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Build for heavy desktop and Excel work

omarsrv

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The build will be mainly for general heavy office work.

I’m looking for advice on just the CPU, the motherboard and RAM. The rest I will manage it.

I'm looking for a durable (5-7 years), on-budget build (400$ for only CPU, MOBO & RAM) less that 400 will be great. The idea is to get a build that respect all the criteria’s on a strict budget (why spend more?!!)

What I will not do with this build:

NO GAMING NO VIDEO/Photo Editing rendering ripping...

NO overclocking

What I will do with this build:

Long heavy text editing: all Microsoft office suite with heavy usage mainly Word, PowerPoint andExcel.
PDF documents:

Excel: heavy complex financial calculation with spreadsheets not exceeding 100MB.

1080p, 4K video playing.

Browsing: 6 windows of (Chrome, Firefox) with 20 tabs each.

Specific software's that i use: R, SPSS, and Macro’s in Excel, Eviews, Calibre (E-books management) and maybe some Matlab in the future.

I just want to be able to do (in a comfortable way) some complex (but on a small scale) calculations.

Regarding Intel based solution should I go for Skylake or Haswell. I would like to take advantage of future DDR4 improvements and why not M2 SSD’s when it will be more affordable.

I really need your help, guys. Thank you all in advance.
 

Aquinus

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A modern i3 and plenty of RAM will keep you all set for all of the tasks sans the 4k video playback. The 4k bit really throws a wrench into the works, is it a "would be nice" or a "must have"? Without a 4k display, doing 4k playback means nothing IMHO. That's a pretty tall order for a lot of iGPUs unless you have a CPU with Iris Pro or a modern Skylake build which is probably going to be outside of your budget. IBM SPSS and Excel like single-threaded performance but, will consume a lot of memory on large data sets so a quad-core probably is over kill as well (hence the i3 recommendation,) but I not sure if an i3 will handle 4k gracefully, a Skylake i3 might but, that's a big if.
 
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dang,$400 and here I was thinking 4960x.

My thoughts=

LGA 1366 Motherboard: $220-ish
Xeon X5650 CPU: $75-ish
Spend the rest on RAM..
probably 1333-1600Mhz,and go for volume..4gb sticks.
Overclocking would net a good bit of performance.

You have $2200 tastes on a $400 budget.
 
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Aquinus

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dang,$400 and here I was thinking 4960x.

My thoughts=

LGA 1366 Motherboard: $220-ish
Xeon X5650 CPU: $75-ish
Spend the rest on RAM..
probably 1333-1600Mhz,and go for volume..4gb sticks.
Overclocking would net a good bit of performance.
The OP is doing mostly office work, why does he need a HEDT platform from many years ago? No, that's a waste.

The OP also said that they're not going to be overclocking. There is absolutely nothing about your suggestion that would help. Simply put, the software he's using benefits more from clocks, IPC, and memory density, so a Skylake i3 would be vastly better for the OP's purposes.
 

omarsrv

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A modern i3 and plenty of RAM will keep you all set for all of the tasks sans the 4k video playback. The 4k bit really throws a wrench into the works, is it a "would be nice" or a "must have"? Without a 4k display, doing 4k playback means nothing IMHO. That's a pretty tall order for a lot of iGPUs unless you have a CPU with Iris Pro or a modern Skylake build which is probably going to be outside of your budget. IBM SPSS and Excel like single-threaded performance but, will consume a lot of memory on large data sets so a quad-core probably is over kill as well (hence the i3 recommendation,) but I not sure if an i3 will handle 4k gracefully, a Skylake i3 might but, that's a big if.

Thanks Aquinus,

I’m ready to go with an I5 maybe an I5-6500. I could get a graphic card in the future just to get better graphic and video experience. But what really matters for me is the office work I really need to be sure that for the coming say 7 years I will do my modest but complicated calculations and office work without lags. I can wait for some simulation or calculation to be finished but it’s all about frequency if it for some calculations that I do once a week I can wait for it.

I know it’s too much details but I really need to get the best of my investment all over the period and still on a limited budget.

Just to let you know guys whenever I go I get always the same answer “go with an i7-4790k” and without any argument! I got sick of it.

