Advice on AMD 4850e build for Home Office & Multimedia

[Shamgar]

I am looking to upgrade from my old AMD Duron/Nforce2 Ultra system to one that can handle newer hardware and software, AND, to lower my power usage and noise levels. While I would love to build a super fast all-rounder machine, I know that I will never need those high end features anyway. Also, I am on a budget, especially since the recent price surges on CPUs, motherboards and hard drives in Australia.

My requirements are quite modest. My primary tasks are word processing, desktop publishing, web browsing, audio playback and simple photo editing. I will also use the PC for music notation and MIDI, and for the occasional music DVD. I will not need it for gaming, video editing, or as a server.

I have done my best to keep up to date with hardware changes through great sites like SPCR, so I am not exactly walking in the dark here. I have been happy with AMD CPU combined with ATI GPU, so that's why I'm looking at building a system with the AMD Athlon X2 4850e combined with AMD 780G+SB700 chipset motherboard. I have heard good things about this combination on the forums, especially for a budget low power system with decent performance. My only concerns are:

Stability: this is very important to me as I have had some systems fail causing me plenty grief and lost time, not to mention money. Are the recent 780G boards now stable enough? Is Catalyst still a pain to install and get working?

Heat: I've heard that 780G boards' heatsinks and capacitors get very hot. I know that there's a safe range at which they should be fine, but has anyone had any problems with this (I've read some horror stories of Gigabyte boards overheating and blowing up) on their systems? It will be summer here soon, and our summers are very hot. It's a time when computer heat and noise problems are amplified.

General Performance: I know I should not expect super blazing performance compared to Intel C2D/P45/Discrete VGA, but will a 4850e/AMD 780G hold its own for the tasks I have stated above in para. 2?

Okay, here is what I've come up with so far. I've decided to only consider components that are easily available in my local area, to minimise costs and hassle with lots of online orders. Please feel free to comment and make suggestions.

CPU: AMD Athlon X2 4850e. The best in this price bracket.
MB: AMD 780G+SB700 mATX board. Not sure which one. Only a few available in my area. There's the Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H, abit A-S78H and ASUS M3A78-EMH/HDMI. Of course there are also the older 690G and newer 740G boards, but these are all roughly around the same price range where I am; sometimes the 740G is more expensive than 780G!
RAM: Corsair Twin2X PC6400C4 2x1GB or Crucial equivalent. Staple and proven parts.
OPT: Pioneer DVR-215 or 216. Older 215 seems better by user reports but harder to get now that 216 is out. Price about the same.
HDD: this has become a hard choice as prices keep changing and models get taken off retail stocks frequently. Originally, I had no need of getting a high capacity drive (I still have not filled my Barracuda IV 40GB!) but it makes little sense to not get a 500GB/640GB now that they are still cheap. I am not so worried about getting the best noise/wattage/speed performer as I figure they (3.5" SATA) are all very similar now. Comes down to price and availability. Would like to go 2.5" but prices still a little dear. Looking at these:
Samsung HD642JJ 640GB, Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB, WD6400AAKS 640GB or GP WD5000AACS 500GB.
Case: Antec NSK2480 with EW380 or Antec NSK6580 with EW430 (overkill PSU, I know). Will stick with Antec with bundled PSU to keep costs down. Not ideal, but it'll suffice. Which one will be the better case for this system? 2480 is lighter, smaller and better looking but 6580 has more room and upgrade potential. I don't like the holes in 6580 side panel though: unnecessary for me and is a noise escape path. Still, I prefer a case that's sturdily built and easy to work with.
Cooling: unsure of these. Need to do some more research.

So that's the 'guts' of the system. Please advise me if this system would suit my usage and requirements, and whether I should look to change anything. Remember, budget is tight, so unless I really do need to add/change something for the better, don't suggest unnecessary items like "why don't you get 750GB/1TB instead" and "get separate case and low watt PSU". I don't meant to sound rude.

If my post is a little cluttered and messy by SPCR standards, I apologise. I'm not a regular web forum user. In fact, this is the first web forum I have joined. Looking forward to hearing some advice.

[protellect]

Your new systems will stomp the old ones.

They should be completely sufficient for the described purpose above.

