AMD Athlon II X4 651K Review

Entry-level Desktop processor released in 2011 with 4 cores and 4 threads. With base clock at 3GHz, max speed at 3GHz, and a 100W power rating. Athlon II X4 651K is based on the Llano 32nm family and part of the Athlon II X4 series.
Price 70%
Speed 41%
Productivity 27%
Gaming 62%
Category Desktop
Target entry-level
Socket Compatibility FM1
Integrated Graphics None
Cooler Included Yes
Overclock Potential 17 %
Year 2011 Model
Price 115.91 USD
Number of Cores 4 Cores
Number of Threads 4 Threads
Core Frequency 3 GHz
Boost Frequency 3 GHz
Max Stable Overclock 3.5 GHz
Power Consumption 100 W
Manufacturing Process 32 nm
L3 Cache 0 MB
Maximum Supported Memory 64 GB
Price-Value Score 70 %
Speed Score 41 %
Productivity Score 27 %
Gaming Score 62 %
Max 1080p Bottleneck 68.4 %
Max 1440p Bottleneck 34.2 %
Max 4K Bottleneck 17.1 %
Overall Score 27/100

The Athlon II X4 651K is one of AMD's entry-level Desktop processors. It was released in 2011 with 4 cores and 4 threads. With base clock at 3GHz, max speed at 3GHz, and a 100W power rating. The Athlon II X4 651K is based on the Llano 32nm family and is part of the Athlon II X4 series.

The AMD Athlon II X4 651K marks yet another blast from Team AMD, ramping up the intensity of the AMD vs Intel processor war. Still, though, there’s more than just core counts when it comes to a mainstream processor, as single-core performance needs to be on point, especially if you’re hoping to play the best PC games.

AMD's K10 series has landed, upping the ante with Intel in its high-stakes game for desktop PC market dominance with a well-rounded lineup of new chips that push mainstream platforms to higher core counts and more raw compute than we've ever seen. As a result, Intel's commanding presence in the enthusiast space is threatened in a way we haven't seen in over a decade.

As the higher-priced version of the Athlon II X4 641, the Athlon II X4 651K has higher base and Boost frequencies of 3 and 3 GHz, respectively. That's an increase in base frequency and a bump to boost clocks, but the real advantage should lay in the higher Package Power Tracking (PPT) envelope, which is a measurement of the maximum amount of power delivered to the socket. The Athlon II X4 641's PPT tops out at 100W, while the motherboard can pump up to 142W to the Athlon II X4 651K at peak performance. That opens up much more aggressive boost behavior, on both single and multiple cores, that could widen the performance gap beyond what we see on the spec sheet.

As we've seen, gaming remains an advantage for Intel, so if squeezing out every last frame is all you care about, Intel's processors are a good choice. Much of that performance advantage will be less noticeable when gaming at higher resolutions, or if you pair the processors with a lesser graphics card.

Value seekers who aren't afraid to press the Precision Boost Overdrive button and have sufficient cooling should look to the Athlon II X4 641 for roughly equivalent performance to the Athlon II X4 651K, particularly if gaming factors heavily into the buying decision. That could save you money, reinforcing our decision to give the Athlon II X4 641 an Editor's Choice award.

One of the nice things about the AMD Athlon II X4 651K processors is that the retail boxed models come with a CPU cooler. So, you can pick something like the AMD Athlon II X4 651K up for $115.91 and don’t need to spend any extra money on CPU cooling.

The AMD Athlon II X4 651K retail boxed processor comes with the traditional ‘pancake’ CPU cooler. Nothing fancy, but it gets the job done on this processor which is rated at 100W TDP. You do not need to have an aftermarket cooling solution unless you want to.

The AMD Athlon II X4 651K seems to be a decent performing chip that is readily available for $115.91 at your favorite retailer. The main competition for this processor is the Core i3-2130 2-Core unlocked desktop processor with Intel HD Graphics 2000 graphics ($123 shipped).

If extended overclocking and boost frequencies are trivial matters to you, AMD also offers the Athlon II X4 641 at $115.91. It’s still outfitted with 4-cores and 4-threads, but clocks in at a slower 2.8GHz and maxes out at only 2.8GHz.

