[SOLVED] Web-browsing / Office Suite Desktop | 300-350$ Budget | Small form-factor

[Nenniana]

Dear Forum

Purposes:
I am helping a friend build a desktop PC with a budget of 300-350$ for the following:

• Browsing the internet.
• Watching Youtube.
• Working in Office suite (Word, Excel, etc.)
• Checking Email.

The PC must have a small form factor, without sacrificing too much upgradability.
Hard disk space is not very important, as she uses only 50 GB of her current laptop. Therefore, other than the SSD, hard disk should not be a part of the build at this time.

My Thoughts:
With my own knowledge, I'd recommend my friend the following:

• A blazing fast SSD such as the Samsung 970 EVO as the speed of the SSD is what's most important for what the PC will be used for.
• At least 8 GB of cheap ram.
• A reliable PSU.

Questions:
I have the following questions concerning the build.
- Are my recommendations correct or should focus be put on any other components?
- I have never before build a small form factor build. Can anyone recommend case and motherboard?

Feel free to link full builds or recommend other additions to the build - I'd be very thankful.

Huge thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Hellfire13]

Something like this...

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD - Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor | $94.89 @ OutletPC
Motherboard | Gigabyte - B450 AORUS M Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard | $74.99 @ Newegg Business
Memory | Patriot - Viper 4 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory | $44.99 @ Amazon
Storage | Samsung - 970 Evo Plus 250 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive | $67.99 @ Newegg
Case | DIYPC - DIY-F2-O MicroATX Mini Tower Case | $25.97 @ Newegg Business
Power Supply | Corsair - CXM (2015) 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply | $29.98 @ Newegg
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $353.81
| Mail-in rebates | -$15.00
| Total | $338.81
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-04-29 06:43 EDT-0400 |

 

[Nenniana]

Something like this...

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD - Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor | $94.89 @ OutletPC
Motherboard | Gigabyte - B450 AORUS M Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard | $74.99 @ Newegg Business
Memory | Patriot - Viper 4 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory | $44.99 @ Amazon
Storage | Samsung - 970 Evo Plus 250 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive | $67.99 @ Newegg
Case | DIYPC - DIY-F2-O MicroATX Mini Tower Case | $25.97 @ Newegg Business
Power Supply | Corsair - CXM (2015) 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply | $29.98 @ Newegg
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $353.81
| Mail-in rebates | -$15.00
| Total | $338.81
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-04-29 06:43 EDT-0400 |

Thank you for your suggestion, that looks like a great build. I will consider going down to a Ryzen 3 1200 depending on what price I can get them at, but both are great for the money.
Size is however very important to her, would going down to Mini-ITX be possible / make sense?

Again, thank you for the help.

 

[Hellfire13]

1200 does not have the refinements of 2200 and most importantly, it does not have iGPU. You will need to put in a card, which in turn will increase the budget.
Mini ITX will cost you significantly more.

 

[Nenniana]

1200 does not have the refinements of 2200 and most importantly, it does not have iGPU. You will need to put in a card, which in turn will increase the budget.
Mini ITX will cost you significantly more.

Hah, very glad you told me that, the iGPU is so important here and good to know about Mini-ITX, since I've never gone that small before.
Lastly, if you were to shave anything off of the build you posted, to save money, what would you recommend, if anything?

 

[Hellfire13]

You can get a cheaper SSD. NVME or not, they are pretty fast anyways.

 

[JJoner]

Hah, very glad you told me that, the iGPU is so important here and good to know about Mini-ITX, since I've never gone that small before.
Lastly, if you were to shave anything off of the build you posted, to save money, what would you recommend, if anything?

Nvme ssd is definitely not needed. Go with a 500 GB data ssd or even 250 if you dont need the storage.

 

[kanewolf]

I would agree that NVMe is wasted, in general on this build. Enable hibernation if desired and boot will be very fast. The $100 cost for a Windows license needs to be accounted for in your pricing ...