Is the psu enough?

[fato]

Hello everyone. A friend is buying a pc , and he just wants to buy a prebuild one, I've tried convincing him but he just doesn't care enough. The prebuild he's looking at has a 260 Watt PSU , an i5-10400 , no graphics card ( he's not interested in buying one anytime soon) , 8 GB of ram . Is it too much of a risk buying it ? How likely is it that the PSU isn't enough for the build? He's on a really  low budget so it's not about great performance or anything like that, he just wants to know if it's too dangerous buying it. Thank you all in advance. 

[--SID--]

Make and model of the prebuild?

[kelvinhall05]

260W PSU is more than enough for an i5 and no GPU.

[fato]

4 minutes ago, --SID-- said:

Make and model of the prebuild?

Dell-Inspiron-3881-MT-i5-10400-8GB-1TB-256GB 

[Daethz]

With a psu that small youll never be able to add a dedicated gpu without replacing the psu first.

But sure, its enough for a low end gpu-less system

[fato]

Just now, Daethz said:

With a psu that small youll never be able to add a dedicated gpu without replacing the psu first.

But sure, its enough for a low end gpu-less system

As I said he's not interested in a GPU any time soon. Thank you for the reply

[TetraSky]

It's enough for what's in the computer at the moment. Yes.

That said, if an upgrade is needed down the line, for a higher end GPU or something, this can pose a problem (unless you're fine with lower end GPUs).
There's still a few pre-built who uses proprietary power supplies, Dell being the most notorious culprit of this, so changing it with an off-the shelve one may not possible without changing the motherboard as well or paying out the butt for a new one from Dell.

[Boomwebsearch]

3 minutes ago, fato said:

Hello everyone. A friend is buying a pc , and he just wants to buy a prebuild one, I've tried convincing him but he just doesn't care enough. The prebuild he's looking at has a 260 Watt PSU , an i5-10400 , no graphics card ( he's not interested in buying one anytime soon) , 8 GB of ram . Is it too much of a risk buying it ? How likely is it that the PSU isn't enough for the build? He's on a really  low budget so it's not about great performance or anything like that, he just wants to know if it's too dangerous buying it. Thank you all in advance. 

 

How much does that prebuilt cost and could you please include the manufacturer/model or a link?

 

The i5-10400 is a 65-watt TDP processor, I have an HP prebuilt computer that came with a 240-watt power supply and it is running a 65 watt CPU, 8GB of RAM, and a 1TB HDD (with official compatibility for a 95 watt CPU on the same PSU). So yeah, that should be enough wattage to power the Intel Core i5-10400 (without a graphics card on the system). If your friend wants to add a graphics card later down the road (not just a low-power one for display outputs such as a Radeon HD 3450, Quadro NVS 295, GT 710, etc.), a PSU upgrade is probably going to be necessary (proprietary motherboard connectors and smaller form factor prebuilds can make this quite a challenge). Without a link or knowing the manufacturer/model of the prebuilt, it's difficult to judge the quality of the PSU / system overall.

[Boomwebsearch]

6 minutes ago, fato said:

Dell-Inspiron-3881-MT-i5-10400-8GB-1TB-256GB 

 

Honestly, he/she would probably be better off getting a laptop than this system. Buying a new prebuilt like this one is generally a pretty bad idea considering the limited upgradability at a relatively high cost, if he/she must buy a prebuilt desktop then I would recommend getting a used quad-core one with pretty similar performance for a lot cheaper.

[fato]

1 minute ago, Boomwebsearch said:

 

Honestly, he/she would probably be better off getting a laptop than this system. Buying a new prebuilt like this one is generally a pretty bad idea considering the limited upgradability at a relatively high cost, if he/she must buy a prebuilt desktop then I would recommend getting a used quad-core one with pretty similar performance for a lot cheaper.

I know it's not the best choice , but he has some type of government coupon that pays 400€ of the cost, and is only usable on some specific prebuilds and laptops that are pre-decided by the government, so there aren't really many choices sadly...

[Boomwebsearch]

2 minutes ago, fato said:

I know it's not the best choice , but he has some type of government coupon that pays 400€ of the cost, and is only usable on some specific prebuilds and laptops that are pre-decided by the government, so there aren't really many choices sadly...

 

Okay, please include the list of computers that the discount is applicable to if you'd like a specific recommendation that the discount would work on.

 

Also, what workloads/software does your friend plan on running (ex. video editing, 3D modeling, image editing, gaming, etc.)?

