Budget PC for school assignments?

PerfectBlue97

I'm going to build a budget PC that will mostly be used for things like word, excel, email and web browsing (Absolutely NO gaming), and a little light photo editing (the kind of thing that you'd do for a picture for Facebook, nothing complicated) but I've only ever build gaming PCs so I have no idea what is considered reasonable for doing things around the level of a school assignment as everything that I've ever built would be overkill.

Are I3 or I5 still considered usable for a Windows 10 PC with an SSD, or can I get away with using an older\cheaper option like maybe a Ryzen 2?

I plan to use on board sound and graphics, and to recycle some components from an older machine.

What kind of spec can I get away with on a shoestring, without it turning into a total lemon?

My budget is essentially, as little as I can get away with. It really just needs to be "noticeably better" than a Dell Optiplex 980 with a mechanical disk. Which is what is currently being used.

It has to be a desktop PC, not a laptop. You can't forget where you left a desktop PC, at least most people can't.

EndlessWaves

A Ryzen 2200G or i3 would be considered the upper end of mainstream, an expensive option for the most demanding users doing those sorts of tasks.

A normal processor would be something like a Pentium Gold or Athlon 200GE at around £50. Although the Intel are still having issues meaning their options are substantially more expensive than they launched at so I'd probably discount them for now.

SSD and memory will be the bigger costs as you want an SSD with plenty of spare capacity and at least 8GB of memory.

PerfectBlue97

I guess that I must be really out of touch. I thought that anything below an I3 was what you used for a kodi box. I'm going for a basic 249gb and a recycled hdd.

PerfectBlue97

how about an AND FX-8390 4.2ghz? Is that reasonable for doing school projects?

I want it to be snappy, but cheap, it won't be used for gaming but will need to still be usable several years from now.

I know almost nothing about this end of the market, so I don't know what's good and what's garbage.

EndlessWaves

That's an old processor from 2012, not far off being contemporary with the Optiplex 980. I've no idea how it compares these days. I'd avoid.