Hello I was wondering if you all could help me out building a pc for my friend that has great performance for normal cpa use. My friend will be using his pc for regular use like internet surfing and microsoft office programs. He will also be trying to remote desktop back to another pc and or access a server to be able to access files he needs away from the office( i believe the programs are quickbooks & lacerte). Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. The budget isnt really an issue but cheaper is better but is willing to pay for performance that will be good for 4 years at minimum. I would like to build an intel machine and he will be running windows 7 or 10. Thanks
ya thats all he wants for it. I dont think form factor matters but i think smaller would be better so he can travel with it( he is moving and building it before the move). But the size doesnt matter. I would say performance and cooling is more important. I dont think upgrading will be necessary( are you talking about hdd, ram, etc?)
thanks! what about mobo? good enough for none k? I was also thinking i5 7600k since its cheaper....the cpu can also be used for another build in the future as well. If i get a k cpu should i get better mobo for OCing in future?
Since B series boards on Intel do not OC then you can use that board. The board depends on how much RAM and peripherals are needed. That board could be enough but depends on end use.
Messing with Spreadsheets and large data sets, It wouldn't hurt to stay with a i7 processor, The AMD Ryzen 6 core/ 12 thread part could be beneficial too...
For new stuff, Jet has a 15% off orders special going on. Try to order stuff from there https://jet.com/search?category=10000077 breaking up orders past $200 into multiple orders to get around the cap.
If it is for normal use, a second hand computer from craiglist or an SSD upgraded laptop would be a better buy overall and what I recommend. Do they need it to be new?
Buying a 4-core part in 2017 and spending >$700 on a system w/o a video card seems... odd to me personally. I would rather just spend an extra $100 and buy a low end video card so he can game and get an AMD 6-core in case he wants to do productivity stuffs too.
Remember that how "fast" computers "feel" is mostly about the storage drives and most people have no use for >4GB of RAM. If he just wants it to feel very responsive, then just cut out both the cpu/gpu for with a pentium g4560 (excellent value) or AMD quad-core APU (better graphics), get 8 GB of RAM instead of 16 and save $400 in the process.
For upgradability, stick with MicroATX cases/mobos instead of ITX ones. They have plenty of upgradability ATX-Mid towers are more for dual-gpu setups, or 8x 3.5" drives.
Edit: Here is gamer nexus's G4560 build. For normal use, cut out the GPU and add an SSD.
thanks for the help guys! i really want to stick with intel just because. I have updated the list with i7 8gb ram and better oc mobo. What do you think? good oc mobo?
thanks for the info but i want to stick with intel. He doesnt need it new but its for his job so he is willing to spend the money and build a good performance machine that will stay fast for years. He will not be gaming at all on it so no need for gpu.
how long will that pentium stay fast performance wise?
Spreadsheet programs really don't need much horsepower, and they certainly don't need overclocking.
If anything, your CPA friend could use a workstation oriented build, like a Xeon or Ryzen with ECC RAM and applicable motherboard. Corrupted data could mean a CPA loses hours or even days worth of data, so reliability should trump all in my opinion.
I can't imagine a CPA overclocking a cpu.......ever. I would go non-K and I would take a long hard look at the Xeon's On the cpu cooler I would look for ease-of installation over performance. Hope this helps.