Build It: Picking Parts For Your Kid's Entry-Level Gaming PC

Name: Picking A Platform: Comparing Intel And AMD - Build It: Picking Parts For Your Kid&#039;s Entry-Level Gaming PC
Author: Igor Wallossek

by Igor Wallossek July 10, 2012 at 11:00 PM

126 Comments

Picking A Platform: Comparing Intel And AMD

Selecting the Right CPU and Motherboard

Our first decision sets the stage for the rest of our build. Should you buy an AMD APU or an Intel CPU with HD Graphics? Intel’s Pentium G620 and Celeron G530 CPUs are a little cheaper than AMD’s A8-3850 and A6-3650. But most of that savings is negated by Intel’s generally more expensive motherboards. In the end, we're left to consider slightly more affordable Intel-based solutions.

We aren't including the AMD A8-3870K CPU in that comparison either, since it's quite a bit pricier and only makes sense for overclocking. The -3850 is a more budget-friendly choice.

	Intel Pentium G620	Intel Celeron G530	AMD A8-3850	AMD A6-3650
Core Frequency	2.7 GHz	2.4 GHz	2.9 GHz	2.6 GHz
Cores/Threads	2/2	2/2	4/4	4/4
Cache	512 KB L2 + 3 MB L3	512 KB L2 + 2 MB L3	4 MB L2	4 MB L2
Turbo Frequency	No Turbo	No Turbo	No Turbo	No Turbo
TDP Rating	65 W	65 W	100 W	100 W
Lithography	32 nm	32 nm	32 nm	32 nm
Integrated Memory Controller	DDR3-1066	DDR3-1066	DDR3-1866	DDR3-1866
Integrated Graphics	Intel HD Graphics 850 MHz Base 1.1 GHz Max Freq.	Intel HD Graphics 850 MHz Base 1.0 GHz Max Freq.	Radeon HD 6550D	Radeon HD 6530D
Price	$64	$50	$110	$95
Motherboard	H67 Chipset $65	H67 Chipset $65	A55 Chipset $54	A55 Chipset $54
Bundle	$129	$115	$164	$149

One Intel CPU, well-cooled

AMD's A8-3850 can quickly push smaller heat sinks to their limits

Bottom Line

Right out of the gate, we see that Intel's solutions have a slight advantage over AMD's from a pricing standpoint. Next, we'll take a look at how to keep these respective platforms cooled adequately, quietly, and inexpensively.

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About the author

Igor Wallossek

Igor Wallossek is a Senior Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware DE. He tests and reviews CPUs, GPUs, games and headsets.

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velocityg4 5 years ago

Interesting, but I'm assuming most parents that build there own computers, game and read toms hardware would be better suited just giving their kids their old gaming PC's. Since many this enthusiastic will already be replacing them every couple of years. Now they have another excuse to replace them and their kids get computers made from former high end and quality parts that are still very fast and more than capable of playing any kids games and edutacational/edutainment software.

Although I say just give them an Apple IIe so they can learn on what we learned on in school.
s3anister 5 years ago

velocityg4Interesting, but I'm assuming most parents that build there own computers, game and read toms hardware would be better suited just giving their kids their old gaming PC's.

I see the reasoning in this, however, for someone like myself I found this an interesting article; as I'm actually about to build a computer for my nieces and they do not need a fully featured gaming rig. It doesn't make sense to give them a machine that doesn't suit their needs and I'm sure many other parents/uncles/aunts are in the same boat.
bliq00 5 years ago

why didn't the author post the stock cooling solution temps. Personally I've always found that the stock intel cooling was both quiet and sufficient, even in mini itx cases. I'm curious how big the difference is. if the diff is just 10-15%, I don't think it's worth spending extra on a 3rd party cooler for a kids computer.

Other Comments

velocityg4 5 years ago

Interesting, but I'm assuming most parents that build there own computers, game and read toms hardware would be better suited just giving their kids their old gaming PC's. Since many this enthusiastic will already be replacing them every couple of years. Now they have another excuse to replace them and their kids get computers made from former high end and quality parts that are still very fast and more than capable of playing any kids games and edutacational/edutainment software.

Although I say just give them an Apple IIe so they can learn on what we learned on in school.
s3anister 5 years ago

velocityg4Interesting, but I'm assuming most parents that build there own computers, game and read toms hardware would be better suited just giving their kids their old gaming PC's.

I see the reasoning in this, however, for someone like myself I found this an interesting article; as I'm actually about to build a computer for my nieces and they do not need a fully featured gaming rig. It doesn't make sense to give them a machine that doesn't suit their needs and I'm sure many other parents/uncles/aunts are in the same boat.
JOSHSKORN 5 years ago

or at that age, you could just buy an Android tablet or an overpriced iCraplet. Both probably support AngryBirds or other games and you can take them along to trips, dinners, church and other events to shut them up.
belardo 5 years ago

JOSHSKORNor at that age, you could just buy an Android tablet or an overpriced iCraplet. Both probably support AngryBirds or other games and you can take them along to trips, dinners, church and other events to shut them up.
So show me a top of the line Android tablet that costs less than the "overpriced" iPad...
Maximus_Delta 5 years ago

iCrap (something for the fashion victims & super creative types to show off whilst sipping their skinny lattes in starbucks whilst facebooking their friends about the fact that are in starbucks, having lattes, and got a new iPad / macbook)
belardo 5 years ago

What *YOU* do is hand your kid the OLD computer when you upgrade. But yeah, since about the age of 1 and a half, my son has had his own PC... keeps if off ours. He did damage his CRT monitor with paint - which was somewhat cleaned up. Fine. His first was a client's out-dated Pentium III-1Ghz which he paid $2500 when it was NEW. Then he got a compaq handme down from mom.

