[Hatfieco]

I had a client come to me about building a new computer. On a fairly tight budget 750 and pretty specific. They wanted a micro enclosure due to space constraints, 8 gigs of ram, decent onboard video (no gaming just hd movies and such), 1tb of storage and it has to run quickbooks well. Right now they run their business from a c2d laptop so his version of well may be very very different than ours. Now from what I read quicken benefits from more cores and ram speed correct? In the price range I came up with either an i3-3225 or an amd a10-5800k. I'm leaning towards the Intel solution because in single threaded apps it handles the a10 but in multi threaded its a tossup. Any wisdom for me here? Hopefully someone here has experience with quickbooks as I do not. This is the intel setup I put together. Everything is the same for the amd aside from mobo and cpu. Its $12 less so not much price difference. One other thing is the 100w tpd of the a10 and heat. Its in an enclosed desk as of now but I think I have them talked into venting it. I don't want a corn-holing over chosen parts here as price/quality wise I spent alot of time trying to find a sweetspot. Thanks in advance!

Rosewill LINE-M Micro-ATX Mini Tower Computer Case $54.99

ASRock H77M LGA 1155 Intel H77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard $69.99

SeaSonic S12II 430B 430W ATX12V V2.3/EPS12V 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply $55.99

Intel Core i3-3225 Ivy Bridge 3.3GHz LGA 1155 $144.99

CORSAIR XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 $52.99

Western Digital WD Blue WD10EZEX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive $84.99

SAMSUNG DVD Burner SATA Model SH-224BB $17.99

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit $139.99

Subtotal: $621.92

 

[adridu59]

If it's for browsing the web and watching videos the single-threaded performance of the APU will most-likely not matter, you could also go down to an A6/A8 I guess, don't know much about APUs...

Have you considered an SSD?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD A8-5600K 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($99.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: NZXT Respire T40 68.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($31.23 @ Amazon)
Memory: Kingston Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($47.00 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Rosewill Line-M MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Other: GIGABYTE GA-F2A85XM-D3H Socket FM2/ AMD A85X/ DDR3/ SATA3&USB3.0/ A&GbE/ MicroATX Motherboard ($82.99)
Total: $421.18
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-22 17:46 EST-0500)

 

[Hatfieco]

I did but he is firm on the 1tb and its his business computer. Word, excel, quicken, surfing, browsing and such. Everything is coming from newegg. I dont deal with anyone else anymore as I have a business account through them. Also add 140 for a copy of 7 pro and 20 for an optical drive. Pretty set on psu ram hdd and case. Just looking for input on the cpu/mobo combo as price wise they are almost identical. He does no gaming currently. If he decides to in the future I will just add a discrete as the apu is very weak anyways. Thanks though!

 

[Hatfieco]

No one has any input as to the a10 vs the i3??? Ive read a bunch of benchmarks and looked at what some reputable reviews have to say but first hand experience would be ideal.

 

[chad4050]

Well I do the A10 will run what you need great. But I would opt for a i5 3570 but I am a Intel snob. Back to the a10 its great for the applications he would be throwing at it.. It will power through video web quicken and a lot more. I do not care for the i3 it does not have the hd4000 on board like the i5 and i7 it has on board video but a lower version. The A8 would be fine though but A10 is faster.I have a I53570k and built a a10 media center web browsing pc for my dad and I believe the I5 is faster.Sorry but I can not compare first hand knowledge of the i3. If it was me the A8 would be my pick .

 

[Hatfieco]

The i3 has the hd4000. The 3220 doesn't but the 3225 does. Already ordered the Intel system. Thanks for the input though.