Basic Web/Office Workstation Build Assistance

N

NightWolfe

Gawd
Joined
Sep 30, 2002
Messages
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Greetings again folks ... time to build a new PC for basic web browsing and general MS Office type work and I seek your assistance

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Web browsing, Office work

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
~$500 for just the PC would be nice but I don't have a firm budget

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Boston, MA ... Looks like everyone is recommending Amazon for parts now which is great since I'm a Prime member

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Here is what I've specced out so far on Newegg ... only thing I'm married to in this list is Intel and a single internal SSD ... pretty set on the new Haswell i3 so I get a bit of future proofing out of it

CASE: HEC 6K28BB8F Black 0.8mm SECC Steel MicroATX Mini Tower Computer Case $39.99

MOBO: ASRock H97M Pro4 LGA 1150 Intel H97 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s Intel Motherboard Combo PC/Mobo $194.98

POWER: Antec EarthWatts Green EA-380D Green 380W Continuous power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Intel Haswell Fully Compatible $49.99

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 Haswell Dual-Core 3.4GHz LGA 1150 54W Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4400 BX80646I34130 Combo PC/Mobo $194.98

SSD: SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series MZ-7PD128BW 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) $124.99

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL $74.99

OPTICAL: LITE-ON Black 18X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model iHDS118-04 - OEM $19.99

DISPLAY: Acer G6 Series G246HLAbd Black 24" 5ms Widescreen LED Monitor 250 cd/m2 ACM 100,000,000:1 (1000:1) $161.99

Total for all this is $504.94 ($666.93 w/ monitor)

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
None.

6) Will you be overclocking?
No

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
1920x1080. Single Monitor. 24"

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within the next month.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.
Onboard video is probably the biggest need, but it looks like that is taken care of by the CPU, beyond that just a single SATA port for the SSD and a gigabite NIC

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Buying a new copy of Win 8.1
 
If this were my system, I would cut the CPU wattage as much as possible, but that's just me. You really don't need a 54 W Core chip for browsing and office work.
 
It's better to stick with the "normal" i3-4130. Its power when idle is on par with the i3-4130T but it's not gimped when it runs at full speed. That, and it's also cheaper.

To cut costs, I recommend the following parts instead. Most of the parts come from Amazon as they cost less than NewEgg.

$120 - Intel Core i3-4130
$74 - Gigabyte GA-B85M-D3H micro ATX motherboard
$69 - ADATA XPG V1.0 2x4GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$135 - Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD
$15 - LG GH24NSB0 SATA OEM DVD burner (included $5 discount promo code EMCPDWH32, ends 6/18)
$38 - Antec VP-450 450 watt power supply
$35 - Cougar MG100 micro ATX tower case
=====
$486 - Total before taxes (free ground or Prime shipping)

My swap of the 128GB 840 Pro for the 250GB 840 EVO wasn't about performance -- the 840 Pro is the better SSD based on most benchmarks -- but rather storage capacity. Are you sure that you need only 128GB of space? You'll have less than 100GB of free space available after the Windows install and SSDs, like hard drives, slow down in performance the closer they get to full capacity. The 840 EVO is still faster than a conventional hard drive.

As of this post, there's only one Cougar MG100 case available. Grab that tonight if nothing else.

How much do you want to spend on the monitor? You can buy the Acer G246HL Abd for $130 at TigerDirect. You could also choose the cheaper G236HL Bbd for $110 at Amazon.
 
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tiraides Thank you VERY much!

Solid suggestions for sure ... as for the SSD .. I'm going to stick with the 120 as the main storage is NAS on my home network ... I made the mistake when I built my current computer and only put in a 64GB SSD which I'm now kicking myself for, but they were more expensive then ... oh well ... live and learn
 
The Cougar MG100 went up in price at Amazon, so I have a few inexpensive alternatives:

$25 - Rosewill RANGER-M (included $15 discount promo code EMCPDWC38, ends 6/23)
$30 - Rosewill FBM-01
$30 - DIYPC M89-R

The above three cases have similar insides and the same cooling setup (120mm front intake fan and 80mm rear exhaust fan).

I prefer one of the following mATX cases instead:

$40 - Fractal Design Core 1000
$45 - Thermaltake Urban S1
$50 - Rosewill LINE-M
$50 - Silverstone PS09B

(OK, I lied: I like the Rosewill LINE-M the best. Then again, I'm a fan of simple yet efficient design.)

Switching gears, what do you want from your monitor?
 
Thanks again tiraides! Just bought that Rosewill Line-M ... it was $43/shipped w/ Prime ... looks like a great case ... thanks for that recommendation!

For the monitor ... it doesn't need to be anything special ... just 1080P and 24" ... I have a Dell U2412M which I think is a fantastic monitor, but not going to drop almost $300 on a monitor for this build ... it's just going to be used for basic office type things and internet stuff ... no hardcore gaming or anything
 
You could stick with your original choice, the Acer G246HL Abd, but get it for less at Tiger Direct.

If you want something cheaper, settle for the 23 inch Acer G236HL Bbd for $110.
 
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the_servicer said:
Is that true? I honestly didn't know that. How much difference is there in idle wattage?
Click to expand...
Almost nill. Not exactly the same CPUs but it was clearly shown with the Sandy Bridge CPUs that there was basically very very little difference in idle consumption between the Core i3-2100 and the Core i3-2100T:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i5-2500t-2390t-i3-2100t-pentium-g620t_8.html#sect0

That hasn't changed with Haswell either. It's only at load where you actually see a difference. Even then, the higher clock speed of the non-T series CPUs allows them to finish work far faster than the lower clock speeds of the T series CPUs. Which basically means that they can get back to idle faster than the T series and therefore actually use less power over time.
 
Dangman said:
Which basically means that they can get back to idle faster than the T series and therefore actually use less power over time.
Click to expand...

Seriously? That's crazy. So it's almost like TDP is a meaningless spec then.
Edit: But there must be a reason why fanless sytems almost always have a low-wattage CPU.
 
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the_servicer said:
Seriously? That's crazy. So it's almost like TDP is a meaningless spec then.
Edit: But there must be a reason why fanless sytems almost always have a low-wattage CPU.
Click to expand...

I would assume because when a regular CPU come out of idle and produces more heat a fan would be needed then

CharlesLam said:
im surprised no one has come up with an amd variant.
Click to expand...

I specifically said I was only looking for Intel ... I have no interest in AMD ... I never have ... and nothing you or anyone says will change my mind :D
 
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