• Getting up-to-date on today's tech
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So I've been out of the hardware business for some 2-3 years now.. still running an AM2 (not AM2+) X2 4800+ Athlon64, 2GB of DDR2 800 G.SKiLL, a 590 SLI Foxconn board that used to sell under the EVGA brand-name, a 8800GTS 320MB, etc. What's the latest sweet-spot these days? An Intel Core2 Duo? Socket LGA775? Still DDR2 or has DDR3 caught on? What chipset? Anything new with HDDs, still SATA2? What GPUs? [editline]05:43PM[/editline] Essentially I'm looking to build a sweet-spot media/work PC.
ATI has really got the forefront in the GPU business. For a processor I'd recommend the new i3, i5 or i7 processors from intel. Don't know much about AMD. And yes most motherboards that are coming out support DDR3 now.
I wouldn't settle for DDR2.
Since you program so much, I'd suggest an LGA1156 i7 build, such as the i7 860. That'll give you 8 threads of raw performance for a reasonable price. i7s require DDR3 though, but that isn't much of a problem. For graphics, a 5770 is plenty fast enough to run most new games on high settings without a problem, and will only run you about $175. For a motherboard, I have a p55m-ud2, which has served me just fine for only $105.
Well, the thing is, I'm going for a media/work PC for a friend of mine. So I'm not looking for the top of the line, simply the sweet-spot.
any gaming going to be done on it? if not, an i3 system with it's igp acceleration shit would be perfect
Well RAM wise go DDR3 since both DDR2 and DDR3 are at the moment similarly priced.
[QUOTE=ButtsexV2;21042156]any gaming going to be done on it? if not, an i3 system with it's igp acceleration shit would be perfect[/QUOTE] This, and if it will be used for gaming then you should consider an i5-750.
or AMD 965 BE if gaming is going to be done
Intel is good on processors at the moment ATI is good on GPU's AMD might be making a comeback on the CPU market.
For mid-range AMD and Intel are just as good. AMD dominates the market for low-end, and Intel dominates the market for high-end.
what are the price brakets your talking about, is low end less than $150 and high end $300+?
[QUOTE=Amez;21042182]Well RAM wise go DDR3 since both DDR2 and DDR3 are at the moment similarly priced.[/QUOTE] Not really. DDR3 is actually cheaper than DDR2 at the moment
Well, it depends. For good price, you can get a great AMD system with their best processor available for a low price. It does compete with i7's from what I've seen in game benchmarks, as well as within media tasks such as encoding. It would either be AMD Phenom II 965 X4 BE, or Intel i5 750 for an idea of the price range. Those two seem to perform equally and cost almost equally. The thing is, AM3 is more future-proof than the i5 because it uses AM3 which is still top of the line whereas for the intel i5 1156, 1156 boards are not very future-proof. Plus, AMD is releasing a really cheap 6-core processor on the AM3 boards that should cost ~$200 It's up to you. AMD = Cheap but great performance Intel = A little more costly but still great performance.
Okay cool, so I'll probably go with a mid-range AM3 AMD processor and some DDR3 ram. What's a good chipset for AM3 boards? Also, no gaming. He wants to store & play his music and videos and what-not, surf the internet, do the usual word processing, stuff like that.
[QUOTE=nullsquared;21053786]Okay cool, so I'll probably go with a mid-range AM3 AMD processor and some DDR3 ram. What's a good chipset for AM3 boards? Also, no gaming. He wants to store & play his music and videos and what-not, surf the internet, do the usual word processing, stuff like that.[/QUOTE] A 770 chipset should do fine.
My idea of a sweetspot build: CPU:i5-750 GPU:HD5770 RAM:4gb DDr3 HDD:1TB 7200rpm Seagate. PSU:Corsair 450W OS:W7 64Bit MOBO:I hear MSI and Asus are great these days. Stay away from Intel.
[QUOTE=nullsquared;21053786]Okay cool, so I'll probably go with a mid-range AM3 AMD processor and some DDR3 ram. What's a good chipset for AM3 boards? Also, no gaming. He wants to store & play his music and videos and what-not, surf the internet, do the usual word processing, stuff like that.[/QUOTE] Depends on the budget, but almost anyting will do.
[QUOTE=taipan;21056012]My idea of a sweetspot build: CPU:i5-750 GPU:HD5770 RAM:4gb DDr3 HDD:1TB 7200rpm Seagate. PSU:Corsair 450W OS:W7 64Bit MOBO:I hear MSI and Asus are great these days. Stay away from Intel.[/QUOTE] A 5770 is overkill [QUOTE=nullsquared;21053786]Also, no gaming. He wants to store & play his music and videos and what-not, surf the internet, do the usual word processing, stuff like that.[/QUOTE]
Pretty much a netbook will be enough for all that. And its ultra portable.
