Which CPU?

[chevmaro]

I am building my dad a computer. He wants something fast. He's not a gamer. This will be used primarily for windows apps and internet cruising. I was thinking about getting a new bulldozer but Im not sure. My budget is 900 this also needs to include a monitor and drives. SSD for sure. Let me know what you think. Thanks.

 

[IGemini]

Short answer: Don't bother with Bulldozer. I think Llano may be more appropriate here.

You're clearly asking about more than the CPU, so this might be moved. But more info is needed:

Where do you plan to buy parts from (including country)?

Will your dad be using this computer as a home theater PC and/or will he want to store music/video?

 

[chevmaro]

Short answer: Don't bother with Bulldozer. I think Llano may be more appropriate here.

You're clearly asking about more than the CPU, so this might be moved. But more info is needed:

Where do you plan to buy parts from (including country)?

Will your dad be using this computer as a home theater PC and/or will he want to store music/video?

I think i have decided on the rest of the gear except CPU/Mobo. Going with a Force SSD, 8GB Ripjaws DDR3 and a WD BLack 1TB for storage. 6670 video card.

Newegg

 

[IAteYourMother]

what is your budget? An i3-2100 can be had for 100 usd at microcenter.

 

[lau808]

it doesnt sound like he'd notice much difference between the current cpu's then imo. how much is left in your budget for cpu/mobo?

 

[tweakboy]

I think i have decided on the rest of the gear except CPU/Mobo. Going with a Force SSD, 8GB Ripjaws DDR3 and a WD BLack 1TB for storage. 6670 video card.

Newegg

NOOOO! Get him ASUS P867 and a 2500 non k. The video card you want to get him will bottlneck his whole rig. Why you getting SSD ? To eliminate the bottleneck.. Get him fast CPU fast SSD and a slow video card and the system will not be as smooth and fast as it should , guessing hell be using Vista and 7 ,,.. First off dont buy your dad a ATI , because hes going go crazy with the CCC and all that nonsense. Keep it simple. Grab him a 8800 GT or 9800 GT for 80 bucks or less. Since hes not gaming,, that is still a very powerful card and a nVidia legend.

 

[chevmaro]

Lite-On DVD Burner - 19.99
Lite-On DVD Drive - 18.99
Cooler Master HAF 912 Mid Tower - 59.99
Antec Neo 620w PS - 69.99 w/ 20.00 Mail In Rebate
XFX HD-6670 1GB - 83.99 w/ $25 Mail in Rebate
G Skill Ripjaws DDR3 1600 2x4GB - 48.99
Corsair Force Series GT SSD 90GB - 164.99
WD Black 1TB - 89.99
Acer G245 23.6" Monitor 135.00

691.92 - 45.00 Mail in rebates = 646.92

Budget - 900-1000

I could probably change out the PSU for a smaller one. But thats not a bad deal for 49 Bucks. I could change the video card. Need something HDMI and support for dual screens that will play dvd's stream movies well.

 

[IGemini]

Lite-On DVD Burner - 19.99
Lite-On DVD Drive - 18.99
Cooler Master HAF 912 Mid Tower - 59.99
Antec Neo 620w PS - 69.99 w/ 20.00 Mail In Rebate
XFX HD-6670 1GB - 83.99 w/ $25 Mail in Rebate
G Skill Ripjaws DDR3 1600 2x4GB - 48.99
Corsair Force Series GT SSD 90GB - 164.99
WD Black 1TB - 89.99
Acer G245 23.6" Monitor 135.00

691.92 - 45.00 Mail in rebates = 646.92

First I'd stick with just one optical drive. Two is redundant unless he plans on doing mass amounts of on-the-fly disc copying.

What I had in mind:

AMD A8-3850
ASUS F1A75-M
Antec Earthwatts 430W (the current PSU is a bit overpowered for this setup, power cord may be needed if you don't have a spare)

With the Llano 6550D (more than powerful enough and has dual-display support) you can drop the 6670 and use the extra money toward maybe a better/larger SSD or monitor.

 

[hasu]

I would do the following for an inexpensive (and yet high performance) office machine. But that's just me! I have not used this CPU or motherboard yet.

$60 case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...087&Tpk=DM-387
$80 mobo http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157260 AMD A75 (Hudson D3)
$80 cpu http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103955 AMD A4-3400 Llano 2.7GHz 65W Three Core
$55 DDR3 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820226191 2x4GB Mushkin 1.5v

+ Windows-7 Home Premium or Professional.

Intel Celeron G540 Sandy Bridge looks very promising too

You should listen to all suggestions and then decide.

 

[lehtv]

chevmaro, I really think your budget is set way too high for a PC like this. $900 is like the budget for a low-midrange gaming PC.

CPU A dual-core Celeron G530 ($57) should handle basic tasks perfectly, there's really absolutely no point paying more "primarily for windows apps and internet cruising". Even my 4 year old laptop does these tasks fine. The SSD will speed up the system a lot more than a fast CPU in normal desktop tasks.

Mobo A H67 motherboard like Asrock H67M $80.

RAM 8GB RAM is OK as RAM is cheap. G.Skill 8GB for only $35.

