New family computer review

[powersmo]

Hey folks. Would like your opinion on this build. Am looking to put together a cheap family computer than can be used for school work (kids in middle school), email, watching movies thru netflix or dvd, and playing some older games. The games would mostly be my son playing minecraft and the older Call of Duty (1/2/3). He has also discovered making youtube videos for minecraft so it probably needs to be a bit nimble but not the most blazing fast. My budget is $500 or so since this really isn't to be used for true gaming. Thanks for you views in advance.

[PCPartPicker part list](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1nLBi) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1nLBi/by_merchant/) / [Benchmarks](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1nLBi/benchmarks/)

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [AMD A10-5800K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/amd-cpu-ad580kwohjbox) | $109.99 @ Newegg
**Motherboard** | [ASRock FM2A55M-DGS Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-fm2a55mdgs) | $49.99 @ Amazon
**Memory** | [Kingston Blu 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/kingston-memory-khx1600c9d3b1k28gx) | $54.99 @ NCIX US
**Case** | [Rosewill Challenger-U3 ATX Mid Tower Case](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/rosewill-case-challengeru3) | $39.99 @ Newegg
**Power Supply** | [Corsair CX 430W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-power-supply-cx430m) | $29.99 @ Newegg
**Optical Drive** | [LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/lg-optical-drive-gh24ns95) | $15.99 @ Microcenter
| | **Total**
| Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available. | $300.94
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-08-03 12:01 EDT-0400 |

 

[mfenn]

Those parts look reasonable to me except for the RAM and (lack of) storage.

The RAM is 1.65V, which is higher than the standard 1.5V. It'll work OK on an AMD platform, but there's really no reason to pay $80 for it when you can get 8GB of Team DDR3 1600 1.5V for $53 AP.

As for storage, were you planning to reuse an old HDD?

 

[powersmo]

thanks for the recommendation on the RAM. I had missed the v-rating. As for the HHD, I have a reformatted 320GB WD Cavier that I planned on using. It is a 7200 rpm unit so I thought would be good for what we planned on for the useage.

 

[mfenn]

A 320GB drive will be a little slower than a new 1TB single-platter drive. It won't be noticeable unless you had the two set up side by side.

 

[nickf77]

Not sure how demanding the old CoD's are, but hopefully having 8GB memory will make up for not having a video card.

Hope you didn't forget about an OS too otherwise looks like a very good value - nice job with those discounts :thumbsup:

 

[Essence_of_War]

Couple of questions:

1) I noticed you sourced your optical drive from microcenter, but your CPU from Newegg...do you have Microcenter nearby? If you do, you may well be able to find a bundle for either the A10 or an Ivy Bridge i3 that is even more budget friendly!

2) Do you have any desire for an SSD? You have a little space in your budget, and it really makes a big difference for the "snappiness" of the PC.

3) This is largely a matter of personal taste, but you have an uATX motherboard, and a mid-tower ATX case. If you'd like, you could move into something a little more compact. This might be an especially attractive option if you don't need the extra horizontal space for things like full-length high-end video cards.

Here are a few options:
Fractal Design Core 1000 for $28 USD shipped.
This is a set-up in cost, but Rosewill Line-M for $45 shipped AR
Rosewill FBM-02 for $29 shipped.

 

[powersmo]

mfenn, thank you for the rec, I just figured the 320 would be good since it was already prep'd and a 7200 rpm disk.

nickf77, my son and I had been playing the older COD series on a AII 640 with 4 GB of RAM. Didn't play bad but we weren't trying to play at max either especially with using the onboard video on our MSI MB. I already purchased Win7 Home for it so didn't include that in the parts list.

Essence_of_War, I like the cases you recommended and that would add to the parts reserve as you mentioned. I don't have a MC real close but am looking at a trip to the DC area soon and there is one not far from there. I may relook at the sourcing with the MC pricing.

Thanks for the suggestions, I really appreciate it.

 

[VirtualLarry]

nickf77, my son and I had been playing the older COD series on a AII 640 with 4 GB of RAM. Didn't play bad but we weren't trying to play at max either especially with using the onboard video on our MSI MB.

What was the mobo, or mobo chipset? You should be pleasantly surprised by the performance of a trinity APU.

 

[powersmo]

VirtualLarry, the current MB is an MSI 785GM-P45. It has worked without any issues at all though it never has been OC'd. The onboard video is the Radeon HD 4200. With just the 4 GB of ram it has served the family well over the last 2 years or so.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

**Motherboard** | [ASRock FM2A55M-DGS Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-fm2a55mdgs) | $49.99 @ Amazon

If you don't mind spending an extra $5, I'd really recommend the F2A75M-DGS as it uses the A75 chipset that comes with native SATA3 and USB3. The A55 is limited to SATA2 and does not have USB3.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157395

What was the mobo, or mobo chipset? You should be pleasantly surprised by the performance of a trinity APU.

