Building a PC for basic use

[Eggtastic]

I know I can head over to pcpartpicker and get more infor but I wanted to see what you guys thought.

I thought about getting a desktop for basic functions (web, etc.) with possible light photo edit down the road.

I could easily pick up a desktop but thought it may be cheaper / more fun to build one. Now, from what I hear for basic usage its best to just buy at the store. For more intense activities would benefit building a PC.

Any thoughts? From my signature I obviously use mac but I am starting to use google services and might leave macOS.

 

[velocityg4]

I know I can head over to pcpartpicker and get more infor but I wanted to see what you guys thought.

I thought about getting a desktop for basic functions (web, etc.) with possible light photo edit down the road.

I could easily pick up a desktop but thought it may be cheaper / more fun to build one. Now, from what I hear for basic usage its best to just buy at the store. For more intense activities would benefit building a PC.

Any thoughts? From my signature I obviously use mac but I am starting to use google services and might leave macOS.

Price: When it comes to dirt cheapest. You aren't going to beat an OEM. They get parts at a discount and take razor thin margins on these computers. If all you care about is price to performance at a budget. Then buy an OEM.

Quality: This is where differences come in. Part of the budget OEM PC is they use the cheapest parts possible. You can choose higher quality parts for a little extra.

Expand-ability: Those budget units are not meant to be upgraded. By choosing the right parts. You'll have a lot of room for upgrades in the future.

Customization: You can tweak the build to your needs. Skip the parts you don't need. Give it the look you want. Have an open BIOS rather than one which is heavily locked down. Choose your OS from the get go and so forth.

This is about where I'd start with a budget build. It'll be about $60 more than a similar budget PC (before mail in rebates or $10 more after). However, it has a vastly superior PSU, faster NVMe SSD, faster RAM (dual channel and higher Ghz), more expandable motherboard and limited overclocking support. It doesn't have wireless, DVD or cheap keyboard and mouse. The copy of Windows comes on DVD. All you need is the license key. You can download the ISO from MS and use an 8GB or larger thumb drive to make a bootable installer.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2400G 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($119.99 @ Walmart)
Motherboard: ASRock - B450M PRO4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($75.61 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Team - Vulcan 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($48.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: ADATA - XPG SX6000 Pro 256 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($39.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master - MasterBox Q300L MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($39.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - 520 W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($36.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($99.39 @ OutletPC)
Total: $460.83
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-05-13 10:54 EDT-0400

If you think you'll want a hackintosh. You'll want Intel and to check tonymacx86 for the best parts. Otherwise AMD provides a better price to performance ratio.

Edit: You can go cheaper on the motherboard. I went with the cheapest to include USB 3.1 Gen2 Type C.