AMD Athlon feedback

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Paul N

Paul N

SPFG, Supreme Picture Framing God
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I am considering buying a PC with AMD chip ( AMD Phenom II 830 Quad-Core Processor (2.8GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 6MB shared L3 cache, 4000MHz system bus)

Anyone has experience with this chip and how it compares to say i3-xx chips?

It will be used for POS, visualization and such . Here are the specs (which sound impressive, especially the 8 Gig DDR 3 RAM) except for the video card which I might replace should the motherboard based one prove weak):

http://www.officemax.com/technology/computers/desktop-computers/product-prod3030498
 
Office max, huh, is it a special on the newest and greatest computer out there, or are they unloading old stock before it is completely obsolete :)

AMD makes a good chip, but I don't know how an athlon compares to a tri-athlon. For a serious answer google it, or go to PCMag and check out their reviews..
 
Three years ago I bought my mom a Dell laptop with an AMD Athalon processor. Less than a year later we bought her a new one with an Intel chip. It was horrible. That's my experience with it. I would never go that route.
 
I haven't really been following the CPU market for a while now. However, when Intel released the Core 2 line of processors a few years ago, AMD didn't have anything nearly as good. AMD used to be in the lead previously, and I built several AMD systems.

Currently, I don't know how they stack up. I would start by checking the CPU charts over at tomshardware (and possibly reading their CPU section as well).

Using an AMD or Intel system is pretty transparent to the end user. One thing to watch out for is the rest of the system. Traditionally AMD chips have been lower cost than Intel ones (because AMD needs to compete against the marketing and anti-competitive practices). So, AMD chips are often found in budget systems that may not measure up for other reasons.

As far as that system goes, you will want to look up that video card. Windows 7 needs a decent video card to run well, so you might need to add one aftermarket if the included one sucks.
 
Unless you can find more detailed specs on this I would avoid this system.

Two things bother me.

1. The size of the power supply is not mentioned. Typically these low end combo machines are sized to provide just enough power and no more.

2. There is no mention of any on board slots to accommodate a different video card. You may not be able to add any card. A good graphics cards will require a PCI Express 2.0 x16. This PC may not have any additional slots and I seriously doubt that it has any high end video card slots. And even if there is a slot, a good video card may be too bulky to fit. These combo motherboards are designed with just about everything on them so they can justify leaving off slots.

Buy Local. You local Mom and Pop can build you a good system at a very good price. I don't see anything very exciting here that you can't get local at a good price.
 
Thanks all for your input.

All business computers manufacturers it seems use Power Supply Units in the 250-300 W range. HP loves 250 Watts, Dell is madly in love with 300 W for their Inspiron line...even for their "heavy duty" Optiplex line (on which they are still offering only the almost obsolete Core 2 Duo chip)!

300 seems to be adequate (barely) for the basic configuration, but if one were to add a decent video card, a second hard drive, etc 300 will not be enough. Good luck trying to change the proprietary PSU on a Dell ....I have 2 old Dells I can't even re use their cases because of Dell's proprietary everything.

There has to be somebody out there beside Dell, HP and Acer....
 
4 screws and the power supply comes right out, I've replaced a few. $40-$50 tops, usually.

I buy mainly Dells, I like the speed of turnaround, the reliability, and more importantly because I have a Dell account and can get a system in days, usually before i can get the money up front to pay for one :)

I haven't looked, but I am sure you could even buy a beefier power supply from Dell that would match your motherboard....
 
OK, it was a pita but you can find power supplies on Dells site. Just keep typing power supply replacement in their search bar, once you find it :)

Under $60 for a 500watt supply and $75 for a 450 watter.

Easy peazey to replace.
 
Paul N said:
Thanks all for your input.

All business computers manufacturers it seems use Power Supply Units in the 250-300 W range. HP loves 250 Watts, Dell is madly in love with 300 W for their Inspiron line...even for their "heavy duty" Optiplex line (on which they are still offering only the almost obsolete Core 2 Duo chip)!
Click to expand...

I remember when 300 watt power supplies were the norm.....the 1990s. Now anything less than a 500W is begging for trouble. I used a 700 Watt PS in my last build and it is probably barely enough (Quad core 9550, 2 video cards, 8G Ram, 2 hard drives and millions of USB devices.)

You can calculate how much power you really need here:
http://educations.newegg.com/tool/psucalc/index.html
 
Bob Doyle said:
OK, it was a pita but you can find power supplies on Dells site. Just keep typing power supply replacement in their search bar, once you find it :)

Under $60 for a 500watt supply and $75 for a 450 watter.

Easy peazey to replace.
Click to expand...

Anything less than 700-800 W these days doesn't do it.

A good video card alone needs between 150 (at idle)- 250 W and more (when it's really cooking). Some people like 2 video cards working in tandem (or a dual core video card)

Add the peripherals, 2 hard drives, 2 DVD drives, etc and you're looking at a minimum of 700 watts. My PC at home has a 1000 watt PSU.

Many of the problems people have with PC problems are related to insufficient power.
 
Geez Paul, those weren't the only 2 options at Dell :) Just the two I listed. Oh, and after reading your post I instantly thought of Tim Allen and his "more power" shtick :)

Larry, last time I sold a computer to a customer was in the 90's :)
 
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