Hey guys, havent posted for a while as everthing has been going well (touch wood) Ive been asked by a few people if i could build a pc but for everyday things like surfing the internet, word processing. No gaming what so ever. I see a ton of gaming build questions but cant find much in the way of the above. Its been a while since my last build and technology seems to have moved on abit. So what should i look for in the way of CPU/motherboard combos? Id would probly stick with Intel as ive always used them but im guessing you could get more for your money with AMD?
I'd normally say intel. For just word processing and internet browsing i'd say go for AMD's FM2 socket. You can get a hell of a lot for your money there. http://www.scan.co.uk/products/amd-...-36ghz-amd-radeon-hd-7560d-760mhz-100w-retail These CPUs are by no means as powerful as an intel offering. They do however have a powerful GPU built in that gives you great processing power for everyday tasks, playing videos etc. A 5600k, Motherboard and some ram can be had for about £150.
If there will be no gaming whatsoever on the PCs look at the FM2 Athlon chips. They are built on the same architecture as the APUs darkwisdom has suggested but are a bit cheaper as they don't include the GPU section.
the athlon chips are designed for use with discrete graphics, you still need integrated graphics otherwise there isn't going to be a lot happening when you power on . The best bet is a 5600k as mentioned above with a a75 chipset and 4 or 8gb ram for £150. Add a 400w power supply with case (modular or not and case depends on the budget and hoe good it should look). Get a small ssd for windows and program files and a hdd for storage and it should all come under £400
No gaming and office id go for a Ivybridge Pentium/Celly + H61 mobo of choice and 4GB ram. Should all come in sub £100. Anything else is overkill really.
the AMD APU`s come with on chip GPU - the one linked above comes with a 7560 on chip. Maplins have a sale instore on an AMD A6-3500 + ASUS F1A55-M LE + 4GB of DDR4 (CL9 1333) for £119.99
The athlon chips do no though, they have the no igpu to allow for a bit more processing power and lower heat and power. That maplin deal is quite good!
If they don't need any add on cards or anything I really like the Foxconn net tops for these sort of thing. Nice and compact mount behind the monitor on vesa and they have a good enough performance and are pretty cheap. I got one of them not long ago for my parents who have same requirements and it has suited them well. I happened to get it on special with a vertex3 bundled in so all I had to do was add a ddr3 sodimm. I think it was about $100 all in.