Today, age 7: AMD X4 CPU, 4GB RAM, ATI 4670 card I built from various parts. I use it for background work since its so powerful. He does his educational and game software on it.

When I was age 7, the Apple II was just released and most people didn't know what one was. It wasn't until 1980 that we started seeing these $1200~3000 computers... usually in the school library with 1 or 2 units. My 1985 PC: 1-2Mhz 128k RAM, 360k floppy drive system with a monitor was $900+. I still have it and it works. I forgot how to use it.

Suggestions when building a PC for 3~8 year olds: buy a logitech notebook mouse ($15~20) as these are smaller but perfect for little hands. Use a cheap keyboard as kids tend to be messy and destroy them. if they are real young (1~3yrs old) try to get your hands on a CRT. Harder to knock over, costs $0~5 if you can find one.

Also, a $200~250 netbook makes a good "notebook" for young kids (4~9 years old). Or give your kid your old notebook. My kid was given a 17" notebook a friend gave away when he upgraded.
acerace 5 years ago

Anonymous said:

So show me a top of the line Android tablet that costs less than the "overpriced" iPad...

You're feeding the troll, genius.
JohnnyLucky 5 years ago

Leave out the bling and dedicated video card for a basic pc for grandma and grandpa! I've already built a couple for senior citizens who are not gamers.

BTW - there is an option to dedicate some of the memory to the integrated graphics. I installed inexpensive 8GB memory and dedicated 2GB to the graphics. What I don't know is if it makes a real difference. Would that help gamers?
amdfangirl 5 years ago

JohnnyLuckyLeave out the bling and dedicated video card for a basic pc for grandma and grandpa! I've already built a couple for senior citizens who are not gamers. BTW - there is an option to dedicate some of the memory to the integrated graphics. I installed inexpensive 8GB memory and dedicated 2GB to the graphics. What I don't know is if it makes a real difference. Would that help gamers?

More or less dependant on the speed of the RAM.
Proximon 5 years ago

After all that build up a cheap PSU is used based entirely on claims written on the box. No reviews exist and apparently Cooler Master knows it's junk because they haven't bothered to get it certified by 80plus.
bliq00 5 years ago

why didn't the author post the stock cooling solution temps. Personally I've always found that the stock intel cooling was both quiet and sufficient, even in mini itx cases. I'm curious how big the difference is. if the diff is just 10-15%, I don't think it's worth spending extra on a 3rd party cooler for a kids computer.
amdfangirl 5 years ago

Anonymous said:

After all that build up a cheap PSU is used based entirely on claims written on the box. No reviews exist and apparently Cooler Master knows it's junk because they haven't bothered to get it certified by 80plus.

I'd just go with the Antec Earthwatts series.
killeeeeer 5 years ago

Its funny how its PC for kids and they benchmarked Gta IV, the 3850 seems the way to go better than buying and i3 or g someing and buying like GT520 as the 3850 beats the 520 in benchmarks
FormatC 5 years ago

The GT 520 is slower than A8-3850. Take a look at the Charts 2011
killeeeeer 5 years ago

FormatCThe GT 520 is slower than A8-3850. Take a look at the Charts 2011
"as the 3850 beats the 520 in benchmarks " read carefully
FormatC 5 years ago

At first: sorry
English is for me nothing more than one foreign language and if I read over this posts quickly once...

I found GTA (Vice City, San Andreas and/or GTA IV / EFLC) on each childs computer (boys, 10 years and older) and this old game is a good example for benchmarks, not more. Other older games are running on each toaster, if you oc'ed him from 110 to 230 Volt
de5_Roy 5 years ago

nice read.
interesting choice, benching gta iv for a kid's pc...lol i know it was to test platform strength.. i hope it wasn't in the pc when it was handed to him. 7750 was a very good choice.
some people might argue why the amd apus were not overclocked so that they could outperform pentiums for gaming and the apus' higher performance in 3d rendering and pov ray tracing..
i am a bit skeptical about cm gx psu... overall good performance for money from both intel and amd builds.
emad_ramlawi 5 years ago

This is Cooler Master advertisement ...

Tough Times huh Tom ...
FormatC 5 years ago

Anonymous said:

This is Cooler Master advertisement ...
Tough Times huh Tom ...

No, this is what I had on matching components in my lab here, because we have recently tested these parts. This is a so-called recycling
daglesj 5 years ago

Once finished building your 'kids' PC I'd recommend cloning the finished build to another HDD and putting it away on a shelf......for a week or two later when they have messed it all up.