So is there any other recommendations :)
 

Aquinus

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Thanks Aquinus,

I’m ready to go with an I5 maybe an I5-6500. I could get a graphic card in the future just to get better graphic and video experience. But what really matters for me is the office work I really need to be sure that for the coming say 7 years I will do my modest but complicated calculations and office work without lags. I can wait for some simulation or calculation to be finished but it’s all about frequency if it for some calculations that I do once a week I can wait for it.

I know it’s too much details but I really need to get the best of my investment all over the period and still on a limited budget.

Just to let you know guys whenever I go I get always the same answer “go with an i7-4790k” and without any argument! I got sick of it.

So is there any other recommendations :)
I would say that any Skylake i3 should fit the bill. I seriously doubt than an i5 will give you much in terms of tangible benefits given the software you're using. It also gives you more money to get a GPU should 4k playback be important as well as more memory. When it comes to business tools, more memory and an SSD will give you responsiveness which you'll want. Beyond that, anything else is really overkill for your situation IMHO.
 
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3770K for $220
Used z77 or p67 or z68 mobo that's compatible: $100
rest on RAM.
Pretty sure an x5650 will keep pace with a 4790K in video editing;due to extra 2 cores/4 threads..
edit:After quick look,It does much better at same clocks, even.
 

Aquinus

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Pretty sure an x5650 will keep pace with a 4790K in video editing;due to extra 2 cores/4 threads..
Read the thread again. The OP isn't video editing or overclocking, this is a business computer. :slap:
NO GAMING NO VIDEO/Photo Editing rendering ripping...
I would replace the i5 with an i3 because an i3 will cost less and has higher clocks. The software the OP is using won't benefit from a quad-core at lower clocks versus a dual-core with higher clocks and hyper-threading.

Once again, higher clocks, more memory, and an SSD will give you everything you'll ever want with the software the OP has described. The only question hovers around the iGPU of the i3 and if it will gracefully handle 4k video playback or not.
 
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Low-end Skylake i3. The dual core's high clock will benefit far more than core count.
Speed of ram will not matter. So, grab the cheapest you can in 8gb range.
Mobo, grab the cheapest. Like one with H110 chipset.

Should be enough under 400.
 
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The suggestions from Aquinus and alucasa are good. A Haswell 3M i3 is crazy effective in an office PC, and given the clock speed and IPC boosts for Skylake i3s, they should be even better.

Remember to put in an SSD. Having an office PC on a half-filled WD Blue sans SSD will make any recent Core i feel like a Core 2 Duo from 7 years ago.

If 4K video playback is what you need, then integrated graphics should suit you fine. Should it not suffice, however, a cheap video card like the GTX 750 or R7 360 will be more than enough to do all office work on a 4K monitor.
 

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http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2YWhhM

Core i3-6100 CPU scores pretty good in productivity software (in some cases better than i5-4xxx). For better performance you could bump it to i3-6320, but 5-10% performance increase is not worth $60 premium.
16GB of DDR4 will definitely hold your PC up to date for a few years, plus you will have 2 available slots to fill-in when needed.

Total: $315

You can also skip cooling, but I added an aftermarket HSF if you want to keep your PCs quiet. I am using a Deepcool HTPC-200 low-profile HSF, and it is working very good even with much hotter A6-5400K APU @ 4.5GHz, but I was not able to find it on PCPartPicker.

The motherboard I've picked also has an M.2 slot. Those drives become cheaper and at this point you can get a 120+GB M.2 drive and 1TB SATA HDD, and be within $400 budget with all of the above.

120GB Samsung 850EVO stands at $75-$85 in US, while Sandisk Z400 of equivalent capacity is $20 cheaper.
 

omarsrv

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If I go with an I5-6600 with 3.90 GHz? It’s higher than any I3 Skylake. Will it be more future proof? Eventually handling well some cores demanding applications?

I know I’m getting out of my budget. But I just want it to be GOOD, without hassles for my needs.

Beside power usage does having a quad core impacts negatively performances in the applications I’m using?

Regarding memory: I tough fast memory is good “in general”?

Just to make sure we don’t get off topic:

The build is not just for regular office work it for heavy regular office work and complex scientific excel calculation on a small medium scale. Mainly all what you can imagine in financial modeling, Monte Carlo as an example, but in a small scale (my own limited data, small portfolios...) it’s not for my company it’s for my personal work/study projects.

Thank you all for all your insights. I’m seeing light at the end of the tunnel for my build project! :):lovetpu:
 

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Speaking of which, how does Sandisk M.2 SSD fare against the mighty EVO?

