$500 Office PC Build

[birdflyer]

Budget (including currency): $500 USD

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Office Suite, Cricket Connect.

Other details: I was recently asked to build a PC as a replacement for a 10ish year-old PC. The budget as set around $500 and so it was between buying something refurbished and building a computer. Thankfully, with how computer component prices are right now, it was a better deal to build one.

 

I already ordered these parts, but I have been asked quite a lot to build reliable office PCs around this price. I am curious, how might I improve this selection of parts for around the same price in the future?

 

 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/D477Zw

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 4600G 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($145.99 @ Amazon)
• Motherboard: Gigabyte B550M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($89.99 @ Newegg)
• Memory: Patriot Viper 4 Blackout 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($55.98 @ Amazon)
• Storage: PNY XLR8 CS3140 Heatsink 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($109.99 @ B&H)
• Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($56.89 @ Amazon)
• Power Supply: EVGA 500 GD 500 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply  ($58.95 @ Amazon)

Total: $517.79
 

[Omar.B]

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/9dhzW4

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G 3.9 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($134.81 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Asus PRIME B550M-A/CSM Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($108.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory  ($67.99 @ Corsair) 
Storage: Western Digital Blue SN570 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($79.70 @ Amazon) 
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($56.89 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: Cooler Master MWE Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($60.00 @ Amazon) 
Total: $508.38
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-09-29 13:19 EDT-0400

 

 

[Dedayog]

Unless you're going to add a GPU, you can shave a little money buy going less wattage. That is if you can find quality units for cheaper.

 

Drive size is large for office, as most files are on a network/cloud/sharepoint.  Most companies require this.  500GB or even 250GB is all your need.

[birdflyer]

1 minute ago, Omar.B said:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G 3.9 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($134.81 @ Amazon)

Dude! This was $20 more expesnive than the 4600G yesterday! Crazy.

[birdflyer]

8 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

Unless you're going to add a GPU, you can shave a little money buy going less wattage. That is if you can find quality units for cheaper.

 

Drive size is large for office, as most files are on a network/cloud/sharepoint.  Most companies require this.  500GB or even 250GB is all your need.

Ya, I normally would do that, but this client is using this as a home computer and has quite a large amount of files. A 500GB would probably have cut it, but I really like the s tier Phison E18 controller on the CS3140, and honestly any other reliable SSD (from Samsung and the likes) were only about $10ish cheaper for half the amount of storage.

 

I will definitely keep your suggestion in mind, though.

[birdflyer]

6 minutes ago, Omar.B said:

Motherboard: Asus PRIME B550M-A/CSM Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($108.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory  ($67.99 @ Corsair) 

So, why this motherboard and this memory? Is the difference in speed really that important for a computer like this?

[birdflyer]

9 minutes ago, Omar.B said:

Power Supply: Cooler Master MWE Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($60.00 @ Amazon) 

Also, why this power supply?

 

[Dedayog]

1 minute ago, birdflyer said:

So, why this motherboard and this memory? Is the difference in speed really that important for a computer like this?

No, a home office PC needs reliability not necessarily speed.  I use Gigabyte's B450M DS3H in my server 24/7 so I'd personally go that route.  RAM is unimportant, you just need enough.

 

Grab his WD SSD though, save that money there.

[Omar.B]

3 minutes ago, birdflyer said:

So, why this motherboard and this memory? Is the difference in speed really that important for a computer like this?

Better MB, also the asus have better bios than gigabyte , For the memory ig it doesnt really matter between 3200mhz or 3600mhz its just 2% like more in performance and the psu I suggest is better since its full modular.

or you can get the Strix psu which is just 10$ more but can handle a 3060.

[Dedayog]

Counterpoint:  Almost all PC's for the office do NOT have anything more than iGPU's. So even going with an i3 10100 + mobo would save money.

 

Unless they really NEED the "G" from that Athlon.

 

My laptop at work is a $2k Thinkpad, integrated graphics for comparison.

