Help me pick a CPU

getdamafiaonyou · Aug 26, 2014

Ok, so I'm building a mini itx for the G/F. It will be used for "work at home" work, school, and some light photo editing. Never will it be gamed on, no movies encoded, the heaviest workload it may see is some light room use, but honestly even that is probably a no. So here's my question, for everyday, simple tasks, will I/she notice a difference going with a A10/A8 instead of a i5?

runswindows95 · Aug 26, 2014

Overall, not really. I do heavy word processing, and I really can't a tell difference between my old Core2Duo and my buddy's i5-3570K. If you can swing it, I would get the i5 myself, but the A8-7600 would be a good choice. If anything, an SSD will help more then any CPU.

Karsten75 · Aug 26, 2014

Or you could go with an Intel Core i3...... very much of a muchness. You could look at getting her a Intel NUC or a Brix.... tiny and probably will get the job done.

Maybe even an all-in-one to add additional space savings and keep her workspace more clutter- and cable-free?

If you do build her something, consider going SSD-only. She will appreciate the responsiveness of the SSD.

Here's a list of Brix barebones systems: http://www.newegg.com/Mini-Booksize-Barebone-PCs/BrandSubCat/ID-1314-309?Order=PRICE

getdamafiaonyou · Aug 26, 2014

Well I want to do a build so its more flexible. It's not a matter of if I CAN swing the i5, its more is it really worth it for this application. I've had bad experience using i3 powered devices before. I was planning on going with a 4tb hybrid drive, eliminate the complexity of her having to decide where to safe stuff, and save money since she has a massive photo collection (dslr's and loves taking pictures). Just trying to save money if I can, instead of going overkill and never having that performance be needed. Thanks.

DHFF · Aug 26, 2014

I think the A10 will do you fine, The last batch of Workstations I did for one of our locations were all a10 5800 builds with 4GB ram and they are champs for light work. Internet, work processing, Scanning, Point of sales Apps ect. no lag and no issues that anyone has reported to me so far.

logainofhades · Aug 26, 2014

I would probably go with a Mini-ITX A10 based build for this one. The better IGP, depending on the app used, could be useful for her photo editing. Something like this. The ram is probably overkill, but depending on the photo sizes, might be useful. Wouldn't need a pagefile at least.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD A10-7850K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor ($166.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A88X-ITX+ Mini ITX FM2+ Motherboard ($83.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Redline 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive ($179.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 130 Mini ITX Tower Case ($39.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair RM 450W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG UH12NS30 Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($34.99 @ TigerDirect)
Total: $755.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-26 13:19 EDT-0400

Joe Yahchouchi · Aug 26, 2014

For regular work you won't feel a difference. You would be much happier putting that money into an SSD for the operating system and most used apps.

I personally switched from a dual core cpu i3 3220 to an core i5 3570 on the same machine(all other hardware being the same) while it made day and night difference for my games. My regular office apps were already as fast as they could be on the i3. So no difference there

Karsten75 · Aug 26, 2014

logainofhades :

This is the problem with low-end deals. Big guys like Dell, HP, and Lenovo can't be beat for builds and they don't pay street price for the OS either - which would push your build to over $800 - and that's really not budget.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/08/tuesday-dealmaster-lenovo-more-like-low-novo/

I've not checked if any of those Dell deals listed in that article is still available, but at the $800 price point there are really a lot of PCs against which it makes no sense whatsoever to custom-build. Only thing that's missing is the 4TB HHDD.

Dell Optiplex 3020 4th-gen Core i3 "Haswell" SFF Desktop w/ Windows 7 Pro, 3-year warranty for $459 with free shipping. List price $855.71 | use coupon code R0JG96ZQ0F8BCL)

getdamafiaonyou · Aug 26, 2014

well I wont ever buy another Dell, as for logainohades build that's similar to what I had in mind, however I've already decided on the 250d case, no optical drive needed, 8gb of ram is plenty in my opinion, and at that price for the A10, I may as well spring the extra 50 bucks for the i5. Also I've already got copies of 8.1 and a 650w psu laying around that's only about a year or so old. Thanks guys, I'll let you know what I decide in a couple days when I start ordering parts, if I can chip away prices here and there I may just spring for the i5, I just dont want the system to ever "feel" slow. But I'm tempted to try a AMD build havent done one in years, just dont want to spend money on a AMD cpu/mobo, then not be happy with it.

getdamafiaonyou · Aug 26, 2014

This was my thought on the build http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3gmMMp

Right around 640 bucks since I've got a psu and windows. on a side note how do you get the list to show up in the forum after using part picker?

