Upgrade from an AMD Athlon (Propus) build?

[StinkyPinky]

My fathers Athlon (budget quad core from 2009) has died so I'm looking to replace it. The specs for it was 4gb ram, athlon cpu, 90 gb ssd, radeon 5450 GPU. He doesn't use much in the way of processing power, mostly just emails/word/you tube/watching DVDs...that type of stuff. So I'm looking at something somewhat budget.

So integrated graphics is fine, 8gb ram is fine, and a small 120G ssd is fine. Which CPU do you guys think fits this mold? It doesn't have to be a killer CPU, just something that improves on the athlon without wasting money on power he won't use.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Haswell Pentium G3258 combo, with an H81/B85 board combo from Newegg? That's what I'm currently running (although, I have a 7950 3GB card). Runs pretty nice at 4.0Ghz.

 

[LTC8K6]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.2207121

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.2451599

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.2307784

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883220496

 

[Yuriman]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.2207121

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.2451599

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.2307784

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883220496

I like options 1, 2 and 4. I'd avoid an older discrete video card if possible, especially since he already has an HD5450.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Thanks, just trying to decide on Haswell i3 or AMD kaveri. Not sure it really matters though. Does anyone know when the i3 skylakes are out? I thought they were already released but there is no sign of them anywhere....

 

[bononos]

The Kaveri A8 has ~40% lead in igpu performance in gaming vs Haswell i3. The Skylake i3 igpu will be faster than the Kaveri. No idea when the Skylake i3 will be sold, probably very soon this month.

 

[mvbighead]

The Kaveri A8 has ~40% lead in igpu performance in gaming vs Haswell i3. The Skylake i3 igpu will be faster than the Kaveri. No idea when the Skylake i3 will be sold, probably very soon this month.

I doubt gaming performance comes into play for the op's suggested purpose.

I'd think i3 is the best bet here. I have a laptop with a slower one that is quick for all the suggested purposes. You could go with the haswell pentium to save some coin, but if you can spend a little extra I think the i3 would be a nice improvement.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Do you have a microcenter around?

 

[sm625]

I would actually recommend something with 4 threads. Because what inevitably ends up happening with non computer savvy people is their computer gets infested with garbage that ends up consuming an entire thread 100% at all times. When that happens on a G3258, you're left with only one functioning thread, which can make a computer seem slow. By simply going for an i3 or i5, even just a sandy, you eliminate that issue. There are a lot of off lease sandy machines available at great prices. I saw a sandy i5 notebook with a 256GB SSD for $270 yesterday.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Thanks guys

I decided to go for i3-4170. GPU performance is not an issue at all, so the extra IPC of the intel cpu over kaveri is probably more useful. Hopefully this will last 5+ years.

A pity about the skylake i3 but I can't wait. He needs a PC.

 

[LTC8K6]

Thanks guys

I decided to go for i3-4170. GPU performance is not an issue at all, so the extra IPC of the intel cpu over kaveri is probably more useful. Hopefully this will last 5+ years.

A pity about the skylake i3 but I can't wait. He needs a PC.

In a few years, you can pick up an i7 for cheap, and get a nice performance boost. :biggrin: