Keyboard or power supply. Keyboard due to how tedious it is, and power supply because it can straight up kill you if the caps aren’t drained and you touch something you shouldn’t. Assuming you are deep cleaning it of course, and not just taking some canned air to it while it it still boxed up.
Just got a revised quote with what seems like a really good price. I could even afford to upgrade the processor or RAM, if it was worth it for my use.
System
Intel Core i5 10400 System
Asus B460M-A S.1200 MB
16 Gigs DDR4 PC 3000 RAM (2X 8 Gig)
Integrated Intel Graphics
250 Gig WD Blue M.2 SSD
4 TB WD40EZAZ Blue HDD
LG DVDR/RW SATA
Cougar MG330-G with Cougar 500W Bronze
Windows 10 Pro
10X USB/6 Back/4 Front
1 Year Warranty
$1059Plus HST:
Total: $1217.85
Upgrade 4TB WD Blue to 8 TB WD NAS HDD WD80EFAX $240
Upgrade 250 GigWD Blue M.2 SSD to 500 Gig WD Black NVME +$29
I am thinking upgrade the SSD and downgrade the Windows to regular 10.
Maybe even double the RAM, just for shits and giggles? 
Anything jump out at anybody?
what CPU?
WIn 10 Home will be good enough.
I’d get a better PSU though…something from Corsair / EVGA / Fractal or Seasonic.
and 16GB of RAM should be enough, especially since you don’t game.
any extended warranty options? while most of the parts you have will come with a 3 to 5 year or lifetime warranty, you have to do all the paperwork and be without a PC for weeks or months waiting for the replacements plus potential expenses of return shipping before a replacement will be sent.
1 Like
For the vast majority of people, the only reason I can think someone would need pro is for disabling automatic windows updates
1 Like
Yes I am pretty sure b460 motherboards do not support XMP Profiles for RAM. In other words your 3000mhz ram is probably not really going to work at 3000 so I would either find something cheaper that runs at stock speed.
Probably 2933mhz or 2666 if it is a 10 series Intel. Else It would be just better to get a b560 board I think they have better VRMS.
All of this is at the top of my head really so yeah look into it :P.
1 Like
Yeah definetly a better PSU unless you are sure the internals on this one are solid. For example if it has a Silverstone unit inside than it would be ok I guess. BeQuiet has some decent PSUs as well, also Corsair and Seasonic are well considered indeed.
Also make sure you want an HDD and not an SSD for your larger storage.
1 Like
That is what I was thinking too. I heard that during some problematic Windows updates.
you can still defer Windows updates. and even with Pro, you cannot block them forever.
also, the comment earlier about faster RAM was in relation to AMD Ryzen CPU as they benefit from having much faster RAM, like DDR4 3600mhz. in fact, I recommend getting a Ryzen platform. see if the place you got your quote from can switch over to:
Ryzen 5 5600X or Ryzen 7 5800X
Gigabyte B550 AORUS PRO AX for motherboard ($225ish)
any DDR4 3600mhz RAM…but nothing slower than 3200mhz as that’s it’s stock bus (around $200)
and then a GPU like a PNY Quadro P400…should be about $150 - $175
1 Like
The only things exclusive to pro any more are drive encryption (which someone might want), and the business management tools.
1 Like
And things like ReFS (creation) and client hyper v
2 Likes
all things that Shane will not need. it’s a personal PC…no business and no gaming…essentially surfing, personal computing and media consumption.
I honestly advised him to consider replacing both his PC and current notebook with an even more powerful current notebook and a dock and use it as a desktop when he needs one or as a notebook when he needs one.
1 Like
I don’t recall you recommending replacing the laptop AND the desktop.
Anyway, both are doing very different jobs right now and future employment possibilities might require the laptop on the side.
1 Like
no worries. it was just an idea. 
Yes the SSD will be 500GB and the HDD will be 4TB.
Would it be worth upgrading the processor? The i5’s even in tenth gen., have about eight models newer than this.
Or would you just not notice the difference in light computing?
Could you clarify wich CPU are you going for? Sorry I can’t get it from your previous posts. Also what kind of shop are you getting the PC from?
Around here we have a place that sells pc parts (something like newegg) and at checkout you can choose for them to assemble it at no extra cost. I would suggest something like this as a better alternative and we can all suggest a few configurations.
Let me put something together on PCPartPicker of what I consider a good value for a general use desktop at around 1000 usd. and then you can compare and see if you can get a good deal at your end.
Keep in mind that I live in a cheap European country where gpus are selling for 1500 euro. If I can find the parts at these prices there is no way you can’t.
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/2w9WQD
Hope the link works.
So in my country what sells for 50 USD in the US, here sells for 50 Euros which is the tipical way companies price things in europe.
So I can find all of these things at the prices that are listed. The Asus board is 140. I can also find a couple of Western Digital Red 4TB for 100 each.
Wich brings us to a total of about 970. You can add legit Windows 10 Pro for around 25 from sites that sell OEM keys (not that hard to do honestly and installation is easy as well. It is not shady or anything).
Also if you need an optical drive or wifi both are at most an extra 50 away but you might want a diferrent case for the optical drive. Also you could add an extra fan for a few dollars more. Another upgrade would be to get a decent air cooler for around another 50 as these CPUS can benefit from extra cooling.
Now I get it you are from Canada and things might be way diferrent there but they can’t be worse than here.
Just my quick thoughts here. I am not an expert or anything, I am typing these only to offer my perspective. Always do your own research.
Also this particlar system with the non K cpu would need a little bit of BIOS tuning (setting the power consumption settings to the same as the K version and XMP settings) to get the proper performance. But any system would need a quick little BIOS setup in my opinion.
EDIT: Ofcourse you can go cheaper, 10700 could be overkill for you if you don’t do much heavy work but it is a good value CPU right now in my opinion and plenty fast for all kinds of tasks.
You are correct. I missed the processor on the cut and paste! 
Intel Core i5 10400 System
The shop is just a small shop that has been in my city for many years. They build systems with off the shelf parts, which they also sell:
Man, I remember when getting a PC was fairly simple. 4 years ago I went into Best Buy, Picked out an Envy laptop that had an i7, 16GB RAM, NVIDIA onboard graphics, Bang & Olufsen HD audio and a TB drive. Walked out of the store with it. DONE! 4 years later, it is still going strong. It may not be the fastest machine out there, but man it works just fine for me! 
1 Like
Well you can still do this 
maybe it’s tougher to find stock but things are just as simple or complicated as then. Now we have better tech ofcourse. What I think has changed is that more and more people are trying to figure out if they are getting good value out of their puchase. Also laptops are a little simpler in comparison to desktops but way worse value in my opinion.
2 Likes
So yeah I don’t know if you got this out of my last post but I think you can do better for the money. Take a look around and check the prices.
For this money I would expect a 10700 instead. A better mobo (this particular one is the lowest tier pretty much, just one up and you have way better VRM that will be able to handle any CPU that can fit in the socket. This one for example would be a no-go for the 10700. Also why not B560 since you can)
I would also expect a decent brand PSU. That’s about it and I would prefer they don’t charge me like 100 plus for windows if that’s the case because as I told you you can find it for cheap yourself and install.
Also I would make sure the ram is of decent make. Crucial(Micron) is great for budget IMO. And the drives are probably ok although you could opt for a NAS type drive(like the WD Red) for your big storage since they are supposed to last longer.
1 Like