Fast, Cheap, and mATX. Possible?

[xvi]

So, the boss wants me to salvage a PC that died. The only thing that survived is the case (duh), and possibly the memory and hard drive. Old CPU is embedded (AMD A6). I said get a new PC, but he wants to salvage the case and put something "fast and cheap" in it. He told me "It shot sparks out of the power supply [when it fried], and now I want it to shoot flames [so blistering fast, it'll set the curtains on fire]."
He's mentioned a budget of $325 and that he wants an i7, but also said that's more of a suggestion as he was showing me $400-500 CPU/mobo combos (with older i7-920 processors and whatnot).

As far as I'm aware, usage will be mostly web browsing and some account management/trouble ticket software (doesn't use much of any CPU or RAM, basically just a fancy SQL client, mostly network dependant). The main requirements here is that it feels really fast (aka: anything as long as it has a SSD and a bit of RAM). Bonus points for "shock and awe" specs like high core/thread counts or really high benchmark scores.

Parts I have just laying around:
Gateway branded mATX case.
A random PSU that's at least 300-400 watts, 24-pin ATX, 8-pin EPS.
A couple sticks of DDR3, could probably scrounge up 2x4GB at least, possibly one or two 8GB sticks as well. If the old memory survived, 1x4GB and 1x8GB.
If the old hard drive survived, one 500GB hard drive.

The Old-And-Forgotten Route
Good specs on the cheap make me think older Xeon, but it looks like mATX motherboards that will accept a Xeon are far and few between. DDR3 ECC shouldn't be fairly inexpensive though.
I've found an Xeon E5-2640 (6-core) for $65, but the only mATX board that sounds like it'll take it is an ASRock X79 Extreme4-M, which I'm having trouble finding (especially for any reasonable price).
I think the mATX requirement might kill this option.

The Oh-Look-Another-Desktop Rotue
Option two I've thought of is something like a Core i5 2500k or 3570k and something with a Z77 chipset, but I'm not seeing much of any Z68 or Z77 chipset boards that are mATX on the used market. I'm using PC Part Picker to find a list of possible motherboards, but almost nothing showed up on eBay at all, let alone for reasonable prices.

I could also go for a multi-locked CPU and a non Z-series motherboard too if the price is right. Currently looking at a Gigabyte GA-H81M-H on Amazon for $52 and pairing it with an i7-2600 (non-K) or something (about $80). Leaves $193 for a nice SSD and maybe something else nice.

The Hope-He-Doesn't-Notice-It's-A-Pentium Route
Last option I can think of is buy new-ish parts, something like a G3258, and overclock it as hard as I can. Benefit here would be good selection of parts, going for the previous-generation parts should keep costs down, and really high single-threaded performance on the cheap. Lots of budget left over for a nice SSD too.
Downside is lack of "shock and awe" things like high thread counts. I'll probably just find a benchmark that's single-threaded so I can say "Look! It's better than my 4770!"

The I-can't-believe-you-didn't-think-of-this Route
No, seriously. If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears.

 

[tabascosauz]

"and now I want it to shoot flames"
​

Made my day.

Back on topic: what about this
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/CDZfK8

This is more in line with Oh-Look-Another-Desktop, and I think he's going to have to accept the fact that it's $16 over budget.

This is all with components that I currently have myself (with exception of the PSU, which is trustworthy enough for me, and trust me, I'm very picky with my PSUs).

4460 is the minimum for something like what he needs; he might not "need" four physical Haswell cores but you want a PC that you can put away and use for years at a time without worry about it getting not "slow" for your needs.

People don't like Gigabyte for its shitty fan curves but GB consistently uses good components and it has a BIOS that'll do the job. H81M-P33 or E33 is also a candidate; I've had good experiences with that one and it'll keep trucking.

I hope that HDD can handle a few more years of storing non-mission-critical info. SSD will make sure that DDR3 isn't causing a slowdown in the years to come.



Here's what I have to say about the "budget" requirement. Even on a budget, this is for a work environment; I trust that an i7-920 won't bugger out anytime soon, but I don't have faith in the motherboards that the 920 comes in. As high-end as they may have been, as solid as the individual components may be, I've seen a lot of what a demanding office environment and lack of attention can do to a well-built PC after a few years in there. Thus I recommended new components; from my experience, telling the boss that he'll have to put up with $16 more cost is MUCH better than explaining why you used a used motherboard that happened to break down on him in a year or two. Believe me, I think that a lot of old equipment is still up to the task, but in an office environment there's no "I'll scrape by on older equipment" when there is room in the budget to go with new equipment.


The great thing about a platform like this is that the i5-4460 doesn't generate a LOT of heat (contrary to what many might think) and as such will fit in any shitty generic case just fine.

 

[Toothless]

I'd say the "The Old-And-Forgotten Route"

Them old i7's won't die.

EDIT: Why not a AM1 rig with 8GB mem and a SSD? Sure it's no i7 but it sure does shoot fire.

 

[Caring1]

AMD 8350 plus m-ATX motherboard?

 

[Liquid Cool]

The Oh-Look-Another-Desktop Route....

I've gone down this path before....and it had quite a snappy feel to it.

If I run across anything else in my travels...I'll be sure to mention it.

