Fastest processor I can get for $50?

[sm625]

Search slickdeals for "Lenovo H430-2558". It is $280 but you really shouldnt go any cheaper than this. An athlon X2 is really becoming intolerable even for basic web surfing. Given the rate that flash and silverlight are bloating, an athlon X2 might not even handle netflix and facebook games 2 years from now.

 

[zijin_cheng]

If he plans to not upgrade for another 6 years, all the more reason to spend an extra 100.00 or so and get a much faster system. I just dont understand the mentality of being so absolutely price minimizing on a computer, considering all the other things we spend money on, but hey, it is his decision.

Haha he doesn't spend money on anything. I'm trying to be thrifty like him as well, but I'm failing. Its not like he actually needs a new computer, but he said if I can get a new computer for 200 or less then he would upgrade, otherwise, he will stay with his Pentium D which still does everything perfectly smooth on windows XP. He's perfectly satisfied with his Pentium D, my sisters are still using Pentium 3s and they have no problems with it.

I would appreciate if people would stop commenting on the 200 price or the mentality, I don't mind but I would like more answers to the question.

 

[zijin_cheng]

And I don't understand why people are advising me to go with a better processor like a q6600. That $50 price mark is firm, the only amount of leeway he will allow is around $5.

And why would an athlon x2 be getting slow for surfing if his Pentium D still surfs fine.

 

[JustMe21]

I agree with going with the Celeron G530 over an AMD E-350. I have both and for web browsing, the G530 is definitely better. Look for an H61 motherboard to go with it as those are usually pretty cheap.

 

[jhu]

He doesn't use his computer much except for Internet, Word, and some low level programming,

there is a case + 350W PSU (probably crappy) for $30
2GB RAM for $10 (i'll add in another 2GB when its not enough)
$40 for a 60GB SSD (Agility 3)

So yup with that combo it comes up to about $180-190...


And it seems like the Athlon X2 is actually a better choice than the 3300, maybe I will go with a G530, possible to get a $50 1155 mobo?

About the E-350, don't you guys think the G530/Athlon X2 would be a bit faster?

Why even look at new computers? Anything assemled within the past 5 years will do just fine, and many can be had for much less than $200 (a least Core 2 or Athlon 64).

Yo guys have Wal*mart up there. Heres an Athlon 64 x2 system with keyboard, mouse, and Windows 7.

 

[Cerb]

Not only that, but a G530 will offer nothing to near nothing over a E6550 or faster. I can't find a comparison of anything that slow, but the Pentium benches I can compare are not thrilling. If the price was high enough to include a near-3GHz SB Pentium, Core i3, or quad FX (for AMD IGP goodness), new would be substantially superior. A Core 2 or Athlon II X2 with 2+GB RAM will be good enough for quite some time (but if 2GB and used, going to 4GB now, before DDR2 gets too expensive, would be nice for the future).

I'd rather get a ATX over BTX, but that is one thing about used computers--beggers and choosers and all that.

IMO, if he doesn't want to touch it for many more years, a Core i3 with 8GB RAM (just because DDR3 1333+ is cheap) would offer much more value. That, of course, is part of why they can still get $100 for a Core i3. That extra $50 would help a little now, but do wonders in 3-5 years.

 

[TJCS]

Please, I don't appreciate 1) even if forum rules allow it, and yes, I already found parts that cost a total of $220 after taxes NOT ON SALE but they suck, it was an Athlon X2 I think, so waiting for sale prices I'm sure I can get $20 by IR or MIR.

I didn't mean to be offensive, but what I recommended is what I actually said to my dad. I was just trying to point out that sometimes going great efforts to get used parts to fit a very small budget is not worth it. If you got friends donating parts then that would be a different story.

But back on topic, that Celeron G530 looks like a great candidate for basic computing needs. I would get that.

 

[guskline]

Hey guys, my dad wants me to build the best desktop possible for $200 after tax, so about $175 before tax. Also, we live in Canada, so any U.S. deals will have to be online because we can only drive to the border and driving to stores like Microcenter are too far away.

I am looking for the best processor for $50. I saw the Phenom II for $50 at Microcenter, but that is B&M only so not an option for me

zijin: Does this build reuse any of the old components? ie case, psu, hdd? $200 is almost impossible for a new case, hdd, ram, psu, cpu.

 

[guskline]

Haha he doesn't spend money on anything. I'm trying to be thrifty like him as well, but I'm failing. Its not like he actually needs a new computer, but he said if I can get a new computer for 200 or less then he would upgrade, otherwise, he will stay with his Pentium D which still does everything perfectly smooth on windows XP. He's perfectly satisfied with his Pentium D, my sisters are still using Pentium 3s and they have no problems with it.

I would appreciate if people would stop commenting on the 200 price or the mentality, I don't mind but I would like more answers to the question.

zijin: My suggestion? Have dad keep his present rig and save $10/month until he has $300. Lets face it, it's tough for you as his son to tell him it will be better than his old system when he's not willing ( or able) to pay more than $200. I can tell by your posts that you love your dad, and you should. It's very hard to tell those we love that its going to cost more.

