Need advice for low-mid end build

[elysio]

Approximate Purchase Date: this season.

Budget Range: 400-500 Before Rebates

System Usage from Most to Least Important: surfing net, watching movies, syncing iPod. basically a home PC. Gotta be fast though. Upgrading from a 2006 Sony Vaio that BSOD twice. It had a dual-core centrino.

Parts Not Required: mouse

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.ca

Country: Canada

Parts Preferences: I would prefer intel, but AMD is acceptable. Also, SSD is a necessity.

Overclocking: no

SLI or Crossfire: no

Monitor Resolution: 1024x768 or 1920x1080

Additional Comments: It'll sometimes have 2 monitors (TV). If you could include Windows in the price, would be nice.

 

[gary1]

Anyway to up your budget? 500$ isn't going to get you much when SSD = 100$ and Windows = 100$, so 300 for everything else. That's with an APU, not dedicated GPU.

 

[elysio]

Anyway to up your budget? 500$ isn't going to get you much when SSD = 100$ and Windows = 100$, so 300 for everything else. That's with an APU, not dedicated GPU.

Will an APU work?

 

[kelthic]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/a8-3500m-llano-apu,2959-23.html This is an article about the difference between an APU and an I5 Mobile chip. I believe since you are not playing games on this pc, an APU would work ok.

 

[Hydroc10]

If your not a gamer an APU will work just fine.

 

[farrengottu]

APU is technically an amd only thing. though intel having "ok" graphics on chip finally counts in my eye but i think amd better integrates it or something that lets them say they have an APU and intel doesnt. same thing to me. anyways i digress

an intel pentium G series is a pretty quick processor. it feels just like a i3 2100 feels. though it benchmarks slightly below it. it comes with intel 2000 series graphics which is plenty for your needs. i think the g850 is ideal for price/performance but the whole series is pretty nice for the price.

 

[obsama1]

http://www.hardware-revolution.com/best-budget-gaming-pc-february-2012/

Build Tier 0.625, or if you can squeeze in 0.75 that'd be better.. No APU, but the Dual-core pentium outperforms the APU, but once you factor in

 

[aznshinobi]

Check out my $350 build here:
http://www.squidoo.com/electronicandmore
Should be much more sufficient for you.