~$500 PC for parents

[velillen]

Its been awhile since i have put together a PC so figured i would post here to make sure everything i picked sounds/works good.


1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.

Basically this is for my mother. She wants the following:
1) Playback of bluray
2) Able to do some photo editing. I am classifying this as light editing since i know my mother.
3) Eventually be able to transfer vhs to dvd/digital copies.
4) must have at least 4 usb connections and hdmi output.
5) Wants windows 7 and NOT windows 8
6) Needs to be "upgradeable" in the sense if she actually gets into photo editing or anything it can be upgraded to help. (really shouldnt be an issue though, i3 to i5 upgrade and an open PCI-E 3 slot should take care of that IMO)

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread

Sub 500. Cheaper is better in this case

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.

USA

5. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.

I prefer Intel to be honest. Other than that no preferences

6. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.

Will we be reusing her case (antec 900), HDD for storage (a 500gb one), PSU (antec something, nothing fancy), monitor, keyboard/mouse, and wireless n adapter

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.

Default

8. What resolution, not monitor size, will you be using?

Her actual pc montior is old (as in 4:3 old) but it will be hooked up to a 1080p plasma from time to time.

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?

next weekend. its her birthday present so trying to have it all done by next weekend.



So software wise she already has a copy of Windows 7 and Office. I also have a license to total media theater 5 for bluray playback that i will give her (i never use it)


So parts i have picked out

Intel Core i3-4130 3.4 3 FCLGA 1150 Processor BX80646I34130 - 130 (Amazon, free shipping)

ASRock LGA1150/Intel B85/DDR3/Quad CrossFireX/SAT​A3 and USB 3.0/A&GbE/ATX Motherboard B85 PRO4 - 90 (amazon, free shipping)

Kingston Digital 120GB SSDNow V300 SATA 3 2.5 -90 (amazon, free shipping)

LG Electronics 12x SATA Blu-Ray Disc Combo Internal Drive with 3D Playback and M-DISC (Black) UH12NS29 - 54 (amazon, free shipping)

Patriot Signature 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory with heatshield Model PSD38G1600KH - 60 (newegg, free shipping)

Total - 424.



The motherboard and ram are really where i am unsure. So i am definitely open to suggestions there.

As for the SSD, i have two of them running in my two HTPC's and they have worked perfectly (going on two years now) so i figured go with them.


So what do you guys think? looks like a good setup or any suggestions?

 

[lehtv]

With all those reused components, your $500 budget is plenty. And what you've picked looks pretty good to me. I just think $90 is too much for a B85 board. Here's an MSI H87 board for $85: http://www.amazon.com/MSI-Computer-M...87+motherboard

 

[velillen]

With all those reused components, your $500 budget is plenty. And what you've picked looks pretty good to me. I just think $90 is too much for a B85 board. Here's an MSI H87 board for $85: http://www.amazon.com/MSI-Computer-M...87+motherboard

Awesome! Motherboards are one area i definitely have fallen behind on. They seem to have changed way faster than anything else and when the last time i really looked at anything was 2-3 years ago im a bit behind the times.

 

[Torn Mind]

So, she will be watching the Blu-Rays on the plasma TV?
Haswell is the right way to go here, the i3s and above, at least, can output 23.976 fps practically perfectly while all other graphics solutions tend to skip a frame once in a while. Of course, you won't notice unless the display is set to the frequency of 23.976. Not sure about the Haswell Pentiums though, as they are still GT1.

SuperBiiz has the i3-4130 for $117 after promo code JSBZTECHWEB.

 

[velillen]

So, she will be watching the Blu-Rays on the plasma TV?
Haswell is the right way to go here, the i3s and above, at least, can output 23.976 fps practically perfectly while all other graphics solutions tend to skip a frame once in a while. Of course, you won't notice unless the display is set to the frequency of 23.976. Not sure about the Haswell Pentiums though, as they are still GT1.

SuperBiiz has the i3-4130 for $117 after promo code JSBZTECHWEB.

