Help with non-gaming PC

[rixxx]

Approximate Purchase Date: As soon as possible

Budget Range: $600-$700 after rebates

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Everyday tasks (surfing the net, watching movies), No gaming

Parts Not Required: Keyboard, Mouse, Monitors (2 x Dell 2312HM)

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Canadian websites

Country: Canada

Parts Preferences: Only preference is Intel

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: No

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Additional Comments: Looking to put together my first build and although there will be no gaming done, I just want it to be fast and future-proof for at least a few years and be able to utilize dual monitors. It will be running 24/7 so a little energy efficiency won't hurt either. Done quite a bit of research but can't seem to make any decisions. Was leaning towards the i3 2120 but with the 2500k price at $200 was thinking about that...but will that be overkill? Also was leaning towards a SSD but that seems to be unnecessary in my usage situation. And will I need a video card if I intend on not doing any gaming but for watcing high-def movies? What type of motherboard will I need? Very confused and need lots of help!! Thank you!

 

[blazorthon]

Yeah the i5-2500K would probably be way overkill. You won't need a video card to watch HD movies, the integrated graphics on Intel's CPUs is more than adequate for that.

I don't know if Intel's graphics can support two monitors and if not then you will just need a $15-25 video card like a Radeon 5450 or 6450 to use two monitors.

If this computer will only be used for movies and internet surfing then you could use a Sandy bridge Celeron or Pentium CPU for that, price range of $50-80 or so for the CPU and a similar price range for an H61 chipset motherboard. You can use the stock cooler provided with the CPU so you don't need an aftermarket cooler.

And SSD is not goingto help you much if all you do is light stuff like internet browsing and watching video or using Microsoft office.

You could halve your budget for a light workload like this.