What Processor to Buy - General Use, No Gaming, Longevity

[hondaf17]

I'm building my brother a computer. Simple question - which processor should I base it around? This is a general use computer. E-mail, web-browsing, itunes, etc. NO gaming. No fancy photoshop, etc. He wants fast general use. He got 10 years out of his Dell and wants longevity. He gave me a $500 budget.

Which processor?

I'm leaning towards the AMD 1090T. Why?

1) It has 6 cores to intel's 4 --> my thought is this will help with longevity as more programs/future versions of windows will be designed to run on multiple cores.
2) It can overclock well --> 3-4 years from now I can easily bump the multiplier for him and get extra speed
3) The CPU/Mobo combo is roughly $80-$100 cheaper than an Intel equivalent. I live 5 minutes from Microcenter and will be buying from them.

I think #1 and #3 above outweigh the fact that a 2500k is a "faster" chip right now. Especially since no gaming is involved.

For his purposes am I wrong in recommending a 1090T?

TYIA,

 

[XX55XX]

Just get him one of those AMD dual-core processors. That should be enough horsepower for him. Why a six-core, though? It doesn't sound like his workload will need anything more than two cores.

 

[Gigantopithecus]

Yours is a good suggestion. The only alternative I'd recommend considering is an i3-2100, simply because in 3-4 years you'll be able to get an i5 for $100 or less, and that will be more capable than an OC'd X6. Dunno how the cost of an X6 compares to an i3 at Microcenter, though.

 

[hectorsm]

The 1090T is only a good deal if you are planning on using all six cores.
Otherwise it gets spanked by even the 2100k unless you overclock the six core to > 3.8. I doubt that web brower, email and itunes will use that many cores in the foreseeable future. You should also be able to find cheap motherboard for socket 1155 (starting around $60 for micro atx).

Having said that the 1090T would be a good value for some people. I just don't think it's the best for the reasons you stated above.

 

[frozentundra123456]

I would suggest the i3 2100 also. It should be more than enough for the forseable future if not gaming is involved. Should run cooler and use less power than a hex core AMD.

 

[blckgrffn]

I'd hit the 1055t deal with the MSI upgrade 880 board and get a nice ssd, cas and power supply. Just my $.02

For those that don't know, that is only $150 AMIR at MC and I am in the six core versus two core camp.

Down the road when single thread performance is deemed negligible (1ghz P3 versus 1.2 ghz tbird! Who cares about that today?) those extra cores will still be handy.

 

[RavenSEAL]

+1 on the six cores.

 

[Kristijonas]

For fast general use Sandy Bridge Pentium or i3 is more than enough. I'd take a cheap custom cooler for longevity (I'm sure Sandy Bridge processors can live 10 years with some extra cooling)

 

[Arkaign]

For this I kinda like the idea of building from an i3 2100, could always drop a IB quad in later if needed. SB quads are already faster than X6, so IB will just put more distance between them. Lower power use as well.

To be honest though, by the time any of these are obsolete, pretty much all of them will be obsolete around the same time.

 

[TuxDave]

I'm building my brother a computer. Simple question - which processor should I base it around? This is a general use computer. E-mail, web-browsing, itunes, etc. NO gaming. No fancy photoshop, etc. He wants fast general use. He got 10 years out of his Dell and wants longevity. He gave me a $500 budget.

10 years, sheesh. I couldn't even promise that I'll be using the computer the same way I will be in 10 years.

 

[ther00kie16]

+1 on the MC 1055t bundle. The cheaper 760g mobo is only $120 after rebate. The 880g mobo's only benefits are more ram slots (8gb is probably enough for general computing for quite a few years) and faster gpu. Savings of $30 can get a significantly faster gpu during sales.
Also, $88 for the Phenom x2 bundle if you want to save more $ and try to unlock to x4.

 

[FwFred]

My vote for the i3-2100. General purpose PC's will be better off from a fast dual core over a slower hex core.

 

[ther00kie16]

My vote for the i3-2100. General purpose PC's will be better off from a fast dual core over a slower hex core.

3.1ghz dual core with no turbo or o/c function vs 4ghz hex core... I think the 30+% higher frequency will close any gap in single threaded work.

 

[MrX8503]

I'd go for the i3 2100 and the hyperthreading will help it in the future when multi threads become more prevalent.

