AMD Phenom II X4 Performance PC

[Omegayellow]

I am looking to build an Office PC. The person using the PC will use MS Office, Web Browsers, Photoshop/ Dreamweaver, and other applications (many applications running at the same time). I am looking at an AMD build based on price, but I could be swayed to Intel. I have created a build plan and am wondering what the community thinks (By the way: The PC will be in use for three years and then retired). I do not have links, but I buy my components from Newegg.

*AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition (3.4 GHz Quad Core)
*Asus M4A77TD Motherboard
*4 GB Crucial DDR3 RAM (1333 MHz)
*(2) Seagate 1TB SATA Hard Drives- ST3750528AS
*Corsair CMPSU-750TX 750-Watt Power Supply
*Sapphire 100252HDMI Graphics
*Windows 7 Ultimate (32- Bit)

Any parts can be changed, but the computer must have a 32- Bit OS. The graphics card I am unsure on, but I chose the card because it was cheap. The machine will need to be able to show a picture simultaneously on an LCD screen (Currently planning on a 23" ViewSonic) and a multimedia projector. The projector uses a VGA connection (The old, blue cable). Anything can be changed- budget is not a problem. Any suggestions that you have would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[WR2]

Hello Omegayellow;

Here is a combo deal on Phenom II X4 965 & ASUS M4A88TD-M/USB3 880G motherboard $265
That 880G motherboard has an integrated Radeon HD 4250 graphics chip that should handle both the projector and a 23" LCD monitor. It has VGA, DVI and HDMI video connectors. It also has forward looking USB3 and SATA 6GB/s support.

For power you'd really only need a basic, reliable PSU. Something like Antec Earthwatt EA380 380W PSU or Corsair 400CX 400W PSU would be more than enough for that system and lots of room for extra HDDs/SSD, etc.

You probably want Windows 7 Professional instead of ultimate. Win7 feature comparisons

 

[Guest]

You don't really need a 965 for office based work. You could save a bit and go for the 945. Do you need 2TB of space for this computer? You certainly don't need a dedicated graphics card or a 750W power supply. How come you don't want a 64-bit OS? You're wasting 1/4GB of RAM there.

 

[dan4patriots]

drop the CPU to a Phenom II x4 955, same as 965 except it's multiplier is lowered by 1 so no point in wasting money for a 965 when 955 has unlocked multi

 

[Omegayellow]

Just to answer everyone:

WR2: The ASUS Board looks good. I have used Asus in the past with good performance. The onboard graphics are a great plus- I just need the two screens. That should work. The only concern I have is a PSU in the 400 Watt range- will it be powerful enough?

dangerman200k: The reason I chose the 965BE is that the Q6600 (It was high- end back in 07) feels more like my AMD Duron- very slow on Vista. The hard drives would not be 2 TB- I would have them in a mirroring RAID- for backup purposes. IThe 32-Bit OS is because I use some programs that do not support 64-Bit OS (Real Estate Lockbox Management Software that is Proprietary), so I'm stuck with 32- Bit.

In summary- the power supply is probably too large- I do want the capability for expansion if the time comes, but a lower- end PSU would work if it can power everything. Any suggestions?

I need a fast CPU- my Q6600 is way too slow. As for the CPU, would overclocking be a good choice or is it better to stay at stock speed?

If I had to pick a board without onboard graphics, what would be a good, cheap card? What about the old nVidia v. ATi debate? Is there a difference in basic computing?

Also, does Office 2007 run on Windows 7?

Thanks

 

[WR2]

Office 2007 is very happy with Windows 7 32bit.

X4 965 and a nice motherboard like the ASUS M4A88TD-M, 4GB or RAM and those 2x TB HDDs, the usual DVD burner... thats going to be running at less than 125watts most of the time - and you might push it near 200watts if you try really hard to have everything running flat out at once.

CPU benchmark comparison: C2Q Q6600 vs X4 965 and X4 965 vs i7 860 Overclocking is an option but the gains aren't as great as you'd expect.


For a discrete video card I like the AMD/ATI HD 5450. For business class graphics there really isnt any much difference in ATI vs nVidia products.

 

[Omegayellow]

Thanks for the help! I did not realize that the PC would only use 200W of power at a decent load. I think that this build should do the trick, but if needed, do you have a recommendation for an ATX board, and how would that impact my power supply requirements?

Thanks

 

[WR2]

A couple good choices: ASUS M4A88TD-V EVO 880G or ASUS M4A89GTD PRO 890G ASUS M4A88TD-M shown for comparison.
The power supply requirements are nearly identical. I can't find specifics but I'd be shocked if the total requirement differed by even 20watts. The chips on the MBs taking power are mostly identical and parts in use (x4 965 CPU, HD 5450 video card, 4GB RAM, HDDs, DVD burner, etc) don't need take additional power in different motherboards.

 

[Omegayellow]

Best answer selected by Omegayellow.