[--SID--]

32 minutes ago, fato said:

Dell-Inspiron-3881-MT-i5-10400-8GB-1TB-256GB 

It's OK. Dell don't use crap PSUs and 260w is more than enough for a system that consumes about 100w max.

[fato]

32 minutes ago, Boomwebsearch said:

 

Okay, please include the list of computers that the discount is applicable to if you'd like a specific recommendation that the discount would work on.

 

Also, what workloads/software does your friend plan on running (ex. video editing, 3D modeling, image editing, gaming, etc.)?

I really appreciate this , but unfortunately the site with the available desktops is super buggy and horribly designed. It's supposed to have all the available desktops and a link to each one ,but instead it has the same desktop 17 times with the same link. Keep in mind this is the official site of the government ...

 

[fato]

36 minutes ago, Boomwebsearch said:

 

Okay, please include the list of computers that the discount is applicable to if you'd like a specific recommendation that the discount would work on.

 

Also, what workloads/software does your friend plan on running (ex. video editing, 3D modeling, image editing, gaming, etc.)?

 He's doing some image editing e.g. Photoshop for school but it's mostly for browsing and games like League of Legends and Minecraft, so it's not that much he's asking for.  

[Boomwebsearch]

2 hours ago, fato said:

I really appreciate this , but unfortunately the site with the available desktops is super buggy and horribly designed. It's supposed to have all the available desktops and a link to each one ,but instead it has the same desktop 17 times with the same link. Keep in mind this is the official site of the government ...

 

I would contact them to get the list of computers that the discount would apply on. Even without their €400 discount, you could still probably get a used quad-core system with pretty similar performance to the Dell Inspiron 3881 for significantly cheaper.

 

2 hours ago, fato said:

He's doing some image editing e.g. Photoshop for school but it's mostly for browsing and games like League of Legends and Minecraft, so it's not that much he's asking for.  

You'll want to have at least 8GB of RAM and a quad-core processor (with or without hyperthreading / SMT). As long as you aren't planning to run applications at their highest settings, even an older processor such as an Intel Core 2 Quad should work fine.

[fato]

11 hours ago, Boomwebsearch said:

I would contact them to get the list of computers that the discount would apply on. Even without their €400 discount, you could still probably get a used quad-core system with pretty similar performance to the Dell Inspiron 3881 for significantly cheaper.

 

You'll want to have at least 8GB of RAM and a quad-core processor (with or without hyperthreading / SMT). As long as you aren't planning to run applications at their highest settings, even an older processor such as an Intel Core 2 Quad should work fine.

Without the 400$ , hes spending 250$. Im not sure but I think you cant get a better desktop than the 3881 with 250$ , at least where I'm from . Could you maybe link a desktop thats close to the 3881 perfomance wise , and is max 250$ ? If thats the case he can maybe use the 400$ to buy something else I guess.

[Boomwebsearch]

2 hours ago, fato said:

Without the 400$ , hes spending 250$. Im not sure but I think you cant get a better desktop than the 3881 with 250$ , at least where I'm from . Could you maybe link a desktop thats close to the 3881 perfomance wise , and is max 250$ ? If thats the case he can maybe use the 400$ to buy something else I guess.

Please include the country you're shopping from for a more specific recommendation? There's 19 countries that use Euros for currency, with varying system availability/selection. Would it have to be a desktop, you can connect most laptops to a larger monitor and use it similarly to a desktop?

 

Two-hundred-fifty Euros converts to around $300 USD (United States Dollars), with that budget, here's the new hardware you would be able to buy for a desktop build:

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD A10-9700 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($119.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: MSI A320M-A PRO Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($59.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-2800 CL15 Memory  ($42.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Silicon Power Ace A55 256 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($31.99 @ Amazon) 
Case: Rosewill FBM-X1 MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($24.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Gigabyte P-B 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($18.98 @ Amazon) 
Total: $298.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-06-28 12:14 EDT-0400

 

[fato]

On 6/28/2021 at 7:17 PM, Boomwebsearch said:

Please include the country you're shopping from for a more specific recommendation? There's 19 countries that use Euros for currency, with varying system availability/selection. Would it have to be a desktop, you can connect most laptops to a larger monitor and use it similarly to a desktop?

