Question Office Workstation #2

[ra_k]

Hi folks, this is my second build for my dad!

Here are the parts I chose with the help of PCpartpicker.com :

Component		Selection	Price
CPU		Intel - Core i5-8500 3 GHz 6-Core Processor	$259.99	Buy
Motherboard		ASRock - B360M-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard	$119.36	Buy
Memory		Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-2133 Memory	$104.99	Buy
Storage		Western Digital - Blue 4 TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive	$114.50	Buy
Storage		Samsung - 970 Evo 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive	$159.99	Buy
Case		Cooler Master - Elite 130 Mini ITX Tower Case	$65.99	Buy
Power Supply		Silverstone - 300 W 80+ Bronze Certified SFX Power Supply	$73.54	Buy
Optical Drive		Asus - DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer	$23.50	Buy
Total:	$921.86 CAD

All prices are Canadian Dollars, as of this post google says 1 USD = 1.35 CAD

So my 3 questions are:

1. Does anyone have experience with this motherboard? This was one of the fair priced ones I found that had wifi.
I read some other mobos use the M.2 slot for wifi so you can't use an M.2 SSD, from what I read this won't be a problem with the one I chose.

2. Does anyone manufacture 300W (or lower) modular PSUs?

3. Does this setup make sense for a fast office computer or are there any recommended components to replace the ones I selected?

 

[AllanGH]

Uh....Dang!

Nothing but respect for an awesomely-formatted posting.

Apologies for not having experience with the MoBo at issue, but I just had to say that....

That said, I don't think that you are going to find fully modular PSUs in the under 550W category.

 

[punkncat]

Save money with Micro ATX over Mini ITX.

 

[kanewolf]

A 500GB Crucial MX500 SATA SSD instead of the the Samsung. There is no benefit in an M.2 for an office PC, IMO.
Having a 4TB disk on a work desktop is bad. Anything that is important should be saved on shared office storage. Don't encourage no-backup local storage
If you want multi-TB storage, put the cost of the 4TB into a NAS for shared storage.

 

[ra_k]

Save money with Micro ATX over Mini ITX.

Is the wifi capabilities better? I think it'll cost more as the cheapest I could find was an 80 dollar micro ATX, and then I would have to invest in a wireless network adapter. (I would prefer PCI-E over USB 2.0)

A 500GB Crucial MX500 SATA SSD instead of the the Samsung. There is no benefit in an M.2 for an office PC, IMO.
Having a 4TB disk on a work desktop is bad. Anything that is important should be saved on shared office storage. Don't encourage no-backup local storage
If you want multi-TB storage, put the cost of the 4TB into a NAS for shared storage.

Understandable. From what I've read the memory storage, the more likely the hard drive is to fail. The important documents will be saved on cloud storage via google drive. However, downloading the files from google drive take up at least 500 GB and will keep going up as the years go by. This workstation will mainly be for accounting purposes and it would be nice to have enough storage for downloading via the ever-growing cloud!

Would you recommend a 2TB SATA SSD intead of a smaller M.2 SSD + large SATA HDD?

 

[kanewolf]

WIFI for an office computer, especially combined with the "downloading files from google drive" is a bad combination. It isn't moving, it should be wired.
Quality SSDs have 3 to 5 year warranties. They are less likely to fail than a spinning disk in most situations. But EVERY disk will fail. That is why backup strategies are a requirement.

 

[mdd1963]

Would you recommend a 2TB SATA SSD intead of a smaller M.2 SSD + large SATA HDD?

If the larger SSD option interests you, Intel's 660P 2 TB drive (NVME M.2) is about $228 or so...fast, inexpensive, and big, normally terms not found together!

 

[ra_k]

If the larger SSD option interests you, Intel's 660P 2 TB drive (NVME M.2) is about $228 or so...fast, inexpensive, and big, normally terms not found together!

thank you, i looked online and my local computer hardware store is selling them for $289.99 CAD ($215.50 USD) It'll cost 15 dollars more for me but i think a 2TB m2 SSD might be better than a 500GB m2 SSD + 4TB HDD

 

[AllanGH]

It isn't moving, it should be wired.

I wish more domestic households, that do not occupy historic structures, would confront this reality; but laziness and false economy seem to reign supreme.

 

[ra_k]

I wish more domestic households, that do not occupy historic structures, would confront this reality; but laziness and false economy seem to reign supreme.

You can still used a wired connection. But if there is no wired network available and there is a wireless network within range, you have that option. its cheaper to use wifi than hiring a data guy to install wired outlets. We aren't gaming so latency is not an issue.
Overall its more of a lifestyle benefit since we move often. I have my gaming PC wired and one of the critical workstations is wired, but every other device is wireless as they are moved around. I believe the computer thats being replaced by the new build is also hard-wired, but my dad wants it to have wifi available.


It's a fairly big home office, and using both wired and wireless has its benefits.

 

[AllanGH]

its cheaper to use wifi than hiring a data guy to install wired outlets.

Oh...well...hiring somebody. That's probably what skews my perspective, then.
I'm familiar with my attic and walls because I prefer to do the work myself, and I didn't consider that anyone might do otherwise.