 

[zijin_cheng]

zijin: My suggestion? Have dad keep his present rig and save $10/month until he has $300. Lets face it, it's tough for you as his son to tell him it will be better than his old system when he's not willing ( or able) to pay more than $200. I can tell by your posts that you love your dad, and you should. It's very hard to tell those we love that its going to cost more.

D'aww thanks

I didn't mean to be offensive, but what I recommended is what I actually said to my dad. I was just trying to point out that sometimes going great efforts to get used parts to fit a very small budget is not worth it. If you got friends donating parts then that would be a different story.

But back on topic, that Celeron G530 looks like a great candidate for basic computing needs. I would get that.

No offense taken, just wanted to make sure, didn't mean to get all heated up about this, but let me post my findings so far, and these are items not on sale too.

Antec Case + 350W PSU $34.99
AMD A-3400 CPU $59.99
Gigabyte A55M FM1 $49.99
64GB Octane S2 (I know it sux) $39.88
Kingston ValueRAM 2GB $14.99

Total comes up to exactly $200 before tax, and these items are not on sale either, so if I wait for sales, based on these prices couldn't I hit the $200 mark?

Oh and also, its not that my family is short on money, he just doesn't like spending on computers, and he doesn't mind when it is finished as long as its done by June.

Oh about reusing parts from old computers, we do have an old computer with a 250W PSU inside, if we use that we can use that extra money to find something better.

EDIT: I actually found a G540 for $50 regular price, that would be a much better option than the 3400? Oh and if prices on Phenom II's do drop to $50, how much faster would a 945/955/965 be than a G540?

EDIT #2: Phenom X3 8550 for $50, thoughts?

 

[mikeymikec]

Yes, look for refurbished units.

+1, or "wait till you can afford to spend more". How long does a computer of his last normally, has he had one from new before?

You might want to check out Anand's "bench" system to compare CPUs from different generations. That Phenom X3 is the first generation Phenom, which didn't fare very well against Intel at the time.

- edit - I responded to an earlier post, asked questions, then I saw answers in later posts. I might edit my post with different questions as I trawl through the thread.

 

[zijin_cheng]

+1, or "wait till you can afford to spend more". Does he have to have something new now?

No he's willing to wait until june, are you suggesting waiting until Haswell?

 

[mikeymikec]

No he's willing to wait until june, are you suggesting waiting until Haswell?

Admittedly I've had my answer since, in that he's not willing to spend more. My thinking was "wait until he's saved more".

One question mark I'd put over AMD's E range of processors is to check what your dad is doing and guess what he might end up doing with the new machine, it's just that I've seen AMD's C range in action and I wouldn't recommend them for anyone really - considering that they can't handle a Flash game today without disabling Aero Glass first I can't imagine what they'll be like a few years down the line. From what I understand, the C range are netbook class processors, but I've seen them in desktops.

 

[JAG87]

zijin: My suggestion? Have dad keep his present rig and save $10/month until he has $300. Lets face it, it's tough for you as his son to tell him it will be better than his old system when he's not willing ( or able) to pay more than $200. I can tell by your posts that you love your dad, and you should. It's very hard to tell those we love that its going to cost more.

I'm going to disagree, and judging by the OP's sig, it doesn't look like it would be financially stressful for him to take his dad's $200, add $200 of his own without telling him, and buy his dad a decent computer.

That's my idea of loving, but hey to each their own.

Firm price of $50 for the CPU, budge $5, rofl, give us a break.

 

[Hubb1e]

buy used: http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Pavilion...0749722918?pt=Desktop_PCs&hash=item1e714a7126

Or something like that. There are a ton of machines out there. I'm personally giving away Athlon X2s and X3s to my friends and family because I have no more use for them. These kinds of compturs exist and are good.

But seriously, I don't think a Llano A4 is that much better than a Pentium D that it is worth upgrading to unless you can't find RAM for that old box anymore. Maybe another option would be to drop in a $25 video card with flash video acceleration, since that is probably the only thing his old box really can't do.

 

[bxcloud]

Find some used parts like the Phenom II 555 and hope it unlocks to 4-cores.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

And I don't understand why people are advising me to go with a better processor like a q6600. That $50 price mark is firm, the only amount of leeway he will allow is around $5.

And why would an athlon x2 be getting slow for surfing if his Pentium D still surfs fine.

just spend 100 and get i3, you will be a million times happier than you will with whatever piece of crap you can get for 50. i couple years ago i got a pentium 6300 on sale for $50 with a motherboard which is still a decent machine but now the pentium chips are clocked lower that core chips so i wouldnt do that now

if youre cheapskate and dont intend to replace very often and dont want headaches get intel, not amd

 

[laputan machine]

just spend 100 and get i3, you will be a million times happier than you will with whatever piece of crap you can get for 50. i couple years ago i got a pentium 6300 on sale for $50 with a motherboard which is still a decent machine but now the pentium chips are clocked lower that core chips so i wouldnt do that now

if youre cheapskate and dont intend to replace very often and dont want headaches get intel, not amd

Doubling the price for largely hyperthreading, yeah not everyone wants to do that. The pentium's (and dual core celeron's too since they're not much less powerful) are just fine. I'm on a g850 and it's a perfectly fine chip for everyday tasks and even not held me back much in gaming. So, OP, get the g530 or above (whichever you can find for 50 bucks). I doubt your dad will be disappointed.

