What's a solid office CPU?

[Jhancock]

I'm a little out of touch and shopping around for desktop systems there appears to be a gazillion CPU choices.

What CPU would you guys recommend for power office users (no games) with 2x24" screens?

 

[William-Mathew]

What's your budget?

 

[Jhancock]

Think entry level - I think anything else will be wasted money.

 

[kefan77]

anything from current line up.

G3220 for example.

 

[William-Mathew]

I think one of these should be fine and last a while

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Pentium G3430 3.30GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £65.99
1 x Intel Pentium G2120 3.10GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £56.99
Total : £132.58 (includes shipping : £8.00).

 

[kefan77]

I think one of these should be fine and last a while

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Pentium G3430 3.30GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £65.99
1 x Intel Pentium G2120 3.10GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £56.99
Total : £132.58 (includes shipping : £8.00).

G3420 is not worth the extra cash over 3220 and buying Ivy for the same or higher price than Haswell is pointless too.

 

[Boomstick777]

Pentium Haswell G3420 for around £45 would be ideal, low power usage but still a nippy lil CPU.

 

[joeyjojo]

Pentium Haswell G3420 for around £45 would be ideal, low power usage but still a nippy lil CPU.

+1. It really is amazing how snappy a system with a cheap Pentium + SSD will perform these days.

 

[Jhancock]

Thanks chaps - and what of the new AMD units in this price range?

IGP is important because we want to run multiple monitors without the expense of additional hardware.

 

[Martini1991]

The IGP is fine to run multiple monitors I believe.
AMD's stuff has far better IGP at that price point, but the CPU performance at that price point is a decent 40%? lower.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Any of the modern Atoms or Jaguar based CPUs would be fine for Office task TBH.

 

[Jhancock]

The IGP is fine to run multiple monitors I believe.
AMD's stuff has far better IGP at that price point, but the CPU performance at that price point is a decent 40%? lower.

Ouch - that's a lot lower!

edit: just to confirm even the Intel's weaker IGP is good for 2x24" monitors right?

 

[Gambisk]

For what its worth I was able to run two screens on my i3 IGP before I got the upgrade bug. I think they are similar graphics on both chips. Intel Ark claim up to 3 monitors tech info's

 

[Jhancock]

Would one of these be a good bet?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-197-OP&groupid=43&catid=2477

 

[Jhancock]

Hi guys, will I notice the difference between a Pentium G3430 3.3GHz and an i3 4130 3.4GHz?

 

[cheesyboy]

For office tasks, no noticeable difference.

 

[Jhancock]

For office tasks, no noticeable difference.

Good to hear, thank you.

 

[Phixsator]

Dont forget that Mantle for AMD can accelerate spreadsheets to insane levels if the software has support for it such as LibreOffice does which is the only area i would think the AMD CPU would be noticeable slower if it were all CPU done tasks in a large enough spreadsheet.

 

[Jhancock]

We use MS Office, I take it that doesn't support the funky AMD stuff?

I'm thinking with an SSD actually the AMD and Intel will both be pretty similar for office tasks... ?

 

[Martini1991]

Dont forget that Mantle for AMD can accelerate spreadsheets to insane levels if the software has support for it such as LibreOffice does which is the only area i would think the AMD CPU would be noticeable slower if it were all CPU done tasks in a large enough spreadsheet.

Isn't that HSA, not Mantle?