New Build after 5 years.

[neonsurfer]

Its been 5 years and time for a new Family PC. Thanks in advance for feedback.

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.

Skype, Simple Roxio and Gimp photo/video edits, Listen to music from harddrive and streaming. Same for movies. Excel and Word. Burn Music CD. Web surfing. Typically keep the same computer for 5 years before replacing. Current computer is a Athlon 64 X2 4400+ with 4 gigs of memory. Multitasking such as keeping 5+ windows open while on web, editing, and burning cd slows/locks up computer for a few seconds. Hoping new system with improve this.

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread

Less than $800.

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.

USA

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.

No brand preference.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.

I have a 2 500 Gig Sata Harddrives. Windows 7 and Office 2010 license. Samsung 23inch Monitor. Microsoft USB Ergo Keyboard. Logitech trackman Marble USB mouse.

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.

Primarily Anandtech guides and threads.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.

No overclocking.

8. What resolution YOU plan on gaming with.

No gaming.

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?

1-2 months. Will buy parts as they come for sale.

This is what I’ve tentatively put together.

Corsair Carbide Series 500R White Steel ATX Mid Tower. $139.99

CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650W. $79.99

BIOSTAR TA990FXE AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard. $129.99

AMD Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition Deneb 3.5GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Desktop Processor HDZ970FBGMBOX. $139.99

SAPPHIRE 100327L Radeon HD 6750 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card. $105.99

G.SKILL Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model F3-14900CL9D-8GBSR. Buying two for a total of 16GB. $99.98

ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk – OEM. $19.99

Total: $715.92

 

[Ken g6]

Corsair Carbide Series 500R White Steel ATX Mid Tower. $139.99
I don't review cases. Probably fine.

CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650W. $79.99
I don't see you needing more than a 430W PSU ($37AR) for anything you're doing.

BIOSTAR TA990FXE AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard. $129.99

AMD Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition Deneb 3.5GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Desktop Processor HDZ970FBGMBOX. $139.99
Well, that's one way to go. But AMD, at least that platform, really isn't going to have replacement parts around very long. At prices like these, I'd go full-on Intel:

- 2500K, $220 (for the HD3000 graphics, of course. ) Or a 2400 would be plenty too.
- ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3, $115AR, for upgradeability, of course. (And because they discontinued the $100 board.)

SAPPHIRE 100327L Radeon HD 6750 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card. $105.99
Why? The onboard graphics should be more than enough for what you're doing now. If there comes a time when they're not, then you've got 2 PCI-E 3.0 (-capable, with Ivy Bridge processor upgrade) slots you can stick a later-model card (or two) into.

G.SKILL Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model F3-14900CL9D-8GBSR. Buying two for a total of 16GB. $99.98
Not bad, but speeds above 1600 don't help (current socket 1155) Intel at all. So you could save $30.

ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk – OEM. $19.99
Fine.

Now we're at $602. Or less if you went for the 2400. And now let's add what you really want:

Crucial 128 GB m4 SSD. $197 @Amazon (or $200@Newegg)

Total: $799

Edit: P.S. I kinda got carried away there. You'd probably be more than happy with that SSD and maybe a Llano system.

 

[VirtualLarry]

An Athlon64 X2 4400+, witth 4GB RAM, should still be a powerhouse for desktop tasks. If you notice frequent "pausing", where everything appears to freeze up, may be an indication that the HD is going bad. Or possibly malware on the system.

If you are using Integrated Video, then you might also consider getting a low-end discrete card.

Really, unless you wanted to get into PC gaming (in which case you would naturally want a high-powered state-of-the-art rig), then your corrent rig should still be decent.

Edit: If you existing mobo supports it, consider getting an Athlon II X4 640 quad-core CPU for $100, and an SSD, and a low-end discrete card. That would make your rig perform like new, really.

 

[fourdegrees11]

Alright you are not going to play any games, and you need a fast multi tasking machine. You're kind of on the wrong track.

i5-2400 - $190. You dont need a 2500K, you dont want to overclock right?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115074

ASRock H61ICAFE LGA 1155 Intel H61 $70. Unless there's some specific function you need, a high end mobo is not needed

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157246

CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 430W $45. You only need more power if you intend to run a high end graphics card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139026

G.SKILL Value Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 $35. This might start to sound the same, but you arent building a gaming rig, you dont need ultra fast ram.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...l-_-20-231-422

I realize cases are a personal choice, but again there's no reason to buy an expensive gaming case for your build. Here's a $90 case with sound deadening.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129057

Your drive is fine

Now you can really speed up what you're doing as you have ample funds left for a good size SSD

OCZ Agility 3 240GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) $330

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227727

$790 before rebates. You could load ALL of your programs and highly used files on the SSD, and leave your regular drives for media storage. This will by far give you the fastest performance for what you're doing.

 

[mfenn]

Given that you aren't playing games, I would get an XPS 8300 for the Dell Outlet. Machines with an i5 2300, 6GB of RAM, warranty, yadda yadda frequently pop up for ~$500.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Given that you aren't playing games, I would get an XPS 8300 for the Dell Outlet. Machines with an i5 2300, 6GB of RAM, warranty, yadda yadda frequently pop up for ~$500.

:thumbsup: yeah me too

 

[fourdegrees11]

The build I did would be $450 without the SSD...

 

[Rezag3000]

for the things that you want to do, the setup that you have should be fine. Maybe you just need to reinstall windows.