Intel SB or AMD Llano for budget office build (with possible Portal 2 use)?

[queequeg99]

I have a very preliminary question as I begin to part out a new build for a desktop.

The pc will be used 95%+ for general office use (Word, Excel, and surfing). There will be some very light gaming (Nancy Drew games that my wife plays). But I’m hoping that the machine will be able to potentially run Portal 2 somewhat decently in 1680x1050 resolution (I can turn off various eye candy options).

I am looking at various options with integrated graphics options as these tend to keep costs and heat down (and with less heat, less sound). I’ve been looking at some of the Llano options and like them. If I didn’t have the desire to occasionally play Portal 2, I would probably go with an i3 solution. But from what I’ve read, Llano’s graphics performance trounces the Intel solutions (even the HD 3000 that comes with the i5). Can the Intel graphics solutions work? Or will performance suck so badly that a discrete graphics card will be required to have even minimally acceptable Portal 2 performance? If so, should Llano suffice?

If it matters, I intend to ultimately put all of this in a microATX case with a 64GB SSD, 4GB ram, running Windows 7 Pro.

So given my objectives, which route should I be looking at: AMD Llano or Intel Sandy Bridge? Or something else entirely?

 

[mfenn]

Llano is a decent choice if you want to play some games at medium res and details. The HD2000/3000 won't handle it at anything other than all minimum. Another option would be to get an Intel but add a budget GPU like a 6670, but that would up the cost by a bit.

 

[queequeg99]

I've made a little progress on the build and would like some feedback. I'm now considering the following components:

A8-3850 + ASUS F1A75-M LE combo for $195

Fractal Design Core 1000 Micro ATX Computer Case for $40

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) for $70

SeaSonic SS-300SFD 300W for $50

1. I'll need a heatsink fan unit to go with this combo. Preferably something decently quiet and not too pricey. I would like to keep the cost under $50. Any suggestions?

2. Note that I picked the 1866 RAM because I saw some benchmarks on Anandtech which show significantly better gaming performance for Llano if the memory bus is pushed up to 1866 and this seemed like a reasonably cheap and quiet means of making an improvement. Do you see any problems with this approach (keeping in mind that gaming is really a very secondary use for this computer)? It seems like most of the 1866 memory comes with heat spreaders. If I can't find any without spreaders, I'll have to do some research to see if they will be a problem with this motherboard and whatever CPU heatsink fan I end up getting.

3. Nothing special about the PSU. I tend to like Seasonic PSUs and don't need anything fancy so I'm going for cheap and quiet. But I'm very open to alternatives.

4. I'll be using a 64GB SSD of some sort. I figure on spending about $100 for the drive give or take a few bucks.

5. She already has a 22" monitor, optical drive, keyboard/mouse, and Windows 7 Pro license.

It seems like the above build has the potential to be a pretty quiet and moderately priced build (around $500 for the parts I have to buy) that is nevertheless pretty snappy when used for routine office uses. And perhaps the occasional light gaming on lesser settings. But any alternative suggestions would be very much appreciated.

FYI, one reason why I'm placing a bit of a premium on keeping this machine quiet is because it will have to sit on the desktop where she works as we've had problems with the placement of her current full sized tower in an enclosed cabinet. I've also thought that if I can get this thing quiet enough, I might use it as the basis for a second build which will be a dedicated HTPC.

Thanks for any suggestions and feedback.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Llano for sure, I like that build you put together.

 

[queequeg99]

After a little looking, I'm considering the following RAM and CPU cooler:

Kingston HyperX 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 for $75

and this cooler:

Scythe SCSK-1100 100mm Shuriken Rev. B 3 for $35

The only reason I changed the RAM is due to its lower profile.

I've read very good things about the Scythe. My one big concern is its lateral size. I haven't found anyone with this ASUS board who can comment on heatsink/RAM spacing issues. So I figure I'll take a chance and hope it works with the lower profile RAM.

For an SSD, I'll probably wait and see if there are any Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals on a 64GB Corsair M4. If I can get one for <$100, that'll be the drive.

 

[mfenn]

The parts you picked out look fine except that I don't think that the RAM is worth it when 8GB DDR3 1600 is $44. The only think that I can see the Shuriken blocking is the DIMM slots, and the Sniper kit linked above is fairly low profile.

As for the SSD, you can't go wrong with the Crucial M4 64GB. Its about $113, but the extra money is worth it. (I saved you enough on the RAM anyway :awe

 

[queequeg99]

Thanks mfenn. I had meant to type "Crucial" in my prior email rather than "Corsair." Don't know what I was thinking.

Thanks for the memory tip. I was going to ask you more about the rationale until I took a closer look at Anand's article on Llano graphics performance and noted that the 1886 memory bus looked so awesome because it was being compared to a 1333 setup. So the 1600 dimm you recommended should provide a reasonable bump while keeping the costs down.

 

[mfenn]

Yep, no problem. If you do a cost-benefit analysis, DDR3 1600 becomes a no brainer for Llano.

DDR3 1333 Cost: $35 Speedup: 0
DDR3 1600 Cost: $45 Speedup: 0.5
DDR3 1866 Cost: $75 Speedup: 1

So you end up paying $10 more over the base price for half the speedup. DDR3 1866 would only be a good deal if it fell to below $55.

 

[queequeg99]

This is just an update.

I got all of the pieces today (including mfenn's suggested changes). I came REALLY close to not getting things to work with the Scythe and the ram. One of the heat pipes is so close to the ram that you can't slide two pieces of paper between them. But it fit.

So I get everything together, press power on, and absolutely nothing happens. I'm floored. I've built about a dozen machines and have never had a problem. I take everything apart and try essentially starting over, stripped down as much as possible, outside the case. Still no go. Just as I'm about to rip a power supply out of a working machine in a trouble shooting effort, I notice a tiny LED that is lit on the motherboard. The power standby light is on. So I figure the PS is actually functioning at some level. I try reseating the cable that connects the power button to the motherboard. No go. I reverse the cable. No go.

At my wits ends (and having taught our five year old many new words), I finally try shorting the damn power leads on the motherboard with a screw driver and, lo and behold, the damn thing booted up! My kludgy fix for now is to use the reset button to power the system on. But it looks like I can access the wiring for the buttons on the Fractal case so hopefully I can get the larger power button to work.

Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit is installing right now. When I get things up and running, I'll provide an update with some performance numbers. Thanks again for the help.

 

[mfenn]

Glad you got it up and running. Sucks to hear about the power switch, hopefully it is just a loose wire. There is not much else that can fail in simple momentary contact switch.