Budget AMD recommendations

[silk186]

I'm heading down to the US in a few days and will buy both of my sisters motherboards and CPUs from MicroCenter as late birthday presents. What is a cheap best value pairing or AMD MB and CPU from MicroCenter. They are both university students and don't game, photo shop or anything else intensive. They just websurf. facebook, wordprocess and watch shows. The will use the integrated video supplied by the CPU.

Athlon II X2 255 3.1GHz looks good but i don't know anything about AMD boards. Your recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Also I'm not that familiar with Microcenter.

 

[Dangman]

Which state will you be in?
What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.

 

[iYoYo]

If you want integrated video supplied by the CPU your only choice are the Llano cpus. but those are a little bit expensive right now. I would rather just buy a motherboard with an onboard GPU

 

[fightingfi]

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?sku=787382

Top right hand side of there page microcenter that is a amd quad core for 50 bucks with purchase of any mobo save 80 bucks

 

[Rauelius]

I'd look into an X3 if possible...that extra core makes a world of diffidence. My C2D @ 3.8Ghz feels sluggish compared to my Athlon II x3 @ 3.6Ghz, and the Athlon II x2 is comparable to the C2D. Plus you get the chance it it maybe being an Athlon II x4 or Phenom II x4 if you really lucky, with the right motherboard.

 

[Dangman]

I'd look into an X3 if possible...that extra core makes a world of diffidence. My C2D @ 3.8Ghz feels sluggish compared to my Athlon II x3 @ 3.6Ghz, and the Athlon II x2 is comparable to the C2D.

I concur with this part. That extra core really does help. Upgraded from a C2D E6400 @ 3.2Ghz to my 3.6Ghz Phenom II X3 720. That extra core makes a difference in games like BFBC2 and more than likely BF3.

 

[Rauelius]

As for motherboards. I just picked up the Asrock 970 Extreme 4. It's a very good cheap board. I got mine from newegg for $100, dunno in MC has them. The UEFI on this board is a bit better than the UEFI on my MSI GD65, but that's my personal opinion.

The board is the only one on the cheap that would alow me to use Crossfire or SLI. Being the non-biased person I am, having that choice was important to me. Be careful some of the 9 series boards for AMD I've seen are only 16x/4x, but the asrock I have is 16x/8x/4x (3 slots), so if you have 2 cards the initial slot slows down to 8x (no big diff). The extra 4x slot on the bottom, I plan on getting a GT240 and using it for physx(replacing the 5770's with GTX460's I got for a song)....It's a really really good board for very little money. Can't wait for bulldozer....

 

[DragonSwagger]

I think I've seen the Microcenter ad for the AMD X4 955 BE for $111... its only in August though, better get here fast. Plus they've got that $50 savings when you buy select mobos to go with the cpu.

 

[silk186]

As I said, word processing and internet browsing so I don't care about any features like RAID or cross fire as they don't game. I will be in California. I agree that an X3 is a good value but I don't see in on the MicroCenter website.

I didn't realize that Phenon had no integrated gpu, is AMD still a better value of should i get an i3 + H61 MB?

 

[wtourist]

The I3 offers better graphics.
Price I3 2100 and H61 mb vs AMD Phenom II X4 840 $90-40 =50 + MB - $40 BUNDLE.
any 880 would do, I would choose the Gigabute GA 880GM D2H $80-$10 mir - $40= $40-mir bundle deal [ $90+ tax] or the GA 880GA UD3H $115-40 = $ 75 [$125+tax] Bundle price
Gigabyte offers the 889 sound chip and 3 yr warranty.
These boards are selling out
890 G or FX are good but expensive
The Asrock 890 board is $110 -40 =$70 [$120 +tax bundle] other 890 g bundle around $160. nice motherboards though
On the I3 2100 at $100 be careful the H61 support all needed input/outputs, ie HMDI, 1000 GB LAN etc.[I3 + H61 = $155+tax or more]
I would choose the Biostar TH67B at $75 from newegg ie $100 +$75 if you go Intel

 

[E4g1e]

On the I3 2100 at $100 be careful the H61 support all needed outputs, ie HMDI, 1000 GB LAN etc.

Most H61 motherboards have Gigabit LAN onboard. However, many of the cheaper H61 boards have only VGA out or no video out at all (for example, Asus sells a couple of H61 mobos that require a discrete GPU just to even run at all). The Intel-branded H61 board I'm currently running the i3-2100 on has a DVI-D out in addition to the VGA out (none of Intel's own-branded H61 mobos have an HDMI out at all).

 

[Rauelius]

I would go with 970/990/Z68 over an H-series board.

 

[tiraides]

I would go with 970/990/Z68 over an H-series board.

Why Z68? The OP is trying to buy two computers (two processors and to motherboards, to be exact) as cheaply as possible and the possibility of overclocking is next to none.

 

[tonytnnt]

No one is going to point out that any integrated graphics will probably do the trick for these rigs?

OP, it doesn't have to be integrated into the CPU. Prior to putting it on the CPU, integrated GPUs were built into the north bridge on the motherboard.

Of the combos listed on this page, consider either the Athlon X2-560, or preferably the Phenom II X4 965 with a motherboard that fits your needs. Avoid nVidia chipsets. The free Biostar or Gigabyte motherboards should be fine based on your earlier description.

Alternatively, if you'd like a cheap Intel solution:

$100 - Core i3-2100
$10 - MSI H61M-P23 (if VGA is okay)
$15 - Biostar H61ML (if you want DVI, which I would recommend.)

(To see combo deals just add a CPU and motherboard to your cart.)

One downside to the Intel deal is one CPU per household. So bring a friend or something.

Personally I would probably go with the $115 Intel Core i3-2100 and the Biostar motherboard or the Phenom II x4 965 with the Gigabyte motherboard. Or upgrade the motherboard to something a little nicer (USB 3, gigabit ethernet, etc.)