Recommendations on a budget build for Dad?

S

stateofjermaine

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jul 22, 2009
Messages
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Hello, [H]!

It's been awhile since I needed to seek out your wisdom, but it looks like I'm building again. I built my parents a PC a few months ago, with a lot of help from here, and as it turns out, it was so [H], the whole family is hogging it! So (really because they know I love building, but also) because they're all addicted to speed, now, they're commissioning another build. Your help would be greatly appreciated!

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc.
Nothing special, to my knowledge. Maybe the occasional Blu-ray, web surfing, Office, etc.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Around $600, I think.
3) Where do you live?
DC metro area.
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.

CPU 99.99 X2 555 BE or 99.99 X4 635
MOBO 94.99 GIGABYTE 880GM-UD2H uATX
RAM 96.99 4GB GSKILL DDR3-1333
PSU 49.99 Corsair 400W CX
HDD 54.99 500GB Caviar Blue
OD 64.99 LITE-ON Blu-ray Reader
CASE 63.99 Mini P180

SUBTOTAL 525.93

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
They'll be reusing their monitor, keyboard, etc. Just need to build the tower.
6) Will you be overclocking?
Nothing dramatic.
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
I think they're using a 19", at the moment.
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Early next week.
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
Just standard, long-term stability.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
Yes, Windows 7 Home Premium 64.
 
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Of course, looking for general advice for better value or stability on any components, but I am especially interested in the CPU issue. Since this is a bit of a hobby project, I might take a stab at unlocking the 555, if it's worthwhile. It seems to me overclocking the 630 a bit would be a safer option, yielding almost comparable results. But if I could get the 555 running like a 955, wouldn't that be more fun? :p
 
Well, I guess it can't be too bad, then! I'm surprised to see no i3-530 proponents, tho. I'm still considering whether or not AMD is the way to go, here.
 
For the record, I know it will make no difference to my parents. This is just for my own knowledge/satisfaction/fun.
 
A bit impatient aren't we? It's only been a few hours since you've posted and you're acting like we've been ignoring your thread for a week.

Anyway, go with the X4 635 or X4 630 depending on the combo deal.

No a Core i3 build is rarely recommended in this part of the forum outside of some special needs/consideration
 
Danny Bui said:
A bit impatient aren't we? It's only been a few hours since you've posted and you're acting like we've been ignoring your thread for a week.
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Sorry about that! I guess I forgot about the slower pace on [H]. Thanks, Danny. Nice to hear from you, again. Everything else look alright?
 
TheQuestian said:
Sorry about that! I guess I forgot about the slower pace on [H]. Thanks, Danny. Nice to hear from you, again. Everything else look alright?
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Man what forum are you on where there's an instant response on a weekday? :confused::eek:

Anyway, build looks fine to me.
 
Danny Bui said:
A bit impatient aren't we? It's only been a few hours since you've posted and you're acting like we've been ignoring your thread for a week.

Anyway, go with the X4 635 or X4 630 depending on the combo deal.

No a Core i3 build is rarely recommended in this part of the forum outside of some special needs/consideration
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I agree and holy shit at your spam posting. Within 3 hours you posted 5 replies...?

Anyway the Phenom II would be overkill so save your cash and go with the above suggestion, hell you could even drop to an Athlon II X2 and it would still be plenty fast.
 
build looks good, if you can live with a dual core, i would say try the 555 to unlock...worst case you end up with a dual core that will still be plenty fast......although if you want a quad, go for the guarantee as Danny suggested and get either Athlon X4
 
Danny Bui said:
No a Core i3 build is rarely recommended in this part of the forum outside of some special needs/consideration
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Why not? They perform fantastic for the price, have hyperthreading, overclock like crack (where else can you get a 4.8 Ghz overclock under 1.4 vcore?), and to top it off, they even have their own on-die GPU.

What's not to like?
 
Deluded said:
Why not? They perform fantastic for the price, have hyperthreading, overclock like crack (where else can you get a 4.8 Ghz overclock under 1.4 vcore?), and to top it off, they even have their own on-die GPU.

What's not to like?
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Show me a link where the i3 gets 4.8 easily without some sort of extravagant cooling system
 
Deluded said:
Why not? They perform fantastic for the price, have hyperthreading, overclock like crack (where else can you get a 4.8 Ghz overclock under 1.4 vcore?), and to top it off, they even have their own on-die GPU.

What's not to like?
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It's a $115 dual-core CPU that still gets left behind a cheap $100 AMD quad-core in video encoding, photoshop, and games that takes full advantage of quad-core CPUs. Since the majority of the the builds here in this part of the forum are gaming builds, the onboard GPU of the Core i3 is a moot point/factor.

As for the overclock, while impressive, that 4.8Ghz OC is not the norm. From what I can see, 4Ghz is the normal OC for the Core i3 CPUs. The few areas where the Core i3 is recommended are for low power servers and HTPCs setups. As such the overclocking capability is a moot point/factor.

