Best CPU for android app development?

[Alejandro Mejia]

Hi, I just wanted to ask a quick question. What is the best CPU for Android app development? Is more cores better? Also how does a motherboard affect a PC? Any recommended RAM?

I made this build :

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($165.93 @ Amazon)

Motherboard: Asus M5A97 LE R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.45 @ OutletPC)

Case: Antec One ATX Mid Tower Case ($47.30 @ Amazon)

Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($39.99 @ Amazon)

Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($13.98 @ Newegg)

Total: $445.63

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-09 23:13 EDT-0400

Im on a $500 budget I already own monitor, keyboard and mouse, and network card. If you can help me make a build I will appreciate

[ANewFace]

Just so you know you are going to need a GPU with that CPU, since it has no onboard graphics

[Alejandro Mejia]

Just so you know you are going to need a GPU with that CPU, since it has no onboard graphics

Thank you, I didn't realize that! Could you recommend me a GPU, not so expensive?

[itachipirate]

Hi, I just wanted to ask a quick question. What is the best CPU for Android app development? Is more cores better? Also how does a motherboard affect a PC? Any recommended RAM?

I made this build :

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($165.93 @ Amazon)

Motherboard: Asus M5A97 LE R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.45 @ OutletPC)

Case: Antec One ATX Mid Tower Case ($47.30 @ Amazon)

Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($39.99 @ Amazon)

Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($13.98 @ Newegg)

Total: $445.63

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-09 23:13 EDT-0400

Im on a $500 budget I already own monitor, keyboard and mouse, and network card. If you can help me make a build I will appreciate

Everything there looks fine, except MAYBE the CPU. What is the program you use for app development? We need to find out if it scales with core count well, because it varies from program to program. If it can't utilize 8 cores (some programs can't) you'd be better off getting a cheap locked i5, which will also have onboard graphics

 

EDIT: You should go for a better PSU. The EVGA PSUs are half terrible and half amazing. That's one of the not-so-good ones. SuperNOVA B2 and G2 are EVGA's really good power supplies. http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story6&reid=384

[Alejandro Mejia]

Everything there looks fine, except MAYBE the CPU. What is the program you use for app development? We need to find out if it scales with core count well, because it varies from program to program. If it can't utilize 8 cores (some programs can't) you'd be better off getting a cheap locked i5, which will also have onboard graphics

I will be using Android Studio, Eclipse, and maybe later Unity.

[ANewFace]

Thank you, I didn't realize that! Could you recommend me a GPU, not so expensive?

What's your idea of not so expensive?

[Alejandro Mejia]

What's your idea of not so expensive?

Under $150. Do you like the build? Will 8gb of ram and 8 cores be good for Android Studio and Unity? Will they benefit from 8 cores?

[runit3]

Under $150. Do you like the build? Will 8gb of ram and 8 cores be good for Android Studio and Unity? Will they benefit from 8 cores?

No, my Android Studio rarely uses more than two of my 8 cores/16 threads, and that's only with the virtual environment active.

 

If you're building this computer for the sole purpose of using Android Studio this would be a better route:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($167.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($61.98 @ Newegg)

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($48.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($69.75 @ OutletPC)

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($52.49 @ OutletPC)

Case: Antec One ATX Mid Tower Case  ($47.30 @ Amazon)

Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($34.99 @ Newegg)

Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer  ($13.98 @ Newegg)

Total: $497.47

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-10 01:18 EDT-0400

 

Friends don't let friends build PC's without SSD's for their OS. The only limiting factor for Android Studio may be RAM to run the virtual environments. 2GB is recommended, I run mine at 4GB dedicated. Having you go with x1 8GB stick allows you the ability to expand to 16 in the future easily, and at ~$48/DIMM it's fairly inexpensive.

 

If you were going to use the PC for video editing, encoding, and rendering on top of Android SDK I would say the FX-8 would be the route to go, otherwise a build with an SSD and a platform with upgrade ability is a much better route long term. Also no need for a video card as the i5-4460 has on-board graphics (if you're going to game or use a video editing software with GPU acceleration -you will need a GPU).

[Alejandro Mejia]

No, my Android Studio rarely uses more than two of my 8 cores/16 threads, and that's only with the virtual environment active.asdk.JPG If you're building this computer for the sole purpose of using Android Studio this would be a better route:PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchantCPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($167.99 @ SuperBiiz)Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($61.98 @ Newegg)Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($48.99 @ Newegg)Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($69.75 @ OutletPC)Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($52.49 @ OutletPC)Case: Antec One ATX Mid Tower Case  ($47.30 @ Amazon)Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($34.99 @ Newegg)Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer  ($13.98 @ Newegg)Total: $497.47Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when availableGenerated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-10 01:18 EDT-0400 Friends don't let friends build PC's without SSD's for their OS. The only limiting factor for Android Studio may be RAM to run the virtual environments. 2GB is recommended, I run mine at 4GB dedicated. Having you go with x1 8GB stick allows you the ability to expand to 16 in the future easily, and at ~$48/DIMM it's fairly inexpensive. If you were going to use the PC for video editing, encoding, and rendering on top of Android SDK I would say the FX-8 would be the route to go, otherwise a build with an SSD and a platform with upgrade ability is a much better route long term. Also no need for a video card as the i5-4460 has on-board graphics (if you're going to game or use a video editing software with GPU acceleration -you will need a GPU).

Thank you very much this looks great to me! Just a few questions, can I add a GPU to this motherboard with no problem? I would also need to add a Wifi network card to it which I already have. Do you use Unity? How does it perform with multiple cores and 8GB of RAM?

[runit3]

Thank you very much this looks great to me! Just a few questions, can I add a GPU to this motherboard with no problem? I would also need to add a Wifi network card to it which I already have. Do you use Unity? How does it perform with multiple cores and 8GB of RAM?

Any GPU will slot in just fine, although depending on which GPU you go with you may need a more substantial power supply. A GTX 970 or 980 would run fine on it, but something like an R9 290x or Titan X would need some more power. If you were going to add a wifi card your GPU would run in x8, but as this is a PCIe 3.0 board you'll have no issues regarding bandwidth.

 

I do not use Unity http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/is-unity-multi-threaded.67879/that may have some answers. Seems like generally it does not utilize multiple cores/threads.

 

You will only need more than 8GB of RAM if you are doing heavy virtualization, rendering, or video editing.