The Athlon II X4 651K clocks up to 3Ghz just as it promises on the box, and with AMD’s software you can take one of the cores all the way up to 3.1GHz. However, don’t expect to get much beyond that without seriously upgrading your cooling solution and manually tweaking voltages behind the operating system level.

There’s a saying that two heads are better than one and, well, 4-cores are better than 2. The extra processing power of the Athlon II X4 651K puts Intel’s processors to shame, including both its closest competitor and a much higher-spec part.

That said, to squeeze out all the potential of this surprisingly potent entry-level chip, you’ll want (and need) to splurge on an enthusiast-grade A55, A75 motherboard.

Intel's Core i3s are a staple of the high-volume mainstream market. They make up the most popular brand for entry-level-oriented builds by far. AMD is looking to shake that up with true 4-core processors that sell for even less than 2 cores. As if a resource advantage wasn't already compelling enough, Athlon II X4 also enables unlocked multipliers. Intel is ill-prepared to fend off such a combination.

Right out of the gate, Athlon II X4 should sell for $115.91, going up against Intel's almost-$123 Core i3-2130. In threaded workloads, the 4-core Athlon II X4 should enjoy an advantage against Intel's 2-core models. Of course, AMD doesn't give you integrated graphics like Intel does, but for enthusiasts building cheap gaming PCs, it isn't much of a draw anyway.

Which GPU to Pick for AMD Athlon II X4 651K

Below is a comparison of all graphics cards average FPS performance (using an average of 80+ games at ultra quality settings), combined with the AMD Athlon II X4 651K.

