Working from home replacement

[davhun]

My Son-in-law's current desk top computer is now about 10 years old and in need of replacement. It's use will be solely for working from home with multiple browser windows open at one time.

Some details of the old system are as follows:

OS name Microsoft Windows 10 Home
Version 10.0.19045 build 19045
System Manufacturer Hewlett Packard
System Model 700-060ea
System type x64-bases PC
System SKU E5F24EA#ABU
Processor Intel Core i7-4770 CPU @ 3.40 GHz 4 core
Bios version/date AMI 80.5, 19/09/2013
Bios mode UEFI
Baseboard manufacturer Hewlett Packard
Product 2AF3
Secure boot state On
PCR7 Configuration Binding not possible
Physical memory (RAM) 16 GB
Available Physical memory 11.4 GB
Kernel DMA Protection Off
Virtualisation-based Protection Not enabled
Device Encryption Support Reasons for failed automatic device encryption: TPM is not usable, PCR7 binding is not supported, Hardware Security Test Interface failed and the device is not Modern Standby, Un-allowed DMA-capable bus/device(s) detected, Disabled by policy, TPM is not usable.
Hyper-V - VM Monitor Mode Extensions Yes
Hyper-V - Second level address translation extensions Yes
Hyper-V - Virtualisation Enabled in Firmware No
Hyper-V - Data Execution Protection Yes


3 Monitors are in use
Pavilion 24XW connected by HDMI
Pavilion 23XI connected by DVI
HPW 1907 V connected by VGA

I enclose the above on the basis that some of it will mean more to you than it does to me.

(to be continued)

 

[davhun]

So I have taken a Home/Office computer and made a few changes. They may be right or horribly wrong so I am asking the experts here to help me out.
Case
PCS 3601 CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5500 Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.2GHz/19MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB PCS PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GT 730 - DVI, HDMI, VGA
Graphics Card Support Bracket
NONE (BRACKET INCLUDED AS STANDARD ON 4070 Ti AND ABOVE)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR, 1625MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 2950MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 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)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
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 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS & UK OFFSHORE ISLANDS / N IRELAND
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Price: £708.00 including VAT and Delivery

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/misc/case_images.php?view=17219

Ok CountingDown, ----- You are a little ahead of me.



....... To continue

 

[TonyCarter]

To assist everyone else, the resolutions/connectivity of the monitors are:

• Pavilion 24XW connected by HDMI (1080p; VGA + 2 x HDMI)
• Pavilion 23XI connected by DVI (1080p; DVI + VGA + HDMI)
• HP 1907 V connected by VGA (900p; DVI + VGA)

But as CountingDown says, the applications used will give us more direction into what to specify, as build for Microsoft Office will be different to a trading machine or a 3D modelling rig.

• Anything of the last/current generation Intel/AMD will absolutely blow away the 4th Gen 4-core CPU you've got
• 16GB RAM is plenty...unless doing large Excel/Access/Database models (or photo-editing)
• Your old PC may still be HDD based, so you'll get a very nice boost from that m.2 SSD
• If you don't use wifi/bluetooth, then the wifi card is superfluous...if you do need one, then switch to the Intel AX210 or ASUS AX3000 model as the cheap one is not very reliable or well supported in W11

 

[davhun]

CASE The first case was too small so the next was chosen with economy in mind. I am open to suggestions with regard to how everything would fit and cooling etc.
MOTHERBOARD Seemed a reasonable mid range choice. No idea what ARGB ready is though.
MEMORY Seems futureproof to me.
GRAPHICS CARD This is where I may have come unstuck. The GT 730 was chosen purely because it supports HDMI, DVI and VGA. By todays standards it is probably out of date and under powered.
M2 SSD DRIVES Not top of the range but adequate.
POWER SUPPLY Chose 550 watt due to so called 'ultra quiet' and 550 watt seems to be the minimum sensible size. However, it was suggested by the configurator that I only needed a 250 watt size (I don't think so).

