new pc

[jpmeh]

I have a couple of hdd at home, one from a laptop, another from an old 3.5" external hdd. What do people think of this is the spec:

PCSPECIALIST.CO.UK SPECIFICATION

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Case
PCS GENESIS G1B CASE + SD CARD READER
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-9400F (2.9GHz) 9MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® H310M-A R2.0: Micro-ATX, DDR4, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (1 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE 710 - DVI, HDMI, VGA
1st Storage Drive
NOT REQUIRED
1st M.2 SSD Drive
256GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (1900 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W VS SERIES™ VS-550 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 12 to 15 working days
Price: £523.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-home-office-pc-II/dEx6VcRRNp/

 

[Oussebon]

Budget?

Intended uses?

Hard to give an opinion without knowing

 

[jpmeh]

My budget is around £500 and the intended use is domestic mostly. I have an i5 in my Aspire laptop and it still works well while my wife's laptop is quite slow (i3 inside). I want the option of being to upgrade parts over the years.

 

[Oussebon]

i5 and i3 are meaningless marketing at this point.

i5 can mean a dual core or a quad core, a quad core with hyperthreading, a hexacore without hyperthreading, and in the next round of CPUs to launch, a hexacore with hyperthreading. With varying base and boost clock speeds.

Your wife's laptop is unlikely to be slow because of the CPU. A clean windows install and the addition of an SSD if it doesn't already have one could be all it wants.

The spec above doesn't really have upgrade options. You could put an entry level gaming graphics card in there but that's not something you're interested in. You could fit an HDD down the line.

The motherboard will not support future generations of CPU. It doesn't support fast RAM, it doesn't support fast SSDs. Or you could replace the motherboard and the CPU for a future upgrade but you can do that with most desktop PCs so there's no real reason to buy this one over anything else.

There's nothing to really recommend the Intel i5s or the low end H310 motherboards. About the only thing to say is that they're cheap. But they're not even really cheaper than AMD alternatives of the same or a slightly better class.

An alternative, and probably a preferable one, would be an AMD R5 system.

Case
PCS GENESIS G1B CASE + SD CARD READER
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 2600 Six Core CPU (3.4GHz-3.9GHz/19MB CACHE/AM4)

Get 3 Months of XBOX Game Pass for PC w/ select AMD Ryzen CPUs
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME A320M-K: Micro-ATX, AM4, USB 3.0, 6GB/s
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2666MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE 710 - DVI, HDMI, VGA
1st Storage Drive
NOT REQUIRED
1st M.2 SSD Drive
256GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (1900 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W VS SERIES™ VS-550 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 12 to 15 working days
Price: £519.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-home-office/XMzvPTEHvk/


At least the motherboard would take a full speed PCIe 3.0 SSD if you ever upgraded that, and the stock AMD CPU cooler is quieter.

You could up the motherboard to a B450 PLUS which would give you USB 3.1 Gen 2 (unlike the H310 motherboard), and which would support AMD's 3000 series and also, we expect, 4000 series CPUs coming out later this year. A320 won't support those, but B450 does.

 

[Oussebon]

Also if you're never going to add a powerful dedicated GPU to the system you don't need a 550W PSU. The CPUs are ~65W TDP parts, and things like RAM, fans, disk drives etc only use a handful of Watts each. And even a videocard capable of supporting dual 4k monitors (e.g. GT 1030, if you get one with the right outputs) wouldn't be more than about 30W.