Graphics Card Price Cost Per Frame Avg 1080p Avg 1440p Avg 4K
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 24GB $ 1,599 $ 12.8 125 FPS
199.2 FPS
159.1 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Ti 20GB $ 799 $ 6.8 116.7 FPS
185.9 FPS
148.5 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX 24GB $ 999 $ 8.9 112.8 FPS
176.5 FPS
128.3 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 16GB $ 1,199 $ 11.1 108.4 FPS
172.5 FPS
137.8 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti 12GB $ 799 $ 7.7 104.1 FPS
165.7 FPS
132.3 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT 20GB $ 899 $ 8.8 102.6 FPS
160.5 FPS
116.5 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 24GB $ 1,499 $ 15.4 97.4 FPS
149.7 FPS
112.5 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT 16GB $ 1,099 $ 11.8 93.2 FPS
145.9 FPS
105.9 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti 24GB $ 1,999 $ 21.8 91.7 FPS
146 FPS
116.6 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT 16GB $ 999 $ 10.9 91.3 FPS
141.1 FPS
104.3 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT 16GB $ 649 $ 7.5 86 FPS
132.8 FPS
98.2 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti 20GB $ 799 $ 9.4 84.9 FPS
133.1 FPS
103.7 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 10GB $ 699 $ 8.2 84.9 FPS
130.4 FPS
98 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 12GB $ 599 $ 7.3 81.9 FPS
127.3 FPS
100.4 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti 10GB $ 599 $ 8.2 72.8 FPS
112.8 FPS
86.3 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 6800 16GB $ 579 $ 8.5 68.1 FPS
105.2 FPS
77.7 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 8GB $ 499 $ 7.7 64.9 FPS
99.8 FPS
75 FPS
NVIDIA TITAN RTX 24GB $ 2,499 $ 41.9 59.6 FPS
94.6 FPS
71.6 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11GB $ 1,299 $ 22.4 58 FPS
92.1 FPS
69.6 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT 12GB $ 479 $ 8.4 57.3 FPS
89.2 FPS
65 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB 8GB $ 399 $ 7.1 56.4 FPS
88.7 FPS
68.7 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 8GB $ 399 $ 7.5 53.2 FPS
83.9 FPS
64.3 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8GB $ 699 $ 13.3 52.7 FPS
82.8 FPS
62.3 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT 8GB $ 399 $ 7.9 50.8 FPS
79.5 FPS
59 FPS
NVIDIA TITAN V 12GB $ 2,999 $ 59.4 50.5 FPS
80.1 FPS
61.8 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 8GB $ 299 $ 5.9 50.5 FPS
79.8 FPS
61.8 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 7600 8GB $ 269 $ 5.3 50.4 FPS
79 FPS
58.5 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 8GB $ 699 $ 14 49.8 FPS
77.4 FPS
57.8 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT 8GB $ 379 $ 7.9 47.7 FPS
74.2 FPS
54.8 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB $ 759 $ 16.3 46.7 FPS
73.8 FPS
55.5 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8GB $ 499 $ 10.8 46.4 FPS
71.3 FPS
53.5 FPS
AMD Radeon VII 16GB $ 699 $ 15.3 45.7 FPS
70.8 FPS
52.3 FPS
NVIDIA TITAN Xp 12GB $ 1,199 $ 26.2 45.7 FPS
71.3 FPS
54.8 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 8GB $ 399 $ 8.9 44.6 FPS
68.9 FPS
50.8 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 8GB $ 499 $ 11.3 44 FPS
66.6 FPS
50.7 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 8GB $ 200 $ 4.5 44 FPS
68.9 FPS
53.3 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB $ 329 $ 7.5 43.6 FPS
67.3 FPS
51 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER 8GB $ 400 $ 9.6 41.6 FPS
62 FPS
46.3 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 5700 8GB $ 349 $ 8.6 40.8 FPS
63.2 FPS
46.6 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 8GB $ 499 $ 12.6 39.6 FPS
60.4 FPS
44.7 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 6GB $ 350 $ 9 39.1 FPS
57 FPS
41.8 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT 6GB $ 279 $ 7.2 38.5 FPS
59.1 FPS
43.5 FPS
AMD Radeon R9 295X2 4GB $ 1,499 $ 40.4 37.1 FPS
55.8 FPS
43.9 FPS
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 8GB $ 499 $ 13.5 37 FPS
57.3 FPS
42.2 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti 8GB $ 409 $ 11.1 36.7 FPS
55.9 FPS
41.3 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti 6GB $ 249 $ 6.9 35.9 FPS
54.3 FPS
40.8 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN X 12GB $ 999 $ 28 35.7 FPS
53.7 FPS
39.7 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6GB $ 279 $ 8 34.9 FPS
53.2 FPS
39.2 FPS
AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 8GB $ 399 $ 11.5 34.7 FPS
53.6 FPS
39.5 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 8GB $ 399 $ 11.8 33.8 FPS
51 FPS
37.4 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER 6GB $ 229 $ 7 32.9 FPS
50.2 FPS
37.1 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB $ 649 $ 20.9 31.1 FPS
47.1 FPS
34.7 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 6GB $ 220 $ 7.1 31 FPS
47.2 FPS
34.8 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 590 8GB $ 279 $ 9.5 29.4 FPS
43.5 FPS
31.4 FPS
AMD Radeon R9 FURY X 4GB $ 649 $ 23 28.2 FPS
44.7 FPS
33.9 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4GB $ 160 $ 5.9 27 FPS
41 FPS
30.2 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT 8GB 8GB $ 199 $ 7.4 26.8 FPS
39.6 FPS
28.5 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 4GB $ 549 $ 20.6 26.6 FPS
39.9 FPS
29.7 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 580 8GB $ 229 $ 8.8 26.1 FPS
38.5 FPS
27.6 FPS
AMD Radeon R9 Nano 4GB $ 649 $ 25.3 25.7 FPS
40 FPS
30.1 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN BLACK 6GB $ 999 $ 40.1 24.9 FPS
37 FPS
28.6 FPS
AMD Radeon R9 FURY 4GB $ 549 $ 22.6 24.3 FPS
37.7 FPS
28 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB $ 254 $ 10.5 24.2 FPS
36 FPS
26.6 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT 4GB 4GB $ 169 $ 7 24 FPS
35.5 FPS
25.5 FPS
AMD Radeon R9 390X 8GB $ 429 $ 18.4 23.3 FPS
36.1 FPS
27 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB 3GB $ 170 $ 7.4 23 FPS
34.3 FPS
25.3 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4GB $ 329 $ 14.6 22.6 FPS
33.3 FPS
25.6 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 480 8GB $ 400 $ 18.3 21.9 FPS
33.6 FPS
25.4 FPS
AMD Radeon R9 390 8GB $ 329 $ 15.1 21.8 FPS
33 FPS
23.2 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 570 4GB $ 169 $ 7.9 21.5 FPS
32.5 FPS
23.5 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 4GB $ 149 $ 7.2 20.6 FPS
31.1 FPS
22.8 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 470 4GB $ 179 $ 9.3 19.2 FPS
29.2 FPS
21.5 FPS
AMD Radeon R9 380X 4GB $ 229 $ 14.1 16.2 FPS
24.3 FPS
18.2 FPS
AMD Radeon R9 285 2GB $ 249 $ 17.2 14.5 FPS
21.9 FPS
15.5 FPS
AMD Radeon R9 380 2GB $ 199 $ 13.8 14.4 FPS
21.6 FPS
15.5 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB $ 169 $ 11.9 14.2 FPS
21.4 FPS
15.8 FPS
AMD Radeon R9 280 3GB $ 279 $ 19.9 14 FPS
21.3 FPS
14.8 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 2GB $ 199 $ 14.3 13.9 FPS
20.8 FPS
15.1 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 3GB $ 169 $ 14 12.1 FPS
18.1 FPS
13.1 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 560 4GB $ 99 $ 8.8 11.2 FPS
16.5 FPS
12 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 2GB $ 159 $ 14.5 11 FPS
16.2 FPS
12.2 FPS
AMD Radeon R7 370 2GB $ 149 $ 13.9 10.7 FPS
15.2 FPS
11.5 FPS
AMD Radeon R7 265 2GB $ 149 $ 13.9 10.7 FPS
14.7 FPS
11.1 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 460 4GB $ 140 $ 14.1 9.9 FPS
14.6 FPS
10.7 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB $ 149 $ 15.7 9.5 FPS
12.6 FPS
9.6 FPS
AMD Radeon RX 550 2GB $ 79 $ 10.1 7.8 FPS
11.6 FPS
8.4 FPS
NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 2GB $ 79 $ 10.7 7.4 FPS
11 FPS
7.7 FPS

