PC Recommendations (Dell Optiplex?)

AdamFury on 02/12/2017 - 11:59

Hi all. Looking to set my oldies up with a new PC for Christmas and also pick up a new monitor, keyboard + mouse. Looking to keep to a budget of about $300-400.

I've been looking around at the Dell Optiplex units which seem good value for money, was following this one here unfortunately missed the auction but looking for something similar.

It will almost certainly be used until it dies so the faster the better. Not sure on what to prioritise? Eg 8GB of ram with an i7 or 16GB of ram with an i7.

Will mostly be used for web browsing, emailing and a fair bit of multi tasking. Having an SSD is important.

For a monitor it definitely doesn't need to be something fancy. Bigger the better in this scenario however things like refresh rates are not important.

All suggestions and advice welcomed. Thanks!

Electrical & Electronics

Comments

  • [Deactivated] on 02/12/2017 - 12:05

    Are you going to install a gpu in it? I don't think the igpu can support high resolution monitors

    • AdamFury on 02/12/2017 - 12:10

      I wasn't planning on it however if I could pick up a cheap low profile card then possibly!

      • [Deactivated] on 02/12/2017 - 12:26

        I wouldn't recommend install a GPU in the Dell. Space is too tight. Air flow is crap

  • Kangal on 02/12/2017 - 12:56
    +1

    Depends on your use case, and how long you plan on using it. Although the modularity of PC's is pretty good, in most cases, you're better off setting the PC the way you like it and use it as such rather than upgrading parts incrementally.

    You could get:
    First-gen Core i5/i3 (eg 650)
    4GB's RAM
    128GB HDD
    Intel iGPU
    ….for cheap

    Or pay slightly more for:
    Second-gen Core i5-2400
    8GB's RAM
    512GB SSHDD
    Intel iGPU
    ….and notice a decent performance improvement

    Or pay even slightly more for:
    Second-gen Core i7-2600
    8GB's RAM
    128GB SSD + 512GB HDD
    Intel iGPU
    ….and notice another improvement

    Or pay even slightly more for:
    Third-gen Core i7-3770
    16GB's RAM
    512GB SSD (Crucial BX300) + 2TB HDD
    Intel iGPU
    ….and notice another improvement

    Or pay even more for:
    Third-gen Core i7-3770
    16GB's RAM
    512GB SSD (Crucial BX300) + 2TB HDD
    NVIDIA GT 1030
    ….and notice another improvement

    Or pay even even more for:
    Forth-gen Core i7-4770
    32GB's RAM
    1TB SSD (EVO 850) + 2TB HDD
    NVIDIA GTX 1050 Ti
    ….and notice another improvement

    Scaling:
    1st-gen Core i3 -> 4th-gen Core i7
    4GB RAM -> 32GB RAM
    Slow HDD -> Samsung EVO 85O
    Intel iGPU -> GTX 1050 To

    My Sweet spot would be:
    2nd-gen Core i7-2600
    16GB DDR3-1800 RAM
    1TB Crucial MX300 SSD + 2TB HDD
    GTX 750 Ti

    • AdamFury on 02/12/2017 - 13:11

      Thanks for your input! I'll definitely have a look around and try and find that sweet spot.

  • Richardc on 02/12/2017 - 13:10

    $300-400 include monitor or tower alone?

    • AdamFury on 02/12/2017 - 13:12

      Would love to spend around $300 on the tower and that leaves a little bit for a monitor. Refurb and used no issue to me.

      • Richardc on 02/12/2017 - 13:26

        I suggest you get a refurb laptop from dell for around $400 and add a monitor in the future, at least you are back by 1 yr warranty.

  • thors_hammer on 03/12/2017 - 00:44

    I wouldn't trust anything Dell produces, as when something fails you can't rely on them honouring their warranty.

    Especially if you're not savvy with computers.

    https://www.productreview.com.au/p/dell-australia.html

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