And that's just based on the CPU alone. Once you factor in the fact that Newegg tends to have to have significantly cheaper AMD CPU + mobo combos that sometimes comes with SATA 6Gb/s and USB 3.0, the recommendation for a Core i3 is less than ideal.
 
Just had a thought, considering my parents normally use pretty small PC's. Anybody in here ever used a mini-ITX case? I've been reading about the Lian Li PC-Q07, which has nice dimensions, but is passively cooled. I don't know if I'm comfortable with that. Should I be?

Then there's the Q08, which has loads of cooling, but looks to be almost a standard mATX-sized case. But is it? It's also about $50 more than I'd like. I know Silverstone has mini-ITX options, but I'm not a fan of pre-installed power supplies. It's a little maddening, because I think the Q08 could easily have been just a Q07 with the optical drive moved down an inch, and a gigantic 140mm blow hole carved into the top. Ah, well.

Any thoughts? Any other cases I should consider?
 
TheQuestian said:
Just had a thought, considering my parents normally use pretty small PC's. Anybody in here ever used a mini-ITX case? I've been reading about the Lian Li PC-Q07, which has nice dimensions, but is passively cooled. I don't know if I'm comfortable with that. Should I be?

Then there's the Q08, which has loads of cooling, but looks to be almost a standard mATX-sized case. But is it? It's also about $50 more than I'd like. I know Silverstone has mini-ITX options, but I'm not a fan of pre-installed power supplies. It's a little maddening, because I think the Q08 could easily have been just a Q07 with the optical drive moved down an inch, and a gigantic 140mm blow hole carved into the top. Ah, well.

Any thoughts? Any other cases I should consider?
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You'd have to get an ITX motherboard to match, of course. There are several threads on the Lian Li/Silverstone cases in the Small Form Factor subforum.
 
Yeah, this motherboard is sorta what started this whole train of thought:

104.99 GIGABYTE H55N-USB3

I'll check out that forum, tho, thanks!

Edit: Yeah, after some more thought, I think the Mini P is small enough for the parents, and I wouldn't want my first mini-ITX build to be guinea-pigged on them. :D
 
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I agree with the Athlon X4 recommendations, but I don't think your dad would use all those cores, but I may be wrong.
 
Danny Bui said:
It's a $115 dual-core CPU that still gets left behind a cheap $100 AMD quad-core in video encoding, photoshop, and games that takes full advantage of quad-core CPUs. Since the majority of the the builds here in this part of the forum are gaming builds, the onboard GPU of the Core i3 is a moot point/factor.

As for the overclock, while impressive, that 4.8Ghz OC is not the norm. From what I can see, 4Ghz is the normal OC for the Core i3 CPUs. The few areas where the Core i3 is recommended are for low power servers and HTPCs setups. As such the overclocking capability is a moot point/factor.

And that's just based on the CPU alone. Once you factor in the fact that Newegg tends to have to have significantly cheaper AMD CPU + mobo combos that sometimes comes with SATA 6Gb/s and USB 3.0, the recommendation for a Core i3 is less than ideal.
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True on all account, but this particular person is not a gamer. Web browsing, Blu-ray, etc, is what they will do, which the i3 and it's onboard GPU can do.
 
Ended up going with the X2 555 BE, and the CoolerMaster RC-692 Basic case. For fun, I threw in a Mugen 2, and I'll probably have some OC'ing fun before I hand it over to Dad. Just got the last parts in today. Thanks for the help!
 
ok I have a BIG problem with that build.. No dedicated GPU & you want to do blueray playback.. I Think you will find the bottleneck in the on board video REAL fast.

To touch on 2 other things you mentioned though. The i3's integrated graphics (clarksdale with a h55 or h57) are excellent performers for on board (technically its the CPU acting as a GPU not onboard but meh close enough) & Would do you fine. Thus justifying the blue ray player. As far as small form factor goes with ITX the PC-q07 is an Excellent case if you dont need a GPU. Which using a Clarksdale CPU with an h55 or h57 motherboard you wouldst.& The only problem with using it with a GPU is that there isnt alot of space so its hard to find a decent GPU to fit.

210 Intel DJ57JG h57 MiniITX + i3-530
60 LITE-ON Black 4X BD-ROM
90 CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB)
50 CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX
55 SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB
60 Lian Li PC-Q07 MiniITX - Black

Total 537 Shipped (then another 30 off in MIR)

Also as for passive cooling in that box. Point the fan on the PSU at the CPU & it's fine. I parted it out a while back, but I had the same Mobo, CPU, Ram & Case along with a Radeon 5750 & heat wasnt an issue for any of it. Although no fans its a very well designed.





Shadowssong said:
Sorry but AMD onboard > Intel onboard :(
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That hasn't been true since the clarksdale graphics came out.
 
bastage said:
ok I have a BIG problem with that build.. No dedicated GPU & you want to do blueray playback.. I Think you will find the bottleneck in the on board video REAL fast.

