~$350 build...need advice

Hello. I'm selling my i3 530 setup today for $350 and will be using this money to build a new system. The potential new specs are below.

CPU: Celeron G1610 ($50, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6819116889)
Mobo: MSI B75MA-P45 ($62, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6813130655)
GPU: XFX Radeon 6770 ($100 , http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6814150661)
RAM: 8GB ($45)
HDD: 1TB ($75)
Case: Antec ($35)
PSU: Already have ($0)

Total: $365

I'm strongly leaning towards Intel (which I end up going to 99% of the time), and especially the Ivy Bridge Celerons or Pentiums, considering their decent power and very low energy consumption, which is a factor to me. All the benchmarks I've seen indicate that the G1610, despite the Celeron thing, is actually a bit more powerful than my old i3 530 (can anyone corroborate this? There's not a wealth of information on the low end Intels out there.)

My i3 530 setup has a GT 240, so the biggest reason for this upgrade is to get something nicer than this (and to have a newer socket for a future upgrade). I'm just concerned that the processor will bottleneck too much...

Any suggestions?

well couple of things first if you want to get a new video card make sure your power supply can handle it, you don't mention a copy of windows or a DVD drive, the difference in the i3 nd Celeron seems to be hyper threading

http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/...-3220.html

Quote from komondor : well couple of things first if you want to get a new video card make sure your power supply can handle it, you don't mention a copy of windows or a DVD drive, the difference in the i3 nd Celeron seems to be hyper threading http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/...-3220.html

Both of those are covered.

The hyperthreading thing seems to be about the biggest difference I can see as well. I wish more people would benchmark these low end chips.

Here's [cpuboss.com] a comparison.

The thing is, Ivy Bridge is a dead man walking. When Intel's Haswell chips are released in June, it will require a new socket (LGA1150) thus effectively rendering any build today obsolete. If you haven't sold your old PC yet, I suggest you hold on to it for a few more months until these new chips hit store shelves. You said today, so in that case, stick with a (slower) AMD build (which admittedly may not last long) or use an existing computer or bite the bullet and build a X79 Sandy Bridge-E system. While Haswell is not a huge deal imo, it provides the best future upgrade path you desire, with a nice uptick expected in computing power as well. Also, don't worry too much about cost as many Haswell chips are supposedly budget-friendly ones.

Quote from chickenortheegg : The thing is, Ivy Bridge is a dead man walking. When Intel's Haswell chips are released in June, it will require a new socket (LGA1150) thus effectively rendering any build today obsolete. If you haven't sold your old PC yet, I suggest you hold on to it for a few more months until these new chips hit store shelves. You said today, so in that case, stick with a (slower) AMD build (which admittedly may not last long) or use an existing computer or bite the bullet and build a X79 Sandy Bridge-E system. While Haswell is not a huge deal imo, it provides the best future upgrade path you desire, with a nice uptick expected in computing power as well. Also, don't worry too much about cost as many Haswell chips are supposedly budget-friendly ones.

Ivy may be old but it won't be obsolete by any means and OP wouldn't be able to get a Haswell cpu for his budget. If anything it will push Ivy prices lower, but OP also sold his rig. Should he just not have a computer until June?

Quote from chickenortheegg : The thing is, Ivy Bridge is a dead man walking. When Intel's Haswell chips are released in June, it will require a new socket (LGA1150) thus effectively rendering any build today obsolete. If you haven't sold your old PC yet, I suggest you hold on to it for a few more months until these new chips hit store shelves. You said today, so in that case, stick with a (slower) AMD build (which admittedly may not last long) or use an existing computer or bite the bullet and build a X79 Sandy Bridge-E system. While Haswell is not a huge deal imo, it provides the best future upgrade path you desire, with a nice uptick expected in computing power as well. Also, don't worry too much about cost as many Haswell chips are supposedly budget-friendly ones.

