$450 Desktop Challenge
-
Okay, so my dad is thinking about maybe getting a desktop and he did some looking online and the stuff that is available isn't all that great. No surprise there. He doesn't need a lot, but he needs more than a Chromebook or he would just do that.
First, the goal: a full white box desktop that will run Linux well. He doesn't need loads of power, but does want more than a typical generic desktop will provide at a good price.
Second, what he has today: a ~2010 - 2011 Intel i3 dual core HT box with 4GB RAM and a 7,200 RPM SATA drive with integrated graphics card running Windows 7. It's showing its age and is not really fast enough for what he wants to do. It does it, slowly.
Specs: A dual core i3 might be enough if it is a new one, a quad core i5 is ideal, but likely too expensive. But that is the range. AMD is totally fine. He needs HDMI output and would like VGA if it comes along for the ride. 8GB of RAM is all that is needed. A low end discrete GPU would be good. NVidia hopefully. Nothing fancy, it's not for gaming but for basic offload stuff. He does game, but extremely little. He'd really like an SSD, but he does need some amount of space, so that might not be in the cards. 1TB SATA is enough, 2TB SATA is better. No Windows needed, it'll be Linux from day one.
Okay... go!
-
I went a tad over. Would have to choose between the SSD and the add in graphics card.
-
Here's my build
-
The Intel NUC with Kaby Lake and an SSD Drive and 8GB of memory would probably be around $400. That is the Core i3 CPU. Not in a place where I could spec it out.
-
FYI AMD Ryzen 3 is just around the corner, so if you can wait and make Mini-ITX out of that that would be cool.
I am not AMD camp guy, but their Ryzen series are good and each core is truly core, unlike previous releases, and i3 will have 4 logical cores, unlike the Intel i3 with 2 logical cores with HT.
-
@scottalanmiller
Why a whitebox? Why don't just take an optiplex, new or used? -
@francesco-provino said in $450 Desktop Challenge:
optiplex
Dont do it, I think my shoulder impingement is caused due to carrying alot of Optiplex(s) in my old work, my god there were like tank, but build to last I might say.
-
https://www.pcper.com/hwlb
The legwork has already been done. -
@francesco-provino said in $450 Desktop Challenge:
@scottalanmiller
Why a whitebox? Why don't just take an optiplex, new or used?Just can't get the features at the price point.
-
@scottalanmiller said in $450 Desktop Challenge:
@francesco-provino said in $450 Desktop Challenge:
@scottalanmiller
Why a whitebox? Why don't just take an optiplex, new or used?Just can't get the features at the price point.
Can you at all?
-
I will do a build later tonight once I am off work. I will do a build with an AMD FX-8300 CPU. That is 8 Cores. I love those processors. Cheap and good performance.