Karsten75 · Aug 26, 2014

getdamafiaonyou :

Export, choose BBCode option.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($224.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-L9i 57.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($46.99 @ Mwave)
Motherboard: MSI B85I Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($83.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Kingston Black Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($94.92 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive ($106.40 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair 250D Mini ITX Tower Case ($84.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $642.26
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-26 15:27 EDT-0400

Karsten75 · Aug 26, 2014

BTW, that i5 is the overclockable i5. You may as well "chip away" a few (quite a few) dollars and get the low-end i5. Will post in a few. But really, I think you're more indulging yourself here at to build the PC that is really required.

Your mobo and CPU for instance aren't matched at all. Sure, they're compatible, but the mobo doesn't allow overclocking. But you pay at least $30 for the overclockable, top-of-the-range i5.

Karsten75 · Aug 26, 2014

Here: at least now the CPU is matched to the motherboard.

and it's $42 less.

You can also lose the Noctua cooler until it does appear that she somehow will drive this thing at anything approacing high and will need non-stock cooling. That's another $50 saved.

The memory also is unnecessarily expensive. Save another $20.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($187.94 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock B85M-ITX Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($77.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($77.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive ($106.40 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair 250D Mini ITX Tower Case ($84.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $535.29
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-26 15:38 EDT-0400

getdamafiaonyou · Aug 26, 2014

I know, I always indulge myself, however thanks for the MOBO advice, I didnt even notice that, just looked for compatible mini itx, I would have been pissed when I went to OC. haha. my thing again the stock cooler is they're loud, I had just redone the build to use AMD instead, still using a different cooler, however after seeing your build/price only being 40 bucks more for a i5, that's damn tempting, didnt realize the locked ones were so much cheaper now, last time I looked (granted it's been a couple years) the price difference was only like 20 bucks. Any recommendations for the cooler then? I'd like the machine to be nice and quiet, so I'm leaning toward what you spec'd out with the cooler I had picked, unless you can think of something cheaper/quiter? thanks again.

getdamafiaonyou · Aug 26, 2014

Also as far as indulging myself, you have no idea how much I'm cutting back what I wanted to do. Lol, at first I was going to use a custom prodigy, braided cable modular pus, add a 750ti and do a custom loop...so yeah. I would say I've scaled down my approach considerably.

Karsten75 · Aug 26, 2014

I don't build with aftermarket air coolers anymore. I either install the stock fan or get an all-in-one liquid cooler - they cool really effective and they're quiet. At least in my opinion.

Folks here usually recommend the $30 Evo 212. I would recommend the NZXT Kraken x31 - but that eats up $75 of the money I saved you. So yea, maybe the Evo, although you may have issues fitting it in that case, since I don't see it as a comaptible option in PCPartPicker.

Seriously, install with the stock cooler, run it and see how noisy it is. Then if it is too much, get an aftermarket cooler.

getdamafiaonyou · Aug 26, 2014

yeah, I had the evo 212, went to a h100i, so I know what you mean, evo 212 though, personally I didnt like it. Thanks for your help.

getdamafiaonyou · Aug 27, 2014

Thanks everyone, I ended up with an A8 because newegg had a nice combo deal and from what I've seen the performance difference (cpu side) is like 1% between the A8 and the A10. Also If after a few months use if she/we aren't happy with how it performs I'll just pull the MOBO/CPU and upgrade to a I5, and use those to make a really dirt cheap htpc. All in all I spent right around 400 bucks for this, so I'm really curious to see how well it runs. Thanks for all the help.

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