Intel Celeron G530 Sandy 2.4GHz Dual-Core Retail Box...$38 + Ship

[daveybrat]

Intel Celeron Dual-Core Processor G530 2.4GHz 2MB LGA1155 CPU, Retail - BX80623G530

https://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=G530BOX

Use promo code: TAXES

This will bring it down ot $38.00 + shipping.

A very fast processor for the price, absolutely perfect for an HTPC.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

Just for those who may not know, the Sandy Bridge Celeron is no joke. The G530 is comparable to the Core 2 Duo E8400 in terms of performance and beats the Athlon II X2 250. It also sips power.

 

[exar333]

Just for those who may not know, the Sandy Bridge Celeron is no joke. The G530 is comparable to the Core 2 Duo E8400 in terms of performance and beats the Athlon II X2 250. It also sips power.

True. And you get 75-90% of the gaming performance (in most games) of a 2500k. If you want a budget system or pure affordable gaming rig, this is a STEAL.

 

[Xellos2099]

any idea on what is the igp of this chip?

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

True. And you get 75-90% of the gaming performance (in most games) of a 2500k. If you want a budget system or pure affordable gaming rig, this is a STEAL.

A true testament of why IPC and single-threaded performance is so important in gaming.

any idea on what is the igp of this chip?

Intel HD Graphics (1000). The difference to the HD 2000 is that it doesn't support Blu-Ray 3D decoding and the difference to the HD 3000 is that it doesn't support Quick Sync technology for video transcoding. That's it, really.

 

[Plugers]

Damn. Wallet $45 lighter.

 

[RossMAN]

Can anyone recommend a reliable motherboard for under $75 to pair with this?

Fry's Electronics is an option.
No MicroCenter near me, don't even think about it.
No plans to OC, video editing or ripping stuff.
Will be used for an HTPC DVR - nothing else.

 

[Termie]

Just for those who may not know, the Sandy Bridge Celeron is no joke. The G530 is comparable to the Core 2 Duo E8400 in terms of performance and beats the Athlon II X2 250. It also sips power.

Here are some benchmarks of the G540: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/celeron-g540-g440_6.html

While it is certainly a great value, I don't think it will beat the e8400 generally - it probably takes a Pentium G620 to beat the e8400: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/406?vs=56

It clearly beats the Athlon II X2 250, though.

Can anyone recommend a reliable motherboard for under $75 to pair with this?

Fry's Electronics is an option.
No MicroCenter near me, don't even think about it.
No plans to OC, video editing or ripping stuff.
Will be used for an HTPC DVR - nothing else.

This motherboard has been getting some attention lately for its low price: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813135288

Quick heads up for everyone: you can get the G620 for $55FS in a combo deal with the above motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.882544

I'd say that's actually a better deal once you factor in Superbiiz expensive shipping rates (min ~$8). Ends up being just $9 more for the Pentium.

 

[RossMAN]

This motherboard has been getting some attention lately for its low price: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813135288

Thanks for the suggestion and link, any suggestions on a capable video card with HDMI? No or light gaming.

Ideally I'd like to connect the HTPC directly to my HDTV via HDMI.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Thanks for the suggestion and link, any suggestions on a capable video card with HDMI? No or light gaming.

Ideally I'd like to connect the HTPC directly to my HDTV via HDMI.

If you don't need blu-ray 3D decoding you could use the IGP video, that motherboard has its own HDMI out. It should be fine for regular blu-ray though the software for that costs as much as a regular blu-ray player does now.

I have a media jukebox PC with an i3-2100, and the HD2000 graphics (same 3D speed as this) are good enough for old game like Half-Life 2 and less demanding newer games like Torchlght. It's mostly for music so I haven't done much testing with movie playback.

 

[Meghan54]

Darned good price for not MicroCenter.





I paired this motherboard with a G620 build and have had great results from it:


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128527






(I only managed to assemble a sub-$200 build using a $35 G620 cpu and that Gigabyte motherboard for $40....nice to have a MicroCenter nearby and friends who gave you their $15 off coupons. The rest of the system included a $35 AR Antec Neo Eco 520W ps, a used 8GB set of Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR3-1333 RAM that I had $0 in, a Seagate 500GB hd found on sale from Newegg for $60 new, a repurposed Compaq mATX case that was in great condition and was going to be thrown away, and a $3 22X Samsung DVD-RW drive.)

