Need hardware advice on building office computers

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ClutchAutomatic

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 17, 2013
Messages
359
Here's the deal I need to build a couple computers for my company and I don't know much about budget hardware only the high end gaming stuff. So I don't want to build a bunch of computers that are capable of way more than what I will need to put them to use with. The programs I will be running are office as well as a planning program built from Development express that run off of windows. I will be using 2-3 monitors and would use a ssd to help the speed of these programs. If you guys could help suggest a motherboard/cpu combo that will do the trick as well as a graphics card and possibly some decent ram 8GB? Looking for best bang for the buck for something that will last 5 years. I can figure out the rest as far as power supply 500w?, case, fans, hdd, etc. I just don't know what people are getting by with these days when not running high end stuff for gaming like I do. I plan on giving the systems a samsung evo 250gb ssd and a 500gb hdd for back ups. There is no budget limit. I just don't want to spend too much for what I need to do yet still have a nice computer.
 
Why not?

For business it is hard to beat OEM once you factor in OS cost..

If memory goes bad, you planning to RMA it and wait weeks for replacements?

If a PSU or motherboard goes bad...again are you going to wait weeks or keep +1 of everything in the office?

Or instead get a dell, will be cheaper and get same or next day support.
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1622702
I was thinking something more like this and adding in a r7 260x and a 250gb samsung evo. If something goes bad, I will just use amazon prime and get it in 2 days. I just think dell builds inferior computers that are overpriced and rma you with refurbished stuff anyways after talking to some guy in India for half an hour. I bought 3 dell u2412m monitors and had them all RMA'd with refurbished parts. They just leave a bad taste in my mouth. I can fix computers no problem.
 
ClutchAutomatic said:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1622702
I was thinking something more like this and adding in a r7 260x and a 250gb samsung evo. If something goes bad, I will just use amazon prime and get it in 2 days. I just think dell builds inferior computers that are overpriced and rma you with refurbished stuff anyways after talking to some guy in India for half an hour. I bought 3 dell u2412m monitors and had them all RMA'd with refurbished parts. They just leave a bad taste in my mouth. I can fix computers no problem.
Click to expand...

And that is why you use their online chat for tech support.

Steps (if the computer powers on)
1. Run the diags and get a code
2. Contact Dell chat support and give them your relevant information.
3. Decide whether you want a "tech" to come replace the part or if you want "parts only service" - they ship you the part(s) and you swap out yourself.

For businesses doing day-to-day stuff, Dell and HP are hard to beat as long as you actually get a business line computer. The consumer lines are not as good at least for Dell.

It is much simpler and quicker than building and supporting custom built computers.

If you are absolutely set on building it yourself and want it to handle stuff for 5 years, get:
an i7
16GB of RAM
at least a 250/256GB SSD
a large HDD

You may or may not need to add a video card depending on your motherboard/CPU. For a business, fanless is best unless you are wanting to monitor and possibly have to replace the fans when they go out.

As for the power supply, make sure it is a good brand that has gotten good reviews either here or on JonnyGuru. Active PFC is a must. 80+ Bronze or higher is a really good idea.

As for the case/fans, don't cheap out on some bargain basement trash. You will want a case with good cable management.

For the fans, get ball bearing ones. Sleeve bearing fans tend to go out after about a year from my experience. The dual ball bearing Rosewill fans are pretty good from my experience and silent until they are going higher than 1/2 speed on the included fan controller. Even at full speed they are not really what I would call loud.
 
Ended up going with 4 of these
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87X-D3H
CPU: Intel i5-4670k
Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo
Memory: HyperX Blu 8GB 1600mhz
GPU: EVGA GTX 750 Ti Superclocked 2GB
SSD: Samsung 840 Evo 250GB
HDD: WD Black 1TB
PSU: Corsair CX500M
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912
 
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Couldn't you have waited a little longer? You went overkill on your build(s).

Have you done any real research on Dell? Its business products, including the customer support team, are actually pretty good. And the business support is based in the U.S.
 
