Basic web browsing PC

[CLXIV]

I'm putting together a new setup for my dad, just because of Windows 10 end-of-life (he's on a Haswell i3 so not officially allowed to use Windows 11). How does this look?

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i3-12100 3.3 GHz Quad-Core Processor (£98.97 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Gigabyte H610M K DDR4 Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard (£51.48 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Kingston FURY Beast 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (£28.98 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Crucial T500 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (£58.98 @ Amazon UK)
Case: SHARKOON M25-V ATX Mid Tower Case (£44.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: be quiet! System Power 10 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£51.37 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £334.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-02-28 08:36 GMT+0000

 

[DaemonForce]

Looks solid. For basic web browsing, we are well into the age of Chromium, which is by its very nature a memory hog.
95% of my daily activities are web related and streams are the majority. Memory usage typically looks like this:

So whatever the usage I'm sure it's fine.

 

[CLXIV]

Cheers buddy. Yeah I get him on Firefox anyway but Windows 11 RAM usage is pretty horrific. I know some is cache but it's not always great at releasing it.

As you say, 16GB should be ample.

 

[Shihab]

Memory consumption shouldn't be an issue for a purely web browsing build. a single or a couple of tabs wouldn't -typically- gobble 16GB. And if several tabs do consume that much, OS (and I think the browser itself has some forms of it) paging to disk would take care of the overflow. And considering there isn't any other use, experience shouldn't be annoyingly degraded.

 

[Kwadratowicz]

About windows 11 if it is only for web browsing, mayb use UnattendedWinstall by memstechtips, it disables all bloatware from the start if You install new windows.
And You can add retrobar and Open Shell Menu so that He is not angered by stupid windows 11 ui.

 

[Frick]

Looks solid. For basic web browsing, we are well into the age of Chromium, which is by its very nature a memory hog.
95% of my daily activities are web related and streams are the majority. Memory usage typically looks like this:
View attachment 387132
So whatever the usage I'm sure it's fine.

I have 8GB at work and Chrome is fine. It all depends on what "basic web browsing" means to you. One window and no tabs (as my parents do it) or five windows with 70 tabs (as I do it at home)?

@CLXIV If you want to save money (and space) you can always get something like this. I have something similar at work and it's great.

 

[AusWolf]

Why does your dad need Windows 11 just for web browsing?

 

[CLXIV]

Thanks @Frick that's a good idea but he's got plenty of space and money (good to avoid ewaste though for sure).

@AusWolf Windows 10 support may end later this year so Windows 11 keeps the system secure (by Windows standards anyway). Tried introducing him to Linux before but he couldn't get along with it (and if it was going to run Linux it certainly wouldn't need 16GB).

 

[eidairaman1]

Cheers buddy. Yeah I get him on Firefox anyway but Windows 11 RAM usage is pretty horrific. I know some is cache but it's not always great at releasing it.

As you say, 16GB should be ample.

You can have basic browsing with 6 or 8G

 

[GerKNG]

you can get a 512GB/16GB Intel N150 Mini PC for ~200€. i have two as HTPCs and they are really good, tiny and already come with W11 Pro.

 

[nomdeplume]

that's a good idea but he's got plenty of space and money

Sentiment being internet machine implies banking and other sensitive activities increasingly reliant on up to date OS and browser builds that can be furthered with a more secure business SFF. Or maybe even a workstation tower if his interests expand that fully. Any modern processor/NVMe/mobo is going to be OP. Why not get rock solid reliability and power delivery.

This is one case where you might wish to spread the budget across chain of devices he uses to access internet and secure passcodes.

 

[jak_2456]

This might be an unpopular idea, but why not get a low-cost business PC and install ChromeOS Flex on it? It'll be a lot cheaper, fast enough, and much easier to keep running. ChromeOS is a great OS in the sense that you don't need to worry about updates and the OS very much gets out of your way. While it is somewhat limited as far as what it can do, it works great for web browsing. Or better yet, try putting Chrome OS on your dad's pre-existing PC.

 

[nomdeplume]

Before too much momentum builds towards something explicitly diverging from initial parts list. If recipient's primary usage is consuming media then a Q chipset or business oriented PC loses luster.

Just to expand closer to original parts list. Core Ultra 3 or non-K Core Ultra 5 with DDR5 6000 might be an interesting alternative in a few months. Pace of making consumer hardware redundant seems to be quickening. Older W11 builds are already being discouraged. For internetting purposes this is effectively other side of that coin you might consider.

Build you listed is surprisingly good for surprisingly low costs that might not exist in near future. Not a bad option if you go that way.

 

[dgianstefani]

Yeah I'd vote a Core Ultra based system too, even if it's a mini PC.

 

[Scattergrunt]

Before too much momentum builds towards something explicitly diverging from initial parts list. If recipient's primary usage is consuming media then a Q chipset or business oriented PC loses luster.

Just to expand closer to original parts list. Core Ultra 3 or non-K Core Ultra 5 with DDR5 6000 might be an interesting alternative in a few months. Pace of making consumer hardware redundant seems to be quickening. Older W11 builds are already being discouraged. For internetting purposes this is effectively other side of that coin you might consider.

Build you listed is surprisingly good for surprisingly low costs that might not exist in near future. Not a bad option if you go that way.

