New PC for my sister, a question or two

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hardrock152

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Feb 19, 2013
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Hey guys,

Thank you in advance fr the help, i love this site, you have helped me more times then i can count.

So after the success of my most recent build, my sister has decided that her laptop is dying and she would like a desktop, which i offered to build/pay for for her wedding gift (she is getting married in October).

Allow me to start with her uses, they are almost non-existent, she watches the occasional movie, goes on Facebook, basic office tasks (like microsoft office tasks), and at most plays tetris (I know exciting use of a powerful piece of equipment).

So I had basic idea of the build and i was looking for a few opinions on the build and thoughts, I'm not truly pricing anything as my main questions will be about the processor, so I am only going to list the items:

Processor
-i5 3570
Motherboard
-msi motherboard ($100 model, it is bundled with the processor so it is only $50 and i have always like msi mobos)
case
-thermaltake ms-1 commander snow edition
optical
-hp dvd read writer
SSD
-32gb ssd (cheap one, maybe sandisk)
Hdd
-500 gb WD hdd
Power Supply
-corsair builder cx 430w

So i gave those just to give an idea of what my thought process was. I figured an ssd for the OS only would be nice just for the quick boot, and since I can get away with a low capacity it may be worth the extra money. 500gb hard drive i figured would be more then enough capacity to start. and i like the motherboard, a little attached to it. (also she picked the case).

THE QUESTIONS:
-Do you think it would be worthwhile to buy a low end or older generation graphics card, or will the hd4000 integrated be enough for everything she would need?
-The same bundle for the motherboard is available with the i3-3220, do you think the i5 is overkill, I want her future proofed but i also don't want her drive a ferrari at 30 mph.
-SSD yes or no (I know this is more of an opinion but how do people feel about one so small for something like the OS)?

Please feel free to comment, won't ever feel insulted if you don't like a piece I love the advice, makes everything go smoother and again thank you for the help i advance guys!!!
 
Solution
tenaciousk
Hi Hardrock,
Alot of these are opinion based questions. but here are my thoughts.

1: If all she is doing is web browsing and watching movies, flash games. The integrated graphics will have no problem handling that. So i would say you are fine without the dedicated gpu. And if it ends up being a problem. Which it shouldn't you could always buy a lower end one to boost the performance. And throw it in at anytime.

2: For basic computing tasks the i3-3220 is still a very zippy processor. Its up to you on what you want to spend. But i do believe for her uses. She wouldn't notice much of a speed difference if you were to buy an i3.

3. A ssd would be a great addition. If you were to buy one though, i would suggest at least a 60g...
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Kadathan

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Mar 25, 2013
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Well, actually you have the i5 3570, a powerful processor but it has the 2nd gen intel HD 2500 graphics chip, not the HD4000. The HD4000 is sweet but is only on 3570k as well as many of the laptop processors. Beyond that, most people who would get the 3570k are looking for the overclocking option so they are probably also buying a dedicated gpu and the HD 4000 goes to waste for them too...

That being said, the 2500 should suffice if she does not play any high end games. It is enough to play video.

Beyond this, the 3570 will boot the os in ~14 seconds, or the one I just made does, so I wouldn't worry too much about the SSD IMHO.

Personally I would also say that the i5 is probably overkill, but as you said future proofing isn't so bad and people love it when their programs open almost instantaneously anyways, something the i3 line simply will not be able to deliver.

Hopefully this helped.
 
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tenaciousk

tenaciousk

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Jan 18, 2013
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Hi Hardrock,
Alot of these are opinion based questions. but here are my thoughts.

1: If all she is doing is web browsing and watching movies, flash games. The integrated graphics will have no problem handling that. So i would say you are fine without the dedicated gpu. And if it ends up being a problem. Which it shouldn't you could always buy a lower end one to boost the performance. And throw it in at anytime.

