Which CPU is the best for my buck?

[Aero7]

Hello strangers,

After having had the same computer for the last 6 years, I've finally come to my senses and decided to build a new one. Honestly, other than knowing what general parts are needed and how to put them together- I've been so out of the computer world- that I don't know where to begin with which brands and specific parts to purchase.

I want to build a computer for my basic needs of surfing the web, blogging, and writing emails. I'm not a gamer so it doesn't need to be an uber fast CPU. I was thinking of something around 2GHZ. A friend suggested the Athlon 64 x 2 3800 but it's $150 and considering my budget is $800 for the whole thing including monitor/keyboard/speakers/shipping- $150 seems a lot. Which specific CPU out there is cheap but good quality and is going to last me another 6 years? Or at least until I get an urge to build another shiny computer

 

[rman3349]

the cheapest dual core out there is the pentium D 805, which you can get for like $90. It what I have and I noticed a significant difference of my pentium 4 in multitasking and stiff. It's the way to go.

 

[1Tanker]

the cheapest dual core out there is the pentium D 805, which you can get for like $90. It what I have and I noticed a significant difference of my pentium 4 in multitasking and stiff. It's the way to go.

Don't count on a budget setup lasting you another 6 years. Things are changing, and in 6 years...a $100 CPU will likely be insufficient.

 

[drummerdude]

i put something quick together on newegg link for like 700, using onboard video, if you wanted you could add an x800 gto for like 85 to it

 

[BaronMatrix]

Hello strangers,

After having had the same computer for the last 6 years, I've finally come to my senses and decided to build a new one. Honestly, other than knowing what general parts are needed and how to put them together- I've been so out of the computer world- that I don't know where to begin with which brands and specific parts to purchase.

I want to build a computer for my basic needs of surfing the web, blogging, and writing emails. I'm not a gamer so it doesn't need to be an uber fast CPU. I was thinking of something around 2GHZ. A friend suggested the Athlon 64 x 2 3800 but it's $150 and considering my budget is $800 for the whole thing including monitor/keyboard/speakers/shipping- $150 seems a lot. Which specific CPU out there is cheap but good quality and is going to last me another 6 years? Or at least until I get an urge to build another shiny computer

Yoru friend was right. Even the E6300 is more than $150.

X2 3800+ $150
AM2 SLI $120
19" LCD $200
Wireles Mouse/KB $60
Cambridge 5.1 $75
DDR2 RAM 2 GB $200 (533DDR2)

That puts you at $805. if you want a whole system, some of the pre-built ones are pretty cheap and only require a monitor. I saw 4200+ systems without monitor for around $500. You can two 17" LCDs for $300.

 

[chuckshissle]

To last 6 years!? Well I don't know about that, but I second the 805.

 

[dixon_pete]

>X2 3800+ $150
AM2 SLI $120
19" LCD $200
Wireles Mouse/KB $60
Cambridge 5.1 $75
DDR2 RAM 2 GB $200 (533DDR2)

That puts you at $805. if you want a whole system, some of the pre-built ones are pretty cheap and only require a monitor. I saw 4200+ systems without monitor for around $500. You can two 17" LCDs for $300>

For a bigger boost in performance I'd vote for a used 19" monitor ($75), a pair of cheap mice ($20) and go with an E6300. Speed is what it's all about, right?

 

[-silencer-]

Don't count out current cpus to not last 6 years - not everyone plays top-end games and applications. Plenty of my family members have been sitting on Athlon XP's for around 4 years now, and that's still good enough for them to have no complaints with day-to-day usage.

I'd also vote for the Pentium 805 D. You can get the cpu, decent motherboard, and 2GB of 533MHz ram for under $400. For most budget users though who need an entire computer (OS, case, power supply, monitor, etc), you're better off getting one of the Dell package deals for $599 or so and adding another 1GB of memory.

 

[BaronMatrix]

>X2 3800+ $150
AM2 SLI $120
19" LCD $200
Wireles Mouse/KB $60
Cambridge 5.1 $75
DDR2 RAM 2 GB $200 (533DDR2)

That puts you at $805. if you want a whole system, some of the pre-built ones are pretty cheap and only require a monitor. I saw 4200+ systems without monitor for around $500. You can two 17" LCDs for $300>

For a bigger boost in performance I'd vote for a used 19" monitor ($75), a pair of cheap mice ($20) and go with an E6300. Speed is what it's all about, right?

He said he didn't want to spend more than $150. X2 3800+ is now $135 on newegg.