You can passively cool an i3 2100 if you get a large enough heatsink. The i3 also has a GPU, so you don't have to buy a GPU. With a passively cooled i3 and no discrete gpu, it'll be nearly maintenance free. Not only that, it'll be very eco friendly.

If he'll keep it for 10 years, you'll want it to to have little maintenance.

 

[blckgrffn]

+1 on the MC 1055t bundle. The cheaper 760g mobo is only $120 after rebate. The 880g mobo's only benefits are more ram slots (8gb is probably enough for general computing for quite a few years) and faster gpu. Savings of $30 can get a significantly faster gpu during sales.
Also, $88 for the Phenom x2 bundle if you want to save more $ and try to unlock to x4.

760G is just so darn old! I mean, you have use the archived video drivers and everything.

Add to that I hate using a mATX board when you could have ATX... That's just a personal preference. I am also a huge Gigabyte fan - every board in the house except my personal PC (irony) is Gigabyte and I like that they keep bios updates flowing and tend to have very good forward CPU support.

That's why its worth $20 more to me. The MSI also has goodies like optical audio out, another feature I won't buy a board without because invariably I find that I am trying to hook that PC up to a receiver.

Anyway, for the same price (or more!) I think taking the i3 would be a mistake. The 2500k with z68 board at ~$220... well, I could see you doing that but I still think a nice SSD would be a better investment.

 

[ther00kie16]

It's just 1 generation older.
Your personal preference and if you are hooking it up to optical, which is on MSI and not Gigabyte, you'd probably want a HTPC, in which case a mATX is usually preferred.
The 760g is a Gigabyte. The Biostar one has a s/pdif header.
I do agree with you that for a bit more of an enthusiast/gamer, the $20 more for the few extra features is well worth it but without USB3 or SATA3, I don't see a general use internet/itunes machine needing the features available for $20 more unless he intends to attach to a tv via hdmi.

760G is just so darn old! I mean, you have use the archived video drivers and everything.

Add to that I hate using a mATX board when you could have ATX... That's just a personal preference. I am also a huge Gigabyte fan - every board in the house except my personal PC (irony) is Gigabyte and I like that they keep bios updates flowing and tend to have very good forward CPU support.

That's why its worth $20 more to me. The MSI also has goodies like optical audio out, another feature I won't buy a board without because invariably I find that I am trying to hook that PC up to a receiver.

Anyway, for the same price (or more!) I think taking the i3 would be a mistake. The 2500k with z68 board at ~$220... well, I could see you doing that but I still think a nice SSD would be a better investment.

 

[frozentundra123456]

I'd hit the 1055t deal with the MSI upgrade 880 board and get a nice ssd, cas and power supply. Just my $.02

For those that don't know, that is only $150 AMIR at MC and I am in the six core versus two core camp.

Down the road when single thread performance is deemed negligible (1ghz P3 versus 1.2 ghz tbird! Who cares about that today?) those extra cores will still be handy.

I wont argue with you about the hex core deal being a good one. But I dont really see that single thread performance will ever become "negligible". What is a quad core or even hex core? 4 or 6 single threads. If you can make those threads faster, the multi core processor will be faster as well.

And for the needs of he OP, I dont think a hex core is at all necessary. If he is able to overclock and willing to pay for power for cores he doesnt need, then the deal you stated could be a good one I guess. Personally though, I would prefer a faster dual core or quad core to an AMD hexcore, especially since the 2500 outperforms the AMD hex core in all but a few specialized applications while using less power. And I will stand by the i3 2100 recommendation for the OP. I am just saying if you insist on having more cores, I would prefer the i5 2500.

 

[Red Hawk]

My recommendation would be an Intel i3 2105 (not the 2100) or an AMD A8-3850. Why? Relatively decent integrated graphics. If you get the Phenom II X6, your brother will either be stuck with a crappy Radeon HD 4200 integrated graphics or have to shell out some extra bucks to get a dedicated GPU. You may say that he doesn't need good graphics because he won't be playing games, but games aren't the only thing that consume graphics power even for the casual user. Most notably, video playback can be greatly aided by graphics hardware acceleration. Even Flash Player uses hardware acceleration. Most web browsers have adopted support for hardware acceleration, as well. Don't think he will need decent graphics? Try viewing http://madebyevan.com/webgl-water/ with hardware acceleration turned off in your browser (it uses WebGL, which Internet Explorer doesn't support, so you'll need to use Chrome or Firefox).

