-0500

Pick your monitors.

Running 2 monitors you will benefit from this AMD Kaveri APU. Intel integrated graphics will be noticably slower even for web-page and graphical document scrolling. The A8-7600 can be set in BIOS to run in either 65W or 45W mode. Run it in 45W mode, and the included 90W PSU will be fine. As a result, you'll have a very small footprint, highly power efficient, and very snappy office PC. With only one fan and the CPU at 45W, it is very quiet as well.

I am running a similar build as an HTPC in my master bedroom, and this little processor is phenomenal in 45W mode. My next build is going to be one of these for my own office.

Also, this new Transcend SSD is well recommended by Anandtech here: http://www.anandtech.com/show/8792/transcend-ssd370-128gb-256gb-512gb-review/8

 

[vertexx]

which one are you going with?

 

[eatoro6]

Yah there's like 5 options

 

[shortstuff_mt]

I'll throw one more build out there...

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3460 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($96.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus H81M-D PLUS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($44.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk Solid State Drive 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($50.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 350W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($38.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Monitor: LG 22M35D 60Hz 22.0" Monitor ($87.99 @ NCIX US)
Monitor: LG 22M35D 60Hz 22.0" Monitor ($87.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $497.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-11 19:16 EST-0500

 

[vertexx]

I'd probably skip the A10-6800K and the A8-5600K. They are previous generation AMD APUs (CPU plus GPU in one chip). The I3, A8-7600 and Pentium G are all good office builds. The I3 goes over budget. So it should be down to the Pentium G vs. the A8-7600.

The Pentium G will give you faster single-threaded performance. The A8-7600 with 4 cores will give you better multi-threaded performance and much much better graphics performance. For an idea of what applications use single vs. multi-threaded performance, see this link:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1270?vs=1256

This comparison is slightly off. It is comparing the Pentium G 3420 with 3.2 Ghz. The G3460 runs at 3.5Ghz, and will be 9% faster. The comparison also uses the A8-7600 in 65W mode, where I am recommending you run it in 45W mode, which will decrease overall performance by about 5%.

You can see the 65W vs 45W performance difference in this review:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7677/amd-kaveri-review-a8-7600-a10-7850k/10

Looking through the comparison, you can see that the single-threaded apps perform better on the Pentium and the multi-threaded apps perform better on the A8. From my own experience, tasks requiring multi-threading can take a long time, so having a processor that handles that load will make those tasks much shorter. Plus, if you have many applications running, the 4 cores of the A8 are likely to handle that better.

Finally, at the bottom of the comparison chart, you will see graphics performance. While you probably aren't building this PC for gaming, the vastly superior graphics performance of the A8 will make navigating graphically intensive websites or applications, especially with 2 monitors, much more responsive with the A8.

Obviously, I'm biased toward the A8 in this build, but it's after doing a lot of research on these CPUs/APUs. There are not many instances where I recommend the AMD APU, but a budget office build or small form factor HTPC build are two types of PCs where this APU shines.

Finally, one consideration for the Pentium G, if you think you will want to upgrade the PC to be much more powerful, the Pentium will give you an upgrade path where you can buy a more powerful CPU or even add on a GPU. You can upgrade the CPU on that platform all the way to an I7.