Office tower

[cobito]

Hello,

A family member wants to upgrade their current Sempron 3200+ with 2Gb of RAM.

The PC is mainly used for:
· Browsing websites of Social Security, Tax Agency and others.
· They will use Java a lot to run the applications of these people.
· Winsuite32.
· Income programs and models from the Spanish Tax Agency.
· Libreoffice and possibly Microsoft Office 2xxx (any current and future version).
· Google Drive.
· A telnet client that I know is fast on a Pentium 2 at 350Mhz.
· Listening to music, viewing photos, watching videos from Youtube and other nonsense.

That is to say, that with the Sempron 3200+ they have enough but want something that is faster. Initially, it will run with Windows 7 but it is possible that they end up upgrading to Windows 10.

I want it to be a durable and relatively expandable PC. There is no budget limit but I don't want to waste money on things of dubious utility: remember that it is a PC for office work.

I have thought about the following configuration:
· Processor: Intel Core i3-6300 3.8GHz Box -> I don't think they will need more than two cores now or ever.
· RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X DDR3 1600 PC3-12800 8GB 2x4GB CL9 -> I don't want the PC to be slow in a couple of years because Windows 10's Redstone 14 eats up half of the RAM just when it starts up. If you think it's too much or too little, tell me.
· Disk: Toshiba SSD Q300 240GB -> I know it's not the most reliable option in the long term, but if the complaint is slowness and knowing how Windows 10 behaves on a mechanical disk, it's a risk worth taking. Backups will be a few hundred megabytes- a few gigabytes so it won't be very cumbersome to keep them up to date.
· Motherboard: Asus B150M-A D3 -> No idea. I chose this one because it has 4 memory slots and I don't think the micro needs a too ostentatious chipset. Correct me if I'm wrong.
· Power supply: Seasonic Eco Series 430W 80 Plus Bronze -> I'm also not very sure. I know that this machine won't consume much now or in the future. I don't know if the 80 Plus Bronze is nonsense or if it really implies a superior efficiency to power supplies that don't have the seal.
· Case: NOX Coolbay MX USB 3.0 Black -> It will be in a corner collecting dust. This one seems cool and discreet.
· Other: Internal 2.5" to 3.5" Bay Adapter -> The cheapest in its category. I don't think it's worth investing a cent more in something like that.

TOTAL: 400€

Thanks.

[Fassou]

Personally, I think it's the perfect candidate to go for one of those new bargain teams, that appear on Amazon, Ebay, etc... for 300€ and less.

Although the configuration you put, will be very fast and powerful, especially for the demand it will have.

Salu2!

[whoololon]

You should change the memory to a DDR3L, or get a H110 motherboard (which are cheaper) with DDR4.

Although there are motherboards that are offered as compatible with DDR3, I am not aware of any that work with anything other than DDR3L without risking frying the IMC.

Check out the MSI H110M PRO, you can get it with DVI (D) VGA/ DVI (VD) or VGA/ HDMI (VH) output, they are around €55.
Besides, you can put a single 8 GB module (with a Crucial at 2133 DDR4 it's a match made in heaven), and leave the second slot for "just in case".

Regarding the hard drive, there is the option of SSHDs, which are a cross between (SSDs) and (HDDs) in every aspect. For single hard drive configurations with no plans to expand, that's what I would go for.

[amd125]

@Fassou:

Personally, I think it's the perfect candidate to go for one of those new bargain teams, that appear on Amazon, Ebay, etc... for 300€ and less.

Although the configuration you put, will be very fast and powerful, especially for the demand it will have.

Salu2!

+1 I have a friend who has a travel agency. Several times she has told me to build computers for her and in the end I have always recommended the typical Lenovo with a normal I3. That said, since they are cheap equipment, I have told her to expand the memory to 8 Gigas and the woman is delighted. That said, with mechanical disks. I avoid building anything for her because if the computer fails later, I have to eat the brown one... and this way if it fails... and I see that it is a component, I use the Amazon warranty and that's it.

If you want to build it yourself, then the same, a cheap I3, an SSD and off you go. In my company I have used programs from the Tax Agency, Social Security etc with a Core2Duo and they went very well, so an I3 will last for years. Then a cheap motherboard, even with two memory banks, which are usually cheaper, and if you build a RAM module and in the future you could put another one, and off you go. The power supply, well, if the computer is on all day, a quality one. If you don't use it so much, brands like NOX have acceptable things and you can save a few euros.

[Obione]

For that use with a G4400 it's already enough. You don't need an adapter for the SSD.

If by any chance you improve the motherboard, something with dissipation in the voltage regulators like a Mortar, Bazooka Plus or D3H B150, about 80 euros, and the SSD with a Samsung 750. Just over 300€ with the aforementioned G4400 and 2x4GB DDR4 2133 + the rest of the components you put.

If you go for DDR3L with another motherboard, make it low voltage.

[cobito]

Finally, due to a series of circumstances, I have received a batch of towers with Pentiums E2180, so even though they are a bit limited, for now I am going to take advantage of them. I feel bad about discarding them to buy another tower when there won't be a huge difference for doing those tasks.

Thanks to everyone for the responses (with a delay).

[Fassou]

@cobito said in Office tower:

Thanks to everyone for the responses