Low Budget Home Office PC Build

Lindenial on 14/08/2020 - 13:56
Last edited 14/08/2020 - 15:29

Looking to upgrade home office PC.
Budget is as little as possible <$600
Uses are standard home office (google chrome, word processing, excel etc.)
Also photo editing - purely for hobby. Currently using Corel Aftershot Pro (Adobe Lightroom substitute) but may swing over to Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop in the future.
No gaming, no video editing.

Money is extremely tight, but the current PC (Intel Pentium G850, 8GB RAM) is a bit clunky under pressure these days. Also is really old, so might die any day.

1st question:
Integrated graphics or dedicated graphics? Current PC, dedicated graphics card failed so am running on integrated graphics right now.

2nd Question:
Intel or AMD?

Looking at AMD Ryzen 3 3200G as a possible option for CPU with integrated graphics:
https://www.amazon.com.au/AMD-Ryzen-3200G-Processor-YD3200C5…

I need:
1. CPU
2. Motherboard (mATX), 2 DIMM slots should be ok. I don't think "upgradability" is needed. By the time I want to upgrade CPU again, I'm sure any budget motherboard I buy now will be obsolete by then.
3. RAM - probably 16GB kit 2x 8GB
4. SSD - probably 500GB for boot and storage of recent photos I might want to edit. I think Sata speed would be fine?

Possibly Need?:
* Graphics card???
* Windows licence. I have a Windows 8 licence key, but not sure if it'll fly.

I have a mATX case and a fairly new 500w PSU (eVGA Gold).

I'm not in a huge rush but I want to pounce on any good deals as they come up.
I haven't built my own PC before so hopefully this all makes sense.

Edit: Added current CPU and RAM details

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Comments

    • indenial on 14/08/2020 - 15:18

      Thanks, this looks like an option.
      I was turned off looking at used from the prices being asked locally on gumtree/facebook.
      These look a lot more reasonable.

    • donga100 on 14/08/2020 - 16:28
      +1

      HP workstations are worth looking at too. I just picked up this one for my wife as she has started studying architecture and needed something that could handle CAD/Revit. Photoshop runs perfectly on it, as does everything else we have tried.

  • FireRunner on 14/08/2020 - 14:46

    What's the exact CPU you're using and are you sure that's what's causing the computer to be slow?
    Also how much RAM and do you have an SSD installed?

    • indenial on 14/08/2020 - 15:13

      Intel Pentium G850
      8GB (2x4GB) 1333MHz DDR3 RAM
      No SSD
      To be honest it's not too bad as a home office PC since I added an extra 4GB RAM stick. Before then it was horrible. Photo editing still pauses a bit to update preview etc.
      I'm as much concerned about the age of it and don't want to be forced into a quick buy when it dies. Hard drives are at least 4-5 years old, mobo and cpu are 9 years old I believe.

      • FireRunner on 14/08/2020 - 15:29
        +2

        An SSD makes a world of difference, more so than memory upgrades from my experience.
        Putting in a decent SSD like an Samsung Evo 860 or Crucial MX500 might make your current build zippy again.
        Otherwise, the Optiplex suggestion above is an excellent choice for a budget build.
        I've got an Optiplex 9010 with a 3rd gen i5, 8GB RAM, Samsung SSD that works really well. I also installed a GTX1050 graphics card and it plays most modern games. For your purposes, a graphics card won't be necessary

        • treebytheriver on 16/08/2020 - 08:14

          How hard was it to install the Samsung SSD into your Optiplex? I'm just about to get one, and an SSD looks tempting.
          (I'm a complete newbie with computer parts, but I can youtube!)

          • FireRunner on 16/08/2020 - 11:46
            +1

            @treebytheriver: If you plan on replacing the HDD, simply swap it out.
            If you're looking to use both the HDD and SSD, you'll need to get a power splitter to power both SSD and HDD like this one and a second sata data cable like this. Make sure the primary drive (the SSD) is connected to SATA0 on the motherboard

  • oscargamer on 14/08/2020 - 15:07
    +1

    I just built a machine for wife's home office. 3200g with 16gb DDR4 in a mini-itx box.

    The 3200g is very impressive and easily powers a new 32" 1440p monitor (split vertically into 2 screens) as well as an older 24" 1080p as a second monitor (third screen)

    You can easily get a decent mATX m/b to suit your existing box and power supply.

    • oscargamer on 14/08/2020 - 15:28
      +1

      If you're going to neg me, fine, but please have the decency to explain why……

    • indenial on 14/08/2020 - 15:33

      Sounds like 3200G would do the job for me.

      • oscargamer on 14/08/2020 - 15:36
        +1

        For MB - https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/556020

        but see the line in the OP "Credit to @saywhat: Free shipping for the same price at Centrecom.(centrecom.com.au)"

        EDIT - grab some RAM while you are at centrecom as well as an SSD

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