Specing up a intel motherboard & cpu

stevek93

Hi all,

Friend asked me to build him a PC which will mainly be used as a media centre for around 300-350. I usually deal with AMD which does me fine, but looking on hardwareversand have noticed a few things, no stock available or stock missing, for instances, RAM I purchased for a build last year I paid 15e now has jumped to 30e, very little stock on AM3 socket CPUs not to sure if its AMD's fault as there about to go t*ts up. Can someone recommend a good intel mb and cpu, Ive only dealt with AMD so far. :P He will be wanting to use it as a media centre so HDMI is a must, say on board graphics will do him fine, also it needs to be quiet so Ill get him out a decent but inexpensive cooler, reason why I shied away from intel till now is how the heat sync is seated into the motherboard, last time I removed a intel heat sync I could never get it back in right ended up breaking the pins lol, is it hard to install a intel cooler?

TerrorFirmer

Haggle with this guy for his best price. Solid build, good setup.

stevek93

Would like to build it myself own piece of mind, what do you think of this build? Also whats is the difference towards the FM2 sockets?

TerrorFirmer

Better on die GPU, but to be honest if it's purely for media playback, virtually any CPU these days is perfectly fine for 1080p playback - even the cheapest 40 euro Celeron will suffice. You've said 'mainly media' - what else will it be used for?

stevek93

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Better on die GPU, but to be honest if it's purely for media playback, virtually any CPU these days is perfectly fine for 1080p playback - even the cheapest 40 euro Celeron will suffice. You've said 'mainly media' - what else will it be used for?

I don't understand? Will that CPU work, reading somewhere it doesn't have a GPU a little confused on this does the motherboard not have this on board? Media and web browsing thats it. True a cheap Celeron will work fine but I am trying to future proof the machine as much as possible.

uberpixie

stevek93 wrote: »

I don't understand? Will that CPU work, reading somewhere it doesn't have a GPU a little confused on this does the motherboard not have this on board? Media and web browsing thats it. True a cheap Celeron will work fine but I am trying to future proof the machine as much as possible.

With the AMD A series in socket cpus the gpu is built into the cpu itself and not the motherboard.
("on die" as mentioned)

I have an A10 mitx build: they are well up to the task of media and internet and even light to medium gaming at low resolutions.

just bear in mind the non A series chips in socket fm2 do not have a gpu built in

TerrorFirmer

I don't believe in future proofing when it comes to simple media, web browsing and other casual uses. I have an almost 5 year old E5200 based mitx machine that is perfect for web browsing and 1080p playback hooked up to a TV, a purpose for which I would expect it to last another few years. Future proofing is far more relevant to PCs that get constant use in more stressful tasks - games, editing, etc. A 40E Celeron will suffice for your needs perfectly fine for the indefinite future if it is just browsing and HD playback he's after. With regards intel coolers, I believe it would be impossible to design anything more straight forward than the push pin design that's been in use for years.

Tij da feen

I'd have to agree with Terror there. A celeron should really fit the bill for 1080p playback and web browsing etc. You're better off spending less now and even down the line all you would need to do should you ever need an upgrade is throw in an i5 later when they will be found for cheap 2nd hand but I find it unlikely that you would have to do that.

Item|Price
Intel Celeron Dual-Core G1610 Box , LGA1155|€36.15
LiteOn iHAS124-04 schwarz SATA|€16.11
FRACTAL DESIGN Gehäuse Core 1000 black|€29.93
be quiet! SYSTEM POWER 7 300W|€30.22
4GB Kingston HyperX blu. PC3-10667U CL9-9-9|€30.48
WD Caviar Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€55.51
SanDisk SSD Ultra Plus 64GB Notebook|€59.84
Wintech int.Card Reader 8,9cm (3,5") USB 2.0 inkl. Blenden in schwarz und silber|€6.88
MSI B75MA-E33, Intel B75, mATX, DDR3|€51.44
TP-Link TL-WN727N, 150Mbps, USB 2.0|€6.90
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€342.45

Only less than a tenner more expensive then your build and you're going to see a lot more benefits with this build with the SSD than with the other build with just a mechanical HDD. You'll just need to throw an extra Sata cable in there.

stevek93

Apologies for not getting back sooner, taking to him today he wants to now play games on the PC with a budget of €350 no more :rolleyes:, told him I will scrap the SSD and wireless card in favor of a cheap graphics card. Not to sure what to be looking at myself as I am not a gamer, will I get him a dedicated card or one of those AM2 APU's?

stevek93

Anyone?