ClutchAutomatic said:
Ended up going with 4 of these
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87X-D3H
CPU: Intel i5-4670k
Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo
Memory: HyperX Blu 8GB 1600mhz
GPU: EVGA GTX 750 Ti Superclocked 2GB
SSD: Samsung 840 Evo 250GB
HDD: WD Black 1TB
PSU: Corsair CX500M
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912
Click to expand...

LOL! GTX750 for an office computer?
 
450 said:
LOL! GTX750 for an office computer?
Click to expand...

Maybe they play games in their office? Or do GPU computing?

That said, I'd never use in house builds for company machines. Nothing beats only having to spend 15 - 20 minutes to diagnose, then to have a tech show up next day to fix the problem.
 
ClutchAutomatic said:
Ended up going with 4 of these
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87X-D3H
CPU: Intel i5-4670k
Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo
Memory: HyperX Blu 8GB 1600mhz
GPU: EVGA GTX 750 Ti Superclocked 2GB
SSD: Samsung 840 Evo 250GB
HDD: WD Black 1TB
PSU: Corsair CX500M
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912
Click to expand...

As Tiraides said, you jumped the gun there. Even for a gaming PC, that's a bad setup for the money let alone an office computer. Any chance that you can cancel the order?

I mean, shit, why would you ever overclock an OFFICE PC? That's just asking for trouble. Yet you've gone with an overclock capable motherboard and CPU. You basically just did exactly what you wanted to avoid in the first place:
ClutchAutomatic said:
So I don't want to build a bunch of computers that are capable of way more than what I will need to put them to use with.
......
I just don't want to spend too much for what I need to do yet still have a nice computer.
Click to expand...

Also one more thing:
ClutchAutomatic said:
I plan on giving the systems a samsung evo 250gb ssd and a 500gb hdd for back ups. There is no budget limit.
Click to expand...
There's no centralized backup server? You do know that having a copy located in the same PC doesn't actually count as backup, right? Just a copy, not backup.
 
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I would have said HP business machines or dells with pro support(buy the ssd separate if you want to save some money) but it looks like we are past that.

I agree with the others questing the second hd though. Why not use central storage on a server with an array to store data on for uptime and a central backup solution?
 
i can't believe this guy earns his living providing support for a company. for an it support person, what he's done is just entirely unprofessional and irresponsible.
 
This is my personal family business so I figured it would be a little fun to enjoy something cool and I trust the machines that I build and are able to diagnose any problems. I think with this set up I can use the office more than just work. I have a strong bias and passion towards gaming pc's and believe they are capable of handling a bit of work tasks while not at hand on their main duty. My job is not providing support for a company, it is actually doing the part in the most laid back environment possible. I live on the lake and am able to get off and hit the wakes behind my boat by noon. Maybe I did go over boards, but I think at the end of the day it is a sweet machine in someone's eyes. I will post pics when they are built. Who wouldn't want this pc as a personal use computer at work?
 
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ClutchAutomatic said:
This is my personal family business so I figured it would be a little fun to enjoy something cool and I trust the machines that I build and are able to diagnose any problems. I think with this set up I can use the office more than just work. I have a strong bias and passion towards gaming pc's and believe they are capable of handling a bit of work tasks while not at hand on their main duty. My job is not providing support for a company, it is actually doing the part in the most laid back environment possible. I live on the lake and am able to get off and hit the wakes behind my boat by noon. Maybe I did go over boards, but I think at the end of the day it is a sweet machine in someone's eyes. I will post pics when they are built. Who wouldn't want this pc as a personal use computer at work?
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I wouldn't as I know for a fact that I could build a better gaming PC for the same cost.

Fine, you want to build a gaming PC for the office. Whatever. It's your family business after all. But you chose poor parts for a gaming PC! That's a cardinal sin here at General Hardware! :eek:

That's my main issue now. The PSU, mobo, case, HDD, and even GPU are all questionable parts for the money. So again, any chance that you can cancel the order?
 
