Desktop for Dragon (Aka Mum)

[Amethyst]

Hi All,

Thinking about the feasibility of getting my mum an new Pc. Or showing her the need & improvements she can get with a new one ( having issues with old <15+> PC Hp- Advent)

Looking at a budget of £400 to 800.
Usage Word, internet, facebooks games ancestry research and storing photos.
Graphis is not an issue. mainly is startup speed. would it be possible to get small but fast SSD?
what can be obtained at the low end Vs the higher?

 

[Oussebon]

How urgent is it? I hear some cheaper motherboards for the 8th Gen Intel lineup are coming out in mid Feb which could be a better value option.


Case
PCS GENESIS G1B CASE + SD CARD READER
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i3 Quad Core Processor i3-8100 (3.60GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME Z370-P: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
8GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2133MHz (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 32MB CACHE
1[SUP]st[/SUP] M.2 SSD Drive
256GB SAMSUNG PM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 2800MB/R, 1100MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 350W VS SERIES™ VS-350 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet Titan DragonFly Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price £657.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z370-pc/!sT8jyYJAN/

Spending £50-60 more would net an i5 8400, which is a fastre CPU with more cores, but for the uses above I don't think it would make much of a difference.

 

[Oussebon]

A cheaper build would be something like:


Case
PCS GENESIS G1B CASE + SD CARD READER
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 3 1200 Quad Core CPU (3.1GHz-3.4GHz/10MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME A320M-K: Micro-ATX, AM4, USB 3.0, 6GB/s
Memory (RAM)
8GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2133MHz (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE 710 - DVI, HDMI, VGA
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 32MB CACHE
1[SUP]st[/SUP] M.2 SSD Drive
256GB SAMSUNG PM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 2800MB/R, 1100MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 350W VS SERIES™ VS-350 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price £597.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-pc/tWRQwPq35Y/

Which has a weaker CPU and a motherboard with fewer upgrade features. However if a 15 year old off the shelf desktop was still doing okay there's probably not much merit to the more expensive Intel system.

Waiting until mid Feb if that is indeed when the new mobos launch, however, might let you net a system with the somewhat higher performance of the Intel CPU with a cheaper mobo, eliminating the price difference between the two.

Going cheaper than either option would result in meaningfully weaker and out of date CPUs that if you're planning to keep the system another 5-10 years really doesn't seem worth it. Likewise the 120gb SSDs on offer will be quite a bit slower.

 

[Amethyst]

Hello,

thanks for your help. this is not urgent. although Dragons birthday is in March. this will not be her present. I have a feeling it's going to take a while to talk her into the need for the new PC. I think her current one was mine about 3 swaps ago. Might take until christmas.

question - Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE 710 - DVI, HDMI, VGA -- How do you know if this is DVI-I or DVI-D? as i have a feeling her monitor will only suport an analouge connections

I think I would also add
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Wireless/Wired Networking WIRELESS 802.11 AC1200 867Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD

 

[Oussebon]

If her monitor's that old, spend some of the rest of the budget on a cheap 24" 1080p monitor then, for the better resolution and all the things it brings with it like the ability to display programs side by side, etc. A monitor upgrade like that can be a very big quality of life upgrade.