I'm not sure about core ultra; I understand the thinking here but the platform cost is pretty big.. would be an investment for sure. From what I can see even the cheapest core ultra processor (225F, from what I can tell) new is about $279 to $250 USD, depending on if you get the iGPU or not. I don't have much experience with core ultra to be fair, much of what I know is that they're pretty efficient but.. expensive.

 

[AleXXX666]

I'm putting together a new setup for my dad, just because of Windows 10 end-of-life (he's on a Haswell i3 so not officially allowed to use Windows 11). How does this look?

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i3-12100 3.3 GHz Quad-Core Processor (£98.97 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Gigabyte H610M K DDR4 Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard (£51.48 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Kingston FURY Beast 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (£28.98 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Crucial T500 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (£58.98 @ Amazon UK)
Case: SHARKOON M25-V ATX Mid Tower Case (£44.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: be quiet! System Power 10 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£51.37 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £334.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-02-28 08:36 GMT+0000

a celeron/Intel® Pentium® Gold G7400 or they call it "intel 300" stuff could be also an option, lol
also, 8 GB is ENOUGH for "basic" web-machine. No need to overspend. You can make it 8+4 if you want. 3200 MHz? Overspend here.
PSU could also be cheaper - lower wattage. 1 TB M2? Basic SATA even 250 GB will do. Meh, get 512 if you really need one.....

 

[Frick]

Yeah I'd vote a Core Ultra based system too, even if it's a mini PC.

Waste of money and silicone.

 

[brutalame]

You can have a minipc for half the price, it will be good enough for basic browsing

 

[jak_2456]

You can have a minipc for half the price, it will be good enough for basic browsing

The power consumption will be much lower, which is certainly worth something as far as reducing your overall power consumption at home.

 

[nomdeplume]

I'm not sure about core ultra; I understand the thinking here but the platform cost is pretty big.. would be an investment for sure. From what I can see even the cheapest core ultra processor (225F, from what I can tell) new is about $279 to $250 USD, depending on if you get the iGPU or not. I don't have much experience with core ultra to be fair, much of what I know is that they're pretty efficient but.. expensive.

For OEM to make publicly negative statements about bulk of processors they spec. Directly in front of a suggested single gen chipset seemingly matching their needs. Then taking into account the reception boxed units garnered. Not convinced floating option to put off purchase during the historically worst part of the year to buy is too far off all things considered. Conditions at least exist for some amount of warehoused cpu/mobo to get included when sales start again.

 

[CLXIV]

Thanks guys! Yeah I'm a bit suspicious of post-12th-gen Intel anyway. I know the crashing issues with Core Ultra are nothing to do the the voltage-related stability degradation of Raptor Lake (more just a lack of communication between Intel and Microsoft I think) but I'll steer clear of non-12th-gen Intel until next year at least.

Any comments about overspend on RAM are pretty absurd if you bother to look at the price of that RAM. Not everyone knows the value of the pound I know. One pound is near enough equal to a euro or US dollar. So £30 is not going to bankrupt anyone. A £10 saving (half the RAM won't be half the price) is not worth it. (honestly didn't expect people to fixate so much on the RAM - bizarre. I was posting mainly for confirmation or correction on motherboard and case but open to all suggestions)

ChromeOS Flex on the existing setup is a great idea - going to definitely check that out. Especially if it will dual boot with Windows 10.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Thanks @Frick that's a good idea but he's got plenty of space and money (good to avoid ewaste though for sure).

@AusWolf Windows 10 support may end later this year so Windows 11 keeps the system secure (by Windows standards anyway). Tried introducing him to Linux before but he couldn't get along with it (and if it was going to run Linux it certainly wouldn't need 16GB).

Have you heard about the extended support program for Windows 10 users?

Extended Security Updates (ESU) program for Windows 10

Learn about the Extended Security Updates (ESU) program for Windows 10. The ESU program gives customers the option to receive security updates for Windows 10.

learn.microsoft.com

The cost is $30 and will extend security patching to your dad's PC for an additional year.
I have a lot of customers asking about upgrades that really don't want to do them. $30 is cheap for an additional year of security updates.

 

[CLXIV]

Have you heard about the extended support program for Windows 10 users?

Extended Security Updates (ESU) program for Windows 10

Learn about the Extended Security Updates (ESU) program for Windows 10. The ESU program gives customers the option to receive security updates for Windows 10.

learn.microsoft.com

The cost is $30 and will extend security patching to your dad's PC for an additional year.
I have a lot of customers asking about upgrades that really don't want to do them. $30 is cheap for an additional year of security updates.

Yeah but it just seems like it's kicking the can down the road. Sooner or later that new setup will be needed. Unless ChromeOS works out.

 

[mb194dc]

Crazy to me people would upgrade because Windows 10 eol. Just get anti virus and a browser that'll update and save the cash. Zero risk.

Or even better, get 10 enterprise ltsc which still has years of support left.

If a real risk emerges for the OS, like eternal blue, MS will patch anyway like they did for that...

 

[lexluthermiester]

Unless ChromeOS works out.

If you're considering a new OS, Linux Mint should be given a look.

Home - Linux Mint

Linux Mint is an elegant, easy to use, up to date and comfortable desktop operating system.

linuxmint.com

I'm not the average "Linux goon". It's all about ease of use and stability. Mint hits both of those marks square on the head without all of the "Google" back end nonsense. There is a slight learning curve, but not more or less than ChromeOS, which is itself based on the Linux Kernel.