Need Help Picking CPU for Office Build

[Scylas22]

Hi,

Long time lurker.. first time poster..

Im looking to put together 2 PC's for the office (runs a couple blogs)

They will be doing light photoshop/ilustrator and a lot of multi-tasking (Music Listening, Heavy web browsing, word,excel, msn/aim, etc...)

Im looking to keep the cost as low as possible and looking to use these machines for a few years.

I am torn between the different CPU options available:
- Intel E5300
- AMD2 X2 250
- AMD2 X4 620

Either way I will be buying 4GB DD3.. and if possible I will get a low end gf card or integrated into the MoBo.

The first question is 2 Cores or 4 Cores?
Will it really make much of a difference for this application?

thanks!

 

[masterasia]

Get the X4 620. It's a great budget CPU. I wouldn't mess with any of the Intel CPUs under $150 because most of them suck. AMD controls that part of the price bracket. More cores is always better. Future apps will be using multitheading.

 

[tomvertommen]

When I hear you talking about a lot of multitasking I would say a quad core.

 

[Scylas22]

I guess Quad Core it is then...


AMD Athlon II X4 620 Propus 2.6GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Processor Model ADX620WFGIBOX

with
ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO AM3 AMD 785G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

 

[Pro Llama]

+1 to X4 620
It is a good chip and can be built on an AM3 motherboard. With an AM3 motherboard you should be able to upgrade the pc in a few years instead of doing a full rebuild. Just be sure to get quality components.

 

[Pro Llama]

I guess Quad Core it is then...


AMD Athlon II X4 620 Propus 2.6GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Processor Model ADX620WFGIBOX

with
ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO AM3 AMD 785G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

That is a good board and cpu setup.

 

[masterasia]

That's a good build.

I built 7 of these computers for our Art Department:

MSI GD-65
Intel i7 860
4 gigs of ram
80 GB Intel X25-M G2
Lian Li PC-61 case
Antec TP 650W Modular
PNY Quadro NVS 450
4 24" Dell Ultrasharp on each computer (1920 X 1200)

They use it for
CS4 (PS, AI, ID, Prem, Flash, Fireworks)
Xenon (It's like a cad program)

It's a little overkill, but the owner wants fast.

 

[Scylas22]

Best answer selected by Scylas22.

 

[Scylas22]

One last question..
should I build this now or wait for April.
Is anything going to change in the next 2 months that I should be aware of?

 

[masterasia]

Well, when the 6-cores come out from both AMD and Intel, I'm hoping for a price drop. But things have been going up recently despite new hardware coming out. nVidia's cards have sky rocketed in price for some reason and all DDR3 ram has gone up too. I have seen some prices come down so that might be a sign of good things to come.