Best Regards,

Liquid Cool

 

[newtekie1]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-...941014?hash=item2eec89abd6:g:lTUAAOSwvgdW3cs1

http://www.ebay.com/itm/eVGA-121-LF...170117?hash=item4afabb7905:g:lLkAAOSwPc9WuQFY

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820228142

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA9PV3Y62123

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817438070

I think that's like $340. But you get an i7, that you can overclock(remember, BCLK overclock was still a thing on P55/1156, so you don't need an unlocked multiplier), and the SSD will make it feel super snappy. Use the RAM you already have.

 

[little cat]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($215.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Z170 Pro4S ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($82.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $383.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-02 04:02 EDT-0400

mATX mobo
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-z170mextreme4

 

[xvi]

Woah. Got more attention than I thought it would. I'll have to send something off tonight, so for the sake of getting it done quickly, I'm leaning towards something Not-Another-Desktop-ish which seems to be the most popular option.

Back on topic: what about this
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/CDZfK8

This is more in line with Oh-Look-Another-Desktop, and I think he's going to have to accept the fact that it's $16 over budget.

This is almost exactly my fallback plan if I couldn't get a Xeon to work. Going a little over budget isn't a big deal (I also need to fit a new copy of Windows in to it too, so it's definitely going over in the end, it's just a question of how much.)

4460 is the minimum for something like what he needs; he might not "need" four physical Haswell cores but you want a PC that you can put away and use for years at a time without worry about it getting not "slow" for your needs.

Honestly, I'm sure he could get by with a Pentium. I have a G3258 and it overclocks effortlessly. Anything CPU intensive he might do is unlikely to be multi-threaded, so strong single-threaded performance might be nice. On top of that, it's low power too.

Here's what I have to say about the "budget" requirement. Even on a budget, this is for a work environment;

Well, it used to be a secondary PC that's sole purpose in life is device monitoring via web interface and trouble tickets. I'm pretty sure it's going to remain a secondary PC. His main computer is, I think, a rather decent HP Envy. Whatever it is, I know it doesn't have a SSD, so I'm hoping that's what will make this thing feel faster than even his nice expensive main PC.

I'd say the "The Old-And-Forgotten Route"
Them old i7's won't die.

I'd love to, but I can't find anything that would fit in a mATX.

EDIT: Why not a AM1 rig with 8GB mem and a SSD? Sure it's no i7 but it sure does shoot fire.

He's pretty set on Intel. As much as I like AMD, would an AM1 rig really stack up to a modern Intel?

AMD 8350 plus m-ATX motherboard?

Huh. Those procs got cheap recently. I thought I heard those cook VRMs on smaller boards. Guess it depends on quality.

I've gone down this path before....and it had quite a snappy feel to it.

That is actually a really decent system for the price! Boss is completely adverse to getting anything with a new case. I really don't know why.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-...941014?hash=item2eec89abd6:g:lTUAAOSwvgdW3cs1

http://www.ebay.com/itm/eVGA-121-LF...170117?hash=item4afabb7905:g:lLkAAOSwPc9WuQFY

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820228142

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA9PV3Y62123

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817438070

I think that's like $340. But you get an i7, that you can overclock(remember, BCLK overclock was still a thing on P55/1156, so you don't need an unlocked multiplier), and the SSD will make it feel super snappy. Use the RAM you already have.

I worry about having to spend too much time overclocking it, but that's a pretty strong contender. The i5 4460 mentioned earlier beats it in performance at stock speeds (with considerably less wattage), but overclocked, it should pull ahead. That Noctula cooler seems pretty excessive. Worth it over a 212 Evo?
Integrated GPU in something newer would be better too.

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($215.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Z170 Pro4S ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($82.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $383.95

Unfortunately, that board wouldn't fit in the mATX case. I've considered trying to squeeze a i5-6600 in the budget though. I'd really like to, but it seems like I'd have to go pretty far over the budget to get the SSD in too.

"..and now I want it to shoot fire out the back"

I think I'm going to see if I can get some red streamers and tie them to the rear PSU fan.

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

Have you considered a second user Shuttle? Use the bits and chuck the case.

http://www.techradar.com/news/compu...st-micro-atx-and-mini-itx-motherboards-923069

 

[little cat]

That Xeon is not very fast compared to i7
http://cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($72.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: OCZ TRION 150 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($61.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $324.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-02 05:57 EDT-0400

cheap
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD A8-7600 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($72.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A88M PRO3+ Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($56.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($37.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: OCZ TRION 150 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($61.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $264.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-02 08:40 EDT-0400

 

[newtekie1]

I worry about having to spend too much time overclocking it, but that's a pretty strong contender. The i5 4460 mentioned earlier beats it in performance at stock speeds (with considerably less wattage), but overclocked, it should pull ahead. That Noctula cooler seems pretty excessive. Worth it over a 212 Evo?
Integrated GPU in something newer would be better too.

Overclocking shouldn't take too long. You can follow this guide, and basically drop in the settings listed and get 4.2GHz very easily. Though I'd bump the voltage up a couple notches to start just to ensure stability. Then run OCCT overnight to make sure it is all stable, and you're good to go.

The Noctua isn't necessary, I only picked it because it is a really good cooler but isn't too tall. I didn't know how much clearance you had in the mATX case, so I wanted to make sure to pick something that would fit. If the 212 Evo will fit, definitely save some and go with that.

Yeah, the i7-870 and motherboard doesn't even have integrated graphics. I forgot about that. Throw this in there: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131338 It should handle everything you are doing with the machine, and may even be a little faster than the integrated graphics from Intel from something like the 2600-3770.

 

[cdawall]

It's a Web browser... Put an a8 in it with 16gb of fast ram and a ssd