2: For basic computing tasks the i3-3220 is still a very zippy processor. Its up to you on what you want to spend. But i do believe for her uses. She wouldn't notice much of a speed difference if you were to buy an i3.

3. A ssd would be a great addition. If you were to buy one though, i would suggest at least a 60g. Windows and all its updates can barely fit onto a 32 gb. And if you got the 60 you could install a couple of her most commonly used programs.
 
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tiny voices

tiny voices

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Sep 6, 2012
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opening regular programs will be identical with an i3 and an i5. There will b no speed difference. An SSD is where that changes. Not the CPU. People worry about dual core CPUs but in current time they are fine even for gaming. As far as normal office style use, they will be fine for years. Basically all the uses you listed are single core use anyway.
 
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utroz

utroz

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Nov 9, 2010
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The Ivy Bridge CPU's are the last cpu's that will support LGA1055 so if you get the i5-3750K you have the second best cpu that the platform can support and you could always overclock it some in the future if she needed more performance. Yes the i5-3750K is probably overkill but usually once cpu's go out of production the price either stays about the same or even goes up so getting a good cpu now while you can get a good deal on it is probably a good idea if you want the system to last her a long time. The ssd for a boot drive would speed windows up just make she knows how to put her actual data and big files on the 500GB hard drive. As long as she is not downloading alot movies or doing alot of graphical content creation the 500GB HDD should be enough to last her a while and as it is just a data drive you could always get a new bigger one and just copy the contents of the old HDD to a new one. On the gpu issue I would think that the Intel 4000 graphics is most likely enough for her especially now that Intel has a working OpenCL driver. If for some reason in the future she needed more graphics power you could just get a decent lower mid rage card from either AMD or Nvidia for $120 bucks or so. You build seems quite future proof for her type of usage, how much and what RAM were you thinking of? I am going to say to get 2x4GB for 8GB total. You can get the cheapest kits of ddr3 1333 for $55 on newegg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820313123
I would spend the extra ten bucks and get a 1866CL9 kit more like either one of these for $65 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231550
Or for $67 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231460

Good luck on building your sister's wedding present!!

 
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hardrock152

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Feb 19, 2013
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Thanks a bunch guys for all the answers the opinions are fantastic. Just to answer your question utroz I was thinking 8gb (2x4) myself, it did pass my mind to only go for 4gb, but again futureproofing should be in mind and honestly you don't save much so I was probably gonna get some kingston hyperx blu's (I have them in my gaming rig, they have been great and cost me $50 at microcenter). So far I've hear:

1.) No to the graphics card (upgrade later if truly needed)
2.)both yes and no, i3 will probably be more then enough, but the i5 is future proof (ultimately this will be a last second decision from me).
3.)SSd as a boot drive is a great idea, maybe save a little for at least a 60gb so I can throw a few programs on there.

All great opinions really helpful. Any other quality of life things I should consider, I've been looking into maybe a 5.25 inch bay led temperature monitor (I don't trust her to watch it herself). You guys think its worth it? Keep in mind this is not my first pc, i doubt anything will be burning up in their under load (if she ever puts it under one).

Thanks again everyone!
 
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utroz

utroz

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Nov 9, 2010
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The i3 or i5 question is really all up to your budget. About the ram: it sounds like you have that worked out and your sister will have plenty for anything she will do for almost a decade. The SSD: yes I would probably go for a 64ish GB over a 32GB one so there will be plenty of room for windows and the swap drive file all on the SSD plus a few of her most used programs. The GPU: It really sounds like she doesn't need anything more than a basic integrated gpu even for the next 5 years or so. I would say you are making the right call to not spend money on one. The LED temp Bay: I don't think she will even notice it, just make sure you have the BIOS setup right and it will automatically throttle or shutdown in the case of a fan failure or if your sister puts it in a oven(jk) or something to make it overheat. A couple of good case fans will make that almost impossible for the cpu's you are looking at. Good luck man. Don't forget to pick the best solution so the thread will be marked as solved..
 
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