I guess we're looking at the AMD A8 x4 7600. GIGABYTE Main Board Desktop AMD A68 (A68HM-DS2) Seagate Barracuda 7200 ST1000DM003 (3.5", 1TB, 64MB, SATA III-600) The Super Flower FX 350 W—it’s an 80 Plus Bronze rated power supply. Maybe a Zalman mini tower case in black? I guess there's also that ZAL-A1 option. Kingston DDR3 HyperX Fury, 1866MHz, 8GB (2x4GB) Red HX318C10FRK2/8 The LC Power LC-CC-95 CPU Cooler – 90mm version.
It’s got a non-modular power supply, which means more cable clutter inside, and the case fans are a bit louder. Plus, it's a bit bulkier overall, though maybe a little shorter in depth.
But if you stick with the Intel Core i3-4170, I guess bumping up the clock speed for $4.75 might be worth it.
Ultimately, if you really want to stick strictly to your budget, I'd probably just swap out the case in my setup for that Zalman T5—assuming you don't have height restrictions in your apartment (you'll need about half a meter of clearance). 😛
1 x CORSAIR 430W, CX430M, Modular PC, EPS12V v2.3 1 x Intel Core i3-4170 (3.70GHz,512KB,3MB,54 W,1150) Box 1 x AOC i2276VW, 21.5" IPS 16:9, 1920x1080, 250 cd/m2, 50,000,000:1 1 x Microsoft Windows 10 Home 1 x Seagate 1TB Desktop SSHD, SATA III, 7200 rpm, 8GB SSD 1 x Fractal Design Core 1100 Black, 2 x 5.25", 2 x 3.5" internal bays 1 x Asrock H81M-HDS, s1150, Intel H81, M-ATX, Dual Channel 1 x 8GB (1x8GB) Kingston HyperX Fury DDR3, 1600MHz, CL10 1 x LG GH24NS DVD Writer, DVD±RW, 24x DVD±R, 8x DL, 40x CD-R
$1707 ADM(includes free assembly and shipping)
I'm not sure how they handle the Windows installation. I didn't want to go with a standard HDD since this one is faster, though maybe the price would drop slightly $67 if that's necessary.
I guess this benchmark comparison from AnandTech is worth a look if you're curious about how these chips stack up. It seems like there's some interesting data here, though I might be overthinking it.
Looking at one of the dozens of benchmarks out there, the N3150 seems to be just a tiny bit weaker than the J1900. I guess.
EDIT:
electricharbor30 said:I've personally owned a Core i3 530 and a Core i7 760, and now I'm running a G1610... honestly, I don't see much of a difference when I'm gaming. Most of these newer chips either stutter like crazy or they can only push frames if you crank everything down to the absolute minimum settings. If someone actually needs decent graphics, they should just buy a real GPU. Spending an extra $1,000 or $500 more on a CPU just to get slightly better integrated graphics is totally insane... especially when you're only saving a tiny bit of cash. If this guy manages to squeeze out even 5 extra FPS for that little extra money by choosing the Pentium, you can cut me anywhere you want... but he's only got $667 to work with, so clearly he's trying to be careful with his budget...
Core i7 760 or Core i7 860? Just a heads up, neither one has integrated graphics. ☕
Is there an online store out there that offers free assembly and shipping?
I just tried putting one together on LinkedIn, but their selection is honestly pretty terrible. I ended up blowing my budget because they didn't have a decent CPU and motherboard combo in that price range.
Core Config, Execution Units—is there really no boost to GPU efficiency? 🙂
EDIT: Also, yeah, there are tons of reviews out there. Apparently, the integrated graphics on the G3250 are just a tiny bit better than an HD 4000 (like on an i3 3225, for example).
Everything you just said sounds like you're buying a computer for yourself... like, 'this would be better for me because I have these requirements, and they probably have them too.' 😬
CPU power? You need enough so it isn't just a slideshow when a 50 vs. 50 soldier battle kicks off in AoE ii / III, or even worse in some slightly newer strategy game (since they all rely on a single core). Honestly, the Broadwell architecture barely offers any real upgrade over Haswell.
Will games run smoothly? The integrated graphics on the N3150 are twice as weak.
Upgrading to an SSD is the easiest move, along with adding more DDR3 RAM—an SSD will make the whole system fly.
All this talk about fans, heat, and thermal throttling seems pretty silly for Pentium or Celeron chips, and the power savings are negligible at best.
