Builiding a PC for my dad mainly for web browsing

[pewpewmerica]

I am going to build a PC for my dad for his birthday, and what he mostly does on his current pc is web browsing. What Specs should it have? Is a graphics card even neccesary for him? I was thinking of going with just a gtx 650, 500 GB HDD and a 450W PSU, I am not sure about anything else yet.

[Godlygamer23]

No. A video card isn't necessary. He can probably get away with an Intel Pentium.

[FloRolf]

i would just go with an apu like the 6800k or so, should be fine. maybe even lower end.

[extremescouter]

You can easily get away with onboard graphics. Something like an AMD apu or Intel with onboard graphics. 

[WoodenMarker]

Web browsing?

 

Not sure where you're shopping from but something like this would do: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1j4yR

[pewpewmerica]

Okay thanks guys

[Andi]

A dual core Pentium or something like that ja fast enough. Lose the GPU But get a SSD.

[TheRetiredSlave]

You could probably just stick with the CPU's integrated GPU and he'd be perfectly fine.. I wouldn't go out and spend any extra money on a GPU that won't be needed.

 

I would either go with an AMD APU or an Intel i3 based system...

 

Honestly a pre-built desktop from a local PC store isn't a bad idea, though you might need to uninstall some bloatware if there is any.

[bartekxx12]

I would do - 

AMD APU and a small SSD, the rest is up to you 

[s3ns3]

yep a celeron or a pentium is more than ok for hd videos ,some gaming and lots of web browsing.and it use like 30W while browsing.

[Yoinkerman]

This, he doesn't need storage space but a ssd will make windows perform waayyyy better.

 

an a8-3850 is like $80, pair that with a cheap board and you have most of a computer

 

I would do - 

AMD APU and a small SSD, the rest is up to you 

[pewpewmerica]

Thanks everyone, what kinda mobo should I use?

[bartekxx12]

Thanks everyone, what kinda mobo should I use?

Probably just the cheapest FM2 motherboard you can find, just searched on eBay and the MSI FM2-A75MA-E35 seems perfect. All FM2 motherboards have SATA3 and almost all have USB3 so yes... whichever one you think looks best :P

[_ASSASSIN_]

Web browsing?

 

Not sure where you're shopping from but something like this would do: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1j4yR

that's pretty much good enough, all he needs is a dual core and it should be fine

[ERSCreeper]

GIGABYTE M1, Midi Tower, Black, with 320W PSU, 2x front USB + Au. (I would recommend a case without a generic PSU)

Intel Pentium G2120, 3.1GHz, LGA1155, Dual Core (with 2 threads)

MSI H61M-P31 (G3), LGA1155, Intel H61, 2x dual channel DDR3 1333

Corsair CMV4GX3M1A1333C9 , value select , 4Gb , ddr3-1333

LG GH24NS90, 24x SATA, black, support SecurDisc technology

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EZEX, 1TB/1000GB, SATA6G, 7200rp

[s3ns3]

This, he doesn't need storage space but a ssd will make windows perform waayyyy better.

 

an a8-3850 is like $80, pair that with a cheap board and you have most of a computer

an ivy bridge pentium is better.

[bartekxx12]

an ivy bridge pentium is better.

No it is not, I haven't seen CPU benchmarks so can't comment on that, but unless he is getting a dedicated video card then the APU will provide a MUCH better experience, a somewhat decent GPU is great to have even for just browsing the internet, whether it's to accelerate flash for streaming higher quality videos or just the browser is general everything will be smoother and faster with an APU.

 

[PCBudgetSolutions]

WARNING: My recommendation is based on only using 7 AMD CPU's in the last year mostly Intel

 

AMD's architecture really bothers me.  I've used an I3-3210, Intel G860 and Intel G630 and all 3 of them were very quick and responsive on the desktop, great multitasking and gamers.  The FX-4300 wasn't too bad, had good gaming horse power but it ran very warm.  APU's can be a decent idea, I haven't used one yet, but the fact that it lacks L3 cache and shares a large portion of it's die with graphics bothers me.  I would feel like the tasking capability is below what an I3 offers even with superior graphics.  Also note, an APU runs VERY hot.  100*C on prime 95, where as an I3-3210 in an N200 case hit 59*C for me.  Personally, I'd get a G2xxx series CPU and a decent GDDR3 video card for good media usage.  But again I am biased towards Intel because the FX-4100, first gen Phenom, the Athlon II X4 and the standard alone Llano APU (Without graphics) was such a piece of shit for me even bogged in chrome that I have trouble recommending AMD despite the FX-4300 being Okay and the Phenom II x3 740 being pretty good as well.

 

Here, even a GDDR5 card: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1j5fU

[Yoinkerman]

Please elaborate on how it's better for this case.

 

an ivy bridge pentium is better.

