What's the best processor for $100

[alphacoyle]

I'm building a computer that will be used for general internet browsing and watching movies (mainly streaming.)

 

[amuffin]

Pentium G850.

 

[jsanthara]

A couple questions:

1.) What motherboard are you going to be using?
2.) If you haven't picked out a board yet, are you going with AMD or Intel? Which socket?

 

[alphacoyle]

A couple questions:

1.) What motherboard are you going to be using?
2.) If you haven't picked out a board yet, are you going with AMD or Intel? Which socket?

I haven't picked out a board yet, nor have I decided on amd or intel. The suggested Pentium G850 looks good though. I think 2 cores is all I need.

 

[-Fran-]

Uhm... Just because of the movies... Maybe an A6 would be good for you as well.

The G850 has a very strong CPU, but you'll have to pair it with a discrete video card to watch videos with no problem. The HD2K really sucks for any video oriented feature, to be honest.

I don't have prices on the A6 around, so could you list the options you have, please?

Cheers!

EDIT: Here's a run down on both CPUs, actually: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4524/the-sandy-bridge-pentium-review-pentium-g850-g840-g620-g620t-tested/4

 

[alphacoyle]

Uhm... Just because of the movies... Maybe an A6 would be good for you as well.

The G850 has a very strong CPU, but you'll have to pair it with a discrete video card to watch videos with no problem. The HD2K really sucks for any video oriented feature, to be honest.

I don't have prices on the A6 around, so could you list the options you have, please?

Cheers!

EDIT: Here's a run down on both CPUs, actually: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4524/the-sandy-bridge-pentium-review-pentium-g850-g840-g620-g620t-tested/4

Intel Core i3-2120 Sandy Bridge or G620 I don't know there are so many options. I like that a6 too. They are going for around $100 as well.

 

[rinval]

I'd Say go with the A6-3650 for a low end budget build for media and older games. if you might want to play newer games of coarse intel processors are alot faster paired with a descrete card.

of coarse for browsing and flash games your not going to see a huge difference no matter which processor you choose. in this case it would be more about the value of the processor... amd processors have a higher value mark.

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_value_available.html

 

[amuffin]

HD 2000 is good enough for watching movies.

 

[-Fran-]

HD 2000 is good enough for watching movies.

You can't apply any form of post processing and/or correction with the HD2K. The HD3K is the bare minimum Intel has to offer for video playback with medium quality overall.

I've seen blocky youtube videos re-size on Intel rigs all this time using HW acceleration in the HD2K because it can't handle A1.0 matrix, not even bicubic on the fly. I don't know if it's a problem with the drivers or what, but it's shameful. And I won't get into DVD or BD playback. That's non-existent.

Cheers!

 

[rinval]

+1 for the HD2k is not good enough for good 1080p!

From what ive read decent 1080P would require a dual core of about 2.6+ ghz and a geforce 8800GT or better graphics to push that kind of video. as i said and stand by my statement the a6-3650 is going to be about your best bang for buck. and if your wanting to go blu-ray grab a decent A75 mobo with 8 channel audio for about $75ish.

lol i have trouble with 1080p on my AMD athlon 64 x2 2.6ghz and a 9600GT....

 

[alphacoyle]

+1 for the HD2k is not good enough for good 1080p!

From what ive read decent 1080P would require a dual core of about 2.6+ ghz and a geforce 8800GT or better graphics to push that kind of video. as i said and stand by my statement the a6-3650 is going to be about your best bang for buck. and if your wanting to go blu-ray grab a decent A75 mobo with 8 channel audio for about $75ish.

lol i have trouble with 1080p on my AMD athlon 64 x2 2.6ghz and a 9600GT....

So I'll add a video card just to be on the safe side (and that 8800gt look pretty good.) Yuka suggested the G850 processor which is 2.9 ghz dual core. Would these 2 items work together and provide decent video? I hate to buy one with integrated video if I'm going to go with a video card; is there a processor that doesn't have video? Do you think I need the quad core of an a6-3650? Thanks!

 

[rinval]

So I'll add a video card just to be on the safe side (and that 8800gt look pretty good.) Yuka suggested the G850 processor which is 2.9 ghz dual core. Would these 2 items work together and provide decent video? I hate to buy one with integrated video if I'm going to go with a video card; is there a processor that doesn't have video? Do you think I need the quad core of an a6-3650? Thanks!

if your primarily streaming then you wont need the quad core. and yea i would go descret with the intel as we said the hd2k is a pethetic excuse of a graphics processor. if you want so go descret a radeon HD6570 or higher or nvidia i would go for a gt 520 or better card. both are lowe end but should be able to run 1080p without a problem and they are fairly inexpensive.

the reason i said the a6 is the igpu that is built in on it is just shy of being a radeon HD6570

and yes intel will work with both amd and nvidia cards no problem

and if you wanted to you could probably go with a pentium g620 and save a little.

 

[rds1220]

Pentium G850.

I agree and would also say the Pentium or cheap I3.

 

[-Fran-]

The G850 is the strongest Pentium before going into the i3 territory.

But if you're going to use a discrete card, I also say get a low cost Pentium (the G620 sounds good) to be honest, since the decode will be done in the discrete card.

The GT440 (not the GT430) or GT520 are good choices on the nVidia front and the HD6570 or HD6670 are the strong cards on the AMD front.

Cheers!

 

[amuffin]

G620 and a 6670!

 

[alphacoyle]

G620 and a 6670!

That sounds like a good combo, but what about the Llano? Could I use the integrated video on say an a4 instead, or do I still need to add a video card?

 

[-Fran-]

A4's have a way too castrated integrated video and it's a dual core only.

Granted it's dirt cheap in its segment, I don't trust it will handle all video flawlessly. I haven't seen any A4 benchies for video decoding, but there should be a couple around.

Cheers!

 

[alphacoyle]

A4's have a way too castrated integrated video and it's a dual core only.

Granted it's dirt cheap in its segment, I don't trust it will handle all video flawlessly. I haven't seen any A4 benchies for video decoding, but there should be a couple around.

Cheers!

I think I'll be going with the g620 and a video card. That hd6670 looks good, is there a cheaper one that would work well for my purposes?

 

[amuffin]

6570 or 6450 will work!

 

[alphacoyle]

6570 or 6450 will work!

I see quite a few different models, could you please post links to these 2 cards?

Thanks!

 

[Proximon]

Or post a new build post in the systems section using this format:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261222-31-build-advice

Link the new thread here so anyone wanting to can follow you over.