Recommended chipset for office PC?

[steffeeh]

I'm planning a build for my dad, and while I have decent knowledge on what parts to combine and such I do realize that I have no experience in deciding parts for regular usage PCs, and that I risk putting in some parts that may be way overkill.
Right now I'm deciding on what chipset to get for the build. Basically this is kind of an "office PC" level computer. It will be used at home by my dad who simply wants a computer that will be reliable for quite some time (5+ years preferrably).
The usage will be browsing the internet, doing lighter duties (Word, Excel), and streaming video - including to our TV which will be connected to the PC, aside from the main PC screen.

I'm aiming on using the internal graphics on the CPU and ditch a graphics card for now, unless he in the future wants to get a 4k monitor or TV, where we'll probably shove in a graphics card to handle it. This and adding a wireless adapter (if not already included on the board), as he "don't want to have wires all over the place".
There won't be any need for any further expansion cards I think, so not that many PCIe lanes are needed at the moment (some headroom is nice though).
As for USB support there will only be the common average amount of connected USB devices, but of course there's still the need for enough USB support to cover all the ports on the mobo, as well as the ports on the chassi itself, chipset-wise.

Previously I've been checking out the H110 chipset (very basic), but not sure if it's a bad idea to get it in the long run, or if anything with more features is overkill?

Oh and the CPU I'm aiming for is the Pentium G4620 (subject to change)

 

[kanewolf]

I would get an H270 or a B250. The latest motherboards will have the longest life.

 

[FD2Raptor]

A H110 board is fine if you are either
a> going to buy it from a brick and mortar shop and can ask the seller to update its BIOS for you.
b> have an extra Skylake CPU on hand in the event the MB that get shipped to you is part of their old stock without the necessary BIOS update.

For basic office work and limiting cables cluttering, even a H110 with a M2 slot that only support SATA interface would still suffice.

Unless you think that he'll need an USB Type-C port; in which case, getting a B250 board, and not having to worry about BIOS and CPU compatibility, may be the better choice.

 

[user11464]

remember that the h110 doesnt support kaby lake out of the box. likely isn't going to have the updated BIOS. be safe and go with the b250. and since you are already considering that G4620, I wouldn't be afraid to go down to the G4560. at $60. It's been proven to be excellent. unless you just care to hit that middle ground between it and the i3-7100.

 

[atljsf]

it depends entirely on the exact usage of the pc, a decent not overclockable mainboard, a 2 or a 4 cores hiperthreaded cpu and 8 gbs of ram is usually more than enough for most office tasks

add to that a 240gbs ssd or 1 tb hard disk, fast enough and you shouldn't be worried by it for at least 5 years

the wifi, it depends on the size of the case you want, if you want mini itx or a nuc type, well, your only option is a integrated wifi solution or a m.2 wifi card on the mainboard

if you can get a normal case with a normal mainboard, a pci express wifi card and a normal mainboard without wifi should be enough

the h110 can be used for home usage and also for gaming on the budget, with a ssd and a hard disk you have speed and storage space

a 4 or a 8 gbs ram stick should be enough depending on how much office apps and how heavy the files are

in that order of ideas, this would be what i would assemble

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/JFfRRG

it has no pheripherals or monitor, no os license because i don't know if you are reusing a old windows 7 license or something like that or perhaps using linux

the case has room to grow, the mainboard too, the cpu can be upgraded

i personally would put a i5 there and 2x8 ram, also a ssd but that makes price grow fast

the case could be smaller but it looks nice, serious and not that big, there are many smaller and if you decide to make ad itx, all parts should work except the mainboard which requires the wifi that i didn't added to the other because you can buy a internal one or a usb one, same for the itx but on some itx mainboard, there is only 4 usb ports in the mainboard, so a usb port used for that will be a big loss

 

[user11464]

Unless you want a mini-itx build... I suggest a smaller mid tower case m-atx build. That way you don't sacrifice support for things like full sized graphics cards(not that you would ever use one) and yet you still get excellent airflow. Fractal Design Define Mini C case for example is the perfect size. small yet still capable of all the add-ons a normal mid-tower can accomodate.

 

[steffeeh]

As for BIOS updates and Kaby Lake compability, I have some experience doing updates, so cold booting BIOS without the CPU installed and update the BIOS would surely be experimental for me, but not impossible

For deciding chipset in this case is all about getting the PCIe and USB support that we need, and other possible necessary chipset offerings for office/home usage.

 

[FD2Raptor]

Uh, no. Except for a few high end ASUS MB with the feature BIOS USB Flashback, you'll need a functional system with a compatible Skylake CPU to update a H110 MB's BIOS.

Buying H110 online to use with Kabylake processor is like playing lottery right now. Either you got one that was already updated and will boot with the Pentium or it just won't boot with it. None of that updating BIOS without CPU.

 

[steffeeh]

If it's not possible I'll just have to make sure the mobo either has the latest BIOS in it or reach out and ask if the customer support for the store could update it for us before shipment. In any way I'm sure we can manage solving it on our end. That is if we go with the H110 chipset,

 

[atljsf]

sounds like a good plan

 

[steffeeh]

But is there any point in getting a chipset higher than H110 in a use case scenario like ours, unless the pricing is the same? (excluding Kaby Lake compabilities in the thought process)

 

[FD2Raptor]

You know... I'll just be quoting myself, emphasis added:

A H110 board is fine if you are either
a> going to buy it from a brick and mortar shop and can ask the seller to update its BIOS for you.
b> have an extra Skylake CPU on hand in the event the MB that get shipped to you is part of their old stock without the necessary BIOS update.

For basic office work and limiting cables cluttering, even a H110 with a M2 slot that only support SATA interface would still suffice.

Unless you think that he'll need an USB Type-C port; in which case, getting a B250 board, and not having to worry about BIOS and CPU compatibility, may be the better choice.

Here's a basic office build with minimized cable usage:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G4600 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($86.10 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock B250M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($77.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($57.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX300 275GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($89.88 @ OutletPC)
Case: Thermaltake Core V21 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($38.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CXM 450W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($32.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $383.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-03-06 05:34 EST-0500

G4600 instead of the G4560 only for the upgraded integrated graphics.
ASROCK B250M Pro4 for support of Kabylake CPU + TypeC USB.
Crucial MX300 for slightly more storage space compare to similar priced SSD.
Its M2 interface + the Corsair CXM allow you to forgo SATA power/data cables completely. The only the ATX 24pins and CPU 4+4pins are fixed on the CXM, and without a dedicated graphic card, you also forgo the PCIe 6+2 pins cable; and there's no device requiring the molex 4 pins cable either. Only the ATX and the CPU cables, the only fixed cable of this PSU, are used.
Packed into a spacious mATX case that is on sale.


How much would a H110 board save you? Either ~$30 (with rebate, ~$20 without) with the ASUS H110M-A/M.2 ($49.99 + $1.99 Shipping - $10 Rebate) or ~$25 with the ASUS H110M-E/M.2 ($46.99 + $1.99 Shipping).