I3-2100?

[sjeong1983]

Hello, Gentlemen.

I have a stone age system from summer/2006 (sony vgc-rc210g with Pentium D 930).

I have recently spent about $250 on 600W PSU & HD6850 and I now need new CPU, MB, & Memory.

About $250-300 is current bugdet (lower the better of course - will sacrifice little performance for $$$).

Is it possible to get i3-2100, MB (micro ATX), and 4GB memory within that range?

I found Ahtlon II X4 640 with MB and 4GB RAM @ about $250 but I dont think its worth it all that much. (from reading the posts, I figure I3-2100 is way better than Athlon II X4)

Also, is the CPU fan & heatsink a must? (the one that i have on my current system won't be good i assume).

Its mainly for little gaming, little photoshop & other entertainment.

Any advise is welcomed!

Will change OS to Windows 7 x64.

Thanks, greatly appreciated.

 

[aznshinobi]

Siggy 450$ build. In your case you don't need the GPU or the PSU. So you'll save quite a bit.

 

[sjeong1983]

Siggy 450$ build? Could u explain? Does it mean it will cost at least 450 for cpu mb ram + cpu fan(i guess this a must?)

Thanks

 

[aznshinobi]

"Budget Builds - $300 $450, $600, $1000, and $1200-$1500 budget builds! (includes HTPC) "

Click on that.

The 450$ build would fit you just fine. But since you don't need a gpu and a psu, that saves you like 150$. So like 300 for the cpu,mb,ram. CPU fan comes with the 2100.

 

[imaurer269]

for $250 you can do the i3-2100 & ram:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.631847 i3-2100 & mobo combo $205

There a few other motherboard combos with the 13-2100 to pick from, I'm noth the biggest fan of biostar(hate their bios options) but it gives you 4 ram slots and the option to crossfire - only x16 x4 tho

2x2GB ram kits run 40-50 bucks

Or could get the i5-2400 & ram for $300ish:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.631835 $265

The step up to the i5-2400 is well worth it IMO

 

[sjeong1983]

Best answer selected by sjeong1983.

 

[sjeong1983]

Thanks guys. Maybe i should hold off camera lense purchase and go little crazy if i want system that will be ok for next 3 yrs or so, is i5 well worth extra 50 i guess.

 

[geekapproved]

Forget the $450 build, that is horrible.

i3-2100 and mobo combo about $180, ram is another $40. It will blow the doors off that X4 925 AND have future upgradeability.

 

[sjeong1983]

MSI h61m-p23 1155lga mb, i3-2100 & crucial 2x2gb ddr3-1333 mem for $220 <<<< best deal i found from micro center. Is it worth it to spend $50 more for i5-2400???

 

[geekapproved]

That doesn't seem like a very good deal to me considering they only want $99 for the cpu, but to answer your question, yes it's definitely worth $50 more for the 2400.

 

[aznshinobi]

^ What 450$ build are you talking about GeekApproved? MY 450$ build uses an i3 2100. You should start clicking on the links before you start bashing on other peoples builds.

Yes 50$ more for the 2400 is good deal.

 

[geekapproved]

When I looked at the $450 build, it was Athlon II X3 455. Now it's been changed to i3.

It's obvious to me by reading the last sentence of this paragraph that they recently changed it.

1. CPU - Well, sad to say AMD has lost the lead in value here. The i3 2100 is a chip I would usually not recommend seeing as it is a dual-core vs the 925's quad. However @ $125, the 2100 is a great deal. (They have them @ Microcenter for $99+motherboard) The reason I say that it is a great deal. Performance figure-wise, the 925 sits at a 120% if the Athlon II X3 455 is 100%. Well the i3 2100 sits at about 140% performance. Now looking at those numbers I strongly suggest the i3 2100.

All the prices were updated yesterday, that's probably when they changed the cpu.
Maybe you should actually be aware that your posting links to builds that CHANGE over time.

 

[aznshinobi]

I am aware of that Geek, that's my own website.

Also It's been supporting the i3 2100 for awhile now. Probably over 2 weeks.

 

[rwpritchett]

^Just checked Google's cache of shinobi's blog. It's dated Apr 12, 2011 22:11:57 GMT and has the i3-2100, not an AMD so no changes since then. Too bad the snapshot isn't earlier.

No ninja editing going on here? (he does call himself shinobi... hmmm) :lol:

BTW, I like all of aznshinobi's builds. Good advice there.

 

[aznshinobi]

Haha thank you rwpritchett.

The edits have actually been 2 weeks because it's been 4 days since I updated thet Amazon links, they were still the AMD links b4.

 

[sjeong1983]

Thanks for your help.

I got following.

i5-2400
MSi H67 mATX MB (although this thing didnt have old version dvd rom connect cable...i am currently running without any dvd...should go get SATA DVDRW...Micro Center didnt have ASRock and others were $30+ more)
Kingston DDR3 1333 2x2gb

And I had Radeon 6850 + 600W PSU

Connected everything, it said OS missing,,,enabled RAID,,,,works like a charm. (WIN 7 Pro 64 bit)

Kept Sony Vaio case....i really like this case somehow.

Total spending $320 (plus 80 miles for gas on my car ) for CPU, MB, Mem.

Hopely it was a good deal and this upgrade will be good enough for 3-4 years.

Thanks again.

 

[aznshinobi]

^ None of the Intel SB chipsets/motherboards have IDE support. If you want to have an OS you're going to have to get a SATA DVD drive eventually.