That's not even a contest. The APU will simply blow away the HD4200...

 

[Torn Mind]

Relatively speaking, that IGP is a sloth compared to that present on the FM2-compatible CPUs. But its level of performance is not much worse or potentially sometimes better than the high end cards of 2006, the year in which Call of Duty 3 was released. I cannot say definitely since I'm only going by Passmark benchmark scores(not exactly something that might translate into real world performance) of the X1950 and Geforce 7950. Older CoD releases were made with even slower hardware in mind. So, I would think you should be able to run those games near max settings even at 1080p,

 

[powersmo]

Insert_Nickname, I did see that board in a write-up on Toms I think it was and it was rated pretty well. Will definitely consider this one.

Torn Mind, thanks for the thoughts on the MB. Even with the old graphics of the COD franchise (original few), they are still fun to play.

 

[frozentundra123456]

As others said, do you need a copy of windows? And what about a monitor? Are you planning to use one that you already have? If so what is the resolution.

In general, I am not a fan of APUs for gaming, as usually even a low end discrete card like a HD7750 with a cheaper cpu can give a better experience for very close to the same cost. But the APU would be miles ahead of the integrated chipset video you are using, and would handle all the Call of Duty games at least through COD4 MW, which I would strongly recommend playing. After that the series went downhill fast.

If you plan to play more demanding current games, the APU will be limited to lower resolutions and/or image quality settings. If you plan on sticking to older games, it should be OK. You could always add a discrete card later should you decide to play more demanding games.

 

[Essence_of_War]

If an MC isn't close to you to begin with, I wouldn't worry about hitting it up on a trip. If there were any problems with parts, it would probably turn into a giant hassle.

I noticed that the price had dropped for the top-end trinity Athlon's and also that the Nvidia 650 non-Ti was under $70...so just for funsies, here's a counterpoint to an APU build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 750K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A75 Pro4-M Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Kingston Black Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($58.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 650 1GB Video Card ($69.91 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($27.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24F1ST DVD/CD Writer ($16.00 @ Newegg)
Total: $386.86
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-08-04 19:44 EDT-0400)
Edit: I really like this case in your budget range, but I might grab the cheapest tasteful 92mm fan I could find for the rear to get both intake and exhaust fans.

Basically, the Athlon here is like the CPU-part of the APU you're looking at, but the GTX 650 is ~5ish tiers above the APU's integrated graphics. It's closer to $400, but you're still sort of in the middle of your budget range. If you feel like stretching to the limit of your budget, you could add an SSD like the Sandisk Ultra Plus 128 GB for $96.

Anyway, food for thought. Like frozentundra, I'm not super excited by APUs except for the deepest of budget builds. You have enough room to outperform an APU and stay well within your budget.

 

[powersmo]

frozentundra123456, appreciate the thought on the OS. Going to use the W7 Home copy I got recently to push the words. As for monitor, its an Asus 21 widescreen with 1080p capability. Colors are good and extremely clear. Agree with you on the COD 4 MW. The franchise went way down after that in my opinion as well.

Essence_of_War, thanks for the new parts list. That looks great and the cost is pretty close. I took a close look at that case and it could pass for little cousin to the Antec 300. Nice inexpensive case. Thanks again. The whole anand community is great to help.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 750K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A75 Pro4-M Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Kingston Black Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($58.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 650 1GB Video Card ($69.91 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($27.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24F1ST DVD/CD Writer ($16.00 @ Newegg)
Total: $386.86
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-08-04 19:44 EDT-0400)
Edit: I really like this case in your budget range, but I might grab the cheapest tasteful 92mm fan I could find for the rear to get both intake and exhaust fans.

That's actually a very decent build. I can support that. Only comment is that there is no reason to bother with the PRO4-M, as you will not need/use the additional video outputs with an IGP-less Athlon...

 

[Essence_of_War]

Yeah...it's possible that the correct move is to get something like:

AsRock FM2A55M for $49.99 shipped

I felt bad that it didn't have USB 3.0 or sata6Gb/s, though.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Yeah...it's possible that the correct move is to get something like:

AsRock FM2A55M for $49.99 shipped

I felt bad that it didn't have USB 3.0 or sata6Gb/s, though.

Hence my suggestion of the FM2A75M-DGS. Its essentially the same board as the FM2A55M-DGS, but uses the A75 chipset instead of the A55. Its a pity they have such similar sounding names...

http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/FM2A75M-DGS/
http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/FM2A55M-DGS/

 

[powersmo]

Thanks guys, I think I will stick with the Pro4. With the USB 3.0 ports, I can fully use the external drive with 3.0 USB my wife saves her pictures on.