Been WFH for almost a year now. My home PC works but is not hugely fast despite doubling the ram to 8GB and swapping to an SSD, so I’m considering a new PC. I could get a new CPU but that would probably mean a new motherboard and possibly other changes to I might as well get a new PC and donate this one to one of the lcoal charities that repurpose PCs

Problem is, I don’t know what I’m looking for really. I have a tablet for browsing the web in the evenings, I don’t do gaming, hell apart from using RDC to remote desktop to my work PC I rarely use the desktop – I compile quizzes when it’s my turn to run one, I run BBC Sounds or Spotify while I’m working, I occasionally run zoom or some other online video call thing for a meeting. So, I don’t need the very very latest system with a 14 terabyte graphics card and water cooling and so on, but I would like something that is reasonably fast and will last a few years – this one is now seven years old. I’m not even sure on why I would choose AMD over Intel, or vice-versa

Home PC CPU – AMD A4-3300 APU, 8GB RAM
Work PC – Intel Core i7-7700 @ 3.60GHz, 16gb RAM

I’ve found a couple of offers on systems that intrigued me

These options are different – while both have 16gb ram, one has a graphics card and no OS where the other has a 1tb hard drive and windows home pro. I can transfer the licence for my current windows install I reckon so don’t NEED a new licence? I’m not sure on RAM either – 8GB might be fine with a faster processor, where if I go to 16GB then I’d want it as a single stick so I can add more later if required

https://www.palicomp.co.uk/amd_best_buy – £400

CPU AMD RYZEN 3 3200G
MOTHERBOARD ASUS PRIME A320M-K
RAM CORSAIR 16GB DDR4 3000Mhz
STORAGE 480GB SSD + 1TB Sata3 HDD
GRAPHICS AMD VEGA 8
PSU 500W PSU 80+ KOLINK
SOFTWARE Windows 10 Home 64Bit
EXTRA INT WIFI 300MBPS

https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/zoostorm-core-i5-9400f-16gb-480gb-ssd-geforce-gt-710-1gb-no-os-desktop-pc-7290-3140/version.asp#!#specs
£390
Processor – Intel Core i5 9400F
Graphics card – GeForce GT 710 1GB
RAM – 16GB
SSD – 480GB
Warranty – 1 year warranty
Operating System – NO OS

I’ve run a comparison of my Home CUP vs work CPU vs the others and can see that the newer CPUs are probably going to make the biggest difference

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/AMD-A4-3300-APU-vs-Intel-i7-7700-vs-AMD-Ryzen-3-3200G-vs-Intel-i5-9400F/13vs2905vs3497vs3397

Are these any good? One better than the other? Any other places I should check out for something more suitable, e.g. I am not convinced I need a graphics card. As I said above I’m not a gamer so the PC is used 99% for RDC to work, and occasional evenings doing zoom calls, prepping quizzes etc. I really just need a decent speed processor / ram / ssd, a lan port and the ability to run 2 monitors. I can and have built PCs from scratch but I’m happy to just buy a system this time, unless I can get something outstanding by speccing my own?

EDIT – immediately I posted I realised I’d forgotten, I’m not even sure what bloody case I need. I don’t actually like the look of the glass case with loads of fans, but I could live with it if it offers a real benefit other than appearance. If it’s just for show then I’ll take a solid sided case for preference but again I have no idea what I’m looking for

 I’m not sure on RAM either – 8GB might be fine with a faster processor, where if I go to 16GB then I’d want it as a single stick so I can add more later if required

Ideally you want two DIMMs installed so it runs dual-channel. I can’t see you’d need more than 16GB for the use case you describe so why not get 2 x 8GB DIMMs? 16GB is probably overkill for your use case but can be useful if you end up with 50+ Chrome tabs open or something like me.

I’d generally advise having a dedicated GPU but not sure of the spec. of the one listed to say if it’s really worth it. Assuming it’s just going to be driving a single 1080p monitor and you’re not gaming then not having a dedicated GPU would probably be fine.

Ideally you want two DIMMs installed so it runs dual-channel.

ok, didn’t know that cheers. 16GB on the work PC helps when compiling but I won’t be doing that locally, so maybe 2*8 is a better option. I was more thinking of leaving space to add more later but not a huge issue if I need to swp both sticks should it ever come to that

Assuming it’s just going to be driving a single 1080p monitor

two monitors (One at 1920*1080 and the smaller one at 1600*900), as a software dev I need lots of stuff on screen. Fairly static display though

Conversely,

I’d argue that in this use case the nominal gain from dual-channel isn’t worth the loss of the slot for future-proofing porpoises. I’d probably go with a single stick unless it’s silly money.

I’d always want a discrete graphics card, even if it’s a boggo nasty one.