 

[kmjohnso]

Your suggested setup still seems awful/incomplete, I think this would be more practical for a budget setup:

X2 65W Retail $140
GeForce 6100 MoBo $100
Case $50 (maybe coolmaster centurion 5?)
PSU $50 (maybe 400+w from thermtake/antec/enermax)
1 Gb DDR-667 $100 (value select or something like it)
DVD-RW $40
SATA Hard Drive $100
19" LCD $200

Total: 780

I'd pick the X2 3800 over the 805. It is quite a bit faster stock, and both overclock very well. Either way you'll have upgrade options. Given that you don't plan on upgrading anytime soon you'll hopefully have great options on a max CPU for the socket/voltage reg from AMD and Intel at the time.

 

[BaronMatrix]

Your suggested setup still seems awful/incomplete, I think this would be more practical for a budget setup:

X2 65W Retail $140
GeForce 6100 MoBo $100
Case $50 (maybe coolmaster centurion 5?)
PSU $50 (maybe 400+w from thermtake/antec/enermax)
1 Gb DDR-667 $100 (value select or something like it)
DVD-RW $40
SATA Hard Drive $100
19" LCD $200

Total: 780

I'd pick the X2 3800 over the 805. It is quite a bit faster stock, and both overclock very well. Either way you'll have upgrade options. Given that you don't plan on upgrading anytime soon you'll hopefully have great options on a max CPU for the socket/voltage reg from AMD and Intel at the time.

I chose what I chose because Vista is coming and 2GB RAM is better than 200MHz faster clock speed. SLi is better because he can always get a second GPU later.

I actually meant to ask him what, if any, parts he already has as that may make a difference but either route will rpovide a good experience but Vista wants the RAM and the GPU.

 

[TechnologyCoordinator]

Go with D805 and a core 2 capable board maybe even one that will support quad core and then upgrade to a core2 or quad whenever you can afford to.

I would feel comfortable as long as you get a recent motherboard that supports kentsfield. That will give you cheap, proven upgrade paths.

 

[kmjohnso]

Well vista would run fine on that setup if he's not gaming. Since he's on a budget getting a single card would be a start (which he could add to the 6100), SLI is rarely cost effective especially when compared to selling the current card and buying a new one.

 

[mustardmankevin]

Go with a Cyrix MediaGX

 

[chaosgs]

the cheapest dual core out there is the pentium D 805, which you can get for like $90. It what I have and I noticed a significant difference of my pentium 4 in multitasking and stiff. It's the way to go.

I agree Pentium D 805 is the way to go. its cheap and extremly fast and will be good for vista when nyour ready for it. I think itll last 6 years. my dads pentium 3 is still going for internet and instant messangers. so im 99% itll last ya unless you overclock it asap than it wont live that 6 years.

 

[chaosgs]

To last 6 years!? Well I don't know about that, but I second the 805.

Why cant people think a processor cant last 6 years? and all hes doing is internet and emails. I have a 4 year old celeron and game with it 1.8 GHZ. i just got rid of my pentium 2 and upgraded to a pentium D but the pentium 2 was great for email and internet.

 

[kmjohnso]

How on earth did the 805 get such a good rep? It overclocks, but stock its not too much of a bargain. If you're going to go intel which is a fine option, at least get something from the 65nm 900 series. Maybe a 915 its clocked higher, cooler, and has twice the cache. All for $20 extra. Seems like a much better option? The X2 or a higher Pent-D would also have 64-bit support which will actually mater if he plans on keeping the CPU until he can't run anything.

 

[chaosgs]

Fine get the Pentium D 915 not that youll see much difference except the extra $20.

 

[1Tanker]

To last 6 years!? Well I don't know about that, but I second the 805.

Why cant people think a processor cant last 6 years? and all hes doing is internet and emails. I have a 4 year old celeron and game with it 1.8 GHZ. i just got rid of my pentium 2 and upgraded to a pentium D but the pentium 2 was great for email and internet.Because in the last 6 years, not much has changed in processors (with the exception of speed) other than new SSE extensions, little tweaks here and there. Out of the last 6 years, only the last 2-3 have introduced dual-core technology...which is going to start multiplying faster and faster....4-core, 8-core, etc. Software will be written with this new hardware in mind. Windows XP hardly changed at all in the past 5...almost 6 years(that won't happen again). New OS's will be developed that will be much different than now, as future tech. will see GPGPU's,PhysX Cards, Torrenza type technologies...all of which will be quite different than today's tech. The last 6 years "really" haven't seen that much advancement other than in CPU/GPU speeds/amount of VRAM. In the last 6 months, we've seen more incite into future progress than at any time in history. Things WILL change faster.

