Building PC for Parents - Help with CPU choice..

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SammySam

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Jan 30, 2014
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Yo -

So I'm building my Parents next PC as they are in need of an upgrade -

Obviosuly they aren't power users, it's not going to be gaming, mainly media use, such as Music and Videos, general web browsing and application use.

Nothing heavy like video rendering etc. Just a run of the mill casual use pc.

What CPU would you reccommened for such a thing? Obviously they want to keep the price down, and a dedicated GPU won't be needed..

Thanks..

Sam
 
Solution
herrwizo
This should do the job perfectly. If you need it, add monitor, peripherals and OS. More RAM is not required for general usage, but you can get 8GB if you feel like it ;) SSD for a system drive (like 120GB Samsung 850 EVO model) would speed up general performance in Windoes considerably, so consider adding one (approx. $60 more).

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3240 3.1GHz Dual-Core Processor ($52.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($43.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($29.23 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM...
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herrwizo

herrwizo

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Feb 17, 2009
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This should do the job perfectly. If you need it, add monitor, peripherals and OS. More RAM is not required for general usage, but you can get 8GB if you feel like it ;) SSD for a system drive (like 120GB Samsung 850 EVO model) would speed up general performance in Windoes considerably, so consider adding one (approx. $60 more).

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3240 3.1GHz Dual-Core Processor ($52.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($43.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($29.23 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($37.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Antec 450W ATX Power Supply ($33.98 @ Directron)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($13.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $265.15
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-03-28 07:26 EDT-0400
 
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SammySam

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Jan 30, 2014
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@ herrwizo - Thanks buddy, I started to build something similar on partpicker -

What do think of this cpu - AMD A6-5400K 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor - vs the Intel, these were my two choices I narrowed it down too..
 
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herrwizo

herrwizo

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Feb 17, 2009
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No problem, mate. AMD has better integrated graphics, but since your parents won't be gaming that's completely irrelevant. Pentium is significantly faster in CPU department, and that matters. Also, H81M motherboard can one day be reused with i3, i5 or i7 CPU, so it is not a dead end in terms of upgrading like AMD APU boards.
 
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herrwizo

herrwizo

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Feb 17, 2009
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This is in fact interesting, but the board is a dead end - no ability to swap CPUs and reuse the board with i3/i5/i7 in the future.
 
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VincentP

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Oct 18, 2013
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I think the idea of being able to swap out the CPU is overrated. No one would actually bother doing this on a PC of this type. By the time a few generations of CPUs have been released and there is a worthwhile upgrade path, you need a new board anyway.

The issue with the integrated solution linked here is that this is a 10W CPU. The passmark score for this CPU is only 1046, single thread 552. Compare this to the A6-5400K that scores 2146, single thread 1330 or the G3240 that scores 3272, single thread 1775.

I think the Pentium is a great choice of CPU. You could also consider a Core i3-4150 if not too much more expensive. I wouldn't expect you will ever upgrade the CPU in this system.
 
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