 

Two-hundred-fifty Euros converts to around $300 USD (United States Dollars), with that budget, here's the new hardware you would be able to buy for a desktop build:

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD A10-9700 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($119.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: MSI A320M-A PRO Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($59.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-2800 CL15 Memory  ($42.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Silicon Power Ace A55 256 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($31.99 @ Amazon) 
Case: Rosewill FBM-X1 MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($24.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Gigabyte P-B 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($18.98 @ Amazon) 
Total: $298.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-06-28 12:14 EDT-0400

 

Hello , I know its been some days , but  what do you think about this one ? Is it more worth than the 3881 ?

Specs :

Intel Core i3-10100 (4-Core, 6M Cache, 3.6GHz to 4.3Ghz)

1T HDD + 240GB SSD

8GB of 2666MHZ RAM

Intel shared graphics 630

Chipset H410M-D

500W PSU , doesnt say anything about bronze-silver-gold

Heres a link in case this does anything to help more : https://www.mediamarkt.gr/product/laptop-tablet-computing/desktop--all-in-one/desktop/quest-me-desktop-intel-core-i3-10100-8gb-240gb-ssd-1tb-hdd-intel-uhd-630-mazi-me-internet-security-2-years/1605541?fbclid=IwAR2LLU_Gz-un2K2Kz7rZBDWO8DQfEiQczUXzFZwiLTtuXwByAV6ZDyCj10M

Edited July 2, 2021 by fato
Mistake

[Boomwebsearch]

2 hours ago, fato said:

Hello , I know its been some days , but  what do you think about this one ? Is it more worth than the 3881 ?

Specs :

Intel Core i3-10100 (4-Core, 6M Cache, 3.6GHz to 4.3Ghz)

1T HDD + 240GB SSD

8GB of 2666MHZ RAM

Intel shared graphics 630

Chipset H410M-D

500W PSU , doesnt say anything about bronze-silver-gold

Heres a link in case this does anything to help more : https://www.mediamarkt.gr/product/laptop-tablet-computing/desktop--all-in-one/desktop/quest-me-desktop-intel-core-i3-10100-8gb-240gb-ssd-1tb-hdd-intel-uhd-630-mazi-me-internet-security-2-years/1605541?fbclid=IwAR2LLU_Gz-un2K2Kz7rZBDWO8DQfEiQczUXzFZwiLTtuXwByAV6ZDyCj10M

 

If we are just looking at the raw specifications then it is a downgrade from the Dell Inspiron 3881 option, although most likely you're going to have more upgradability than the Dell. 

 

I would go with this version of that desktop instead because it has a 16GB larger SSD and is €100.01 cheaper. -->     https://www.mediamarkt.gr/product/laptop-tablet-computing/desktop--all-in-one/desktop/quest-me-desktop-intel-core-i3-10100-8gb-256gb-ssd-1tb-hdd-intel-uhd-630/1586943

[fato]

43 minutes ago, Boomwebsearch said:

 

If we are just looking at the raw specifications then it is a downgrade from the Dell Inspiron 3881 option, although most likely you're going to have more upgradability than the Dell. 

 

I would go with this version of that desktop instead because it has a 16GB larger SSD and is €100.01 cheaper. -->     https://www.mediamarkt.gr/product/laptop-tablet-computing/desktop--all-in-one/desktop/quest-me-desktop-intel-core-i3-10100-8gb-256gb-ssd-1tb-hdd-intel-uhd-630/1586943

It seemed like a better option cause of the 500W compared to the 260 , + the motherboard is not a bad one compared to the one the dell has. If I'm not mistaken dell prebuilds mobos aren't that great for the future. And the only Downside I see is the 10100 Vs 10400 . Which I think is not that huge of a difference. 

[Boomwebsearch]

3 minutes ago, fato said:

It seemed like a better option cause of the 500W compared to the 260 , + the motherboard is not a bad one compared to the one the dell has. If I'm not mistaken dell prebuilds mobos aren't that great for the future

 

Yeah, you're right, the motherboards in Dell prebuilt systems are usually quite proprietary. Also, you probably aren't going to be able to swap that Dell PSU for a better one without adapters because of proprietary power connections.

 

8 minutes ago, fato said:

And the only Downside I see is the 10100 Vs 10400 . Which I think is not that huge of a difference. 

The Intel Core i5-10400 has 2 cores / 4 threads extra, although the Intel Core i3-10100 has a faster base operating frequency by 700 MHz. You could always upgrade the CPU later down the road to something such as the 8-core/16-thread Intel Core i7-10700 (price difference will probably drop as newer generations are released).