 

[BaronMatrix]

Well vista would run fine on that setup if he's not gaming. Since he's on a budget getting a single card would be a start (which he could add to the 6100), SLI is rarely cost effective especially when compared to selling the current card and buying a new one.

Hopefully the OP will post again with a decision.

 

[chaosgs]

To last 6 years!? Well I don't know about that, but I second the 805.

Why cant people think a processor cant last 6 years? and all hes doing is internet and emails. I have a 4 year old celeron and game with it 1.8 GHZ. i just got rid of my pentium 2 and upgraded to a pentium D but the pentium 2 was great for email and internet.Because in the last 6 years, not much has changed in processors (with the exception of speed) other than new SSE extensions, little tweaks here and there. Out of the last 6 years, only the last 2-3 have introduced dual-core technology...which is going to start multiplying faster and faster....4-core, 8-core, etc. Software will be written with this new hardware in mind. Windows XP hardly changed at all in the past 5...almost 6 years(that won't happen again). New OS's will be developed that will be much different than now, as future tech. will see GPGPU's,PhysX Cards, Torrenza type technologies...all of which will be quite different than today's tech. The last 6 years "really" haven't seen that much advancement other than in CPU/GPU speeds/amount of VRAM. In the last 6 months, we've seen more incite into future progress than at any time in history. Things WILL change faster.

He doesnt have to get new Operating systems in the next 6 years i know people who use windows 98. All that doesnt matter for him how much do you think the internet will change in 6 years? maybe faster and HOPEFULLY cheaper. Now for me and everyone else yes i know this and it will greatly effect us.

 

[kmjohnso]

Nobody ever "has to" upgrade. But if the OP has now accepted that his now 6 year old cpu is too slow (which is in reference to the market) and during that 6 years there was little innovation, then we can only expect the OP will accept less than 6years of growth in a state of rapid change. Heck I agree with you, cpu's can last forever if you don't expect more out of them, but most people want to IE play HD video, browse jpeg2000 images, etc.

 

[Aero7]

Wow- I didn't realize I was gonna get so much help so fast. I shoulda joined the forum a long time ago.

To answer some of your questions-

1) I don't want to reuse any parts from my old computer. I want to start all new. And it might be cheaper to buy used parts from eBay, but I haven't had the best experience with that so I want to steer clear of refurbished parts.

2) Eventually I do want to upgrade to Vista- but for now the plan is to buy XP.

3) I'm not gaming and I don't plan to, so a simple yet fast computer is all I truly want.

Some questions that I still have-
Is a Dell really that reliable? It's affordable but overall is it going to be worth it?

If I continue with building my own- it seems to be split between the Pentium 805 and the Athlon X2 3800. If I go with the Athlon, which motherboard would be sufficient?

And about the power supply? Should I get a case that already has a power supply included or should I purchase them separately?

 

[1Tanker]

Wow- I didn't realize I was gonna get so much help so fast. I shoulda joined the forum a long time ago.

To answer some of your questions-

1) I don't want to reuse any parts from my old computer. I want to start all new. And it might be cheaper to buy used parts from eBay, but I haven't had the best experience with that so I want to steer clear of refurbished parts.

2) Eventually I do want to upgrade to Vista- but for now the plan is to buy XP.

3) I'm not gaming and I don't plan to, so a simple yet fast computer is all I truly want.

Some questions that I still have-
Is a Dell really that reliable? It's affordable but overall is it going to be worth it?

If I continue with building my own- it seems to be split between the Pentium 805 and the Athlon X2 3800. If I go with the Athlon, which motherboard would be sufficient?

And about the power supply? Should I get a case that already has a power supply included or should I purchase them separately?

Purchase the case and PSU seperately. Power supply is something you don't want to cheap out on, and a cheap one very likely won't see 6 years. GL

 

[kmjohnso]

I think HP is a bit more reliable than Dell(the HP's I have seen have asus mobos :lol: ) and at your price point it might make sense. I would price them out and if you can save $100+ go for it.

For an X2, I would pick any mobo of quality. Possible a Asus Geforce 6100 series. I think if you are spending 140 on cpu you almost have to get the X2 3800.

For a 805, just make sure you get one that supports Kentsfield (quad-core). Would be good if you budget allows for less or you have concerns about near term upgradablity.

You can purchase them together, just make sure you PSU is made by a brandname and not some random cheapo company. (enermax, themtake, antec are all good).