I'd like to make a quiet, small form factor, low power consumption computer. I can only spend up to $250 and already have a 3.5" 1TB HDD, DVD drive, monitor, keyboard, mouse. Case and PSU are not worth keeping. If I have USB 3.0 I can put my HDD in an external enclosure.
I haven't built a system in 10 years and everything has changed. If you want to give further advice I'd love it, but if you just read how I'll use it and tell me what level of processors to consider/avoid I can come back for a review of a proposed system.
I use the computer for the following:
linux
web browsing with too many tabs open
Plex serving to smart TV (single movie at a time, not often concurrent with other uses)
no gaming
inkscape, would love to use sketchup w/wine or dual boot but current machine chokes
I also need to use vnc and chrome remote desktop occasionally to support family members.
None of that should be hard, but my old Athlon x2 4050e 3G ram emachine is just not handling it well at all, and memory for it is pricy now.
Most of my issues are from memory use - tuning swapiness hasn't helped much. Yet I see many systems with 4GB ram still.
Thank you!
I haven't built a system in 10 years and everything has changed. If you want to give further advice I'd love it, but if you just read how I'll use it and tell me what level of processors to consider/avoid I can come back for a review of a proposed system.
I use the computer for the following:
linux
web browsing with too many tabs open
Plex serving to smart TV (single movie at a time, not often concurrent with other uses)
no gaming
inkscape, would love to use sketchup w/wine or dual boot but current machine chokes
I also need to use vnc and chrome remote desktop occasionally to support family members.
None of that should be hard, but my old Athlon x2 4050e 3G ram emachine is just not handling it well at all, and memory for it is pricy now.
Most of my issues are from memory use - tuning swapiness hasn't helped much. Yet I see many systems with 4GB ram still.
Thank you!