I'm thinking about pairing an HDD with a Celeron G1820 myself, which makes it $33 probably cheaper than your Braswell setup, and honestly, it should still feel a lot faster.
Everything stays within budget anyway. It doesn't run hot, and having more cores isn't really a big deal here since those four weaker ones are actually slower than the two Pentium cores, even in multithreaded tasks. Plus, those old games you're looking to play usually don't even touch more than one or two cores, so the Pentium has a bit of an edge there. The integrated graphics are a little weaker, and the power supply is just a lower-tier version of what's in my rig.
Then again, you could always upgrade to a used i5 in a few years.
So, I was looking at this ASROCK H81M-DG4. It’s an mATX board using the Intel H81 chipset with a socket 1150, running on DDR3 RAM. It’s got the usual basics—USB 3.0, SATA, PCI-E, plus D-SUB and DVI outputs—and comes with G-LAN and standard audio. Just a pretty standard setup, I guess. It’s an Intel Pentium G3250 box, a dual Core chip running at 3.2GHz with a 3MB cache and integrated graphics. I guess it's a standard LGA 1150 setup. It’s an ANTEC VSK-3000B, mATX, black, and doesn't come with a PSU. It’s a 120.0 GB Kingston HyperX Fury SSD (SHFS37A/120G), running on SATA3 via a 2.5'' interface. It uses MLC chips and hits speeds up to 500/500 MB/s, I guess. It looks like we're looking at some 4GB of DDR3 RAM from the G.SKILL Value Series, specifically the F3-1600C11S-4GNS model running at 1600MHz. I guess that's pretty standard stuff. It’s a 400W unit, the Office Series LC500-12 from LC POWER. It runs on ATX v2.31, features a 120mm fan, and includes PFC. I guess that's about it.It’s got an 80+ Bronze rating.
Total: $638 Here are the links.
I guess these Pentiums have decent integrated graphics that are basically a trimmed-down version of what you'd find in an i3, making them a bit punchier than the ones in the Celeron. Plus, there's a 120GB SSD included. 🙂
1 x Intel Core i7-5820K 3.30GHz,1.5MB,15MB,140 W,2011-3 without cooler 1 x Gigabyte GA-X99-Gaming 7 WiFi, LGA2011-3, Intel X99 Express 2 x DDR4 16GB (2x8GB) Crucial, 2400MHz, Ballistix Sport DDR4 (32GB) 1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200 1 x Fractal Design Define R5 1 x Fractal Design Define R5 Titan Window 1 x XFX 1250W, PSU ProSeries 1250W PSU, 80+Gold Modular 1 x Samsung 250 GB 850 Series Basic, Capacity 250 GB, 2.5" 1 x SCYTHE Ashura SCASR-1000, s. 2011/775/1155/1156/1366/AM2/AM2+/AM 3 x Gigabyte GTX 980 Ti G1 Gaming, 6GB GDDR5 384-bit, PCI-E 3.0 1 x LG GH24NS DVD writer, DVD±RW, 24x DVD±R ,8x DL , 40x CD-R
$11033 ADM
I guess I've checked about six different shops and none of them seem to have everything you're looking for. 😁 For instance, with this setup, the power supply would be running at over 90% capacity if you were to throw in four GPUs.
The power supply comes with a 5-year warranty, and honestly, its quality is pretty much top-tier... though I guess that doesn't mean much for this class of hardware. It’s really only decent if you're dealing with budget junk, like those cheap '650W' units you see at Best Buy $83 ^^
Crucial RAM 8GB, 240-pin DIMM, DDR3 PC3-12800, CL11 I guess we’re looking at the AMD FX-8300 GIGABYTE Motherboard Desktop. I guess I'm looking at the AMD FX-8300 GIGABYTE Motherboard Desktop. The EVGA 450W Power Supply—an 80 Plus Bronze unit. I guess the DeepCool Gammaxx 200 might be worth looking at. I guess I'm looking for an MS Knight case, but without the power supply.
Total: $400.00 Downtown $866 Downtown
That motherboard just arrived at the downtown shop, so you might as well grab it—it comes with a better power supply included.
I’d probably stick to the same approach you’ve taken so far. It’s an interesting rabbit hole, though; maybe we'll actually find something useful here.
It’s possible Windows Update just completely botched something 😬 If not that, then it might be a hardware issue. You could try swapping out different power cables for the GPU or HDD, just to rule things out.
One person in that thread mentioned they have two setups—one with the latest update and one without. The one without the update works fine, while the other is hitting the exact same wall you are.