Upgrading Old PC - on Budget (Intel vs AMD)

Lcodename47 on 10/05/2016 - 10:20
Last edited 10/05/2016 - 10:32 by 1 other user

Hi All,

With new tech coming onboard and technology merging with fast processing speeds etc, lots of my mates are now getting tempted to update their old computers.

I sometimes feel as if am doing the right thing or not, by suggesting them AMD or Intel at times.

A friend of mine still had the 6 year old AMD Athlon X2 5600 dual core and 8 gb ddr2 (800 mhz)that I built for him back then. It was running Windows 7 just fine, but he was getting blue screen every now and then (due to his dirty fans etc).

So he asked me if we can upgrade to some new tech without spending too much. He just uses the computer for playing movies, youtube and general web browsing and also hooks his pc into 55" TV.

I gave him rough estimate of Intel and AMD.

Intel i5 and motherboard was about $350 ( DDR4 RAM/SSD not included)
AMD a8 7650k, motherboard, 8 gb hyper fx DDR3 1600mhz, Coolermaster CPU Aircooler unit and 240GB Sandisk Ultra II came down to $370

(Prices from MSY)

We went ahead with the AMD a8 Apu and built it on Saturday. Running windows 10 Pro on it. It's running amazingly fast and he is pretty happy with it.

Now my question here is, for normal computing tasks like my mate does, do you still suggest core i3/i5 chips or AMD ?

Is AMD really value for money here ?

Your inputs will be highly appreciated.

Thanks.

Computing

Comments

  • plmko on 10/05/2016 - 10:35
    +1

    He just uses the computer for playing movies, youtube and general web browsing and also hooks his pc into 55" TV.

    I use AMD A6 6420 to do the exact same thing and play my high bandwidth (~30Mb/s + 7.1 DTS-HD) Blu-ray rips fine. Can only imagine the A8 to exceed at those same tasks.

    • codename47 on 10/05/2016 - 11:00

      I was actually very surprised with that A8 chip's performance. He had some old 512mb ddr3 GPU that I didn't bother putting in.

      I have Phenom II 1055T x6, 8GB DDR3 1600mhz, 240GB Intel 535 and some 1 gb ddr3 GPU for normal browsing and it runs just fine.

      So the question here again, do we need to spend 6-700 for same thing that AMD can do for 3-400?

      I have 2 more computers to deal with, one has old intel core 2 duo e6550 that is shutting down itself.Other is new for gaming.

      • chartparker on 22/05/2016 - 21:08
        +1

        I'm kind of dealing with that question at the moment. The last 4 or so years (!) I've been dreaming about finally upgrading my E-6750 desktop. I've replaced the HDD with an SSD and it's running max RAM for the mobo (4gb) but I think it's about time to put it to pasture. The whole time I've been thinking about going i7 something or other (6700 took my latest fancy) and I've always stuck with nvidia GPUs, but the reality of being an adult means being a bit more thrifty.

        So I've actually started at looking at a AMD centered mini sized "bang-for-buck" build instead: A10-7850K, R9-270X (if anyone can suggest a cheaper option for GPU i'm all ears), MSI A78 mobo, Kingston 8GB 1600, CM Elite 130 case, CM 550W modular PSU, Kingston 240GB SSD and Corsair hydro H75 cooler (and re-purpose my Windows 10 copy from my parallels install, which i never use)

        That's a pretty powerful little system and all for a grand total of $900! I kind of really like the idea of a "good enough" system. I don't game excessively - mostly indie games or WoW, and I use my computers mostly for photo editing (been using my Macbook pro 13 for Lightroom these last couple years), so this should be enough for me.

        • codename47 on 22/05/2016 - 22:29
          +1

          I built one yesterday for a friend as well. Great machine for 900ish
          Amd a8 7850
          Asrock Mobo
          8gb 1600mhz ddr3 vengeance Ram
          240gb ssd sandisk ultra 2
          3tb wd hdd
          Amd radeon r9 gpu 2gb ddr5
          Aerocool case with in built psu
          Samsung optical drive

          That thing was pretty quick!

        • chartparker on 23/05/2016 - 07:44

          @codename47:

          That's a pretty great list for $900ish! Any chance you could PM me your detailed list and where you bought from please? I want to compare with what I have and see if there's anything worth swapping out in my list

  • fruit on 10/05/2016 - 11:08

    55" TV.

    Do you want to play games in 4k or not?

  • Axelstrife on 10/05/2016 - 11:22

    along as you don't plan on using a good gpu for gaming then amd if fine.

    i had fx6300 for a few years which worked fine with a low end gpu for 1080p gaming but i upgraded to intel I5 skylake and ddr4 as im going to put a GTX 1070 or 1080 when they come out.

