Super-bargain computer for office work

[AgentPaper]

I've been tasked with building new computers for everyone here at the office, since the current ones are starting to...show their age, to say the least. Anyways, as a rock-bottom bargain starting point, I came up with the following build:

Case/PSU: APEX MI-008 Black Steel Mini-ITX Tower Computer Case 250W Power Supply
Motherboard/CPU: ASRock E35LM1 AMD E-240 APU AMD A50M Mini ITX Motherboard/CPU Combo
RAM*: Pareema 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory Model MD313C81609L1
HDD: Western Digital WD Blue WD3200AAKX 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
HDD*: Seagate Barracuda Green ST1500DL003 1.5TB 5900 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
CD Drive: SONY Black 18X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model DDU1681S-0B - OEM

Total: 202.45 - 234.94

Are all of these components compatible? From what I can tell, there should be just enough power/slots/plugs/etc for everything here, but I'm not experienced enough to say for certain.

Probably my main concern would be cooling, and the power supply. As far as I can tell, the case has no fan, so it'd be just the fan that's on the CPU. I'm not even sure if there's room to add a fan to the case, so I may need to change to a larger case? These need to be able to run all day long. The case also comes with a 250W power supply, which seems like it should be enough, but I can't figure out how to calculate how much power I actually need for these components.

* Optionally, if necessary, some of the computers might be upgraded with a second RAM of the same kind, and/or the larger HDD, so these would need to be compatible too.

 

[Ghan]

That motherboard only supports 1333 Mhz RAM by overclocking. This RAM should work fine: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231307

As for cooling, given the PSU has a fan itself and this CPU is really low power, I don't think you'll have any cooling issues.
You have waaaay more than enough power with that PSU, as well. I've been building workstations for my office using an Intel i5 quad core Ivy Bridge, 8 GB of RAM, and an SSD in a Mini-ITX case that only has a 150W PSU and it's still nowhere near that limit. My battery backup unit rates my desktop plus both of my 22" widescreen monitors at a total of about 50W of usage at idle.

 

[Slapshot136]

I would go with this:

$120 CPU + Motherboard
$40 case
$40 PSU
$42 SSD
$36 RAM
and skip the DVD drive (install windows from a flash drive),

for a total of 278 - (yes this is higher than yours)
the CPU/motherboard and PSU/case that you have just aren't made for actually desktop use, they were designed for HTPC use where you would watch a movie or two and then turn it off - they WILL get hot because of the small case, despite the low wattage used if you run them for 8+ hours. I also don't trust no-name, bundled PSU's that come "with" cases. Also notice in the reviews that the PSU sits directly above the CPU, I can't quite imagine the airflow effects, but it seems like the PSU would be sucking air up and the CPU fan would be pushing air down, thus them working against each other (and leading to the fans becoming noisy fast)

 

[rover2341]

I agree with slapshot on the psu, I got a no name one, and it burned up. Now I was running a video card that required to plugins of power, but it said it had the correct amount of ws. lasted 2 weeks.

I like slapshots, only issue is hard-drive. ya ssd big enoufe to put your main programs. Maybe 2 of them in raid. + 40 bucks. I could live with 160 for the most part.

But then i would also move up to a i5.. + 40.. So my overall build + 80 bucks Slapshots.

360$ . i5, 8 gigs ram 2x80 gig ssd (raid) soild mother board/case/and power supply. Thats not to bad.

Toss another 100 and you got your self a gaming rig. (but that's not the point here)

 

[AgentPaper]

What would you consider "trustable" names, in that case?

Edit: For example, would this be better?
Case/PSU: Antec ISK 300-150 Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel Mini-ITX Desktop Computer Case 150W Power Supply

Or this, though the PSU may or may not be powerful enough.
Case/PSU: Antec ISK 110 VESA Black ABS plastic / 0.8 mm SECC Mini-ITX Desktop Computer Case 90W External Adapter, Up to 92% Efficiency Power Supply

Also, I did some checking on that earlier case, seems there were some cases of the PSU failing, but also lots of reviews saying how it's working great even after a few years. I suspect that those who had it fail on them were using much more power than I plan to, so I should be safe, but it's still something I'll be taking into consideration, and I may opt for one of the Antec cases above regardless.

 

[Slapshot136]

What would you consider "trustable" names, in that case?

for starters, what is the name of the PSU maker? hint: it's not the same as the case maker

this list is pretty good at giving you the general idea, but it's best to just look at an in-depth review of the PSU in question

I don't get why you insist on those tiny cases, the ones you just linked to are actually more expensive than the option I proposed, leave you little to no upgrade room, and use tiny PSU's that are going to be hard to find replacements for if/when they die

if you don't like the original PSU, this is a good substitute

I suspect that those who had it fail on them were using much more power than I plan to

why is that? again, it's intended use is as a HTPC for a couple hours of useage per day, not in an office environment of running 8+ hours each day - your usage scenario IS the heavy-usage one

 

[Ghan]

The ISK 300-150 case is the exact one I've been using. I've built about 15 of them so far and they work great, though the oldest ones have only been in use a couple of months as of right now. The PSU in the case is also branded Antec.

 

[Accname]

I dont know if you should follow slapshots advice on skipping the DVD drive since it is supposed to be an office computer. For the same reason the SSD might not be important to get either, they are more like personal luxury.

 

[Slapshot136]

I dont know if you should follow slapshots advice on skipping the DVD drive since it is supposed to be an office computer. For the same reason the SSD might not be important to get either, they are more like personal luxury.

I can't imagine the DVD drive being used much at all.. but a shared external one for $25 can be added if for some reason the need arises

a SSD makes more sense to me in an office setting, since typically there isn't a lot of data store locally (it's mostly accessed over the network and saved on a server somewhere), and the cost is similar to that of a hard drive for a small SSD, thus you are left with much better performance