Won: ASUS H110M-A

[Pterodactylus]

Hey Gang,

I won a Asus H110M-A motherboard via a drawing from a little computer shop in town. My wife uses my old gaming rig for her workstation and even though it has one of the greatest CPUs of all time - the Q6600, it is showing it's age. I think the hard drive would like to fail, all the case fans are fairly noisy, the case is big and obstructive, and I gave the good GPU it had to my buddy and swapped in his junker cause my wife is not a gamer and he is. But It has pretty much been running 24/7 since 2007 and its time to get replaced.

I don't really have a budget but I don't need a very large one because her tasks are fairly minimal. The most complicated thing she does is some minor graphic design with her paper cutter - a silhouette cameo. A sprinkle of word and excel, but otherwise it's a web browser, netflix, SNES emulator rig.

It needs an OS, wireless card, and an optical drive for DVDs. But I have everything else like a monitor, keyboard and mouse.

I like my build below, but I always enjoy other folk's opinions. I'd especially appreciate any thoughts on the wireless card. I don't mind spending a few extra dollars to ensure quality.

Cheers.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G4400 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($58.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus H110M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (Purchased For $0.00)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($40.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($87.49 @ OutletPC)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1100 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA 430W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($16.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($17.78 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($87.95 @ OutletPC)
Wired Network Adapter: TP-Link TG-3468 10/100/1000 Mbps PCI-Express x1 Network Adapter ($11.58 @ Amazon)
Total: $361.75
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-17 22:50 EST-0500

[Kagthul]

its worth stepping up to the i3, honestly. The hyperthreading helps a lot if you have lots of browser tabs open and the like.

[Deleted]

I'd grab an i3 as well, 1 stick of ram just in case you ever need to get 16gb of ram, mobo having only 2 ram slots. Oh and a better psu + wifi. Its more money for sure, but thats what i'd do, i would rather get a 1tb WD blue than the ssd if i had to save from the following setup:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($123.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus H110M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (Purchased For $0.00)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($87.49 @ OutletPC)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1100 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 350W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($42.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($17.78 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($87.95 @ OutletPC)
Wireless Network Adapter: Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I 802.11a/b/g/n/ac PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($29.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $470.06
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-18 03:12 EST-0500

[Pterodactylus]

Thanks to you both. Great idea about the 1 stick of RAM, not sure why I didn't think of it! I've got the money, so the i-3 is a good suggestion. I looked long and hard at both and thought for her light load the G4400 would be okay, but then I considered her internet browsing style of 10,000 tabs in light of your comments.

Gonna stick with the SSD - more than enough space for her, and nice suggestion with that PSU. I am half tempted to shell out a bit more for a fully modular PSU - but that is just for luxury.

I am not too excited about that external antenna with the wireless adapter. I am trying to minimize the amount of wires coming out of the case and would rather have the antenna that are attached directly to the card.

Anyone have a suggestion on a wireless adapter?

[Parrin]

I am not too excited about that external antenna with the wireless adapter. I am trying to minimize the amount of wires coming out of the case and would rather have the antenna that are attached directly to the card.

Anyone have a suggestion on a wireless adapter?

Honestly, for everything that is miserable about Windows 10, they took the brakes off the Wifi. My dad and I built a new machine for my mom last month. Her old PCIE Wifi card went from 23% to 87%, and she can do whatever she wants online. You should be fine with any Wifi adapter, as long as the router can reach it, and your wife doesn't want to stream HD.

*edit* Oooh! Here's a list. Wifi

[Artorius]

Even a USB adapter is fine

[Pterodactylus]

Thanks everyone. Went with the i-3. Ordered everything a couple of days ago and can't wait to build it.