Heat may be a minor issue, but even a single 120mm case fan with the cpu fan and power supply fan should be adequate for cooling. The on-board components are designed to handle high temperatures.

You could skimp a few bucks on RAM, 2GB kits can easily be had for 20$ US. I'm not sure how similar it is in AUS, though.

You could skimp a bit more on disks. WD3200AAKS [320GB] is a bit cheaper than the 640GB version, and just as fast. There is a review of it on this site as well. Hard drives [to me] seem to be the bottleneck of any system 99% of the time, so might as well pick up a fast, modern one, like this.

I've had really good luck with ASUS and Gigabyte motherboards, so either one of those would be my pick. Read newegg reviews on them beforehand if you can.

Either antec case with earthwatts power supply will be fine.

Keep in mind stability issues are 99% due to the following three things [in my experience]
1. Excessive Heat.
2. Faulty Hardware
3. Power/Voltage issues.

You should keep in mind that people here are for the most part not "extreme", but we are a niche market about noise, sometimes even over performance. Our "minimum" specifications are often pretty overkill for the vast majority of computer tasks, and a quiet system to you might be a loud system to some of us.

My workplace runs mostly on 1.6-2.0 ghz core2duo chips in laptops, and 2.8ghz+ pentium4's desktops. [Slower than the 1.6ghz core2duo's mostly.] We mostly use office [excel/word/outlook/powerpoint].
There really isn't a reason to upgrade beyond that, besides for certain individual users.

People who do photoshop all day may want faster processors. People who do video, 3dwork, or use a lot of virtual machines may want faster dual cores or quad-cores.

But for office work, you have it right. Looks like you have done your homework, buy with confidence, and good luck in not getting any bunk parts

[Shamgar]

protellect, thanks for your informative reply. I'll take your suggestions on board. What I've learnt is you don't need to spend bucketloads of money to get a good peforming reliable system anymore.

But for office work, you have it right. Looks like you have done your homework, buy with confidence, and good luck in not getting any bunk parts

Yes, I don't like to be caught unawares, nor to have the wool pulled over my eyes. I like to do my research, and know what I'm getting into, and informative places like this help a lot in that regard.

You could skimp a few bucks on RAM, 2GB kits can easily be had for 20$ US. I'm not sure how similar it is in AUS, though. ... You could skimp a bit more on disks.

Fair point. Although I would like to say I am not that tight fisted when it comes to computers. It's just that money saved on something you don't particularly need is money you can spend on something else. Like more hardware.

Regarding prices, the situation here in Australia is quite infuriating at times. While PC hardware has become a lot more affordable in recent times, there is still a wide discrepancy in prices between this part of the world and United States, Canada and Europe. Many people in AU make the mistake in assuming that a US$20 kit of RAM (to use your example), would also be AU$20 if the exchange rate was 1:1 (which it nearly was at one time in 2007). Wrong. Australia is an economy of price gougers, anti-competitive retailing and shocking consumer protection. Many retailers will find all kinds of excuses to jack up the prices. I wish we had US style prices and consumer laws here.

You should keep in mind that people here are for the most part not "extreme", but we are a niche market about noise, sometimes even over performance. Our "minimum" specifications are often pretty overkill for the vast majority of computer tasks, and a quiet system to you might be a loud system to some of us.

I understand. Ideally, a silent system is best, but it does take an investment in time and resources to achieve. I will just start with quality low noise components as recommended by SPCR, and work from there. As I mentioned before, my usage and requirements are modest, so it shouldn't be that hard to achieve. Now, just have to source those parts.

[CA_Steve]

Friend just built a similar system, but with the M3A78 Pro. He claims it idles at 45W, and draws 65W while ripping a DVD. So, I doubt you'll have a heat issue.

[mattthemuppet]

CPU - I went for an X2 5000 and undervolted it like crazy, most likely more than the 4850e is. That'll save some cash - last time I checked PriceSpy.com.au, the cheapest 4850e was ~$95, the 5000+ is still $74.

I'm happy with my 740G board, but a 780G board won't draw that much more.

DVR-216 - I'm very happy with mine, very quiet even at full speed with a benign noise signature. Better than the previous NEC 3450 I had, which was supposed to be one of the quietest IDE DVD drives.