Related Discussions and Issues

S
simon_1980 October 06, 2013

[Build Help] Is this CPU going to work?

Hi just want some confirmation from you guys about this CPU and if it will work in my build (currently a4-3300 fm1). Decided to play BF3 again so got a 6950 but the CPU seems to struggle? so cannot really afford to change everything so figured this would be next best thing.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/AMD-Athlon-651K-Black-Edition/dp/B0072PRPP4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1351343779&sr=8-2

R
r4tj4r September 15, 2013

PC Build Help/Second Opinion

Hey guys, I would just like a second opinion on my first build. I just want to run games on medium to high. Nothing to crazy. So just let me know if you think I can get any better deals or if anything isn't compatible. Thanks guys! (: P.S. I already have a monitor, and keyboard

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Type Item Price CPU AMD Athlon II X4 651K 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor $76.99 @ SuperBiiz Motherboard Gigabyte GA-A75-UD4H ATX FM1 Motherboard $78.98 @ Outlet PC Memory Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory $80.98 @ Newegg Storage Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $59.99 @ NCIX US Video Card EVGA GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card $179.99 @ Newegg Wireless Network Adapter Rosewill RNX-G300LX 802.11b/g PCI Wi-Fi Adapter $12.99 @ Newegg Power Supply XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply $44.99 @ NCIX US Monitor Asus VS198D-P 19.0" Monitor $95.24 @ Amazon Mouse Razer DeathAdder Wired Laser Mouse $49.99 @ NCIX US Total Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available. $669.14 Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-05 04:16 EDT-0400
S
superchicken099 September 04, 2014

[Build Ready] Helping a friend build a gaming PC

I think it'll fit together, but just wanted to check with Reddit. Tell me if anything is incompatible, or if there are better parts out for the same or less price. He wants to keep it under 500$.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Type Item Price CPU AMD Athlon II X4 651K 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor $72.99 @ SuperBiiz CPU Cooler Rosewill RCX-Z80-AL 33.2 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler $6.99 @ Amazon Motherboard Gigabyte GA-A75M-DS2 Micro ATX FM1 Motherboard $37.38 @ Newegg Memory Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory $49.99 @ Newegg Storage Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $59.98 @ Outlet PC Video Card EVGA GeForce GTX 650 2GB Video Card $133.98 @ Newegg Case Silverstone PS08B (Black) MicroATX Mid Tower Case $34.90 @ Amazon Case Fan Antec 761345-75020-2 34.0 CFM 80mm Fan $6.99 @ Mac Mall Power Supply Logisys 550W ATX12V Power Supply $20.23 @ Outlet PC Optical Drive Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer $16.98 @ Outlet PC Total Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available. $440.41 Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-09-17 18:53 EDT-0400
J
jsphere1 September 16, 2014

i suggest a 7770 for the video card. it is much better than the 650, and it comes with some free games.