Actually the psu, hdd, and gpu had a sale going on last day only plus rebate :rolleyes:, the case I got for what its worth a decent one for the money. I was told not to go bottom of the barrel and didn't want to spend the extra for a corsair. We also wanted 3 monitor capability so I don't feel the GPU was that poor of a decision. The real gaming machines are at home my friend. I went with what I know works and the way I tend to build things are a little bit overboard. I will still over clock these machines and not worry about an issue.
 
Why did you make this thread? You didn't listen to a single person's advise. Hope your family/coworkers enjoys their "sweet" gaming/office PC's as much as you do, I'm sure they will be impressed.
 
I was searching for a real solution but everyone on this "hardware" forum suggested I get a dell. If anyone was of help, I would give it up for cyclone3d. He made me realize a i3 was not going to cut it for the next generations and I actually went with his advice within reason.
 
The HD4600 on the i5 is more than capable for any office applications.

Your motherboard should be able to support multiple graphic cards as well.
 
ClutchAutomatic said:
Actually the psu, hdd, and gpu had a sale going on last day only plus rebate :rolleyes:, the case I got for what its worth a decent one for the money. I was told not to go bottom of the barrel and didn't want to spend the extra for a corsair. We also wanted 3 monitor capability so I don't feel the GPU was that poor of a decision. The real gaming machines are at home my friend. I went with what I know works and the way I tend to build things are a little bit overboard. I will still over clock these machines and not worry about an issue.
Click to expand...
First and foremost, I do not factor in MIR until they're actually in my hands. Until then, I judge parts by the price I pay up front. So here's what I mean by questionable parts for the money:

In general, Corsair's -M series PSUs are not as good as their regular non-modular counterparts. We're talking big differences in quality here:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014/01/15/corsair_cs550m_550w_power_supply_review/
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/02/07/corsair_enthusiast_series_modular_power_supply_review/

As you can see from the above, Corsair's -M series aren't that good. Not to mention that Corsair is almost going downhill in quality as evidenced by their recent RM series:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013/11/13/corsair_rm750_750w_power_supply_review/

Now if that was the regular CX500, I wouldn't have had so much of a problem. But it's the CX500M. Considering that you wanted these PCs to last five years, I would have spent more for quality such as these:
$65 - Seasonic G Series SSR-360GP 360W PSU
$70 - Antec NEO ECO 520C 520W PSU
$70 - XFX TS Series XFX TS 550W PSU

As for the mobo, the HardOCP review of the higher-end version showed that it had a lot of quirks. Too many quirks for my tastes:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013...d3h_lga_1150_motherboard_review/#.U1sL8_ldVWw

So considering that the higher-end version had so much trouble, I do not trust the lower-end version as a result. For $19 less, I would have gone with this motherboard:
$126 - AsRock Fatal1ty Z87 Killer Intel Z87 Motherboard

HardOCP gave it a Gold rating:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014/01/29/asrock_z87_killer_fatal1ty_motherboard_review/

In regards to the video card, the reason why I say the GTX 750 Ti is a questionable choice is because for the same price as that card, you could have gotten the faster R7 265:
$150 - MSI R7 265 2GD5 OC 2GB PCI-E Video Card

For the case, it's not like I dislike that case or anything. I use to recommend that case all the time right here in this forum. Do a search of all my posts with that case if you don't believe me. However, I don't recommend that case nowadays since it lacks front panel USB 3.0. For me and the people I recommend parts to, we tend to keep our cases for a long time. As such, I don't want to saddle anyone with a case that's technically already outdated. For the same price, you could have gotten the Corsair 200R.

Finally for the HDD: This is mainly a disagreement about best practices: Having a copy of the data stored on the SSD on a hard drive in the same PC is not a backup. No competent person in the IT field would ever consider that as a backup. With the money you spend on those four hard drives (assuming $80 per drive for a total of $320), you could have used it towards the following NAS setup:
$193 - Synology DS213j Network Storage
$110 - 2 x Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive
----
Total: $303 shipped

With those 1TB drives in RAID 1 in a separate centralized NAS, that would have provided a far more robust backup solution than having a drive in a each PC for copies.

