Need help picking a CPU

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Glovesave33

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Dec 2, 2012
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Hey all, I'm trying to build a low-end system for my wife. I currently have a an HP Slimline that overheats every 5 seconds or so and has no fan mounts or anything else. I want to give her a slight upgrade over what she has now.

She has an AMD Athlon X2 5000 dual core. I am wanting to get her a 3.0 ghz processor or better that is at least dual core. I want to try get a full ATX mobo and would like to spend no more than $130 on the two without having to put in a separate graphics card. Are there any suggestions?

She primarily surfs the web, listens to mp3s, and writes in Word. Often at the same time. Right now she is upset because the system she has tends to hang when opening videos or switching songs.

I am going to put in 4 GB of RAM in case anyone is curious about that.
 
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I'm running a micro ATX board and its running quite cool for the motherboard. It maintains a 30 degrees idle and doesn't go past 40 degrees when under load and gaming for hours.

As TheBigTroll has stated he could have had dust or mounted the heatsink wrong. Just to add as long as your heatsink is oriented right and you have good airflow your motherboard should be fine.
 
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Her current chip is a 2.6 ghz dual core. It really does fine for her 90% of the time. The bigges problem is the case. It has 0 ventilation options. The PSU gets very hot, even in winter with snow on the ground. I'm really just trying to get her a slight upgrade. Do you have a better chip suggestion that isn't more than 20 bucks higher?
 
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Is this computer outside in the snow? :lol:
Anyways I did own an Athlon II X2 220 and it was fast for your purposes, browsing, music, watching movies. You could step up to the Athlon II X3 450 if you wanted to.
 
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LOL no, not outside. I only say that because I live in a pretty poorly insulated house. Outside weather affects indoor temps pretty big time. I can get during summer that it would have a tougher time there. But even during winter it hates life. I am going to give it to my stepson who isn't here much to learn on until it burns out. Troll - do you know of any benchmark tests with the usage intended for this PC for lower level chips I can look at? Everything I find compares gaming chips and I know gaming and normal use put a much different load on.
 
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well at least it's an upgrade , the last choice was barely better , not worth upgrading . This at least gives you something
 
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Like I said, I really am not too worried about a significant upgrade. She doesn't even play Popcap games or Minecraft on the computer. She seriously only uses Word, Facebook, browsing to a few other sites and plays music. I have a separate build I'm working on for me that will be for gaming and multi-media usage. I wouldn't even be doing a new computer for her if this Slimline didn't overheat.
 
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I'd just settle for your first Athlon processor, how much does the G630 even cost? Might be worth it....
The things your wife will be doing will require no more than the integrated graphics and an ordinary processor.
 
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Why go for a old chip, when there is a new one at the same price, with less power consumption, don't forget that even for web browse, it will be more smooth with gpu acceleration for the browser in question and for sites like youtube, or for htpc if need(see a movie or video music clips), it will have more support and if need for new os or other apps, besides of the usb 3.0 support.
 
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