Z400s: 546/342MB/s [R/W]
850EVO: 540/500MB/s [R/W]

Slower write speeds, hence the price difference. Not sure if it's gonna matter in office environment, but it is definitely a decent SSD.
 
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If I go with an I5-6600 with 3.90 GHz? It’s higher than any I3 Skylake. Will it be more future proof? Eventually handling well some cores demanding applications?

I know I’m getting out of my budget. But I just want it to be GOOD, without hassles for my needs.

Beside power usage does having a quad core impacts negatively performances in the applications I’m using?

Regarding memory: I tough fast memory is good “in general”?

Just to make sure we don’t get off topic:

The build is not just for regular office work it for heavy regular office work and complex scientific excel calculation on a small medium scale. Mainly all what you can imagine in financial modeling, Monte Carlo as an example, but in a small scale (my own limited data, small portfolios...) it’s not for my company it’s for my personal work/study projects.

Thank you all for all your insights. I’m seeing light at the end of the tunnel for my build project! :):lovetpu:

Planning for 7 years is not really possible because something will break down along the way. Mobo's capacitor is likely get blown at 5th year mark despite how much they claim how solid they are. It does depend on how much usage the rig will see over the years but CPU hardly ever breaks down, so that's that.

The difference in low and high end Skylake i3 is minimal. I mean you won't see the difference with your naked eyes. So, save your money and go for low or medium i3.

DDR4-2133 is the standard. Use that. Ram speed will never matter in your workload. I'd put an SSD or SSHD for better performance however.

Again, future proof for 7 years is nearly impossible. But seeing even Sandy bridge CPU is still very capable even today, Skylake will last you 10 years. I can guarantee that much.
 

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I think an AMD Godavari APU would be a good option as well.
 

omarsrv

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But seeing even Sandy bridge CPU is still very capable even today, Skylake will last you 10 years. I can guarantee that much.

Exactly! This is my idea of future proof. I’ve used a Pentium 4 2.4 GHz for almost 10 years and it retired Okay.

OK to RAM DDR4-2133.

OK for SSD.

CPU: I can put more money on it just to get better performance and why not improve the scope of usage for more demanding applications.

The idea behind my first post is to put only my priorities in the build. So can I get extra going for an I5-6600?
 

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Why does he need a $100 H170 board when a B150 which are cheaper and all he needs?

Here you go OP:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($204.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B150M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($81.97 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $331.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-19 12:59 EST-0500

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B150M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($81.97 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws 4 series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $381.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-19 13:01 EST-0500


16gb could also be added to the first build as well and still stay under $400. Or the 600 could be added to the 8gb build and still be under $400 by a fair bit. All up to you.
 
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Exactly! This is my idea of future proof. I’ve used a Pentium 4 2.4 GHz for almost 10 years and it retired Okay.

OK to RAM DDR4-2133.

OK for SSD.

CPU: I can put more money on it just to get better performance and why not improve the scope of usage for more demanding applications.

The idea behind my first post is to put only my priorities in the build. So can I get extra going for an I5-6600?

It wouldn't hurt to go for true quad core if you have the money. But it will be just as future proof as i3. It will help to speed up complex calculations though.

The problem with trying to be future proof is not the cpu but the parts that go with it. Count 7 years to the future and if a part, like mobo, breaks down, it gets really hard to source compatible parts. SATA might not be there even! :p Just be aware of the possibility.

I still have a running rig with T2600 cpu with 8 year old parts. The mobo has been acting but I can't find the part with a reasonable price.
 

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Exactly! This is my idea of future proof. I’ve used a Pentium 4 2.4 GHz for almost 10 years and it retired Okay.

OK to RAM DDR4-2133.

OK for SSD.

CPU: I can put more money on it just to get better performance and why not improve the scope of usage for more demanding applications.

The idea behind my first post is to put only my priorities in the build. So can I get extra going for an I5-6600?
You can pretty much scale it up to anything with B150 motherboard. Without overclocking features DDR4-2133 is your only option. It can handle any Skylake CPU up to i7-6700.
If you think you'll need more CPU power for multithreaded workloads - you made an excellent choice with i5-6600. If your finances allow you to scale your PC build to i5, then you should do it.
It will make noticeable difference in Matlab (not so sure about office software).
 
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You don't need a Z170 mobo. Get something cheaper unless you are okay with over spending it for no benefit.
 
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