Utility system on a budget

I'm anticipating putting a versatile machine together that will check and scan HDs, virus and malware removal and also serve as a remote access machine (remotely servicing other machines).

I will be using Win 7 pro as my OS. I will be using mutliple boot drives (i.e., one for scanning HDs and virus removal, a separate system HD for Remote Access usage).

I will need only to buy a cpu, mainboard and RAM. Reliability and function are priority, but so is budget. I have been Intel only for several years, but am not opposed to AMD if it meets all of my requirements.

The above said, I am hoping for recommendations for the cpu and mainboard.

Given that I will generally be using this machine for singular functions at any given time, I assume that Hyper-threading will not be important?

The parts I'm considering:

Gigabyte Intel H81 Motherboard

Intel Pentium G3220

or

Intel G3420

I have not used AMD for many years, so I'm not familiar with the possibilities and savings of today.

The above components would run me around $150. I don't want a "bare minimum" machine and am not opposed to spending more, but would like to spend as little as possible for what will easily meet my needs above. The one thing I don't want is slow scans and Remote Access lag (internet is 50/5mbps and should not be a bottleneck).

Thanks for any ideas.

Hi ICit2lol. Nice to see you again, and thanks for your comments. I have put together a machine from parts I have lying around. I have several motherboards, cpus and Ram parts, unfortunately, the newest of those (from which i built the machine) is an MSI neo2 with a 3500+ amd processor. Just a bit slow for my uses.

I've decided to go with the Intel G3420 & Gigabyte Intel H81 Motherboard with ddr3 1600 RAM. It's cheap enough at less than $200 for the lot, and should serve my purposes for now. I'll likely replace it further down the road when a lot of my expenses for this endeavor have been met. My wife will inherit the components from this build, as all she really does is surf the net.

Again, thanks for your input. :)

Thanks for the pointers, John. I do have a working Antec 350 watt that is in the recently built (yet-not-quite-up-to-the-task) machine. That should suffice for the minimal build I plan. I'll use an SSD for the boot drive when I need to be in windows and have one mechanical drive. Thinking about it, I probably won't really need a 2nd boot drive or an optical drive since I have a Zalman ZE V300 with a 120GB ssd loaded up with ISOs (I love that tool), but I'll probably have a 2nd boot drive just in case. Again, thanks for your comments. :)

DocBrown said:

I just build this rig with a used 500gb HD ($20), ASUS MB, 4gb ram, AMDx6-1045T CPU

Show Us Your Rig [8]

Thanks, Doc. Interesting build. Shows what one can do when one's mind is put to the task. :)