Office PC Builds

Drake10114 · January 22, 2018

Hello everyone,

So this year my office is upgrading our computers to more powerful machines. Due to wanting good computers, and such, my boss wants me to build a total of 8 of these machines.

System specs are as follows:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i3-8350K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($224.99 @ Amazon Canada)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master - Hyper 212X 82.9 CFM CPU Cooler ($44.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Thermal Compound: ARCTIC - MX4 4g Thermal Paste ($8.99 @ Memory Express)
Motherboard: MSI - Z370 GAMING PLUS ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($162.00 @ Vuugo)
Memory: Kingston - FURY 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($217.99 @ PC-Canada)
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Case: Fractal Design - Define C with Window ATX Mid Tower Case ($105.99 @ PC-Canada)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($119.99 @ PC-Canada)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit ($169.75 @ Vuugo)
Total: $1164.68
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-01-22 15:07 EST-0500

CPU: Want a quad core, that has a good base clock. For the added cost, going to the K sku for the i3, makes sense.

MOBO: Placeholder for now, will probably use a cheaper board (need 3 display outputs unfortunately). Debating on going w/ a locked boards due to not planning to OC these.

Cooler: Decent cooler, will handle the cpu and be quiet.

Thermal Compound: Want good stuff, and for $1 a system, it'll be easily eaten.

RAM: Want dual channel 16gb, but not particular on what, will be using whatever sticks are cheapest when I start building.

SSD: Due to our server taking all the storage, we don't need lots of storage. Good SSD, and will be enough storage for local stuff.

Case: Good case, windowed to prevent dust build up (can literally see the dust..)

PSU: Overkill, in terms of what we need, but rather not have the system die.

OS: Need Win 10 Pro and due to it being for an office, rather just eat the cost and buy from Microsoft. Ik about Kinguin, etc.

Question: Is there any thing that I missed, or any flaws I overlooked? No need for GPU, since using the IGPU from Intel for monitors.

Build time will be May sometime, to start, since we are busy until then anyways.

Edit: Location is Canada, and CAD for currency. $1150 ish budget.

Mira Yurizaki · January 22, 2018

What exactly is the use case for these machines? If you're not doing anything more than check emails and look at Microsoft Office documents (be it from Word, Excel, or PowerPoint), I don't see much point in getting better than an i3-8100 and a B or Q series board (whenever those come out)

ProjectBox153 · January 22, 2018

You don't need SSDs for office type machines. You're just wasting money.

Drake10114 · January 22, 2018

3 hours ago, M.Yurizaki said:

What exactly is the use case for these machines? If you're not doing anything more than check emails and look at Microsoft Office documents (be it from Word, Excel, or PowerPoint), I don't see much point in getting better than an i3-8100 and a B or Q series board (whenever those come out)

Accounting stuff, so sometimes multiple programs up, so having that extra speed won't hurt.

3 hours ago, Jamiec1130 said:

You don't need SSDs for office type machines. You're just wasting money.

Too a point, we want these fast, and it makes sense to just go all ssd for these. Faster boot times, will pay for itself.

Mira Yurizaki · January 23, 2018

11 minutes ago, Drake10114 said:

Accounting stuff, so sometimes multiple programs up, so having that extra speed won't hurt.

I'm going to assume lots of usage of Excel. While I understand certain use cases of Excel would use the CPU, I can't imagine needing an unlocked i3.

And multiple programs is more an issue of how much RAM you have than how much CPU power you have, unless all of the apps actively doing something.

Drake10114 · January 23, 2018

16 hours ago, M.Yurizaki said:

I'm going to assume lots of usage of Excel. While I understand certain use cases of Excel would use the CPU, I can't imagine needing an unlocked i3.

And multiple programs is more an issue of how much RAM you have than how much CPU power you have, unless all of the apps actively doing something.

Excel for abit, but mainly Quickbooks and other accounting software. Most are somewhat badly optimized, so having a fast processor will be useful.

Depends, having Quickbooks and another program open hits 12gb ram sometimes, hence why we are wanting 16gb as min.

brob · January 23, 2018

20 hours ago, Drake10114 said:

Hello everyone,

So this year my office is upgrading our computers to more powerful machines. Due to wanting good computers, and such, my boss wants me to build a total of 8 of these machines.

System specs are as follows:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i3-8350K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($224.99 @ Amazon Canada)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master - Hyper 212X 82.9 CFM CPU Cooler ($44.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Thermal Compound: ARCTIC - MX4 4g Thermal Paste ($8.99 @ Memory Express)
Motherboard: MSI - Z370 GAMING PLUS ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($162.00 @ Vuugo)
Memory: Kingston - FURY 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($217.99 @ PC-Canada)
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Case: Fractal Design - Define C with Window ATX Mid Tower Case ($105.99 @ PC-Canada)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($119.99 @ PC-Canada)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit ($169.75 @ Vuugo)
Total: $1164.68
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-01-22 15:07 EST-0500

CPU: Want a quad core, that has a good base clock. For the added cost, going to the K sku for the i3, makes sense.

MOBO: Placeholder for now, will probably use a cheaper board (need 3 display outputs unfortunately). Debating on going w/ a locked boards due to not planning to OC these.

Cooler: Decent cooler, will handle the cpu and be quiet.

Thermal Compound: Want good stuff, and for $1 a system, it'll be easily eaten.

RAM: Want dual channel 16gb, but not particular on what, will be using whatever sticks are cheapest when I start building.

SSD: Due to our server taking all the storage, we don't need lots of storage. Good SSD, and will be enough storage for local stuff.

Case: Good case, windowed to prevent dust build up (can literally see the dust..)

PSU: Overkill, in terms of what we need, but rather not have the system die.

OS: Need Win 10 Pro and due to it being for an office, rather just eat the cost and buy from Microsoft. Ik about Kinguin, etc.

Question: Is there any thing that I missed, or any flaws I overlooked? No need for GPU, since using the IGPU from Intel for monitors.

Build time will be May sometime, to start, since we are busy until then anyways.

Edit: Location is Canada, and CAD for currency. $1150 ish budget.

The cpu choice is a waste of resources. Use the i3-8100 instead. It is substantially less expensive. Has very decent performance. Also has four cores. Comes with a decent cooler that is more than adequate for its 65W TDP. But if you really want decent power, go with the i5-8400. It too is a 65W TDP part that comes with a cooler. Given the additional two cores, it should provide significantly better Excel performance. (Don't be fooled by the low stock speed, it has a max turbo of 4GHz.)

Makes sense to wait for less expensive motherboards, if possible. Especially if using the i3-8100 or i5-8400.

No point in using non-stock thermal compound. While it is not expensive one should add in the labor cost of removing the stock pad (if present), cleaning the surface, and applying the new. All of which is an additional opportunity to damage something.

Memory pricing and availability is as bad as that for gpu. As you say, get the best deal available at the time of purchase.

I would go with a smaller mATX motherboard and case. A windowless case because in an office environment windows get scratched and marred by cleaning products. If dust buildup is a problem, simply schedule annual or if needed more frequent cleanings.

There are very decent quality, less expensive psu. Besides, I think modular psu are not a great choice in office builds. It is far too easy to misplace cables.

It's a little early to be detailing a build. By May things may have changed significantly.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8400 2.8GHz 6-Core Processor ($233.95 @ Vuugo)
Motherboard: ASRock - Z370M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($184.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Memory: ADATA - XPG Z1 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($207.86 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Case: Cooler Master - N200 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($54.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Power Supply: Corsair - CX (2017) 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($56.99 @ PC-Canada)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit ($169.75 @ Vuugo)
Total: $1018.52
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-01-23 12:14 EST-0500