New build looking for advice

[Kneedragger]

This is my current setup. The mobo, cpu and ram I've had from the beginning and the rest I've added along the way. Right now I don't have a GPU because it died on me and I didn't want to buy anything yet. I was running a ATI Radeon HD 6770.

Case - Antec Solo II
OS - Win 8 64bit
Mobo - GIGABYTE GA-M68MT-S2P
Ram - 4 gigs patriot g series 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PGS24g6400elk)
Cpu - AMD Phenom II X4 925 Deneb 2.8GHz
DVD - Memorex DVD 16+/-DL4RWID2 IDE
Blu-ray - ASUS BR-04B2T SATA
GPU - ATI Radeon HD 6770 (broken)
SSD - Kingston HyperX 3K 240 GB SATA III 2.5-Inch 6.0 Gb/s
PSU - XFX Pro 550W 80 plus bronze
Monitor - HP 2311x

1. My PC is used for managing music library, movies and ripping them. I sometimes re-encode videos also. Light to medium gaming, a lot of internet use.
2. budget around $300.00
3. parts will be bought mostly in US
4. N/A
5. No brand preferences
6. I will try to use everything but the Mobo, CPU and RAM.
7. No overclocking
8. Currently using 1920 x 1080
9. Not sure when I'm going to build


Now for my budget I say $300.00 because I feel all I really need is a mobo, CPU and some RAM. What I'm looking to get out of this hardware is more USB and upgrade to USB 3.0. I'd also like to have more SATA so I can have room for a new SATA optical drive when the Memorex IDE drive dies. Not a big deal for this I guess I can buy a PCI card for SATA.

Another thing I am looking for and question is can I upgrade to a current quad core CPU and have my PC draw less power? Right now at idle my PC draws about 65 watts with no GPU. Does a quad core make a significant difference with gaming since GPU does most of the work? I don't have a problem going to a current two core CPU if that is the case.

Thanks

 

[Cerb]

Replacing the IDE burner will open the door for Haswell, which will be faster and lower power than anything AMD has. For your needs, and if the PhII is still doing the job OK, I think a Haswell Core i3 might be just the ticket.

Depending on motherboard features, an i3 and motherboard can be had for $180 to $250. Make it $70 for 2x4GB of new RAM, $20 for a new SATA burner, if you need a 2nd CD/DVD drive, and it's right in the budget, if "motherboard features" makes you go . With the performance of the Haswell i3s, there will be nothing it won't do far faster than the PhII, and you can get by OK with IGP for awhile.

6 SATAs are standard with a B85 or higher chipset, 4 of them 6Gbps. PCIe cards allow you to easily add up to 8 more per slot at good prices, with used cards, and up to 4 with new non-server cards at reasonable prices. Given your piecemeal upgrades, I'd look at motherboards with several PCIe slots, just in case you might want to use 2 or 3 of them over time, on top of a video card.

Also, there are some sales for next few days on some of the i3 models, matching or beating combo savings.

Edit: forgot to directly reply:

Another thing I am looking for and question is can I upgrade to a current quad core CPU and have my PC draw less power?

Not on that motherboard.

Does a quad core make a significant difference with gaming since GPU does most of the work?

If the GPU is doing most of the work, no, but if it's not, it can. However, the speed of each core matters, and an Intel of current gen, with HT to give it 4 logical cores, is going to be faster at all but a handful of games than even 6-8-core AMDs (3-4 module), and much faster than an older Stars quad. Those games are also those that will be GPU-bound without a much more powerful GPU than you're likely to want to buy, I'd say, based on what you've been running.

Now, a Core i5, which are quad cores with no HT on the desktop side (on mobile, they're a trip to ark.intel.com to find out ), and pushing your budget up for it, wouldn't be a bad thing to do. It would be a little faster in games, and should significantly reduce video encoding times, compared to an i3. But, it's basically $200 for one that's really worth it over an i3, while you can get an i3 for $120.

Some benchies:
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2013/11/14/intel-core-i3-4130-haswell-review/3
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2013/11/14/intel-core-i3-4130-haswell-review/4
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i3-4340-4330-4130_4.html
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i3-4340-4330-4130_5.html

 

[mfenn]

How about this:

i3 4130 $115 AR
ASRock H87M Pro4 $81
G.Skill DDR3 1600 8GB $75
ASUS DVD Burner $20
Total: $291 AR

Should be a bit faster than your 925 in multithreaded workloads and a lot faster in single-threaded workloads like browsing.

 

[Kneedragger]

Replacing the IDE burner will open the door for Haswell, which will be faster and lower power than anything AMD has. For your needs, and if the PhII is still doing the job OK, I think a Haswell Core i3 might be just the ticket.

Depending on motherboard features, an i3 and motherboard can be had for $180 to $250. Make it $70 for 2x4GB of new RAM, $20 for a new SATA burner, if you need a 2nd CD/DVD drive, and it's right in the budget, if "motherboard features" makes you go . With the performance of the Haswell i3s, there will be nothing it won't do far faster than the PhII, and you can get by OK with IGP for awhile.

6 SATAs are standard with a B85 or higher chipset, 4 of them 6Gbps. PCIe cards allow you to easily add up to 8 more per slot at good prices, with used cards, and up to 4 with new non-server cards at reasonable prices. Given your piecemeal upgrades, I'd look at motherboards with several PCIe slots, just in case you might want to use 2 or 3 of them over time, on top of a video card.

Also, there are some sales for next few days on some of the i3 models, matching or beating combo savings.

Edit: forgot to directly reply:
Not on that motherboard.
If the GPU is doing most of the work, no, but if it's not, it can. However, the speed of each core matters, and an Intel of current gen, with HT to give it 4 logical cores, is going to be faster at all but a handful of games than even 6-8-core AMDs (3-4 module), and much faster than an older Stars quad. Those games are also those that will be GPU-bound without a much more powerful GPU than you're likely to want to buy, I'd say, based on what you've been running.

Now, a Core i5, which are quad cores with no HT on the desktop side (on mobile, they're a trip to ark.intel.com to find out ), and pushing your budget up for it, wouldn't be a bad thing to do. It would be a little faster in games, and should significantly reduce video encoding times, compared to an i3. But, it's basically $200 for one that's really worth it over an i3, while you can get an i3 for $120.

Some benchies:
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2013/11/14/intel-core-i3-4130-haswell-review/3
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2013/11/14/intel-core-i3-4130-haswell-review/4
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i3-4340-4330-4130_4.html
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i3-4340-4330-4130_5.html

Thanks for the info. I'll take a look at i3 and i5 cpu's.

 

[Kneedragger]

How about this:

i3 4130 $115 AR
ASRock H87M Pro4 $81
G.Skill DDR3 1600 8GB $75
ASUS DVD Burner $20
Total: $291 AR

Should be a bit faster than your 925 in multithreaded workloads and a lot faster in single-threaded workloads like browsing.

Thanks for the suggestions I'll take a look at them.