What about AMD vs Intel? and do I go I3/5/7 or Ryzen 3/5/7?

and cases?

am leaning to palicomp as they seem more configurable

The last I heard AMD was demolishing Intel in the “bang for your buck” stakes, but that might be old news now. For the rest I’ll defer to folk more current than I am, I haven’t bought or built a new PC outside of work in eons. My server / desktop box is built from wombled hand-me-downs from other people’s upgrades and everything else here is laptops.

ditto, hence asking here. There’s normally someone on STW who can give a reasonable answer

How on earth can you fit ‘a lot of stuff’ on a 1600×900 monitor!!! Sod looking at new PCs, invest in 2x 27″ 2560×1440 monitors!

two monitors (One at 1920*1080 and the smaller one at 1600*900), as a software dev I need lots of stuff on screen. Fairly static display though

Are you going to be using this computer for work purposes at all? If so, I’d so a SERIOUS cost vs benefit analysis of how your current system is hindering you, and how some proper screen real estate (2x 1440 monitors at least in reality if developing) and the hardware to run it all (more than likely more RAM than you were considering, and definitely a half decent discrete GFX card) could significantly improve your productivity…

Having worked for companies that were happy to pay decent salaries, but were absolute penny pinchers when it came to IT (even for critical roles, such as graphic designers!) and living through the struggle etc… I am very much of the mind that even for personal home use, IT is not something to scrimp on… After all, buy cheap, buy twice! I happily invested way more than I needed in my latest MacBookPro 15 months ago knowing I’d had 6 years out of the previous one and it was still arguably faster than most sub £1k laptops on the market when I came to replace it!

as I said above, it’s used solely for remoting into work – I don’t do any dev work locally, though due to lag I often run video calls on my home PC rather than the remote PC. Myu home broadband runs at about 11mb and I’ll be looking to move to fibre broadband when my current contract runs out

Having started WFH on a single 17″ 4*3 monitor, I honestly haven’t considered screen real estate to be an issue since I was able to get a 25″ main monitor for myself (1920*1080) and borrow a second smaller monitor from work which runs at 1600*900. That gives me the space to show what I need to show when I need to show it. I’;ve been doing this for 20 years now so its not like I’m just learning what environment to use and how to set it up, though it’s always interesting to see how other people use theoir dev tools

Money wise, we had a budget from work which we were able to spend on certain items (not the PC itself, probalby due to tax issues) which allowed me to buy the 25″ monitor and a sit-stand desk, which is great, but right now I think the weak point in my set-up is the PC, not the monitor. Here I’m spending my own money and while I have no objections to spending oney on quality stuff, I don’t want to spend money to get the latest and greatest if something a third of the price will do the job I want. As I said, the compiling and everything is done on the remote PC, this one at home is just a dumb terminal in effect

What about AMD vs Intel? and do I go I3/5/7 or Ryzen 3/5/7?

and cases?

i3 or ryzen 3 should be plenty – AMD ryzen is typically more bang for buck but I ended up with a 10th generation i3 in in my current laptop as it just happened to be a bit better, price wise for no real performance difference, you’l just have to google intelxxx Vs AMD xxxx for individual processor comparisons. for example, the I5 you mentioned is better than the ryzen 3 you mentioned, but it doesn’t have on board graphics so you’ll have to throw in a cheap graphics card :
https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i5-9400F-vs-AMD-Ryzen-3-3200G/4051vsm824486

Cases are very much personal preference, something as cheap as this will be fine, and compes with a cheap rubbish power supply, but will be fine for your usage:
https://www.cclonline.com/product/250709/CIT-CLASSIC-MIDI/Cases/CiT-Classic-Midi-ATX-Case-Black-with-500W-Power-Supply/CAS3331/

one at home is just a dumb terminal in effect

8gb ram will be plenty then.

8gb ram will be plenty then.

Cool cheers for that

as an update I tried to run a zoom meeting last night and my computer said “NO”. I normally use MS Teams and that works fine but it couldn’t cope with zoom, so I ended up having to use my wife’s Chromebook. As a result I’ve now ordered the AMD best buy from Palicomp which was one of my original options. I’ve just gone for the listed spec with standard delivery, let’s see how they do

https://www.palicomp.co.uk/amd_best_buy

Do you actually need a desktop, and won’t a laptop do?

My last home desktop died +10 years ago, and I’ve not had a work one since the 80’s.

Do you actually need a desktop, and won’t a laptop do?

I sit at a PC all day every day. Spec-for-spec a PC is cheaper than a laptop and I do much prefer a full size keyboard. I appreaciate though that others want different things

Been running the new PC for a week now. It’s like night and day – so much better. Even the problems I’d previously attributed to flaky broadband have vanished. I’d happily recommend Palicomp, perhaps a little pushy on upselling the aftercare package but the product is great.