 

[Vincent]

This motherboard has been getting some attention lately for its low price: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813135288

Quick heads up for everyone: you can get the G620 for $55FS in a combo deal with the above motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.882544

I'd say that's actually a better deal once you factor in Superbiiz expensive shipping rates (min ~$8). Ends up being just $9 more for the Pentium.

That ECS motherboard does not have gigabit ethernet.

 

[Termie]

That ECS motherboard does not have gigabit ethernet.

If someone wants it for HTPC use, that probably doesn't matter. They'll be using wireless.

 

[Anubis]

If someone wants it for HTPC use, that probably doesn't matter. They'll be using wireless.

even if they run wired they wont need GigE for HTPC use

 

[sunilx]

Nice board if you want mini-ITX is

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813186211

Has HDMI out & Gigabit

Same price $59.99 but free shipping from Amazon

 

[drshivas]

I got one of these this week at MC BM and put it in a Asus P8h61-M mobo with the G.Skill Ares 16GB deal. Daddy needs a new server

 

[drshivas]

I also have G620 in my main rig. Very nice chip, and I even downgraded from a 2600K.

 

[SunRey]

Thank You!

 

[cubeless]

i got the asrock h61m/u3s3 and a g620 to be a htpc at night and a linux play server during the day... in a micro case with a usb3 3tb external and a 120gb ssd internal... great low power setup... usb3 and gb nic... not much more $$$... but the 530 would probably have been plenty of chip...

 

[formulav8]

So the cpu is around $45 shipped? Thats about $7 less than Newegg. That a decent savings.

Also, I bought that ECS H61 mobo a couple weeks ago thats listed above for $30 shipped after mir. It works perfectly fine as a solid, basic mobo. Nothing to say really except it works fine. I paired it up with a Pentium 2.6ghz cpu and it does quite well. The latest bios ads EFI style bios.

BUT, if your needing to buy that mobo already, you can get a similar combo deal that I got, by buying it with a Pentium G620 2.6ghz cpu which is a decent bit faster than the Celeron. More cache and higher clockspeed for a $10 difference. So.... IMO, its worth it to buy the ECS mobo with that Pentium G620 cpu for only $10 extra compared to buying the Celeron and the ECS board seperate.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.882544


Just my opinion though.

 

[SunnyD]

Nice board if you want mini-ITX is

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813186211

Has HDMI out & Gigabit

Same price $59.99 but free shipping from Amazon

I have this board with an i3-2100 on it... it's fucking EPIC. For an ITX setup, you pretty much can't beat it.

 

[antmanbee]

I would recommend getting a board with GigE if you plan on backing up stored DVDs or Blurays.
I have 3 2TB drives in my HTPC and mirror it to another 3 2TB drives in my server.
I can move a lot of data fairly fast.
Also 6 SATA connectors is nice too for the HTPC.

 

[Sephire]

Excellent chip. It even plays high bitrate mts files at >5%

 

[Roland00Address]

Can anyone recommend a reliable motherboard for under $75 to pair with this?

Fry's Electronics is an option.
No MicroCenter near me, don't even think about it.
No plans to OC, video editing or ripping stuff.
Will be used for an HTPC DVR - nothing else.

If you have a fry's nearby you may want to consider this computer for $228.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2239212
It is in a slimline form factor with HDMI and it is prebuilt making your life easier and the price is good considering what it is. Only down side for a HTPC DVR is the 500gb hard drive instead of 1 TB or 2 TB, but if you have multiple computers in the house that is easy to remedy. The computer has gigabit ethernet so it is very easy to stream videos from another computer/server. The computer also does not have wifi but there are plenty of usb ports as well as a full size pci express x16 and a pci express x1 slots not being used (remember you need a low profile version since the computer is a slimline) if you need wifi instead of gigabit ethernet.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Wow, a RossMAN sighting. Good thread!