S
Snuggerdog September 10, 2014

[Build Help] Athlon 651k CPU or upgrade Motherboard & CPU?

Bonjour à tous!

Primary reason: Gaming (Archeage and others)

Current CPU: 2.4GHz AMD A8-3800 GPU: Radeon 6850

PSU at 520w

Current Mobo: Asus F1A75-M (FM1)

purchase whole new motherboard and CPU or purchase Athlon 651K CPU and keep current Mobo?

S
Snuggerdog October 04, 2014

Any suggestions? I'm not sure how to determine which one is appropriate for the case that i'm using.

S
starm4nn August 17, 2014

[Build Help] How is this build

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type Item Price CPU AMD Athlon II X4 651K 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor $72.99 @ SuperBiiz Motherboard Biostar TA75A+ ATX FM1 Motherboard $52.99 @ SuperBiiz Memory Team Elite 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory $64.99 @ Newegg Storage Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $52.92 @ Amazon Video Card Sapphire Radeon R7 240 4GB Video Card $72.98 @ Newegg Case Antec Nine Hundred ATX Mid Tower Case $99.98 @ OutletPC Power Supply Corsair CSM 450W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply $39.99 @ Newegg Optical Drive LG UH12NS30 Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer $39.99 @ TigerDirect Sound Card Diamond XtremeSound XS71 16-bit 96 KHz Sound Card $19.99 @ TigerDirect Wired Network Adapter TP-Link TF-3239DL 10/100 Mbps PCI Network Adapter $8.99 @ Mwave Wireless Network Adapter D-Link DWA-140 802.11g/n USB 2.0 Wi-Fi Adapter $8.00 @ Amazon Keyboard Cherry Compact 1800 Series Wired Mini Keyboard $70.13 @ Newegg Mouse Gear Head LM6000U Wired Laser Mouse $15.78 @ Amazon Speakers Logitech Z506 155W 5.1ch Speakers $60.99 @ Best Buy Other Windows 7 32/64 bit OS $55.99 Total Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available $736.70 Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-06-14 18:08 EDT-0400 What do you think? Is this build subject to bottlenecking?
R
Reiirou September 28, 2014

What will you be using this for?

Also, it is better to get 2 4GB sticks of memory instead of 1 8 GB stick for dual channel

S
starm4nn October 04, 2014

I want a pc that can run skyrim on ultra high with a few graphics enhancements, which is why I want 4gb of graphics memory.

M
maxeytheman September 10, 2014

You may wanna get a cheaper case. It costs more than your CPU, motherboard, memory, storage, and video card. It's literally the most expensive thing in your build.

G
Goinsandrew September 04, 2014

Looking to upgrade an older custom build and need help finding a part

Greetings ! I recently decided to update my main computer (a plex server/ moderate gaming rig) and originally it was to be a full upgrade to i5 haswell and such but I don't have that in the budget anymore. Now I have roughly an $80 budget. I'm looking for a athlon 64 ii x4 651k to fit my current MoBo. Full current build below.

A6-3500

Can't remember mobo, edit in later,

10Gb ram (1x8, 1x2)

Radeon HD 7850 oc edition

Hive 750watt PSU (exact details later)

N
Ninjaivxx August 23, 2014

[Build Help] PC for Grandma

I am looking to build a pc for my grandmother. She has an old pc that just drags right now. All she does is check email, play free cell, browse the internet (Facebook). I am looking for pretty much the cheapest build i can do. Now with her being old her eye sight is starting to go so i would like something with a VGA and HDMI port on it so i can hook it up to the TV for her. I would like to stay under $300 here is the current build i have that i am still working on. PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type Item Price CPU AMD Athlon II X4 651K 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor $72.99 @ SuperBiiz Motherboard Biostar TA75A+ ATX FM1 Motherboard $52.99 @ SuperBiiz Memory Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 Memory $44.58 @ Amazon Storage Seagate Barracuda 160GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $31.24 @ Amazon Case Logisys CS206BK ATX Mid Tower Case w/480W Power Supply $32.76 @ NCIX US Optical Drive Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer $14.99 @ Newegg Operating System Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) $84.99 @ NCIX US Total Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available $334.54
O
osugisakae August 17, 2014