Not withstanding anything I have chosen, the aim is to obtain a well balanced system suitable for office type work. The cost so has amounted to £710 and I am hoping it will not deviate too far from that.

Go to it chaps, I can't wait to hear what you have to say (he says putting in ear plugs)

 

[davhun]

To assist everyone else, the resolutions/connectivity of the monitors are:

• Pavilion 24XW connected by HDMI (1080p; VGA + 2 x HDMI)
• Pavilion 23XI connected by DVI (1080p; DVI + VGA + HDMI)
• HP 1907 V connected by VGA (900p; DVI + VGA)

But as CountingDown says, the applications used will give us more direction into what to specify, as build for Microsoft Office will be different to a trading machine or a 3D modelling rig.

• Anything of the last/current generation Intel/AMD will absolutely blow away the 4th Gen 4-core CPU you've got
• 16GB RAM is plenty...unless doing large Excel/Access/Database models (or photo-editing)
• Your old PC may still be HDD based, so you'll get a very nice boost from that m.2 SSD
• If you don't use wifi/bluetooth, then the wifi card is superfluous...if you do need one, then switch to the Intel AX210 or ASUS AX3000 model as the cheap one is not very reliable or well supported in W11

I am told that Magenta 2 is the primary website platform used for my son-in-law's work. Also used are the Tradify, Tawktoo, Job Logic and Sage Accounts programs. Heavy use is made of Excel and also Google drive. Lots of photographs are stored and used as descriptive aids.

I hope this helps.

 

[Steveyg]

For the uses you describe this would probably be a little overkill but do a fantastic job

Case
PCS SPECTRUM G ARGB MID TOWER CASE (PWM)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600G Six Core CPU with Radeon™ Graphics (3.9GHz-4.4GHz/19MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
Graphics Card Support Bracket
NONE (BRACKET INCLUDED AS STANDARD ON 4070 Ti AND ABOVE)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2700MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 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)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6E AX210 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Price: £792.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/Wte!3vP4zw/

 

[davhun]

The only question mark here is the monitors and how they are used? Does you son-in-law extend screens and then move things between them vs duplicating? The motherboard above only has one HDMI port and one Displayport...not sure how it would work to get 3 screens as you'd need a splitter on at least one port and that would possibly only allow duplication?

Stevey, this is also in answer to your your post.

The final configuration is (I hope) as follows.
The case chosen is good enough and is suitable for Home Office.
The choice of only 16 GB memory is valid enough but I have decided to keep to 32 GB for futureproofing.
If I look at the Asus Prime B550-PLUS, all I see is that it has integrated graphics. In the graphics card choices the integrated graphics choice is quoted as only one monitor. To match the existing monitors of HDMI, DVI, and VGA, the only choice is the 2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GT 730 (pages can currently traverse across screens). I know this is an old GPU but it should be adequate for office work. Later it may be necessary to upgrade if the monitors are changed to DP for instance.
I too like Samsung drives but in this case 'speed is not paramount' so have gone for M2 drives a bit slower. Have upgraded the second drive to 2TB though.

I have to thank you both for your contributions, you have helped me make the choices i needed.

Case
PCS 3601 CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5500 Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.2GHz/19MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB PCS PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GT 730 - DVI, HDMI, VGA
Graphics Card Support Bracket
NONE (BRACKET INCLUDED AS STANDARD ON 4070 Ti AND ABOVE)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR, 1625MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 3325MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 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)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6E AX210 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS & UK OFFSHORE ISLANDS / N IRELAND
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Price: £768.00 including VAT and Delivery

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

 

[David689]

You can save some money by transfering the Windows licence from your old machine if it is no longer needed.

 

[davhun]

For anyone who is interested (don't all shout at once), my son in law has received his new PCS computer and says it is just what he needed and is very pleased with it. I can now breathe a sigh of relief and think about possibly replacing my 10 year old laptop.