    • codename47 on 10/05/2016 - 11:36

      The one I made uses dual AMD graphics and I saw some youtube videos and it appears it performs decently on most of the games. Rest you probably know better than me as a gamer.

  • cypher67 on 10/05/2016 - 13:31
    +3

    Why didn't you clean the old computer and do a fresh install. Would have most likely fixed the problem and cost you nothing. My computer at home is 8 years old and is still going strong, just need to maintain it like you would a car.

    • JimB on 10/05/2016 - 13:33

      Doh, damn you! got in 36 seconds before I did! lol

      • cypher67 on 10/05/2016 - 13:33

        That will teach you for typing a more comprehensive reply!

        • JimB on 10/05/2016 - 13:34
          +1

          Another case of nice guys coming last.

    • codename47 on 10/05/2016 - 13:55

      That is exactly the answer I was looking for. Workmate's core 2 duo is sluggish and when he sent me the properties screenshot on his computer, I saw was Windows xp sp3 64 bit and 4 gb RAM

      so I asked him to do a fresh Windows 7 install and then upgrade to Win 10 to see if that works fine. we might not even need to upgrade his one.

      On the other hand the amd athlon x2 5600 was still okay but he said let's just upgrade it. Old components he is going to put up for sale.

      • cypher67 on 10/05/2016 - 16:22

        Upgrading computers are 95% of the time a waste of money, if you reuse any parts they will be the bottleneck. For general purpose use, most CPUs will be more than enough and if you want speed get an SSD.

        • codename47 on 10/05/2016 - 16:43

          I agree.

          I am still using my 4-5 year old phenom x6 just upgraded OS and chucked in the intel 535 ssd and it's quick as.

    • isthisreallife22 on 11/05/2016 - 17:22
      +1

      Fwiw I'm currently going through the process of upgrading for the first time in 8 years atm as I think my RAM or Mobo is dying (getting frequent system crashes) so i think its time

      As it is, I think I'll reuse the PSU, Case, and an SSD i put in a few yrs ago.

      To date I've got:

      • Kogan: CPU - i5 6400 $248.77-$30 AMEX cashback = $218.77
      • Amazon: RAM - 16GB DDR4 2400MHz Corsair Vengeance LPX = $57.99 USD (~$76 AUD at the time)

      But am pontificating on a MOBO as I can't find any good deals and will prob defer graphics for a while.

      Not a gamer but do want a good solid system - e.g. do some development in VMs etc

      So I reluctantly am wasting my $$ on an upgrade, but making sure I spend as little as possible!

      • codename47 on 11/05/2016 - 21:07

        I am still thinking to get the Core i7 for myself :S

    • macfanboy on 28/05/2016 - 12:02

      My 2006 iMac is still going strong and is used daily by one of my kids.

  • JimB on 10/05/2016 - 13:32
    +1

    To be honest, I think a fresh install of Windows 7 or 10 on a 6 year old AMD Athlon X2 5600 dual core and 8 gb ddr2 (800 mhz) will be fine for playing movies, youtube and general web browsing and also hooks his pc into 55" TV.

    The reasons why most older PCs run like dog shit is because the owners are usually not tech savvy and have helps of bloatware, add ons, spyware on it.

    A fresh install of windows would help heaps, especially because of what he intends to use his PC for.

    Unlike 10-15 years ago where hardware was obsolete due to the advances of software, hardware is becoming secondary to software (within reason).

    • codename47 on 10/05/2016 - 13:56

      Thanks mate. Much appreciate.

      Now I need suggestion regarding a budget gaming computer for 16 year old.

      AMD A8/a10 apu and a nice GPU ?

      • JimB on 12/05/2016 - 10:40
        +1

        Sorry can't help you as I know very little about gaming PCs.

        • codename47 on 12/05/2016 - 10:43

          I have a friend who has knowledge and asked me to put two Titans in it $900 each haha

        • JimB on 12/05/2016 - 10:59

          @codename47:

          I'm sure it will run any game just fine.

          Wise suggesting from your friend, is the 16 year old's surname Packer?

  • woodwa on 11/05/2016 - 09:07
    +1

    I upgraded my media/occasional game PC(which lives in the lounge room) 6 months ago like this I had a Athlon x2-4850e even though it was a low powered machine it was getting hot with the GPU and being wedged in under the tele..