[bartekxx12]

WARNING: My recommendation is based on only using 7 AMD CPU's in the last year mostly Intel

 

AMD's architecture really bothers me.  I've used an I3-3210, Intel G860 and Intel G630 and all 3 of them were very quick and responsive on the desktop, great multitasking and gamers.  The FX-4300 wasn't too bad, had good gaming horse power but it ran very warm.  APU's can be a decent idea, I haven't used one yet, but the fact that it lacks L3 cache and shares a large portion of it's die with graphics bothers me.  I would feel like the tasking capability is below what an I3 offers even with superior graphics.  Also note, an APU runs VERY hot.  100*C on prime 95, where as an I3-3210 in an N200 case hit 59*C for me.  Personally, I'd get a G2xxx series CPU and a decent GDDR3 video card for good media usage.  But again I am biased towards Intel because the FX-4100, first gen Phenom, the Athlon II X4 and the standard alone Llano APU (Without graphics) was such a piece of shit for me even bogged in chrome that I have trouble recommending AMD despite the FX-4300 being Okay and the Phenom II x3 740 being pretty good as well.

 

It sounds like you just had a bad experience and that's fine but your point about APU's running hot... don't forget that they have a fairly powerful GPU inside them, and a dual slot dedicated GPU can run at around 90*C safely... so compress that into a tiny chip next to a CPU and you get APU's which CAN run very hot, you shouldn't care if it runs hot as it's designed to run at those temperatures, it doesn't make any difference whatsoever to you. 

[EST_FatBoy]

Why not just buy a laptop if he only uses it for web browsing? If he goes on a road trip he can use the map maybe, but if you want to build him a PC thats an awesome present.

[Snake]

I did a build list for a friend of mine who is making it for his mum.

Check this out: http://puu.sh/3DSDQ

[PCBudgetSolutions]

It sounds like you just had a bad experience and that's fine but your point about APU's running hot... don't forget that they have a fairly powerful GPU inside them, and a dual slot dedicated GPU can run at around 90*C safely... so compress that into a tiny chip next to a CPU and you get APU's which CAN run very hot, you shouldn't care if it runs hot as it's designed to run at those temperatures, it doesn't make any difference whatsoever to you. 

It can run at those temps but the life span will drop very very quickly.  Remember, my experience was with 7 recent AMD chips.  Having spend an absurd amount of time researching CPU architecture I can tell you that the FX design is VERY in-efficient.  Remember, the Trinity is based off of the Piledriver design.  I have a Trinity APU laptop and honestly it's a pig.  It was quicker when I first got it, but it wasn't that great either.

 

In case you don't know, the Piledriver architecture has 2 CPU's per module sharing the L2 cache.  What hurts it is that the module itself has 1 floating integer rather than 1 floating integer per CPU.  Once the CPU hit's 50% load, it's power scaling drops off by 50%.  As Linus said, an FX-8350 really puts out about 6 cores of power and he's pretty much spot on.  AMD's architecture as a whole is very in-efficient.  The amount of latency build into the chip from execute to cache is pretty bad unfortunately.  A pentium G2120 at 100% load on 2 cores can do the same amount of instruction set as an FX-4300 @ nearly 100% load.  Which tells you the Intel chips are almost TWICE as efficient in same areas.  I said almost, not quite as the Piledriver architecture is much improved over the Bulldozer, it's still the same high pipeline lower IPC design (Whoever thought of this should be shot btw).

[grayperview]

I am going to build a PC for my dad for his birthday, and what he mostly does on his current pc is web browsing. What Specs should it have? Is a graphics card even neccesary for him? I was thinking of going with just a gtx 650, 500 GB HDD and a 450W PSU, I am not sure about anything else yet.

just buy him a tablet...

[bartekxx12]

It can run at those temps but the life span will drop very very quickly.  Remember, my experience was with 7 recent AMD chips.  Having spend an absurd amount of time researching CPU architecture I can tell you that the FX design is VERY in-efficient.  Remember, the Trinity is based off of the Piledriver design.  I have a Trinity APU laptop and honestly it's a pig.  It was quicker when I first got it, but it wasn't that great either.

 

In case you don't know, the Piledriver architecture has 2 CPU's per module sharing the L2 cache.  What hurts it is that the module itself has 1 floating integer rather than 1 floating integer per CPU.  Once the CPU hit's 50% load, it's power scaling drops off by 50%.  As Linus said, an FX-8350 really puts out about 6 cores of power and he's pretty much spot on.  AMD's architecture as a whole is very in-efficient.  The amount of latency build into the chip from execute to cache is pretty bad unfortunately.  A pentium G2120 at 100% load on 2 cores can do the same amount of instruction set as an FX-4300 @ nearly 100% load.  Which tells you the Intel chips are almost TWICE as efficient in same areas.  I said almost, not quite as the Piledriver architecture is much improved over the Bulldozer, it's still the same high pipeline lower IPC design (Whoever thought of this should be shot btw).

 

See now you seem biased because all newer Intel chips run MUCH hotter than AMD chips, the FX8350 will safely MAX OUT at around 60*C with Intels CPU's running at over 90*C during stress tests. 

And no the life span won't drop very quickly because they are DESIGNED to run at those temperatures, even if they somehow made a processor that runs at 1000*C that shouldn't concern you because it is meant to run at that temperature