Yes she will be watching the blu rays on the plasma. Dont even get me started on why. Not like the bluray player they have wouldnt work (yes i rolled my eyes at her)

 

[FredNotFound404]

Well to be honest you can do better then the i3 for less, an AMD APU will have more GPU Power and around the same amount of CPU Power(probably a bit less but its negligible), heres my take including decent cooling solution and a proper Case(I find the Antec to ugly specially for woman)

 

[mfenn]

Well to be honest you can do better then the i3 for less, an AMD APU will have more GPU Power and around the same amount of CPU Power(probably a bit less but its negligible), heres my take including decent cooling solution and a proper Case(I find the Antec to ugly specially for woman)

The SG05B needs an SFX power supply and what the OP currently has is almost certainly ATX. He didn't mention anything about his mom being unhappy with the current case, so why spend extra money?

As for the CPU, yes the A10 has more cores and a better IGP, but it's also 100W versus 54W for the Haswell. Given the OP's mom's use case, I don't see extra graphics power being useful, so why take the heat penalty?

 

[FredNotFound404]

The SG05B needs an SFX power supply and what the OP currently has is almost certainly ATX. He didn't mention anything about his mom being unhappy with the current case, so why spend extra money?

As for the CPU, yes the A10 has more cores and a better IGP, but it's also 100W versus 54W for the Haswell. Given the OP's mom's use case, I don't see extra graphics power being useful, so why take the heat penalty?

Agree yet the APU will give it more headroom for the future, if said mom actually uses it for editing, also it makes it more future proof, about the case I was just suggesting, also there are many ITX Cases that will fit an ATX PSU, my favorite would be the Prodigy but that's around 80$.

Anyway I maintain my proposal.

 

[lehtv]

Agree yet the APU will give it more headroom for the future, if said mom actually uses it for editing, also it makes it more future proof, about the case I was just suggesting, also there are many ITX Cases that will fit an ATX PSU, my favorite would be the Prodigy but that's around 80$.

Anyway I maintain my proposal.

Good luck maintaining that proposal of fitting a 152mm tall heatsink into a case with a clearance of 82mm

 

[mfenn]

Agree yet the APU will give it more headroom for the future, if said mom actually uses it for editing, also it makes it more future proof

I'm not sure how. Video/photo editing is mostly driven by floating point performance and the A10, being a Bulldozer-derived architecture, only has 1 FPU for every 2 ALUs (Integer cores). So the i3 and the A10 are tied in terms of number of functional units, but the i3's are more efficient.

 

[lehtv]

Yeah, also i3-3220 vs A10-5800K: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/677?vs=675

Tied in multithreaded performance, i3 wins in single threaded performance. Haswell i3 vs 6600K should be similar.

 

[FredNotFound404]

Good luck maintaining that proposal of fitting a 152mm tall heatsink into a case with a clearance of 82mm

The Prodigy for example fits the D14 so not sure what you are talking about. But the OP will probably use his Antec 900 anyway so its irrelevant.

Well yeah the Intel is more efficient, but there's something we are forgetting, you can slap a discrete card and crossfire it with the one on the A8 if need, anyway its all about options there's allot more combinations one can do with that price tag, this is the one I'd prefer.

 

[lehtv]

Your parts list lists the SG05, not the Prodigy. Why would he buy a Prodigy anyway? You can get a microATX case the same volume, while not having to pay for any of Prodigy's restrictions like expensive mini-ITX motherboards. Either way though, there is no need for a new case - the whole discussion about what case to get is pointless.

 

[Torn Mind]

Haswell is a compelling choice for watching Blu Rays at 1080p24 because the so-called 24fps bug is not present on it at all, whereas it is extent on all other graphics solutions, although not always noticeably.

Photo editing uses some graphics acceleration, but it is not all graphics acceleration. For example, Photoshop documents what features it has that uses the GPU. http://forums.adobe.com/thread/979969

In addition, ITX is not an option since video capture will be required for the future(requirement #3 listed by the OP), which almost certainly requires a free PCI-e slot for the video capture card.