HDD - the WD6400AACS I got (by accident, meant to get the AAKS) is very quiet, more than fast enough for my needs and only cost $90. At only $25 more than the 320GB model (and without the uncertainty about platter no.) it was a bit of a no-brainer.

Idle and load (heavily undervolted, full double Prime95 stable) is 39 and 70W, respectively, which the HDD definitely contributes to. Going by reports of the 1TB model with 3 platters, this one with 2 platters should only draw 3.5W idle and ~5W load (guestimates).

[Shamgar]

mattthemuppet, thanks for the local input. I went and bought the 4850e for $95 to avoid any sudden price rises (didn't get to see your post 'til Sunday). Wanted something that would do the job straight out of the box. Plus the 4850e has gained a somewhat iconic status in SPCR circles recently, so it seemed like the right choice for me. Had I got the 5000+ I would have saved $14 though. Oh, well. Makes me wonder whether these e models are just a slick marketing ploy to get us to pay a premium on

I use staticice.com.au. I'll check out pricespy.

I'm extending my budget so I'll not be so strapped for choices. Just like my last build, I want it to last a while as I'm not a regular upgrader; only on peripherals and the like.

I was looking for a board with Firewire but the 740Gs and most 780Gs omit them. FW is not a huge deabreaker though. I also need a serial port or header at least to connect an older device. (Addon cards and adaptors can get quite expensive.) After reading SPCR's review on GF8300 chipset, I'm giving this a consideration. Idle is on par with 780G, bettering it in higher loads.

DVR-215 is scarcely available at retail now. DVR-216 is selling cheaper at ~$32 so I'll probably get that.

I did some number crunching today and worked out that a 500-750GB drive is just overkill for my needs. Even if I encoded all my CDs, DVDs, allowed for future media storage, I would still only use ~100GB, including OSes, apps, backups. But these days, the difference between 160-320 and 500-640 is so minimal, it just doesn't make economic sense to go lower. I can't help but feel like I'd be buying a mansion and only moving into one small room, leaving the rest unoccupied.

[mattthemuppet]

Shamgar - no worries Prices were going up like crazy around the time I bought my bits (MB went from $75>89 (what I paid)>110 in a couple of weeks) so I didn't want to risk waiting for MSY Tech to get a 4850e in stock only for all the prices to go up. I'm pretty sure the 4850e is a X2 4800+ (or what ever model the 2.5GHz chip is) binned for low volts - so although you can get a 5000+ to undervolt as low or lower, you're essentially paying for someone to do it for you and guarantee the results. Like overclocked graphics cards, only in reverse

Can't comment on the GF8300, other than the fact that they're still quite pricey, though they'll probably come down with a bit of time. They certainly seem on a par with 780G boards though, so I doubt you'll go wrong with one.

I recommend the DVR-216, I'm very happy with mine. Got it for $32 from MSY Tech in Boxhill.

I went through the same thing with HDDs as well - we'd been using a 120GB drive for ~3yrs, which was just a bit too small (had to keep deleting films). I was planning on getting a WD3200AAKS, but there's no way to guarantee you're getting the newer single platter model and they're only about 30% cheaper than the 640GB model (new model only), so I went with that instead. Now I have space to try Linux on its own partition, huge OS partition and 400GB spare for data, which should hopefully last a while!

[Shamgar]

Updating my original thread... I finally have most of the parts for my new build. All that is left is cooling components (and a new monitor!). I will start a new thread elsewhere to get advice on stock heatsink and fan replacements. (Or should I continue it in this thread? Hmmm, better start a new one). But here is what I have so far:

AMD Athlon X2 4850e
Gigabyte GA-MA78G-DS3H rev.1.0
Kingston 2x1GB DDR2 800MHz CL5
Samsung Spinpoint M5 HM160HI - System drive
Western Digital WD6400AAKS - Storage drive
Pioneer DVR-216BK
Antec Solo
Corsair VX450

This is the first computer I'm building "from the ground up", although I've (re)built other systems from "spare parts" before. Still have a bit of work to do... as well as gathering more help from SPCR.

I think this is a solid foundation for what will hopefully serve me well for years to come. It cost me less for all these great parts than what I paid for a budget beige upgrade box several years ago! Thanks to all who offered advice.