So that's what I meant by "a better gaming PC".
ClutchAutomatic said:
I was searching for a real solution but everyone on this "hardware" forum suggested I get a dell. If anyone was of help, I would give it up for cyclone3d. He made me realize a i3 was not going to cut it for the next generations and I actually went with his advice within reason.
Click to expand...
We were trying to help, dude. Most of us here have worked or are working in the IT field. Many of us have done IT work for small as well as large businesses. As such, from our experiences, we have found that it's just better to go Dell or HP for a business due to their excellent business support. Rarely has it been a good idea from our collective experiences to do a gaming style PC for an office role.

In other words, we were looking at your thread through a business/professional point of view because you said this was for a business. If you had said you wanted four gaming PCs for your home, we would have looked at your thread through a computer hardware enthusiast point of view. Our experiences in the IT world have shown that it's not a good idea to look at a business IT needs through a computer hardware enthusiast point of view.
 
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Dangman said:
First and foremost, I do not factor in MIR until they're actually in my hands. Until then, I judge parts by the price I pay up front. So here's what I mean by questionable parts for the money:

In general, Corsair's -M series PSUs are not as good as their regular non-modular counterparts. We're talking big differences in quality here:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014/01/15/corsair_cs550m_550w_power_supply_review/
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/02/07/corsair_enthusiast_series_modular_power_supply_review/

As you can see from the above, Corsair's -M series aren't that good. Not to mention that Corsair is almost going downhill in quality as evidenced by their recent RM series:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013/11/13/corsair_rm750_750w_power_supply_review/

Now if that was the regular CX500, I wouldn't have had so much of a problem. But it's the CX500M. Considering that you wanted these PCs to last five years, I would have spent more for quality such as these:
$65 - Seasonic G Series SSR-360GP 360W PSU
$70 - Antec NEO ECO 520C 520W PSU
$70 - XFX TS Series XFX TS 550W PSU

As for the mobo, the HardOCP review of the higher-end version showed that it had a lot of quirks. Too many quirks for my tastes:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013...d3h_lga_1150_motherboard_review/#.U1sL8_ldVWw

So considering that the higher-end version had so much trouble, I do not trust the lower-end version as a result. For $19 less, I would have gone with this motherboard:
$126 - AsRock Fatal1ty Z87 Killer Intel Z87 Motherboard

HardOCP gave it a Gold rating:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014/01/29/asrock_z87_killer_fatal1ty_motherboard_review/

In regards to the video card, the reason why I say the GTX 750 Ti is a questionable choice is because for the same price as that card, you could have gotten the faster R7 265:
$150 - MSI R7 265 2GD5 OC 2GB PCI-E Video Card

For the case, it's not like I dislike that case or anything. I use to recommend that case all the time right here in this forum. Do a search of all my posts with that case if you don't believe me. However, I don't recommend that case nowadays since it lacks front panel USB 3.0. For me and the people I recommend parts to, we tend to keep our cases for a long time. As such, I don't want to saddle anyone with a case that's technically already outdated. For the same price, you could have gotten the Corsair 200R.

Finally for the HDD: This is mainly a disagreement about best practices: Having a copy of the data stored on the SSD on a hard drive in the same PC is not a backup. No competent person in the IT field would ever consider that as a backup. With the money you spend on those four hard drives (assuming $80 per drive for a total of $320), you could have used it towards the following NAS setup:
$193 - Synology DS213j Network Storage
$110 - 2 x Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive
----
Total: $303 shipped

With those 1TB drives in RAID 1 in a separate centralized NAS, that would have provided a far more robust backup solution than having a drive in a each PC for copies.

So that's what I meant by "a better gaming PC".

We were trying to help, dude. Most of us here have worked or are working in the IT field. Many of us have done IT work for small as well as large businesses. As such, from our experiences, we have found that it's just better to go Dell or HP for a business due to their excellent business support. Rarely has it been a good idea from our collective experiences to do a gaming style PC for an office role.

