New computers for a office environment

Riccardo Bestetti

Honorable
Oct 20, 2013
11
0
10,510
Hello.
I have to change all the machines in my office because the current ones are 7+ years old and are beginning to struggle.
I have a very strict budget, about €330 for each machine, and this is the configuration I came up with:

  • Motherboard: ASUS A55BM-A (€48)
    CPU: AMD A8-6600k with stock cooler (€91)
    RAM: DDR3 Corsair Vengeance Blue Low Profile 1600MHz 4GB (2x2GB) CL9 (€41)
    SSD: ADATA Premier Pro SP900 128GB (€59)
    PSU: Corsair CX430M modular 80+ Bronze (€49)
    Case: Cooler Master Elite 342 (€32)
for a total of €320, which perfectly fits the budget.

I haven't got much experience with AMD's APUs, I was hoping that someone who has could tell me if that is a good configuration for a office (Windows 7, running the Microsoft Office suite, a ERP software and a web browser).
Also, is the stock cooler sufficient if the systems are not overclocked? And how many fans would you install on the case?

Thank you in advance!
 

SHADE117

Reputable
Mar 14, 2014
433
0
4,860
the stock coolers are fine for no OC (thats why they´re in the box :D )
appart from the ram totaly fine
the ram, with your budget hard to get something better but for an AMD APU you want fast ram ie. higher clock speed and if you´re going with 4GB per machine you could get a 2133mhz 8GB set and put one stick in PC 1 and the other stick into PC 2 and so on
 

Riccardo Bestetti

Honorable
Oct 20, 2013
11
0
10,510


Thank you for your answer.
I decided to install SSDs on these machine because of the past experience with mechanical disks. The employees of the office have often experienced long loading times and freezes, lowering the efficiency a lot. Some of this machine are also to be placed on counters, and having a non-responsive system when dealing with clients is a problem.
On the other hand, disk space is not a problem, I would be surprised if even half of the space on those drives gets filled.
Anyway, just to get a complete view, what Seagate hard disk would you install on these machines?




Thank you for your answer.
As far as I know, the A8-6600k processor only supports RAM frequencies up to 1866MHz.
I couldn't find a decent kit for a good price at that frequency, but I didn't think to look for 2*4GB kits. I'll have a look, even though I'm not sure that a single stick, even at a slightly higher frequency, would perform better then 2 dual-channel sticks.
 

SHADE117

Reputable
Mar 14, 2014
433
0
4,860
 

Riccardo Bestetti

Honorable
Oct 20, 2013
11
0
10,510
Thanks to everyone for the answers.
As I've said I need those PCs for an office, so I don't need an APU with better GPU. Also, I need more speed vs. more storage space, so a 500GB mechanical hard drive at the same price of the ADATA SSD is basically a total waste.
For the RAM, I understand that higher frequency is better performance, but higher frequency comes with a price, and in this case, for the reasons I've already pointed out, it's just not worth it.