Questions about first build

Hardware Build a PC
1

Hello,

I've spent about 3 or 4 months learning how to build a computer (from in general to specific parts). I am to a point where I feel comfertable building one. However, I am still pondering about what certain brands or parts to get. What I'm trying to say is that I would like other's thoughs about what I should do.

Here is what I would like to build: A personal computer that is capable of running programs such as GIMP or Adobe Illustrator while also being used for casual activities such as browsing the net, playing flash games/videos, etc. I would like to build a computer that has a price range of $200-$400.

For parts, I've felt that an AMD CPU with 2 or 3 cores would be about good enough for what I plan on doing. With RAM, something that is around 6-8 might be good for wanting to draw on GIMP while listening to internet radio or something similar. I'm also interested in getting an aluminum case to keep everything cool, although I dont mind getting one that has different materials.

 

This is what I currently have listed. Note that it is incomplete as of this posting: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/wM4z

 

I apologize if certain things sound unclear.

2

I honestly think an AMD APU would be your best bet. I think the A4-5300 would be right up your ally. dual-core 3.4GHz with some GPU muscle for video decoding and OpenGL. FM2 motherboards are inexpensive as well.

 

Here is a little something I threw together. I excluded optical drive and operating system. If you want to save a few bucks, and don't need Adobe Illustrator, install Linux Mint instead of Windows. You can install GIMP on Linux Mint, and Flash is pre-installed, though you would have to use Google Chrome if you want the latest since Adobe discontinued support for Linux (Chrome has it's own pre-packaged version of Flash).

[url=http://pcpartpicker.com/p/y1K5]PCPartPicker part list[/url] / [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/p/y1K5/by_merchant/]Price breakdown by merchant[/url] / [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/p/y1K5/benchmarks/]Benchmarks[/url]



[b]CPU:[/b]  [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/amd-cpu-ad5300okhjbox]AMD A4-5300 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor[/url]  ($49.98 @ Outlet PC)


[b]Motherboard:[/b]  [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-fm2a55me33]MSI FM2-A55M-E33 Micro ATX  FM2 Motherboard[/url]  ($46.99 @ Amazon)


[b]Memory:[/b]  [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/mushkin-memory-996995]Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory[/url]  ($35.57 @ NCIX US)


[b]Storage:[/b]  [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd5000aaks]Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive[/url]  ($59.00 @ Compuvest)


[b]Case:[/b]  [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/fractal-design-case-fdcacore1000bl]Fractal Design Core 1000 MicroATX Mini Tower Case[/url]  ($39.99 @ Amazon)


[b]Power Supply:[/b]  [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-power-supply-cx500m]Corsair CX 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply[/url]  ($39.99 @ Newegg)


[b]Total:[/b] $271.52
[i](Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)[/i]
[i](Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-17 00:35 EST-0500)[/i]

Also, I've noticed I the PSU is totally overkill, but you can't argue the price, and it's semi-modular design should keep cable management easy and air flow good, which is particularly important since the case only comes with one fan.

3

I'd have to agree with Jerm and if you want to boost performance for a little bit more money (worth it) I'd go for a Radeon HD 6450 or 6570 and boost up that APU to an A6 (it will be nice) but my build for you is obviously a bit more, but is going to get you some of the highest capabilities of the hardware selected. It is $363 but it will perform very very well and its reliable parts. Personally I don't like cheaping on quality of parts so I generally stick to tier 1 brands (nice stuff) and its mainly why mine is a bit more than Jerm's. http://pcpartpicker.com/p/y1TU The case is nice (able to do cable management) the Power Supply is Corsair (awesome warrenty and certified) and the RAM (most importantly) is 1866MHz, with an APU to get any worth while performance you need high performance memory and 1600 is nice but to get the full bang for the buck you generally want 1866MHz. If you have any questions be sure to ask.

4

If this were a gaming computer (which wasn't specified), I'd agree with you, but the OP just stated Web, internet radio, GIMP, and casual activities. You'd be hard pressed justifying an A6 over the A4 as it only offers 200MHz on CPU cores, which is insignificant, and you're effectively nullifying the iGPU (which is the main reason to get an APU, btw) by investing in dedicated GPU, which will be under-utilized and unnecessarily redundent as dual-graphics doesn't help much outside of gaming. That is $63 in extra cost for minimal, if any performance gains. The A4's memory controller only supports up to 1600MHz RAM, which is fast enough; I doubt simple photo filters and internet radio will starve the GPU of memory bandwidth.

You do bring up a valid point with the motherboard. The MSI is budget, and the review samples are small, so it's difficult to say if it will a reliable board. Investing a few more dollars in a known reliable board might be wise. Fractal Design's cases have been praised highly across the spectrum,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfwrubJC3II

 

5

I'm really impressed by how quickly people have responded.

Just to make things clear, this build is, indeed, not for the sole purpose of gaming (although I am interested in building one for that purpose in the far future). As I've hinted, I want to run art-based programs while listening to music or chatting with people on IM. It's similar to what can easily be done on a 2010 or 2011 iMac, from what I've experienced.

At the moment, I just want something that is better than my Compaq Presario Media Center. In other words, I'm fine with any computer as long as I am able to do casual things while also handling art-based programs with little to no "load" times (my ignorance must be seeping).

Thank you very much for helping me on a few things, guys. I really appreciate it

6

If you could read or do reasearch on the A6 its not nulling out the APU and its not useless it Crossfires with the GPU to increase performance because you might know that Crossfire is actually two GPUs working together.

7

I'm really impressed by how quickly people have responded.

Just to make things clear, this build is, indeed, not for the sole purpose of gaming (although I am interested in building one for that purpose in the far future). As I've hinted, I want to run art-based programs while listening to music or chatting with people on IM. It's similar to what can easily be done on a 2010 or 2011 iMac, from what I've experienced.

At the moment, I just want something that is better than my Compaq Presario Media Center. In other words, I'm fine with any computer as long as I am able to do casual things while also handling art-based programs with little to no "load" times (my ignorance must be seeping).

Thank you very much for helping me on a few things, guys. I really appreciate it

If you want reduced load times, you might want to invest in an SSD. Depending on how much photo editing/art you do, you could just get away with just the SSD as the sole drive, though it'd be difficult to store other media (videos, games, music, etc). What most people do is get an inexpensive SSD as their primary drive for OS and frequently used programs and a cheap HDD for storage (photos, music, other media, other programs).

I'd suggest getting a 120GB Samsung 840. Plenty fast, and strikes a good balance of capacity, performance, and value. However, being that the MSI motherboard I suggested utilizes an A55 chipset, you will be limited to SATA 3Gb/s bandwidth (~280MB/s in practice). To utilize the full potential, get an A75 board

If you could read or do reasearch on the A6 its not nulling out the APU and its not useless it Crossfires with the GPU to increase performance because you might know that Crossfire is actually two GPUs working together.

I take it you didn't read my post thoroughly. The proper terminology for an APU and discrete GPU working in tandem, or in CrossFire, is "Dual Graphics", which I had addressed.

you're effectively nullifying the iGPU by investing in dedicated GPU, which will be under-utilized and unnecessarily redundent as dual-graphics doesn't help much outside of gaming . That is $63 in extra cost for minimal, if any performance gains

Even AMD's website describes Dual Graphics as a gaming technology. If you don't agree, please show a benchmark where dual-graphics accelerates GIMP, or video decoding/playback. The on-die graphics is more than capable of full HD decoding at 60FPS and has eyefinity, so even if dual graphics did accelerate video playback, it's still unnecessary. Short of video encoding or gaming, a dedicated GPU is unnecessary and redundant, depending on activity.