If you don't plan on upgrading, an i3 or A8 is a better option than the X6. And if future upgrades are a possibility, LGA 1155 and FM1 boards should have much more processor options than plain AM3 boards will have going forward. You can save money now by buying a less expensive CPU while allowing for upgrades later on.

 

[Rifter]

another vote for the i3 2100.

 

[LoneNinja]

For general use, same hard drive, I see no difference between my Athlon II X4 630 and Phenom II X6 1090T(same ram too), I don't think that'll change any time since an Athlon II X2 feels just as fast for internet browsing to me.

For a basic use computer that needs to last I would go either I3 or A8 Llano on that budget.
I3 may be a dual core, but it spanks Phenom II in all but highly threaded workloads while consuming a fraction of the power. It also features better integrated graphics, and being cheaper than a Phenom II X6 leaves room for more RAM, better motherboard, or an SSD. It will also run cool and should be quiet with the stock heat sink, and also leaves you with the upgrade path of Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge quad cores in the future if a better processor is needed for some reason.

Llano A8 series processor give you 4 cores, decent power consumption, and great integrated graphics. It is cheaper than a Phenom II X6, and you won't notice much if any difference in performance for these work loads. Graphics play a big role in flash and video playback as well, you also once again have some upgrade path with the socket Llano is on if upgrades are decided in the future.

If you go Phenom II X6, yes you can get a good deal on a motherboard at Microcenter, but I wouldn't trust any of those cheap boards to last more than a couple years, especially if you overclock the Phenom. I've killed several cheap motherboards with overclocked 125W rated processors, they work, but they don't last like a high quality board or a cheap board paired with a low watt processor. You will also be stuck with absolutely inferior integrated graphics, an added video card will be a must much sooner than with either an I3 or Llano. You will also need an aftermarket heat sink which adds cost, unless you want to remain near stock speeds and deal with an EXTREMELY loud fan, AMDs stock heatsinks have the loudest fans I've ever had in a computer.

That's my opinion on it. Forget the X6 and get a Llano or I3.

 

[Red Hawk]

another vote for the i3 2100.

I feel the need to restate this: if the OP does choose Intel, he should get the 2105, not the plain 2100. The GPU on the 2105 has twice the shader units as the GPU on the 2100.

 

[Rifter]

I feel the need to restate this: if the OP does choose Intel, he should get the 2105, not the plain 2100. The GPU on the 2105 has twice the shader units as the GPU on the 2100.

I did not realize this, and agree with your suggestion!

 

[Red Hawk]

Looking at Microcenter's online sales ad, here are the best deals I can find

AMD A8-3850 $129.99 (or any FM1 socket processor) + Gigabyte GA-A55M-DS2 $64.99 = $194.98
Intel i3 2100 (the 2105 isn't listed) $99.99 + Gigabyte GA-H61M-DS2 $62.99 = 162.28
AMD Phenom II X6 1090T $169.99 + Biostar A780L3G AM3 760G $59.99 - $30 bundle deal = 189.98

Even with the bundle deal, the lowest Intel price beats out the lowest AMD by a fair margin.

As far as multitasking goes, bit-tech did a couple benchmarks here. Despite AMD's advantage of several more cores, the i3 still was competitive. And a word about video encoding: AMD may have an advantage with purely CPU based encoding, but encoding applications that make use of Intel's QuickSync GPU acceleration technology are even faster than when encoding using a high-end GPU from Nvidia or AMD. And of course, if performance ever seems lacking you can always buy a better Intel chip and eBay (or FS/T) the 2100, while with the 1090T and an inexpensive board you're pretty much stuck at the highest performance you can get.

 

[AtenRa]

My recommendation,

AMD Phenom II X4 840 = $59,99
M5A78L-M LX PLUS (AM3+) = $59,99 (you can even install a BD later on)

Only $119,98 total,

Also to consider

XMS Series 4GB DDR3-1600 = $22,99 (amr)

Agility 3 120GB SATA 6Gb/s 2.5" = $149,99 (amr)

 

[ther00kie16]

http://www.microcenter.com/specials/...ndlePROMO.html
But click on 1055t and it says $120 so bundles are $120/$150 depending on the mobo, therefore same price as x4 840, which is really an Athlon with no L3 cache, and mobo.

No need to get 1090t since all x6 pretty oc to ~4ghz on air.