[Balsagna]

So, I believe his old computer (10 years now) finally gave up on him and I think it's the GPU and he's wanting to biuld a new computer (from scratch minus the monitor/keyboard/mouse)

Nothing outside of what is mentioned is reusable and his budget is $700

He is not a gamer. He mostly just does some Microsoft office work, web browsing and watches videos. He wants an Asus motherboard (swears by them) doesn't need bling bling and prefer's Intel over AMD, but is asking for 3 builds. We'd definitely include an SSD, 128gb minimum, he doesn't need a lot of space though.

1. Intel build - $700 budget
2. AMD build - $700 budget
3. Build with/without discrete GPU. (I told him he woudln't need a discrete GPU for what he does. But he'd like to see what the difference would be if getting one)

I'm going to give a whirl as well, but I haven't exactly been following hardware for a while.

 

[NexusRed]

I'm just going to give you a basic outline. Fill in the rest as you need it:

CPU - AMD Quad Core APU FM2+
Motherboard - Decent ATX FM2+
Discrete VGA - Take a look at the chart I've listed. Match your VGA with your APU
Memory - DDR3 2133mhz 8GB
Storage - 256GB SSD (Around $160) and a 1TB HDD
Case - your choice
PSU - No Corsair CX crap. I'm partial to Seasonic but check the PSU section to find out the OEM of what you want

 

[Balsagna]

Thanks, anyone else

 

[Yorkston]

I'd say grab the Kaveri A8-7600 when it releases and make something around that.

(Using an A10 as a placeholder)

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3jQPq
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3jQPq/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3jQPq/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD A10-7700K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($120.00)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-D3H Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($72.90 @ Newegg)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($67.99 @ Micro Center)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.98 @ OutletPC)
Case: Rosewill FBM-02 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($29.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Antec Basiq 350W ATX Power Supply ($29.48 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($84.98 @ OutletPC)

Total: $561.29
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-31 18:50 EDT-0400)

I know you wanted ASUS but many of their boards seem to have issues with Kaveri. Under budget so you can get a video card or a nicer case if you want.

 

[Schmuckley]

PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153167 $60
CPU Cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835226051 $25 This cooler is good..really a copy of some cooler that was #1 on FrostyTech for a good while..better and cheaper than Hyper212+
Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138353 $75
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504 $231
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211861 $65
HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136769 $55
SSD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211601 $45
DVD Burner: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289 $20
Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811353018 $35
$611 before GPU

and....GPU
probably mid-level 128-bit would be plenty (Maybe too much?)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202056 $73
611+
073=
$684

Y U no use ssd for OS/programs and HDD for storage?

-$100 + $70= $654 with only 1 128GB ssd
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211602

 

[Crack_Fox]

Office work, web browsing and watching videos ? $30 raspberry pi ?

 

[Mopar63]

Okay I will give you a solid base to build from based on the needs and leave you some budget room.

From NewEgg:

• Cooler Master N200 Case
• Seasonic S12II 620 PSU
• Amd A8 5600K
• Asus A88XM-Plus (per his request)
• Kingston Hyper X 8 GB 2x4
• Crucial M500 240 Gig SSD

Total cost: 502.24

This will easily fit the needs he has expressed, give great performance for those needs and leaves a nice $200 buffer for anything you want to upgrade or might need. The motherboard is Kaveri ready if he wants to jump that direction.

If he wants to go the Intel route...

• Intel I3 4130
• Asus H87M-PLus/CSM

Just replace the motherboard and chip, cost is $544.44.

Either build meets the needs expressed and has a ton of extra headroom, comes in well under budget and gives amazing performance for the cost.

 

[ADHDadditiv]

Would be my pleasure. Gunna go for ITX build because why not. If he needs an optical drive, change the case out for the Bitfenix Prodigy or that itx Aerocool case.

Spoiler: Intel

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3jRL3
CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus H87I-PLUS Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($105.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: A-Data XPG V1.0 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R7 250 1GB Video Card ($99.98 @ Best Buy)
Case: BitFenix Phenom Midnight Black Mini ITX Tower Case ($79.99 @ TigerDirect)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($56.51 @ Newegg)
Total: $692.43
Note that this is way past overkill for what your dad will need. It would honestly probably work without the GPU and be just fine.

Spoiler: AMD

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3jRT0
CPU: AMD Athlon X4 760K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor ($81.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A85XN-WIFI Mini ITX FM2 Motherboard ($100.23 @ Mwave)
Memory: A-Data XPG V1.0 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R7 250 1GB Video Card ($99.98 @ Best Buy)
Case: BitFenix Phenom Midnight Black Mini ITX Tower Case ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($56.51 @ Newegg)
Total: $588.68

Something to note about the two above rigs, the GPU i picked is 100% passive. Meaning no noise.

Spoiler: APU

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3jRWD
CPU: AMD A8-5600K 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($97.74 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A88XN-WIFI Mini ITX FM2+ Motherboard ($106.69 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($72.90 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Case: BitFenix Phenom Midnight Black Mini ITX Tower Case ($79.99 @ TigerDirect)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($56.51 @ Newegg)
Total: $553.82

Something to note about these 2 AMD rigs is that Asus doesn't make a decent FM2/FM2+ ITX motherboard. Gigabyte makes the best one for ITX that you can get new.

Enjoy!

 

[Shadow11377]

If all he plans to do is media playback and office work, than the Haswell Celerons are an amazing deal, and a great choice.
Compare the G1820 to an i5 or i7, and see the differences.

CPU: G1820
$45 @ Newegg - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116974
$40 @ Microcenter - http://www.microcenter.com/product/428533/Celeron_G1820_27GHz_LGA_1150_Boxed_processor

At $40 (Heatsink included) this thing is a steal.

Bench Scores
G1820 http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Celeron+G1820+%40+2.70GHz&id=2129
2647 Multi-threaded
1508 Single-Thread

i5 - http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5-4670K+%40+3.40GHz&id=1921
7804 Overall
2243 Single-Thread

i7 - http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-4770K+%40+3.50GHz&id=1919
10369 Overall
2293 Single-Thread

Does he need a quad core? I doubt it.
Even if he doesn't, an i5 would still be better as it can offer room for more multi-tasking and better single-thread performance but it is up to you if the price is worth it.

It's about 50% faster single threaded, yet costs about 5x the price. It has a better integrated GPU, but I would still recommend a dedicated GPU. They offer better performance than the integrated options and Hardware acceleration is great for media playback, and with a decent ($100-$120) GPU he'd be able to play back multiple 1080p streams without a problem.

 

[t00sl0w]

id go with one of the APU builds or at least the outline and a higher capacity SSD maybe a secondary HDD for extra storage if he needs it.
i built my dad an APU system and he loves it. works perfect for what he does and is night/day over his old pent4 system.