Small / Super Cheap Desktop

upmg · 18 May 2017 at 20:10

Hi All,
My mother desperately needs a new computer, I want to purchase or build a Small cheap thin client or a mini-PC that is Quick for her.

What she uses daily. Microsoft Office/Watching YouTube videos or HD content on it plus she plays some games, not AAA+ titles we are talking point and click games but still her current setup lags when using some of these, so enough graphics power needed to have a smooth experience in low end Games.

Would like:
Small MiniPC case
SSD to keep it speedy
Half decent RAM and Graphics.
She will connect to the internet via LAN, onboard wifi would be nice though.

Doesn't Need:
Keyboard/Mouse/Monitor/OS etc.

Does anybody know of any cheap thin clients that pack a punch or could handle some limited gaming/HD videos and just general browsing please?

or does anyone have a Spec they would like to contribute?

Any help much appreciated, thank you

varkanoid · 19 May 2017 at 11:40

Need a budget.

upmg · 19 May 2017 at 13:22

No budget really, need to keep it as low as possible so whoever specs me, or can point me in the right direction or the cheapest deal please.

Don't know if it is doable for what I am asking but let's say, £500?

She doesn't need huge storage, was thinking a 250gb SSD for the OS.

Not sure if I am being over optimistic on price?

Daaaavvveee · 19 May 2017 at 13:33

upmg said:
No budget really, need to keep it as low as possible so whoever specs me, or can point me in the right direction or the cheapest deal please.

Don't know if it is doable for what I am asking but let's say, £500?

She doesn't need huge storage, was thinking a 250gb SSD for the OS.

Not sure if I am being over optimistic on price?

£500? Surely that's doable on less than half of that!

upmg · 19 May 2017 at 14:48

Daaaavvveee said:
£500? Surely that's doable on less than half of that!

I hope so! I was looking for as cheap as possible, I didn't put a budget initially because it really is how low can you go?

But also will it achieve a decent experience for what I'm asking. Her current PC is ancient running on WindowsXP with a 5200rpm HDD drive so anything is gonna be an upgrade.

Not wanting to spend a great deal as this isn't for a special occasion/Birthday or anything just thought I'd grab her a better system if I can as a surprise

Daaaavvveee · 19 May 2017 at 17:57

Why not an ex office workstation, something with an i5 of eBay, then chuck an SSD in and upgrade RAM?

CapitalOne · 19 May 2017 at 18:05

How about Atom PC's?

You can buy a 4 thread 4gb one for about £150 with HDMI out and Win 10.

For example, "sumvision cyclone"

upmg · 19 May 2017 at 19:32

Daaaavvveee said:
Why not an ex office workstation, something with an i5 of eBay, then chuck an SSD in and upgrade RAM?

This is probably along the right lines, however I wasnt planning on going the 2nd hand route.

I was thinking i5 in a Micro-ATX case, SSD, some Ram and was thinking onboard or very cheap graphics card.

CapitalOne said:
How about Atom PC's?

You can buy a 4 thread 4gb one for about £150 with HDMI out and Win 10.

For example, "sumvision cyclone"

Would that really be powerful enough? the features seem good especially for price but I'm sceptical.

Apologies if I am not putting across my exact needs, just not sure whats on the market nowadays, was hoping their might be some bundles or similar packages for my needs already out there. Thanks for the input thus far.

upmg · 21 May 2017 at 15:56

Nobody care to spec some parts or a deal for me from OCuk's site?

I've been looking at something like this: Asus VC62B-B007M - Intel® Core™ i5 -4210U processor / Vivo DualBay / ac+BT4.0 Mini PC

but worried about graphics and such. Anymore specs or setup recommendations much appreciated.

Thank you

upmg · 24 May 2017 at 17:15

Im struggling to spec a system under £500, when adding case, cpu, motherboard, memory, graphics card and all.

Even using OcUK's bundles as soon as a I add a case and GPU/PSU im well over.

ExoMale · 24 May 2017 at 21:26

Dual core processor should be plenty for what's at hand, smallest case that isn't a nuc etc, best cheapest SFX going and 300w is more than enough, can get a quad ram kit for £1 more or so, but that's up to you, good quality and fast ssd with a nice storage quantity for the budget, didn't know if you wanted or if it make it easier, but I've included the new 1030 as it's low powered and designed for these sort of builds, plus I doubt the games played are going to need anything like a gtx 750/Rx 460.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Intel Pentium Dual Core G4400 3.30GHz (Skylake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - Retail= £49.99
1 x Asus H110I Plus Intel H110 (Socket 1151) DDR4 ITX Motherboard= £64.99
1 x Kingston Fury Red 8GB (1x8GB) DDR4 PC4-17000C14 2133MHz Single Channel Module (HX421C14FR2/8)= £67.99
1 x WD Blue 500GB 2.5" SATA 6Gbps Solid State Drive (WDS500G1B0A)= £139.99
1 x Silverstone Milo ML05B HTPC Case - Black= £45.95
1 x Silverstone Strider SST-ST30SF SFX Series - 300 Watt '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply= £45.95
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GT 1030 Low Profile 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £68.99

Total: £495.55
(includes shipping: £11.70)

If a bigger case like a micro atx was better then a cheaper H110 board can be used a long with an atx power supply that's more powerful and cheaper then the rx 460 could be added whether it's performance is required or not, but as I implied, you won't get a smaller computer that isn't a Nuc or the other mini pc types.

Edit: if you really want to spend like like half the 500 for example then you need an APU setup if buying new.

demonix · 25 May 2017 at 16:15

You can get a refurbished SFF system for around £200 like the dell optiplex 390 which would only require the expense of an SSD, RAM (if needed) and a low profile GT 1030 to make it a decent gaming machine.

upmg · 3 Jun 2017 at 14:54

Thanks for taking for the time to reply guys.

ExoMale I may go with something like what you have suggested CPU/Motherboard/GPU wise but reduce the SSD size (price) and maybe try find a different case.