budget non-gaming build cpu

[PanaVee]

Hello

Since my dell latitude d820 has a graphics card problem and i need a new one i was also considering building a desktop instead of buying a laptop and i need your opinions.

What i need it for is

1)web browsing(including watching youtube vids full hd)and downloading stuff
2)ms office
3)having 2 or 3 programs running at the same time e.g google chrome and utorrent
4)also having many tabs open on chrome at the same time.

No gaming.

However i don't want to spend much on this build so i would prefer it if i didn't need to buy a separate gpu.So i am guessing an amd apu would be appropriate.Would one like AMD A4-5300 or the AMD A6-5400K do the job?

Also i would appreciate it if you recommended a Mobo to go with it and tell me how much RAM i would need.

Thank you very much!!!

 

[plywrlw]

this should be plenty for your needs. It's simialr to my HTPC build which hasn't been slow at all, even with 10 tabs running and Spotify in the background. The Pentium's built-in graphics will be fine if you're not gaming and the performance per thread of the processor is better than an APU.

If you have a bigger budget you could put in an i3 processor instead but that would actually seem overkill for your needs.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3220 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H81M-DGS R2.0 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($51.38 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team Xtreem Dark Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($72.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda ES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 430W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($92.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $382.32
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-18 11:57 EDT-0400

 

[blue17echo]

if you are not gaming, intel imtegrated graphics should be fine as well. consider a low end i3 or a haswell based pentium. (i.e. g3258)

if you do 8gb of ram you should be easily clear on all of your needs.

 

[plywrlw]

Also, if you don't need a Tb storage or if you have the budget to have both this http://pcpartpicker.com/part/sandisk-internal-hard-drive-sdssdhp128gg25 will amaze you with the speed programs and Windows load!

 

[zeyuanfu]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4150 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($117.00 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($75.66 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill AEGIS 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($38.70 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 430W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($40.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $372.32
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-18 12:08 EDT-0400
This build is more powerful with a Core i3 CPU.

 

[PanaVee]

wow...thank you sooo much for the quick replies!!!!

i think your replies covered up everything!Thanks again

 

[logainofhades]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H81M-DGS R2.0 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($51.38 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill AEGIS 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($38.70 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital RE3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.00 @ Amazon)
Case: Rosewill FBM-02 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($28.76 @ Mwave)
Power Supply: EVGA 430W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $375.82
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-18 12:29 EDT-0400

 

[PanaVee]

thank you for your reply as well logainofhades...

I just have on last question...Does the RAM have to be low profile for such a build?
And what about its voltage?

 

[zeyuanfu]

thank you for your reply as well logainofhades...

I just have on last question...Does the RAM have to be low profile for such a build?

Nope, because the CPU cooler isn't large.

 

[Wisecracker]

Get a AMD Athlon 5350 Kabini Quad-Core Combo or price a build around the Asus AM1I-A Mini ITX. With DVD, RAMs and a Rosewill Mini ITX Case you're in for less than $250.

Add in the SSD of your choice, and off yah go ...

 

[PanaVee]

hello.I have one more question about the OS...

I was thinking of buying windows 8 instead of 7.Do you think this is better?

Also what is the difference of windows 8 x64 DSP and windows 8.1 x64 DSP???

thanks!

 

[plywrlw]

If you go with 8 you'll have to download the almost 4 gigabytes of stuff to upgrade it to 8.1 (its free though) so if you have slow or limited Internet or patience get 8.1, especially if the price is similar.

A lot of people don't like the appearance of win 8/8.1 though you can make it look and behave a lot like 7 with programs like classic shell (free)

7 is older and I've found it doesn't work as well with ssd's however 9 will be released soon and there are rumours there will be cheap upgrades to 9 for win 7 users. These are only rumours though.

At the end of the day it comes down to whether you think you like win 8.1's interface or not. Try and get some experience using it on a friends pc or in a shop if you can before you make the decision

 

[PanaVee]

thank you for the reply.yeah,i don't like all those squares/tiles at all...

I prefer the look of windows 7 and i've been using them for a while.

I think i'll be going with 7.Are there any serious drawbacks with 7 compared to 8(besides the ssd thing)?

 

[PanaVee]

also,can someone tell me if i should buy Windows 7 DSP or OEM?I'm not sure about the difference....:/

 

[plywrlw]

I'd go for whichever is cheaper but more information can be found here

http://forums.pcper.com/showthread.php?377300-Is-there-any-difference-between-an-OEM-vs-OEM-DSP-copy-of-Windows

 

[zeyuanfu]

I would get 8.1 because it's kinda better than 7 and YOU CAN BOOT TO THE START SCREEN!!! That's awesome.