Building 4 mini PC's for work

[MonKENy]

How do you guys feel about this?

Would be hooking up to TV's in each group room. Connecting to our domain and will play Videos saved to the Sever. Clinicians will use it for Videos, Presentations, Youtube, Basic Tasks.

This is the case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147098

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4150 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($93.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($43.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($26.49 @ Amazon)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($52.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R7 260X 2GB Video Card ($88.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.49 @ OutletPC)
Total: $325.83
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-04 16:50 EDT-0400

Honestly as long as it fits what we need to do we can cut costs.

 

[Ketchup]

Ask a mod to move this to general hardware. Will probably get you more replies.

Having said that, an H81 will need a BIOS update to fully support a Haswell Refresh CPU (it will most likely boot with the original one though). Buying a board with the 9-series chipset would save you a good bit of time/headache from updating all 4 IMO.

You could add room for airflow by removing the DVD drive as 8 installs fine off a flash drive, but it might be good to have an optical drive just in case.

I don't know how tight the budget is, but it might be a good idea to get 8 GB of DDR3 now, before mainline Intel chips go to DDR4, and DDR3 starts inflating in price.

 

[OlyAR15]

I'd skip the video card and dvd drive. The integrated video should suffice for what you described, and if they are going to be getting their data from a server, you don't really need an optical drive. (Unless you plan on watching the occasional dvd)

 

[Xtrem]

What about a i3 Nuc?

 

[Ketchup]

What about a i3 Nuc?

Not a bad idea (i5 here):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856102055&ignorebbr=1

 

[MonKENy]

I need to go cheaper not more expensive. I would still need to buy RAM and a HDD right? I also need to run Win 7

 

[JEDIYoda]

I'd skip the video card and dvd drive. The integrated video should suffice for what you described, and if they are going to be getting their data from a server, you don't really need an optical drive. (Unless you plan on watching the occasional dvd)

seconded!!

 

[MonKENy]

I dont need the DVD drive I can use a spare to install win 7, I doubt much else needs a drive these days.

 

[Ketchup]

Cool. Scrap the video card. Use the money saved to get another stick of your RAM:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006WAGG14/?tag=pcpapi-20
And a better board:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128731

And still come out about $40 ahead.

 

[MonKENy]

Awesome, Ill make those changes. I can always add GPU if it needs it down the line.

 

[MonKENy]

revised build

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4150 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($103.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97M-HD3 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($69.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($56.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($52.89 @ OutletPC)
Case: Rosewill R379-M MicroATX Slim Case w/300W Power Supply ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Logitech Wireless Combo MK270 Wireless Standard Keyboard w/Optical Mouse ($19.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $353.84
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-04 23:04 EDT-0400

 

[escrow4]

This will be a set and forget PC you run into the ground before upgrading so I'd stick in an i5 at least with 8GB RAM.

 

[piasabird]

Dump the video card and just use a more up to date motherboard/CPU. CPU is up to date.
Use 2 DDR3 modules and bump it up to 8 GB of DDR3 1600 RAM. Ram is cheap right now, look for a sale. I like to oversize the RAM. These computers might have to last 5-10 years and that RAM will no longer be in stock soon. Currently motherboards are going to a new socket and DDR4 RAM some time this summer.

If you have to have a DVD player might find some models on sale. The last one I purchased was $13.

Be careful if you purchase a slim case. Only a slim video card will fit in it. Slim usually means it uses non-standard size PCI slots. They are shorter.

Where will these cases go? In an office environment most people don't want silver computer case fronts. Basic black is fine.

Check all the sales before you buy an SSD. I have no clue how to rate them. Don't buy anything too old. Look at the reads and writes.

 

[sm625]

Why not just buy 4 E8600 machines off ebay for $500 total? It doesnt look like you need any more performance than that. I would pick up a spare while you're at it. At that price you may as well.

 

[jji7skyline]

I would stick with the H81 chipset. Unless the store has very, very old stock (over a year old), the motherboards should come preinstalled with the new BIOS. You save a lot of money by doing this.

 

[Ketchup]

I would stick with the H81 chipset. Unless the store has very, very old stock (over a year old), the motherboards should come preinstalled with the new BIOS. You save a lot of money by doing this.

I have NEVER had a board come with a newer BIOS, including boards that have been out several years.

 

[jji7skyline]

I have NEVER had a board come with a newer BIOS, including boards that have been out several years.

Bought an ASRock H81M and it worked out of box with the G3258. This was back in last year.

 

[Ketchup]

Bought an ASRock H81M and it worked out of box with the G3258. This was back in last year.

Yes, they work without the BIOS update. There may be some problems identifying the chip correctly (could affect voltage, speed, etc), but we have seen in other threads that the Refresh chips work on boards supporting first gen Haswell.

I am going to stop promoting this moot point, as the OP has already decided to get a newer board anyway.

 

[MonKENy]

went with the nuc

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856102093

 

[Chapbass]

went with the nuc

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856102093

What else did you put in it? remmeber you need m.2 ssd and sodimm memory.

also, remember you dont need a dvd drive to install win7, install it from a flash drive.

https://www.google.com/search?q=ins...57.4495j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8

 

[MonKENy]

http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B006YG8X9Y/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and

http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LBDGREI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

all 4 are done and configured.