 

[velillen]

So i ordered pretty much everything i listed in the OP minus the mobo i went with the MSI mobo from the like third post.

I do thank you guys for the opinions and advice. As mentioned theres tons of routes and options people can go.

I should have been a bit clearer on the photo editing/video editing (video when she does vhs to dvd). My mom wont be doing anything fancy. But rather basic things like converting them, cropping, maybe color adjustment, getting rid of redeye, that sort of stuff. Stuff you use the basic adobe photoshop basic for. Same when it comes to video editing it would only be converting it to dvd format, making menus for said dvd, and trimming the clips to just what she wants to keep.

And my mother actually doesnt mind the antec 900 case. Shes actually the one who bought it. And she doesnt use the PC everyday anyways. Maybe once or twice a week.

Haswell is a compelling choice for watching Blu Rays at 1080p24 because the so-called 24fps bug is not present on it at all, whereas it is extent on all other graphics solutions, although not always noticeably.

I honestly wasnt even worried about the "24fps bugs". I dont notice it on my sandybridge i3's and i doubt my mom would either. Heck she still watches regular dvds

Photo editing uses some graphics acceleration, but it is not all graphics acceleration. For example, Photoshop documents what features it has that uses the GPU. http://forums.adobe.com/thread/979969

In addition, ITX is not an option since video capture will be required for the future(requirement #3 listed by the OP), which almost certainly requires a free PCI-e slot for the video capture card.

Yeah i definitely prefer the ATX/micro atx over ITX. THe more "slots" it has the better just to allow it to be upgraded as needed. I dont mind the itx i have for my htpc but its not something that would need


But again guys always nice to get help and a double check on things

 

[desura]

This is stupid. For parents, I'd actually recommend an atom-based win8 tablet right now.

 

[Torn Mind]

This is stupid. For parents, I'd actually recommend an atom-based win8 tablet right now.

Doesn't do all the things OP's mom wants to do and even if these new Atoms are leaps and bounds better than those old ones found in netbooks, their performance still trails massively relative to $100 mainstream desktop CPUs. Even the least computer savvy person likes a blazing fast computer.

And besides, I would speculate peripherals like an expensive keyboard(backlit and/or mechanical), IPS monitor, or a fine speaker system would make mom a happy camper. Although, that'd be for next year because he'd go over budget this year. :awe:

 

[Torn Mind]

I honestly wasnt even worried about the "24fps bugs". I dont notice it on my sandybridge i3's and i doubt my mom would either. Heck she still watches regular dvds

Heh, I'm even more of a dinosaur; I've never even touched a Blu-ray disc. :awe:

 

[velillen]

And besides, I would speculate peripherals like an expensive keyboard(backlit and/or mechanical), IPS monitor, or a fine speaker system would make mom a happy camper. Although, that'd be for next year because he'd go over budget this year. :awe:

She doesnt get any of those from me. Lets just say this "project" has been in my moms mind for ~10 years now. We/she have gone through 2 or 3 scanners for this. In her own words "this is the last computer i will buy" (i highly doubt that as she isnt even retired yet) but itll last awhile at least.

Heh, I'm even more of a dinosaur; I've never even touched a Blu-ray disc. :awe:

nothing wrong with that. I still have dvds and i will say ive gone from dvd to bluray on some movies (older ones) and not really noticed a difference. Actually just reminded me my parents do netflix discs...regular dvds not the blurays though. Honestly the bluray drive in her soon-to-be-new-pc was something that when she mentioned it both my dad and i said why. Her response...well i want to be able to watch the star trek (the orginal on blurays) you got me for mothers day on my computer. Mind you the computer is all of 15 feet from the plasma tv and bluray player. Theres other things like she has burned all of 2 dvd discs in her life but she HAD to have a dvd burner too.

Sometimes its just so much easier to go ok mom i can get you that feature even though youll never use it.

This is stupid. For parents, I'd actually recommend an atom-based win8 tablet right now.

She has a tablet and doesnt like it for anything other than reading on. So thanks but try again.