The 880G's onboard graphics is more than capable of handling blu-ray content. Granted he won't have bitstreamed audio via HDMI but for many people the 5.1 audio via HDMI is good enough.

Besides should the odd/low chance that the 880G's onboard graphics isn't enough for blu-ray playback, he can always add a cheap $37 HD 5450 and he'll be set.

And finally, the OP already bought the parts so a bit too late now for a new build.
bastage said:
..............
That hasn't been true since the clarksdale graphics came out.
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At least in regards to gaming, what Shadowssong said is true: AMD's integrated graphics still outperform their Clarksdale counterparts IIRC.
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DTN107 said:
Watercooling mate.... I'm not sure water cooling will fit the budget.

Athlon II X4 > i3 dual core
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Exactly, bringing up that an i3 can hit 4.8 is completely irrelevant, if you have the money for a w/c system you are going to be cooling something worth cooling (x6 or i7), not on a budget chip.
 
I think I read that the on-board graphics—Radeon 4250(?)—are designed to support full-HD/Blu-ray, according to AMD. But that aside, I really appreciate the rest of that info, bastage.

I was a little apprehensive about building in that case for friends, having never used it myself or gotten any good word-of-mouth recommendations. I have been reluctant to build for girls, especially, because the cases I know to be good are somewhat large by normal standards. But something tiny and silver/red might just suit their fancy. It amazes me that they somehow managed to keep things cool in there.
 
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TheQuestian said:
I think I read that the on-board graphics—Radeon 4250(?)—are designed to support full-HD/Blu-ray, according to AMD. But that aside, I really appreciate the rest of that info, bastage.

I was a little apprehensive about building in that case for friends, having never used it myself or gotten any good word-of-mouth recommendations. I have been reluctant to build for girls, especially, because the cases I know to be good are somewhat large by normal standards. But something tiny and silver/red might just suit their fancy. It amazes me that they somehow managed to keep things cool in there.
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After using it I am still amazed that it keeps things cool.. I Think the reason it is able to is that the large PSU fan on the Corsair PSU I Was using was so close to the CPU fan there was basically no warm air left in the case. No place for it to go & settle.. I Dont know how it would do with a hotter CPU, but there isnt really a reason to have a hotter CPU in a case thats that GPU size limited.
 
Hey guys, just because the curiosity is killing me, does anyone know what I would need to do to attempt to unlock the extra two cores? I am not sold on trying it, but I have to admit I'm a little curious. Of course dear old Dad probably has no need for an X4 955, but heck, I've got the Mugen on there, right? :D

Anyway, what are the risks? Would simply clearing the CMOS bring me back to zero? Is it a fairly straight-forward pass/fail kind of thing? Any thoughts?
 
No. It will not brick your motherboard. A simple CMOS reset is enough to fix it.

I see you are using a 800 series motherboard. I don't know if that motherboard supports unlocking, as that was a feature of 770-790x chipset motherboard. You might want to look into it.
 
Deluded said:
No. It will not brick your motherboard. A simple CMOS reset is enough to fix it.

I see you are using a 800 series motherboard. I don't know if that motherboard supports unlocking, as that was a feature of 770-790x chipset motherboard. You might want to look into it.
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Oh, I see. I'll have to check that out, thanks.
 
Don't know if it's relevant, bytheway, but the ACC setting definitely can be changed in the BIOS settings to "Hybrid". Maybe that's no indication of whether or not it's supported, though.
 
bit-tech.net said:
The word from the manufacturers here in Taipei is that the reason AMD dropped the core unlocking capacity were fears over its reputation. Users and system integrators were buying the CPUs, unlocking them then blaming AMD if they found the resulting system was unstable or simply didn’t work. AMD decided this wasn't good for its reputation - and we also suspect grey market activity in predominantly developing countries played a part in the decision too.

Multiple motherboard companies told us they were highly critical of this decision prior to the launch of the 8-series chipsets, and decided to continue to engineer workarounds. MSI has issued a BIOS fix to its current motherboard revisions, however we’ve recently found while it is certainly an improvement over the original we reviewed, it still has some issues we will detail in a later, full lab update.

Gigabyte has gone to the next step and engineered a completely separate hardware fix (i.e. a discrete chip) that issues its own unlocking codes for all its 8-series boards. This has required a PCB revision (Rev.2), but Gigabyte assures us that all the products now shipping to the channel now feature it. As we know from our previous reviews, Asus was the only manufacturer ready at the launch of its 890GX motherboard that included core unlocking already.
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It would appear that the Gigabyte boards should support unlocking, although my first misguided effort resulted in complete shutdown and unresponsiveness, followed by a cleared CMOS, and then BSOD's non-stop to the point I exchanged the motherboard and CPU. To be fair, in the end, it turned out to be bad RAM, also, but I don't know if the unlocking was related.

Maybe I did something wrong?
 
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