CPU and GPU advice

blueswitch · Jul 7, 2010

ok so I'm helping my GF's parents pick out a tower..they had HP before and liked them so I'm looking at HP machines but I'm a little out of the loop on best bang for buck hardware. They mostly will be using this to web surf, skype, and run office....but will probably not replace it for like 6 years.

can't decide between 3 setups

1.) i5-650 dual-core@ 3.2ghz, 4GB RAM $ $679.99
2.) i5-750 quad-core @ 2.66ghz, 6GB RAM $729.99
3.) X4 635 quad-core @ 2.9ghz, 6GB RAM $599.99

I'm leaning towards the X4, I know the i5's are both faster per core...but to spend more money and get half the cores and less RAM makes option 1 seem pointless. So then it comes down to if going with the i5 over the X4 is worth the extra $130....because $130 will just about buy a 20" monitor.

Then my second question is..these all come with 512MB Radeon 5450's...or I can spend $50 and get a 512MB GeForce 315.....does it matter? My last bunch of builds have all been Nvidia...but I hear the new Nvidia's run hot..which mean's probably louder...and if I get good performance from the 5450's it would be smarter for them to probably spend the $50 on a bigger HDD.

xoke · Jul 7, 2010

blueswitch said:
ok so I'm helping my GF's parents pick out a tower..they had HP before and liked them so I'm looking at HP machines but I'm a little out of the loop on best bang for buck hardware. They mostly will be using this to web surf, skype, and run office....but will probably not replace it for like 6 years.

can't decide between 3 setups

1.) i5-650 dual-core@ 3.2ghz, 4GB RAM $ $679.99
2.) i5-750 quad-core @ 2.66ghz, 6GB RAM $729.99
3.) X4 635 quad-core @ 2.9ghz, 6GB RAM $599.99

I'm leaning towards the X4, I know the i5's are both faster per core...but to spend more money and get half the cores and less RAM makes option 1 seem pointless. So then it comes down to if going with the i5 over the X4 is worth the extra $130....because $130 will just about buy a 20" monitor.

Then my second question is..these all come with 512MB Radeon 5450's...or I can spend $50 and get a 512MB GeForce 315.....does it matter? My last bunch of builds have all been Nvidia...but I hear the new Nvidia's run hot..which mean's probably louder...and if I get good performance from the 5450's it would be smarter for them to probably spend the $50 on a bigger HDD.

For the tasks they are doing, the cheapest one would be more than enough. I don't think that GeForce is worth any extra money, it might be a little faster, but not enough to warrant spending the extra money on a non gamer machine. The Ati should run colder too, lot of them are passively cooled. Get the bigger HD if you think they will use it. My 2 cents...

EarthDog · Jul 7, 2010

Well, first of all, in the i5 rig, you cant (well shouldnt) run 2x2GB sticks and 1x1GB sticks together to make 6gb. 2x2gb is best or 4x2gb if you think you need that much ram.

Same thing with the AMD machine in regards to the ram.

For those tasks that the Gparents will be doing, get the cheapest one you can.

neuen · Jul 7, 2010

^^^ +1. All of the ones you listed will WAY outperform what they need it for. Heck I still use a single core 1GB notebook for all the things theirs need to do.

blueswitch · Jul 7, 2010

Yeah I know it's over kill....but like I said they'll want it to last for 6-7 years...and they were ready to spend $1,000. They could get by with a celeron...but not for that long..and when you can get an AMD quad for less than an Intel dual....why not...

ytpconquer · Jul 7, 2010

I'd just go for the X4. Yes the i5 is better clock for clock, but in the 6-7 years they will own it I expect the core advantage the X4 has will only grow. The 6GB of RAM is weird though. It is best to have 4 or 8. 6GB would probably work, but it wouldn't run in dual channel and I've only ever run in dual channel (except on my 754 rig).

7AIR28 · Jul 7, 2010

true all of these are way overkill and, heck, even a celeron or pentium could last them for web surfing office and skype. but if you do choose to go with those than id save the $$$ and go with the x4-it has the core advantage that will probably come in to play further down the road. and being that they run regualr applications with no benching or 3dmark vantage or crysis, i highly doubt they will even notice the performance difference between 4gb dual channel and 6gb not channeled.

blueswitch · Jul 7, 2010

yeah...I'll play around with some more entry specs and see the price difference...the 6GB come's in because HP has a deal on certain models right now were they are upgrading the stock 4GB it usually comes with to 6GB for free. I'm assuming it's 2x2x2 dimms. Although wouldn't they still get dual channel performance on the first 4GB of physical that gets used and anything past the 4GB that starts to use the 3rd DIMM would not get the benefit.....which means 90% of the time they would probably not go past 4GB and get dual channel performance?

EarthDog · Jul 7, 2010

dual channel works in 2 or 4 sticks. tri channel is 3 sticks or 6. it sjust a mix match of 2x2gb and 2x1gb sticks in dual channel would be my guess.

Evilsizer · Jul 7, 2010

another option, get a Atom setup with a SSD. they will prolly never know the difference between that atom+SSD vs the i5's or X4, for what they will do. even if they like HP, talk to them about building a PC, will be cheaper...

CPU and GPU advice

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