iMac Replacement for a Friend

[kierden]

Hey All,

 

A friend of mine recently had his 2011 iMac break and Apple want to charge him at least £800 to fix it, which is extortionate!

I have convinced him to go PC instead for around about the same price (£800 - £900), to get better performance.

He does a fair bit of graphic design work and mostly uses Adobe suite. He also would like to do a bit of gaming (with the PC replacing his Xbox One).

He isn't too bothered about the looks of the PC, so the case isn't too big an issue. Although if you feel the Nova would be a pain to build in please suggest something else!

I haven't built in a while so I'm a bit out the loop so would like to run it past you guys before he goes ahead and buys parts.

 

What do you think of the below build?:

 

PCPartPicker part list: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/JpbvkT
Price breakdown by merchant: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/JpbvkT/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600X 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor  (£239.94 @ Aria PC) 
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  (£23.97 @ Ebuyer) 
Motherboard: Asus PRIME B350-PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard  (£88.72 @ Amazon UK) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  (£121.18 @ More Computers) 
Storage: Sandisk Z400s 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£49.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£59.99 @ Ebuyer) 
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon RX 580 4GB AORUS 4G Video Card  (£206.58 @ CCL Computers) 
Case: BitFenix Nova ATX Mid Tower Case  (£26.99 @ Aria PC) 
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  (£49.80 @ Aria PC) 
Total: £867.16
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-04-21 16:21 BST+0100

 

Thanks!

 

Kieren

[Zando_]

Should be a good build. But ouch! That repair price! What's wrong with the iMac? If it's fixable, it could be cheaper than buying a whole new PC and shifting OS and everything. 

[genexis_x]

CPU cooler not the best. Get something like Cryorig H7
SSD not the best but not the worst either
PSU quality quite bad

[kierden]

Just now, Zando Bob said:

Should be a good build. But ouch! That repair price! What's wrong with the iMac? If it's fixable, it could be cheaper than buying a whole new PC and shifting OS and everything. 

Cheers. I'm not 100% sure and from the sounds of it neither are Apple, it's some sort of issue with the power I believe.

They want to replace the entire logic board.

[79wjd]

2 minutes ago, kierden said:

Cheers. I'm not 100% sure and from the sounds of it neither are Apple, it's some sort of issue with the power I believe.

They want to replace the entire logic board.

A logic board replacement doesn't usually cost anywhere near £800.

 

A new logic board can also ebe bought from iFixit for like $200. 

[Zando_]

8 minutes ago, kierden said:

Cheers. I'm not 100% sure and from the sounds of it neither are Apple, it's some sort of issue with the power I believe.

They want to replace the entire logic board.

Well, If it's out of warranty, see how much it costs to buy one and replace it yourself. Since it's a 2011, the screen should be held on with magnets, instead of glue like the newer ones. It shouldn't be too hard.

 

EDIT: 

Here: 

 If you decide to do it, just take it slow, and you should be fine. And stick an SSD in there while you're at it. 

 

If it's a power problem, take a look at this: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+21.5-Inch+EMC+2428+Power+Supply+Replacement/5962

 

A new PSU is about $130 USD though: https://www.ifixit.com/Store/Mac/iMac-Intel-21-5-Inch-Power-Supply/IF173-000-1

 

And the logic board is $200 USD.

 

[bigneo]

What monitor(s) is he going to use? Does he have external one or looking to buy new?

 

I would say he will have a hard time getting used to new screen coming from iMac.

[Zando_]

2 minutes ago, bigneo said:

What monitor(s) is he going to use? Does he have external one or looking to buy new?

 

I would say he will have a hard time getting used to new screen coming from iMac.

The 2011 iMac is just a pretty average (compared to 2016/17 screens) 1080p screen. The 2012 has the same resolution, but is much sharper. (I know, 'cause we've got one of each at my work)

[kierden]

6 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

Well, If it's out of warranty, see how much it costs to buy one and replace it yourself. Since it's a 2011, the screen should be held on with magnets, instead of glue like the newer ones. It shouldn't be too hard.

 

EDIT: 

Here: 

 If you decide to do it, just take it slow, and you should be fine. And stick an SSD in there while you're at it. 

 

If it's a power problem, take a look at this: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+21.5-Inch+EMC+2428+Power+Supply+Replacement/5962

 

Thank you, I'll chat with him this evening.

I don't have the entire story on what the issue is and he isn't sure either.