AMD vs. Intel <$500 Office PC Builds

[specopbookie]

Alright folks; I've got two different PCs spec'd out and I'm having difficulties deciding which I want to use/build. I am building an office pc; it will be used for Quickbooks, MS Office programs, mutli-tab/window internet browsing, including (probably) some Facebook games of some sort, Email, and that's really about it. The Facebook games will be the extent of the gaming. The monitors attached to the PC will most likely be 720p or equivalent, and HD videos will come from Youtube or some other site; nothing crazy. So now that you know what it will be used for, let's get to what I've spec'd and see if anyone has any recommendations to:
A. bring the price down further, or
B. increase performance at little to no extra cost. .
Finally... And yes, this may bring some biased reviews, but I want honest opinions, What build is better, AMD or Intel...And WHY

The ONE thing I am sold on is a SSD. I will not swap it out for something else. After building two other Office PCs with Samsung EVO SSDs, I am hooked on the performance/reliability/longevity.

AMD Build:
PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2oyCS

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI 970A-G43 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($62.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($88.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R7 240 2GB Video Card ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Rosewill FB-04 ATX Mid Tower Case ($34.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($39.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $494.92
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-23 00:13 EST-0500)


Intel Build:
PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2oAJ1

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($62.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($88.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Rosewill FBM-02 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($21.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($39.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $481.93
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-23 01:38 EST-0500)

Notice, the Intel build doesn't have a GPU because I would use the integrated 4600 HD on the i5. More than enough, i assume, for Office related stuffs.

 

[ssddx]

for windows, ms office and perhaps a little browsing you dont need a video card.

i would recommend going with an amd apu based build. its cheaper than intel and the video performance is better. cpu performance however is down a little bit but that shouldnt be an issue.

what i was thinking

[PCPartPicker part list](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2oBPl) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2oBPl/by_merchant/) / [Benchmarks](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2oBPl/benchmarks/)

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [AMD A8-6600K 3.9GHz Quad-Core Processor](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/amd-cpu-ad660kwohlbox) | $104.66 @ NCIX US
good mid level apu. for $15 more you could go top of the line a10. slightly less cpu performance than a good i5 but better video performance.

**Motherboard** | [Asus A55BM-A/USB3 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-a55bmausb3) | $68.99 @ Mac Mall
supports usb3, high speed ram, not much else to say.

**Memory** | [G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f314900cl9d8gbsr) | $68.00 @ Newegg
its on sale and its fast. apu runs better on faster ram and its not expensive at all. also 2x4 makes use of dual channel (1x8 doesnt)

**Storage** | [Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz7te120bw) | $88.99 @ Amazon
as you wanted..

**Case** | [Cougar Spike MicroATX Mini Tower Case](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cougar-case-spike) | $24.99 @ Newegg
has 3x120mm fans in a small case for pretty decent airflow considering the small size. not a bad case for the money.

**Power Supply** | [SeaSonic 450W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seasonic-power-supply-ssr450rm) | $69.99 @ Amazon
seasonics are rock solid. you dont need 450w (a 350w is good enough) however this one is fully modular meaning you dont have to hide wires. if you dont care about that you can go with a 350 seasonic for cheaper.

**Optical Drive** | [Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-optical-drive-drw24b1stblkbas) | $19.98 @ OutletPC
looks to be better performance than the one you picked for about the same price.

| | **Total**
| Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available. | $445.60
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-23 02:08 EST-0500 |

 

[specopbookie]

Thanks for the input. I completely spaced the dual channel ram, good catch. Ironically, I built an APU based build with the 6800K and the Cougar Spike just a couple weeks back. I am a pretty big fan of the APU and AMD, but the Intel 4570 is significantly more powerful than even the A10-6800K stock APU, when it comes to CPU performance. These PCs won't be used for rendering videos or any offline gaming, only browser/flash based games, if anything at all, so I don't want to sacrifice CPU performance for graphics. I'll check out the Seasonic and Asus Drive too.

 

[ssddx]

honestly either would work for a general use computer.

 

[specopbookie]

Thanks for your input. I ended up going with the FX-6300 Build. It's about $60 cheaper than the Intel Build now, after updating both, and will serve very well as an office PC. Here's the updated spec:

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock 960GM/U3S3 FX Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($53.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($68.00 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($88.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 5450 1GB Video Card ($29.99 @ Amazon)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WN725N 802.11b/g/n USB 2.0 Wi-Fi Adapter ($8.88 @ Amazon)
Case: Rosewill FBM-02 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($21.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 400W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($43.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.99 @ Microcenter)
Total: $445.80
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-23 15:31 EST-0500)

I decided on the 760G chipset over the Newer 970 because I won't be upgrading the system, it's cheaper, uAtx so I can have the original case I wanted, which also makes it cheaper, etc. It supports 1866 RAM (OC), which is fine with me, If I have to buy 1333 RAM, i will, 8GB is more than enough anyway for how the system will be used, and speed won't even be noticed by the users actually on the computer.