Don't want to start any OS wars here, but if you have any experience with Linux, you could save that $85 and install something that can be made to look and act similar to MS WinXP (such as XFCE, or maybe LXDE). For Internet, email, and freecell it should be problem-free and similar enough that she should get used to it quickly.

As a major bonus, the GUI customization in XFCE (at least) is more powerful than in MSWin7 out of the box. In this case, I am thinking especially fonts and font sizes.

You can choose the font and the font size for just about every aspect of the GUI. Icon sizes as well. And mouse pointer style and size. Perfect for someone whose eyesight is not what it once was.

If it sounds worthwhile, check out Xubuntu ( http://xubuntu.org ) - it is Ubuntu with XFCE as default instead of Unity.

(XFCE may look and act like XP, but everything is pure 2014 operating system goodness.)

N
Ninjaivxx September 28, 2014

Thanks for recommending this. I am experienced with Linux and have been contemplating if that's what i want to do or not.

2
222_to_0 August 29, 2014

Pretty new to this, but had a stab anyway, take it with a grain of salt:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type Item Price CPU Intel Pentium G3220 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor $59.99 @ Newegg Motherboard MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard $50.39 @ Newegg Memory Kingston 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory $37.99 @ NCIX US Storage Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $33.49 @ Amazon Case Logisys CS206BK ATX Mid Tower Case w/480W Power Supply $32.76 @ NCIX US Optical Drive Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer $14.99 @ Newegg Operating System Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) $89.98 @ OutletPC Total Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available $319.59

Here you get a larger HDD, Haswell processor with integrated graphics, and Windows 8.1, all for ~$15 less.

N
Ninjaivxx October 04, 2014

Thanks for the reply. She currently uses xp :( so i will pry go with windows 7 since it is similar to the xp layout. She isnt very technical. Like at all lol :)

S
Shadowy13 September 28, 2014

Based on what you are doing, you might not need a PSU with that many watts.

N
Ninjaivxx September 16, 2014

The only reason i got that PSU was because it came with the case. other wise its 20 to 30ish for a case and another 20 for a PSU

-
-des0lation- August 11, 2014

I wouldnt use a case psu combo. Its usually really low quality and could blow and take the computer with it. I'd recommend a corsair 430 watt

M
mioskios August 18, 2019

Need help about PSU

Will LC Power 600w be enough for this configuration: AMD Radeon RX 570(gigabyte 4gb 1x 8pin) AMD Athlon II X4 651K 2x4gb ddr3 ram 1xhdd

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Sep 03, 2020 - Save your CPU money and invest it in a powerful GPU instead. So, which affordable yet powerfulrt CPU strikes the best performance-price balance with the NVIDIA RTX 3070?

10600K vs 3600X: Battle of the mid-range CPUs

May 23, 2020 - The best performance to price value mid-range cpus are here. Find out more in this comprehensive review and summary of the Core i5-10600K vs Ryzen 5 3600X's capabilities.

10700K vs 3700X: Specs, 80+ Game Benchmarks, Bottleneck, and Streaming Analysis

May 22, 2020 - Which one is worth it, Core i7-10700K or Ryzen 7 3700X? Find out in this comprehensive review and summary of the Core i7-10700K vs Ryzen 7 3700X's capabilities.

13900K vs 3900X: Specs, 80+ Game Benchmarks, Bottleneck, and Streaming Analysis

May 21, 2020 - 10 cores vs 12 cores. Top-of-the-line very high-end cpus duke it out.

2500K vs 3570K vs 4670K vs 6600K vs 7600K vs 8600K vs 9600K vs 10600K: Should you consider upgrading?

May 21, 2020 - In this massive comparison across 8 generations of Intel Core i5 series CPUs, we explore the performance improvements by generation and whether it is reasonable or not to upgrade to Intel's latest.

Critics Reviews