 

[mikeymikec]

just spend 100 and get i3

Wait, I'll just try that with the bank manager. "You've got $500 in your account." "Why don't we just say that I have $1000?".

 

[VirtualLarry]

They philosophy is, get the price as low as possible at all costs. But again there's a limit to that, which is anything C2D first gen or lower don't, because its not worth it.

You get what you pay for, at the lower end. For $200 and under, you are looking at off-lease Pentium 4 compact desktops, with DVD-ROM (not even DVD-RW), 1GB of RAM, 80GB HD, and XP Pro.

Edit: In other words, I don't think that you are planning out the upgrade path very well. Buying a cheap-as-shit machine today, will get you a doubly-shitty computer in the future, as the already-obsolete machine that you purchased, falls farther and farther down the performance curve.

If you need a machine to last another at least 6 years, I would strongly urge at least an AMD quad-core, or an Intel i3 minimum with HyperThreading. 8GB of RAM at minimum, upgrade to 16GB when RAM requirements increase six years down the road. And an SSD (minimum size 64GB, although the sweet spot for price per GB is 120/128GB sizes).

All of which is going to cost you $400-450, without the OS. But it will truly be a real upgrade, one that your dad will notice.

 

[EliteRetard]

I noticed some bundles on Newegg.ca under $250:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ComboBu...t=Combo.956681
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ComboDe...=Combo.1050551
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ComboBu...=Combo.1017103

I think SuperBiiz ships to Canada:

http://www.superbiiz.com/system_conf...6cec490d828&p=

 

[EliteRetard]

Oh one more:

http://www.superbiiz.com/system_conf...fe1edff3690&p=

 

[zijin_cheng]

Not only that, but a G530 will offer nothing to near nothing over a E6550 or faster. I can't find a comparison of anything that slow, but the Pentium benches I can compare are not thrilling. If the price was high enough to include a near-3GHz SB Pentium, Core i3, or quad FX (for AMD IGP goodness), new would be substantially superior. A Core 2 or Athlon II X2 with 2+GB RAM will be good enough for quite some time (but if 2GB and used, going to 4GB now, before DDR2 gets too expensive, would be nice for the future).

I'd rather get a ATX over BTX, but that is one thing about used computers--beggers and choosers and all that.

IMO, if he doesn't want to touch it for many more years, a Core i3 with 8GB RAM (just because DDR3 1333+ is cheap) would offer much more value. That, of course, is part of why they can still get $100 for a Core i3. That extra $50 would help a little now, but do wonders in 3-5 years.

Aww man, if only those 945/955/965s would go on sale for $50, that would be good.

Wait, I'll just try that with the bank manager. "You've got $500 in your account." "Why don't we just say that I have $1000?".

I noticed some bundles on Newegg.ca under $250:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ComboBu...t=Combo.956681
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ComboDe...=Combo.1050551
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ComboBu...=Combo.1017103

I think SuperBiiz ships to Canada:

http://www.superbiiz.com/system_conf...6cec490d828&p=

Sweet thanks! will check out. Again, can't find the rep button

EDIT: Wow superbiz really has good deals. I was bad and just went with the case + 400W, 2GB and DVD-RW and the total came to $54, which is actually quite good, but shipping kills it tho

 

[mikeymikec]

I don't know how practical this suggestion is, but if his dad's computer still works well enough for his needs, is it worth bolstering that computer instead with some of the $200, then re-use the parts in the future to help make something better with that (most likely) limited future budget?

Things like a decent quality low-end PSU, possibly a nicer HDD (the performance of newer models tends to show incremental improvements over the older ones), maybe even an SSD if the dad can handle the idea of manually TRIM'ing it (is it possible to do this via boot CD or something?) - prioritise on bits that can be re-used for a new build?

 

[zijin_cheng]

I don't know how practical this suggestion is, but if his dad's computer still works well enough for his needs, is it worth bolstering that computer instead with some of the $200, then re-use the parts in the future to help make something better with that (most likely) limited future budget?

Things like a decent quality low-end PSU, possibly a nicer HDD (the performance of newer models tends to show incremental improvements over the older ones), maybe even an SSD if the dad can handle the idea of manually TRIM'ing it (is it possible to do this via boot CD or something?) - prioritise on bits that can be re-used for a new build?

Well, he wants to sell his computer, and it has a 250W PSU. We do have an extremely old case that we might use, however, buying a PSU and a case is almost as expensive as buying a case by itself (if you're getting a no name brand PSU)

And I'm getting him a 60GB SSD, have to wait until the prices drop to $0.50/GB again though.