    $350 later I changed over to:
    A8-7870 W 8GB DDR 2400 and a 120GB SSD

    wow what a performance boost.. its a shame my motherboard I picked up can't do the 2400 ram comfortably.. so I knocked it back to 2133 and sped up the CAS timings… (thus same sort of performance..)

    from my reading the key with APU based systems is the RAM as it's used for the GPU you need to get quality ram that will either run at a high speed or have a very low cas rating for it's speed..

    new PC is able to run most 2012 a grade games in 1920 x 1080

    Now if your keen on AMD and have time hold on until January for a Zen APU.. Or the Zen announcement and the subsequent price falls…

    • codename47 on 11/05/2016 - 09:25

      thanks for that.

      There was great difference in booting old one and new one. Apps are running absolutely fast compared to his old machine.

      I bought the 8gb Hyper Fx Fury 1600mmhz for his build for $53. Yes, you are correct AMD apu's need better RAM since it uses it for Graphics memory.

      AMD ZEN ? I will do a bit of research. I was thinking to upgrade to Intel i7 next year since I will be doing lot of video editing.

  • [Deactivated] on 11/05/2016 - 17:53
    +1

    A Skylake Celeron would've done the job for movies and web browsing. Has a similiar single thread rating to the A8. It runs cooler, quieter too. The yet to be released Kaby Lake Celeron should be interesting with its support for 10-bit HEVC/x265 & 10-bit VP9 hardware acceleration.

    • codename47 on 07/06/2016 - 10:41

      I always have this impression of Celerons being very slow. I used to compare celeron with AMD sempron series since their performance was kind of similar at that time. Not sure how are the new celerons performing comparatively.
      Anyways, the two AMD apu builds are still running strong and both of the mates are happy so far.

      • [Deactivated] on 08/06/2016 - 16:51

        It depends on the CPU. Celeron & Pentium is just a brand. The pre-built/NUC ones are mostly Atoms. Use cpubenchmark.net to check & compare a CPU's single thread rating.

  • [Deactivated] on 21/05/2016 - 18:16
    +1

    Unless you are on a strict budget go Intel.
    Amd is hotter and uses more electricity and clock for clock is weaker then Intel.
    If you know what you are doing and on a strict budget then AMD could be an option, but sadly not worth it compared to paying extra for an Intel system.
    And as the above guy said about Skylake Celerons he is totes correct.

    • codename47 on 23/05/2016 - 10:53

      I am still using the 5 year old amd phenom x6 1055t with 8gb ram and intel 535 ssd 240gb. It is still great and has no issues what so ever. I do have the better cooler but never had any issues with heating.

      I might upgrade to intel i7 when am starting to render videos for a project

      • nautic on 29/05/2016 - 23:13
        +1

        don't forget, an i7 will be significantly noisier under load due to the standard fan.

        • codename47 on 07/06/2016 - 10:39

          Any particular model or most of them ?

        • scrimshaw on 07/06/2016 - 18:17
          +1

          All Core i7, i5, i3 procesors all use the same fan. No matter CPU you buy, the fan bundled with your item is the same all across the different CPU's.

          For i3 / i5 it does it's job fine, for an i7 perhaps you just want beefier cooler, for those hotter summer months,

          You can replace it yourself with 3rd party stuff — Just look for a Coolermaster Hyper 212 Evo or something. A Cheap-arse $35 dollar cooler is so much better than stock fans.

        • nautic on 10/06/2016 - 20:01
          +1

          @codename47:

          the i7-4770K i currently have is quite audible and i can hear the fan whinning under load such as when viewing flash videos, online PDF's on certain websites, and when the case temperature goes above 33 degrees c. I also have recently installed an i5-6600 on another computer where the fan is pretty much silent most of the time(i might need some more testing to confirm this), apart from start-up where it spins full revs for a few seconds - the i7 doesn't do this, but it does spin fully for a few seconds just before shutting down which the i5 doesn't do.

        • nautic on 10/06/2016 - 22:44
          +1

          @nautic:

          so basically if you can keep the internal case temperatures below 25 degree centigrate (around 21 degrees centigrate room temperature) by turning off all room heaters etc, you can barely hear the fan noise on the i7.

        • codename47 on 10/06/2016 - 22:52

          @scrimshaw: Oh okay! I never use the stock Fan on any of my builds. At the moment my 5 year old Phenom II x6 is having coolermaster cpu cooler that I got for $30approx.

        • codename47 on 10/06/2016 - 22:54

          @nautic: Thanks for that mate. I am not even thinking of overclocking the cpu . So basically adding a nice cpu cooler should be it?

        • nautic on 11/06/2016 - 03:00
          +1

          @codename47: just about any of the current coolermaster coolers should do the trick.

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