If he isn't really gaming, he almost doesn't even need a full graphics card. Like said above, he could almost just get a netbook. If he is set in stone with desktops, he could get one of those HP Media Computers that are a decent price and come with 6gb RAM and an intel dual core. That should be enough for that. Plus he'll get Windows 7 64-bit. But, here is a build he could use: CPU- AMD Phenom™ II X4 965 Quad-Core Black Edition 3.4GHz w/ 8MB Cache (Retail Box, Socket AM3) Mobo - Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2H w/ Radeon HD 4200, DualDDR3 1600, 7.1 Audio, Gigabit Lan, 1394, Hybrid CrossFireX, HDMI RAM - Patriot Extreme Performance Viper II Series DDR3 4GB (2 x 2GB) PC3-12800 Low Latency Dual Channel Kit - (or he could just get Kingston value-ram) Case/PSU - Sonata III Quiet Super Mini Tower w/ EarthWatts 500W, eSATA Total - ~540 (Canadian prices :) Now, a cheap media GPU would be like a nVidia Geforce 9600GT or 9400GT.
If no gaming is going to be done on it, then i3 with it's igp acceleration would be the shit.
[QUOTE=ButtsexV2;21057822]If no gaming is going to be done on it, then i3 with it's igp acceleration would be the shit.[/QUOTE] I second this, I've got an i3 build serving as a media PC and it's perfect for the job.
How does this build look for ~$800 Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM Intel Core i3-530 Clarkdale 2.93GHz 4MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 73W Dual-Core Desktop Processor - Retail SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-WW Black/Silver Aluminum Bezel, SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail ASUS VW193TR Black 19" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 50000 :1 (ASCR) Built-in Speakers - Retail CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Retail EVGA 111-CD-E630-TR LGA 1156 Intel H55 HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail 4x Crucial 1GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory Model CT12864BA1339 - Retail ASUS Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM The guy said he wants to use his old mouse/keyboard, so no mouse/keyboard included. Any incompatibility? Anything I'm missing? Does this look like a good media build?
just buy a netbook
[QUOTE=nullsquared;21081815]How does this build look for ~$800 Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM Intel Core i3-530 Clarkdale 2.93GHz 4MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 73W Dual-Core Desktop Processor - Retail SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-WW Black/Silver Aluminum Bezel, SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail ASUS VW193TR Black 19" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 50000 :1 (ASCR) Built-in Speakers - Retail CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Retail EVGA 111-CD-E630-TR LGA 1156 Intel H55 HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail 4x Crucial 1GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory Model CT12864BA1339 - Retail ASUS Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM The guy said he wants to use his old mouse/keyboard, so no mouse/keyboard included. Any incompatibility? Anything I'm missing? Does this look like a good media build?[/QUOTE] That PSU is overkill. This case+PSU would save you some money (assuming you're buying from Newegg): [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129034[/url] [editline]03:40PM[/editline] Also he doesn't really need 4GB of RAM for a media / internet machine, just get 2GB and save $50.
[QUOTE=Roast Beast;21082893]That PSU is overkill. This case+PSU would save you some money (assuming you're buying from Newegg): [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129034[/url][/quote] One of his requirements was a "cool looking" PC tower, so that case is out of the question. As for the PSU, it was the cheapest Corsair I found. [quote] Also he doesn't really need 4GB of RAM for a media / internet machine, just get 2GB and save $50.[/QUOTE] Another one of his requirements was "lots of RAM". I dunno if he knows what that means, but I figured I'd get him "lots of RAM" just in case.
[QUOTE=nullsquared;21083512]One of his requirements was a "cool looking" PC tower, so that case is out of the question. As for the PSU, it was the cheapest Corsair I found. Another one of his requirements was "lots of RAM". I dunno if he knows what that means, but I figured I'd get him "lots of RAM" just in case.[/QUOTE] Well in that case just change the PSU, Antec's a good brand: [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371023[/url]
[QUOTE=Roast Beast;21083664]Well in that case just change the PSU, Antec's a good brand: [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371023[/url][/QUOTE] Hm, I dunno. I had an Antec once and didn't like it, wasn't very stable. Ever since I've only used Corsair and PC Power & Cooling PSUs, never a single problem. Besides, if this guy decides he want to upgrade to a powerful GPU or something, the extra $50 saved on the PSU won't be useful.
corsair, antec and PCP&C are all good
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