[birdflyer]

20 minutes ago, Omar.B said:

Better MB, also the asus have better bios than gigabyte , For the memory ig it doesnt really matter between 3200mhz or 3600mhz its just 2% like more in performance and the psu I suggest is better since its full modular.

or you can get the Strix psu which is just 10$ more but can handle a 3060.

Ok, got it. I will say that while I do agree with you on Asus MBs having a better bios, I have also had far more stability issues with them. Gigabyte has been rock solid, and for an office pc, the bios doesn't matter very much as long as you can set memory speed etc.

[birdflyer]

23 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

Counterpoint:  Almost all PC's for the office do NOT have anything more than iGPU's. So even going with an i3 10100 + mobo would save money.

 

Unless they really NEED the "G" from that Athlon.

 

My laptop at work is a $2k Thinkpad, integrated graphics for comparison.

So I think I was able to drop the overall price of the pc by swapping the CPU and MB. I also dropped the SSD by about $20 by going to an "A" tier SSD.

Also note that most people I build PCs for need WiFi so all the MBs I will now list have WiFi.

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/8kVvmr

• CPU: Intel Core i3-10105 3.7 GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($109.00 @ Amazon)
• Motherboard: Gigabyte B560M AORUS PRO AX Micro ATX LGA1200 Motherboard  ($89.99 @ Newegg)
• Memory: Patriot Viper 4 Blackout 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($55.98 @ Amazon)
• Storage: PNY XLR8 CS3040 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($99.99 @ B&H)
• Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($56.89 @ Amazon)
• Power Supply: EVGA 500 GD 500 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply  ($58.95 @ Amazon)

Total: $470.80

 

 

[Dedayog]

43 minutes ago, birdflyer said:

So I think I was able to drop the overall price of the pc by swapping the CPU and MB. I also dropped the SSD by about $20 by going to an "A" tier SSD.

Also note that most people I build PCs for need WiFi so all the MBs I will now list have WiFi.

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/8kVvmr

• CPU: Intel Core i3-10105 3.7 GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($109.00 @ Amazon)
• Motherboard: Gigabyte B560M AORUS PRO AX Micro ATX LGA1200 Motherboard  ($89.99 @ Newegg)
• Memory: Patriot Viper 4 Blackout 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($55.98 @ Amazon)
• Storage: PNY XLR8 CS3040 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($99.99 @ B&H)
• Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($56.89 @ Amazon)
• Power Supply: EVGA 500 GD 500 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply  ($58.95 @ Amazon)

Total: $470.80

 

 

Not to mess with you and give you more options but...this means no muss no fuss...

 

https://www.amazon.com/i5-8279U-Processor（up-4-1Ghz）-Beelink-Ethernet/dp/B08PBKLNKG/ref=sr_1_17_sspa?crid=S2B3ENXIYUI0&keywords=i3&qid=1664476599&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIzLjM1IiwicXNhIjoiMi4xNyIsInFzcCI6IjIuNjEifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=i%2Caps%2C216&sr=8-17-spons&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.304cacc1-b508-45fb-a37f-a2c47c48c32f&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFJRFhaUlFSSlVDNDkmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTAwMjI1NTYzVjJYSktKOUhHUVFOJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA3NDgxNDgxQllBTFhPOVZHWVY5JndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfbXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

 

[birdflyer]

7 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

Not to mess with you and give you more options but...this means no muss no fuss...

 

https://www.amazon.com/i5-8279U-Processor（up-4-1Ghz）-Beelink-Ethernet/dp/B08PBKLNKG/ref=sr_1_17_sspa?crid=S2B3ENXIYUI0&keywords=i3&qid=1664476599&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIzLjM1IiwicXNhIjoiMi4xNyIsInFzcCI6IjIuNjEifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=i%2Caps%2C216&sr=8-17-spons&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.304cacc1-b508-45fb-a37f-a2c47c48c32f&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFJRFhaUlFSSlVDNDkmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTAwMjI1NTYzVjJYSktKOUhHUVFOJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA3NDgxNDgxQllBTFhPOVZHWVY5JndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfbXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

 

Ya! I really like that if the customer wants an even cheaper rig. I will certainly keep this in mind.