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Cheapest Intel Quad Core Build?

Z

Zef Pomp

[H]ard|Gawd
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CPU: Intel Core i5-2400

Memory:
4GB or 8GB DDR3 (Only really need 4GB, but if 8GB is same price or damn close why not)

Motherboard:
H67 or H61..no need for a GPU then

PSU: CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 V2

Harddrive: ???

Do not need monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, case, OS, GPU!

This will be running multiple instances of a single program

need it to be cheap!

if you think going with AMD would be a better option let me know..

Budget - Less than $400 maybe?
 
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You do realize that the i5-2400 costs around $200 and a decent 500GB hard drive is nearly $100 by itself, right? (And you're not going to find a "cheap" Z68 board for less than $80.)

What are you using this system for?

Do you live near a physical Fry's or Micro Center store?

Which features do you need on the motherboard?
 
There is really no need for a Z68 if you do not plan on overclocking or you do not want to do any SSD caching. H67 and H61 support on-die IGP. A cheap intel quad core build should start with the cheapest H61 or H67 you can find with the features you want.
 
No Frys or Micro Center

I need like maybe 160GB storage...thats it, maybe even around ~100GB

H67/H61 motherboard it is! Recommend one?
 
You still haven't answered the pertinent question that Tiraides asked: What are you using this system for?

Another question:
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.

Also, while the smaller drive does save a little bit of money, the relatively slow performance of those smaller drives makes them really poor choices as OS drives. So slow that it pretty hampers optimal system performance.
 
Go with this RAM and motherboard:
$60 - Biostar H61MU3 Intel H61 mATX Motherboard
$37 - G.Skill Value Series F3-10600CL9D-8GBNT 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
MiLk said:
System is being used to run multiple instances of a single program, like it says in main post
Click to expand...
Ok, whatever. I'll just assume you need a quad-core.
MiLk said:
What would be wrong with this harddrive:???
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136075
Click to expand...
Two things wrong with it:
1) Ridiculously slow
2) Overpriced as hell considering that it has a shipped cost of $76. That's a stupid price for it considering that a significantly faster 500GB drive costs $91 shipped:
$91 - Hitachi HDS721050CLA362 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
 
Thanks man

will a CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 V2 handle the i5 2400 and everything you provided?

running 24/7?
 
Significantly slower and an extremely poor choice for the money.
 
MiLk said:
Ok few more questions :)..sorry

instead of going intel how about this:

RAM(4GB is fine): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231396
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103996
MOBO: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128504

How does that compare to the intel setup?

I am going to be running a program that uses 200-300K in the task manager under processes per each one that is open
Click to expand...

I concur with Danny. Given that the octo-core FX CPUs are disappointing in performance with most applications, why spend that much on a combo that runs as slow as or slower than some of the old-generation Intel Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad systems?
 
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$203.98 Intel 2400 cpu and 4gb ram combo

$49 - Biostar H61MGC Intel H61 mATX Motherboard

$129.98 - Western Digital Blue 500GB HDD and Corsair 500watt PSU

500watt psu is overkill, 430 is plenty. That's just a good combo with that HDD and the PSU
 
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Spuds: Is that Biostar actually a decent mobo?

I haven't really kept up with their offerings... I last remember them being on par with ECS when ECS boards were awful. That's been 5+ years though.

I'm researching a low end build for my father in law. He has a Sempron 3000 w/2GB right now, he's had it for five,six years now? Really want to bump him to a 2500 w/16GB. No idea why I picked that combo, it just seems like that would be a combo that would still be similarly good in 5-6 years.

He doesn't want to spend more than $600. Looks like that could get him to $608. Close enough.
 
LightningCrash said:
Spuds: Is that Biostar actually a decent mobo?

I haven't really kept up with their offerings... I last remember them being on par with ECS when ECS boards were awful. That's been 5+ years though.

I'm researching a low end build for my father in law. He has a Sempron 3000 w/2GB right now, he's had it for five,six years now? Really want to bump him to a 2500 w/16GB. No idea why I picked that combo, it just seems like that would be a combo that would still be similarly good in 5-6 years.

He doesn't want to spend more than $600. Looks like that could get him to $608. Close enough.
Click to expand...

I'm running two of the biostar boards at home and one in the office. No issues with any of them. When possible I use MSI motherboards for the higher end overclocking builds, but with standard builds the biostar's have been great boards.

If you want to go with 16gb of ram, it's prob cheaper to get a board with 4 dimm slots and use 4gb sticks. I like the MSI z68ma-g45, that's been a great overclocker as well.
 
LightningCrash said:
I'm researching a low end build for my father in law. He has a Sempron 3000 w/2GB right now, he's had it for five,six years now? Really want to bump him to a 2500 w/16GB. No idea why I picked that combo, it just seems like that would be a combo that would still be similarly good in 5-6 years.

He doesn't want to spend more than $600. Looks like that could get him to $608. Close enough.
Click to expand...

What does he use his computer for? If he's not gaming or video editing, you could get away with buying him a more modern dual-core processor and 4GB of RAM.
 
Spudsdude said:
I'm running two of the biostar boards at home and one in the office. No issues with any of them. When possible I use MSI motherboards for the higher end overclocking builds, but with standard builds the biostar's have been great boards.

If you want to go with 16gb of ram, it's prob cheaper to get a board with 4 dimm slots and use 4gb sticks. I like the MSI z68ma-g45, that's been a great overclocker as well.
Click to expand...

well that's good to know. maybe i'll just start him lower and keep tabs on the performance.

tiraides said:
What does he use his computer for? If he's not gaming or video editing, you could get away with buying him a more modern dual-core processor and 4GB of RAM.
Click to expand...

youtube, redtube, yahoo mail, chain mail

he's complaining about performance right now. i haven't pulled sar stats but I bet he's starting to edge up.
i figured the extra ram would be a good i/o boost with delayed allocation.

i bet an i3-2100 would blow his doors off. i wanted to future-proof a little bit further.
of course, that would cut $80 off the build cost if I went 2100.
 
Ha! I had to lookup what Redtube was... I may have to turn in my perv card. :rolleyes:
 
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