Obsolete??? Don't think so....

http://www.techpowerup.com/179631...quot-.html

"The two chips were put through SuperPi 1M, PiFast, and wPrime 32M. The Core "Haswell" chip is only marginally faster than Ivy Bridge, in fact slower in one test. In its next battery of tests, the reviewer stepped up iterations (load), putting the chips through single-threaded SuperPi 32M, and multi-threaded wPrime 1024M. While wPrime performance is nearly identical between the two chips, Haswell crunched SuperPi 32M about 3 percent quicker than Ivy Bridge. It's still to early to take a call on CPU performance percentage difference between the two architectures. Intel's Core "Haswell" processors launch in the first week of June."

Even Core2Duo is not obsolete.. If anything there is an abundance of computing power and software needs to catch up.

You won't be able to upgrade the processor to anything past Ivy Bridge with that build (or any build right now, really), but otherwise it looks like a decent budget system. Personally I'd spend a couple hundred more and get a much faster processor/video card, so it will not only last me another year or 2, but it will also run much faster now. Then again, if that doesn't fit your budget then your build will work just fine.

Edit: Don't forget to look at shipping costs.. $7.50 for that mobo brings the cost up to about $70.

Quote from elecrobento : Both of those are covered. The hyperthreading thing seems to be about the biggest difference I can see as well. I wish more people would benchmark these low end chips.

The i3 has more l3 cache, is 700mhz faster, and yes hyper threading. The biggest difference actually would probably be the mhz (it's what you'd notice more than the hyperthreading)

Quote from dickbigger : don't go with Celeron,I see deals for amd with motherboard for less than 100 for both

I agree.

If you live near a Microcenter you should look at getting this (maybe they ship to, not sure) bundle.

http://microcenter.com/site/produ...ndles.aspx

The FX 4130 outperforms that celeron by a bit. The board is free (which cancels out the price of the FX being more expensive). Heck even the 4100 outperforms it.

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Cel...MD-FX-4130

Quote from elecrobento : Hello. I'm selling my i3 530 setup today for $350 and will be using this money to build a new system. The potential new specs are below. CPU: Celeron G1610 ($50, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6819116889) Mobo: MSI B75MA-P45 ($62, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6813130655) GPU: XFX Radeon 6770 ($100 , http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6814150661) RAM: 8GB ($45) HDD: 1TB ($75) Case: Antec ($35) PSU: Already have ($0) Total: $365 I'm strongly leaning towards Intel (which I end up going to 99% of the time), and especially the Ivy Bridge Celerons or Pentiums, considering their decent power and very low energy consumption, which is a factor to me. All the benchmarks I've seen indicate that the G1610, despite the Celeron thing, is actually a bit more powerful than my old i3 530 (can anyone corroborate this? There's not a wealth of information on the low end Intels out there.) My i3 530 setup has a GT 240, so the biggest reason for this upgrade is to get something nicer than this (and to have a newer socket for a future upgrade). I'm just concerned that the processor will bottleneck too much... Any suggestions?

Without knowing your intended use of this budget build, I don't know how to recommend anything for you. But in general, I support your decision to go with Intel, for a lot of different reasons. One thing I will mention that you may have overlooked is that without an efficient ps, your cpu is not especially relevant. You can pay a lot for a 35w cpu or a little for a 65-watter but combine that with an 80 bronze, $42 Seasonic that whispers and emits very little heat. Never take the ps for granted; it is the most important component if electricity consumption is a concern. But beyond that, low noise and low heat emissions are nice, as well as a stable ps that does not flake out on you.

I am building a computer for less than $350 while watching for deals. I think AMD offers a better price for value ratio in that budget, although ivy's are undoubtedly superior cpus. Here is what I am getting:

CPU - AMD Zambezi FX-4100 (I am waiting on this; I have seen it dip to $95 and am hoping for lower)
old hard drive (free)
gfx card - MSI 650 Ti gfx card ($105 AR)
mb - MSI 880GMS-E41 (FX) AM3+ AMD 880G SATA 6Gb/s HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard ($30 AR)
psu - CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 430W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply ($16 AR)
RAM (waiting for it go cheap... I will hopefully get 8 GB for $40)
case - Coolermaster ($20 AR)

That adds up to $305, which leaves you a little wiggle room for a hard drive. Hope that helps! I have gotten all those deals on slickdeals within the last month. Also, it helps that I am not on a huge time crunch for this build.