semi-cheap dad-machine, go clarkdale?

DrFreeze

Gawd
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Feb 3, 2007
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Hi guys!

I've won the bid to build my dad a new pc (over buying a dell/box-store machine), and suddenly i find myself with a delimma. I told my dad that within a 500 euro budget i would build basically the entire case, no i/o devices, with legit windows. All he basically does is surf and email, and store/rework his digital photo's. He has been talking about more storage space for music and photo's. And preferably the machine should last him a while. He normally doesnt upgrade, a few years back i had to pry his old P3 733 with win 98 from his hands by giving him a new computer, even though he was really struggling with the old beast.

Now normally within this budget i would have specced 4gb ram (machine's gotta last, ram is an easy way to do that), 1tb diskspace, a generic dvd-rw, mATX mobo/case and a dual core cpu, preferably AMD (i am a bit of a fanboy..). But since i already have a spare case to use (antec nsk 1480, lovely case, just cant use it myself), that gives me an extra 80 bucks of budget space, and suddenly i find myself able to choose clarkdale, namely the i3 530.

On the AMD side of the fence that extra budget would net me a x4 955, but in terms of thermals that cpu is way overkill, i dont want to give my dad that much of a powerhog, so if i stick with amd i'll probably get him a x2 545

does it make sense here to choose for the clarkdale platform? i know the i3's dont turbo up, but a 2.93 GHz nehalem is gonna be FAST anyway, and the hyperthreading will add a lot of grunt to multi-threaded stuff, but thats is about as much as i know about the platform, and i'm unsure wether it is worth the cash over a amd 545, or even 250
 
From what I've read, that Phenom II is no match for the new Core i3's. It seems the i3-530 is about on par with a Q6600, whereas the Phenom II performs at about an E7500-level. Of course, it may not matter to your dad. I just thought I would mention it, as even an Athlon II X4 would be only $10 more and offer better performance at stock, I believe.
 
From what I've read, that Phenom II is no match for the new Core i3's. It seems the i3-530 is about on par with a Q6600, whereas the Phenom II performs at about an E7500-level. Of course, it may not matter to your dad. I just thought I would mention it, as even an Athlon II X4 would be only $10 more and offer better performance at stock, I believe.

well, im not really asking wether the i3 is faster then the 545, because i know it is. If i want ultimate crunching power i know the amd 955 is probably my best bet, what i want to know is if the i3/clarkdale platform combo is worth the extra money over a PII X2 setup

basically i want the machine to last a while, without giving my dad a space heater (which the 955 sort of is, compared to an i3). My idea is that i3 is the newest tech out there (32nm really attracts me), and so it might be worth the extra money over a PII
 
I see what you're saying. It's a tough call for someone else to make, honestly. All I can provide you is personal experience. My sig rig is our all-purpose machine for gaming, web browsing, photo editing, etc. and it is mind-numbingly fast, coming from a free hand-me-down Pentium 4 system. Also, I just finished building an Athlon II X4 system for my parents, which they use for web browsing, word documents, etc. I ran it for a week before I gave it to them. It is mind-numbingly fast. For web browsing and daily tasks, I noticed no difference. I didn't try any hardcore photo editing or DVD ripping, but I doubt it will ever be described as "sluggish". Don't know if that helps any, but I hope it gives you something for comparison.
 
thanks for the input

i dont fear that the new setup will be sluggish really, i run a 7750 x2 myself, and its pretty zippy (ubuntu linux is even faster then win 7, and win 7 makes my GFs x4 940be with vista look slow... go figure) and realisticly i know my dad wont see the difference between an old pentium D805 and a i7 975 in terms of usage...

im guessing i want to play with new toys and am looking to justify it :) (been way to long since i did some [H]ard tweaking :p)

and i just had another idea, just to confuse matters. What about getting a x2 250 (or perhaps the x3 425), slipping in a 40gb postville boot drive (underpartitioned to 20gb or so to save lifespan), which should speed up booting/launching apps, but im not sure about lifespan, knowing my dad he might still be using the machine in ten years, and i dont feel like setting him up with a boot-drive which will croak in five years..
 
Hi guys!
All he basically does is surf and email, and store/rework his digital photo's. He has been talking about more storage space for music and photo's. And preferably the machine should last him a while.

Now normally within this budget i would have specced 4gb ram (machine's gotta last, ram is an easy way to do that), 1tb diskspace, a generic dvd-rw, mATX mobo/case and a dual core cpu, preferably AMD (i am a bit of a fanboy..). that gives me an extra 80 bucks

Hi, the needs don't sound too demanding. The clarkdale is nice because it is very cheap right now (at Microcenter) but why not just keep the 80 bucks though and go with your normal spec...?
 
Hi, the needs don't sound too demanding. The clarkdale is nice because it is very cheap right now (at Microcenter) but why not just keep the 80 bucks though and go with your normal spec...?

well, the 80 extra bucks arent my money, so ultimately it is my dad's decision wether to spend the entire budget and get a (potentially) longer lasting machine, or save the 80 bucks

basicly what it comes down to is wether the i3-530 setup is better BFTB then the usual x2 240/250 setup
 
I would grab a Athlon 630 quad/ 785gmobo /4gb ram combo and a 500gb F3 samsung. That combo will last quite a while.
 
Get the clarksdale and H55 chipset. If he decides he wants more power, you just upgrade to a Core i7 and get an external graphics card. It's really a quite versatile platform. Plus, it will be just as fluid as a quad-core platform, because of the extra threads.

The low power is also a bonus!
 
I would grab a Athlon 630 quad/ 785gmobo /4gb ram combo and a 500gb F3 samsung. That combo will last quite a while.

my concern for the 630 is power usage, it is a much more power hungry chip, in contrast, the i3 (which costs just 5 bucks more) is more power efficient, and performs about equal

Get the clarksdale and H55 chipset. If he decides he wants more power, you just upgrade to a Core i7 and get an external graphics card. It's really a quite versatile platform. Plus, it will be just as fluid as a quad-core platform, because of the extra threads.

The low power is also a bonus!

a graphics upgrade most likely wont be needed, the last game my dad played was tetris on a 286 over 20 years ago, and i dont see him doing photoshop/autocad needing 3d power.. the cpu upgrade might be nice, but by the time it'll come to that, i would be lucky to still find those cpu's

bleh, all of a sudden i cant really convince myself the i3 has any added value, to me it would (but i would go amd 955, i dont mind a little heat), but for my dad...

i think amd 250 it is, with a propper setup that will be enough for years to come, unless his habits drasticly change, which i can not accomodate for now anyway..

on a side note, after reading anand's review, i really hate how intel pulled the memory controller out from the die and into the 45nm gpu package, its just a step back to the old school FSB days, just with the NB in a multi-chip module, and an imperfect interface between the two dies.. yuck
 
Get the clarksdale and H55 chipset. If he decides he wants more power, you just upgrade to a Core i7 and get an external graphics card. It's really a quite versatile platform. Plus, it will be just as fluid as a quad-core platform, because of the extra threads.

The low power is also a bonus!
Heh, for some reason I don't see dear old dad ever demanding a Core i7. :p

Personally, I would go with gwarren007's recommendations.
 
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