In other words, we were looking at your thread through a business/professional point of view because you said this was for a business. If you had said you wanted four gaming PCs for your home, we would have looked at your thread through a computer hardware enthusiast point of view. Our experiences in the IT world have shown that it's not a good idea to look at a business IT needs through a computer hardware enthusiast point of view.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much for your input! I have made changes to the order and went with the corsair cases, xfx power supply, r7 265, and the ASRock Fatal1ty Z87 Killer boards. Just still confused as far as the storage goes, I guess i can PM you for that.
 
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Can't wait until one of those systems dies or goes down and you get to tell you're family member that they have to wait 2 days to get any work done while you order in replacement parts...

You have a lot to learn about providing systems for an office / work enviroment, family or not.

If you build custom, you MUST have +1 for everything for onsite replacement incase something does break / go bad / DOA.
 
That is not an issue, as we can use a laptop and we have plenty of those around. If 2 of them go down at the same time it won't slow down production.
 
It never ceases to amaze me how much money people in USA throw for computers... Office computers...
Here in Italy the standard "wow" office computer advice, would be:
- Athlon II x2 (last pieces still around, at 35 euros)
- AM3+ mATX motherboard with 760g chipset and integrated HD3000 video (about 40 euros)
- 4GB RAM (about 35 euros).
- For extrawow factor, HD5450 for another 30 euros.
- 30 euro PSU tops (like Corsair 350W or worse).
- Whatever cheaper case you can find (max 30 euros).

But then again, office PCs here don't include gaming...
 
I drive an E55 AMG, love the the way this car performs and handles so much that I can't go ride in another persons standard car without feeling car sick. So going from my gaming rig at home to the office I am trying to use the same "spoiled" philosophy. The guy in our company making 100k a year has been using a pos machine running windows XP for the past 4 years.
 
Faethon said:
It never ceases to amaze me how much money people in USA throw for computers... Office computers...
Here in Italy the standard "wow" office computer advice, would be:
- Athlon II x2 (last pieces still around, at 35 euros)
- AM3+ mATX motherboard with 760g chipset and integrated HD3000 video (about 40 euros)
- 4GB RAM (about 35 euros).
- For extrawow factor, HD5450 for another 30 euros.
- 30 euro PSU tops (like Corsair 350W or worse).
- Whatever cheaper case you can find (max 30 euros).

But then again, office PCs here don't include gaming...
Click to expand...

Pretty typical in the US. Most of our office machines are Core2Duos with 4 - 8GB of RAM and some low-end graphics card to handle two monitors. That said, anyone doing graphics or data analysis has a much more powerful machine.
 
JTY said:
Pretty typical in the US. Most of our office machines are Core2Duos with 4 - 8GB of RAM and some low-end graphics card to handle two monitors. That said, anyone doing graphics or data analysis has a much more powerful machine.
Click to expand...

Depends what work you are doing on those machines in the office. If you are writing software in office where you need to run many services and applications at the same time .. this configuration would not work.
you would be slow as hell...
 
JTY said:
Pretty typical in the US. Most of our office machines are Core2Duos with 4 - 8GB of RAM and some low-end graphics card to handle two monitors. That said, anyone doing graphics or data analysis has a much more powerful machine.
Click to expand...

same line here, our customer service are all Core 2 Duo E7 series or higher, we have 5x i3 systems with 8 Gig of ram as newer ones that replaced ones that died, and one new system with an i3 8g and a 120G SSD. All systems in our office get a min of 2 monitors, at least 1080 res, usually 21/22 inches in size.

For dev's they get i5's and the head dev has my old i7 920 with 24G of ram, all Devs / web get 250/256G SSDs, triple monitors.

other departments are a mix pending on needs.

As long as you have covered possible down time and replacement parts, i see no issues with building your own system, many of the systems in our office come from a provider, who literally builds them anyways so it is the same for us and we don't get crap PSU's with them and i get better prices and parts.

But i am also the same kind of guy who makes his own network cables for the entire office.
 
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