GPU The discrete graphics card is not needed for a PC that isn't a gaming PC. The IGP is fine for everything not gaming.

HDD How much disk space does your dad need? May not even need a HDD if he doesn't store any games, videos or absurd amounts of photos or music on the PC. If he does need a HDD, he'd probably be fine with a 5400RPM drive rather than an expensive Caviar Black (given that the OS is on the SSD). [HDD prices are absurdly high atm though, postpone that purchase until they normalize.]

Case and PSU The HAF 912 and the 600W PSU are both overkill for a non-gaming non-overclocking build. I'd recommend Corsair CX430 V2 PSU ($35 AR) and Fractal Core 1000 case ($40; could even go with a cheaper one but this one's a great little microATX case).

You really save about half your budget this way, and get a PC that most likely does everything it's supposed to.

 

[o1die]

This http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103856 would be a good choice and only uses 95 watts.

 

[chevmaro]

Thanks for everyones help. I was able to get everything I need under budget. Let me know what you think. I went with the following:

Order Summary
Qty Product Description Price
1

DISCOUNT FOR COMBO #738514

-$18.00
1

DISCOUNT FOR AUTOADD #37191

-$6.49
Shipping from CA, USA
1

Antec Three Hundred + BP430 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 430W Power Supply
Item #: N82E16811129065
Limited Replacement Only Return Policy

$84.95
1

Acer G245HQAbd 23.6" LCD Monitor Black 5ms Full HD Widescreen 300 cd/m2 ACM 80,000:1 (1,000:1)
Item #: N82E16824009305
Monitor Standard Return Policy

$149.99
Shipping from TN, USA
1

AMD A8-3850 Llano 2.9GHz Socket FM1 100W Quad-Core Desktop APU AD3850WNGXBOX
Item #: N82E16819103942
CPU Replacement Only Return Policy

$139.99
1

GIGABYTE GA-A75-D3H FM1 AMD A75 (Hudson D3) SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813128518
Standard Return Policy

$104.99
1

SAMSUNG CD/DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-222AB - OEM
Item #: N82E16827151233
Standard Return Policy

$17.99
1

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL
Item #: N82E16820231428
Memory Standard Return Policy

$48.99
1

Corsair Force Series GT CSSD-F90GBGT-BK 2.5" 90GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Item #: N82E16820233205
Limited Replacement Only Return Policy

$164.99
1

Recertified: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #: N82E16822136742
Limited Replacement Only Return Policy

$89.99
1

Kingston 4GB Micro SDHC Flash Card Model SDC4/4GB
Item #: N82E16820134527
Standard Return Policy

$6.49
Subtotal $783.88
Tax $0.00
UPS 3 DAYS $9.99
Rush Processing $2.99
Order Total $796.86

 

[hasu]

Thanks for everyones help. I was able to get everything I need under budget. Let me know what you think. I went with the following:

Acer G245HQAbd 23.6" LCD Monitor Black 5ms Full HD Widescreen 300 cd/m2 ACM 80,000:1 (1,000:1)
Item #: N82E16824009305
Monitor Standard Return Policy

$149.99
Shipping from TN, USA
1

Order Total $796.86

For a better quality monitor consider IPS panel. I have Dell 2408wfp and love it.

 

[lehtv]

Looks good overall, but you could've still saved money on the CPU, SSD, RAM, mobo, case with practically no impact on performance.

Celeron G530 costs less than half of the Llano and is about as fast. The mobo I picked also costs less and should have everything that's needed. The G.Skill Ripjaws you chose are relatively expensive while providing no practical benefit over the 1333MHz $35 kit I linked. Corsair Force uses a Sandforce controller, generally not regarded the most reliable one. 64GB is enough for OS+programs, e.g. Crucial M4 64GB ($110).

 

[dbcooper1]

For that application, I'd get a low end dual core 1155 and use the onboard graphics. Plenty fast for that and quite low power, especially when idling- which it will do a lot of given that role.

 

[pauldun170]

For a general use "old people" \ "non gamer"\ "I need to check email and facebook " PC, lehtv had it right.

H61 (preferebly one with USB 3 and 6gb sata) + Pentium Sandy Bridge + SSD + WD green 1tb drive + "80+" certified PSU.

For general usage, 4gb generic ram is more than enough.

Could have used the money saved on a nicer monitor (Something older eyes would appreciate ) and speakers (something older ears would appreciate as they leave some ratty CD filled with old people music in the DVDCDrom).

 

[BudgetBuild]

I have the same case and have a love/hate relationship with it. Reliable, functional case that will keep your system cool. But it is intolerably noisy at stock fan speeds. Once I undervolted the fans using the ASUS motherboard EPU-4 power saving app the fan noise was barely audible.

 

[kmmatney]

I have the same case and have a love/hate relationship with it. Reliable, functional case that will keep your system cool. But it is intolerably noisy at stock fan speeds. Once I undervolted the fans using the ASUS motherboard EPU-4 power saving app the fan noise was barely audible.

I agree - its noisy at default settings. I just truned down my fans, and I'm only running one of them, and its very quiet, and then are still plenty cool. And when the furst fan goes bad, then I can run the other one.