Upgrading aging work desktop - build planning

Leng · December 7, 2020

1. Budget & Location

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3400G 3.7 GHz Quad-Core Processor	$239.00 @ Mwave Australia
Motherboard	ASRock B450M Pro4-F Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$103.40 @ JW Computers
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (1 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory	$88.00 @ Newegg Australia
Storage	Samsung 970 Evo 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$95.00 @ BPC Technology
Case	Thermaltake Versa H15 MicroATX Mid Tower Case	$99.00
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$624.40
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-12-07 12:56 AEDT+1100

I'd rather build us some quick and easy desktops instead of spending 1500 $AUD and getting it done by our IT contractors (Lenovo Thinkstation etc.), even if I get DoA parts. it will still save a lot of money.

Budget: See 2. Aim, basically 500-1500 $AUD

Location: Australia

2. Aim

Whatever is needed for Office 365 applications and a few other non hardware intense tasks like running cloud software in Chrome, plus emails.

3. Monitors

2x1080p screens most likely, will need a DVI-D to HDMI adapter for second screen I think. Not sure if there is a good MB with 2xHDMI running from Ryzen APU's?

4. Peripherals

No, and Windows will be purchased separately.

5. Why are you upgrading?

Will build 2-3 of these, one is upgrading an old 1st gen i3 desktop with a HDD and no SSD, the other will replace a laptop that was given to another employee, and the new employee needs a desktop instead.

The case is available here for 99$AUD including a PSU (mwave.com.au), don't think I can do better here, but please prove me wrong. Hopefully its good enough for what I want it to do. A similar Lenovo ThinkStation from IT contractor will set us back about 1500$AUD, so I can even buy spares and have cash left over.

Any critique and recommendations highly welcomes. I don't really want to save a lot compared to my above build, but if I can spend a few dollars more for superior components, I'm all ear.