Minimum CPU power for office build?

steffeeh

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I'm planning a build for my dad, and while I have decent knowledge on what parts to combine and such I do realize that I have no experience in deciding parts for regular usage PCs, and that I risk putting in some parts that may be way overkill.
Right now I'm deciding on what CPU to get for the build. Basically this is kind of an "office PC" level computer. It will be used at home by my dad who simply wants a computer that will be reliable for quite some time (5+ years preferrably).
The usage will be browsing the internet, doing lighter duties (Word, Excel), and streaming video - including to our TV which will be connected to the PC, aside from the main PC screen.

Previously I have focused on i3 6100, though there seem to be an equivalent Pentium G4620 for less pricing, so for now I have shifted to that one. Though I'm still thinking if it's possible to cut down the CPU budget even further without noticing a performance loss in the type of usage in this case?
There's also the G4600 and the G4560 (less powerful internal graphics). Looking at synthetic benchmarks and gaming benchmarks there are clear performance advantages as pricing goes up, however there will be no gaming or media editing for this PC.
On the other hand, I want to give him a flawless experience using the PC.

Here's are other parts in the build as help
- Windows 10 Home 64-bit
- 8 GB DDR4 RAM
- Samsung 850 Evo 250GB
 
Solution
It may or may not be a good idea to see what the newer budget offerings from AMD will be like, they may provide a cheaper/better alternative to the G4600/G4620 or may end up making Intel adjust their pricing.
I would get the G4560, he won't need the i3's extra L2 cache and for 2 fast cores with HT, the price of the pentium is a steal. The iGPU in the pentium is plenty for video playback. The only suggestion I have would be that if he ever plans on streaming video in 4k from netflix, amazon, etc. then it's probably a good idea to get the i3 7100. The SSD will be the biggest boon for his daily use and, assuming he's not storing massive amounts of video and photography, 250GB should be great.
 
I think I would go with the G4620.
It has the advantage of better HD630 graphics.
Integrated graphics is fine for desktop work and HD movie playback.

Make that 8gb of ram a 2 stick kit for faster dual channel operation.
A consideration when using integrated graphics.



The real key to desktop performance is the ssd, the one you picked is perfect.
If you want 4k graphics, look carefully at the specs for the motherboard.
You will likely want a displayport if you want 4k@60hz.

I do not know your budget, but if you are looking at 4k, buy a larger monitor. text on a typical 24" monitor is very small.
I found a Philips 40" bdm4065UC to be wonderful for desktop work, but it is a $800 monitor.

I might suggest that dual 24" or 27" monitors might be equally useful for desktop work.
 

steffeeh

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@geofelt The G4620 and the G4600 uses the same intergrated graphics. The difference is that G4620 is +100MHz.

@chemmajorp53 All the mentioned Pentium processors are the Kaby Lake architecture, but perhaps you mean I'd need a Kaby Lake Core-processor for the decoding?
 

MaDDD

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It may or may not be a good idea to see what the newer budget offerings from AMD will be like, they may provide a cheaper/better alternative to the G4600/G4620 or may end up making Intel adjust their pricing.
 
Solution
You need HD 630 for the decoding afaik, but the problem in my opinion with the G4620 and G4600 is that you're basically giving up all the savings that you get by going with a pentium for better integrated graphics with AVX/AVX2 support. It's pretty much worth it to buy the i3 at that point for $20 more, but it's by no means a bad option. It's all a matter of $20 here and there at this point, any option you take he'll be happy with.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/C8Y8m8

Probably something like this would be your best bet, has some room for upgrades (GPU) but still nice and small. I wouldn't get a 4x2 kit if you get a mobo with only 2 RAM slots, that means that you have to buy all new memory to upgrade to 16GB.
 

steffeeh

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@MaDDD Are you referring to the Ryzen lineup or the various other new AMD CPUs? Ryzen's cheapest one will be $129 and won't be launched earlier than August, which is still pretty far away (and still above the CPU budget given that I've found cheaper Pentium alternatives).

@chemmajorp53 Funny thing you've basically replicated my current build list :p Though I may get 2x 4GB instead as you pretty much has to get a complete new RAM kit in any way as it's kind off risky to add on RAM as time goes, especially if it's been more than a year since the build was made with the original RAM config.
So in order to stream 4k Netflix it needs to be HD630, i.e HD610 won't work?

EDIT: What is AVX?
 

MaDDD

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They will release their APUs at some point, which should be fairly cheap.