Intel Desktop Builds: January 2011

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Last Updated: 10Jan11 | Published: 31Dec10 | Status: Discontinued

  1. 1.  Introduction
    1. 1.1.  Component Overlay
    2. 1.2.  Changes From Intel Desktop Computer Builds Based On User Needs: September 2010
  2. 2.  Intel Desktop eMachine (Model: ID-EMA)
  3. 3.  Intel Desktop Workstation 1 Entry (Model: ID-WS1)
  4. 4.  Intel Desktop Workstation 2 Intermediate (Model: ID-WS2)
  5. 5.  Intel Desktop Workstation 3 Performance (Model: ID-WS3)
  6. 6.  Additional Reading

1.  Introduction

The motherboard chipset defines the capabilities of a computer. Specifically, the motherboard chipset defines; 1.) the central processing unit (CPU), system memory (RAM), graphics processing unit (GPU), drives, expansion cards, and peripheral devices (e.g., keyboard, mouse, and printer) that can be installed on a computer, and 2.) the devices (e.g., network connection and audio) and technologies (e.g., RAID and virtualization) that are integrated into the motherboard, itself. Therefore, when building a computer, the most important component to choose wisely is the motherboard chipset, or chipset for short.

PC-compatible chipsets are divided into two types: 1.) Intel chipsets, which support Intel CPUs, and 2.) AMD chipsets, which support AMD CPUs. In 2007, Intel chipset manufacturers included ATI, Intel, NVIDIA, SiS, and VIA. Currently, Intel has a virtual monopoly on the Intel chipset market.

A motherboard is simply an implementation of a chipset. Motherboard manufacturers incorporating Intel chipsets into their motherboards include ASRock (asrock.com), ASUS (asus.com), BIOSTAR (biostar.com.tw), ECS (ecs.com.tw), EVGA (evga.com), Foxconn (foxconn.com), GIGABYTE (gigabyte.com), Intel (intel.com), and MSI (msi.com).

Computers can be divided into two types: 1.) Intel based computers, which have an Intel chipset/CPU, and 2.) AMD based computers, which have an AMD chipset/CPU. This page describes Intel desktop computer builds based on price point and user need.

1.1.  Component Overlay

Component considerations that serve as an overlay for each build and this page as a whole.

1.2.  Changes From Intel Desktop Computer Builds Based On User Needs: September 2010 (stevestechresource.com)

2.  Intel Desktop eMachine (Model: ID-EMA)

Intended For:

Specification Summary:

Intel Desktop eMachine (Model: ID-EMA)
Comp Spec Note Retail
Mother-
board		 GIGABYTE GA-H55M-S2V (rev. 1.4) (gigabyte.com):
  • Intel H55 Express Chipset (intel.com) / LGA1156 / microATX.
  • 1 x 24 pin motherboard main / 1 x 4 pin ATX 12V CPU.
  • Dual channel / 2 DIMMs / 1.5V / 1333 / 1066MHz DDR3 / 16GB max.
  • Supports Intel HD Graphics. 1 x DVI-D / 1 x VGA.
  • 1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 / 1 x PCIe x1 / 2 x PCI.
  • 6 x internal SATA 3Gb/s.
  • 12 x USB 2.0/1.1 (8 x back + 4 x internal header). Audio header.
  • 1 x gigabit (10 / 100 / 1000 Mb/s) ethernet.
  • microATX.
  • SATA 3Gb/s. USB 2.0/1.1.
  • Selected GIGABYTE GA-H55M-S2V over more PCIe 2.0 slot providing second and third place finishers below because it does not have a single negative review - not even a purported DOA - at Newegg (16 total).
  • Second place: ASUS P7H55-M LX (usa.asus.com) $85.
  • Third place: MSI H55M-E23 (us.msi.com) $85.
 $85
CPU Intel Pentium Processor G6950 (ark.intel.com):
  • 3MB Cache / 2.8GHz / 2.5GT/s / LGA1156 / 32nm / Clarkdale.
  • Dual core no Intel Hyper-Threading Technology (2C / 2T).
  • Intel HD Graphics.
 $100
RAM KVR1066D3N7K2/2G (shop.kingston.com):
  • 2GB 1066MHz DDR3 / 1.5V / Non-ECC / CL7 / Kit 2 x 1GB.
  • 1066Mcyles/s x 8Bytes/cycle x 2 channels = 17.1GB/s, which equals the Pentium Processor G6950 max memory bandwidth.
 $30
GPU Intel HD Graphics (intel.com):
  • 1 x DVI-D / 1 x VGA.
 $0
Hard Drive Western Digital WD5000AAKS (wdc.com):
  • Caviar Blue / 500GB / SATA 3Gb/s / 16MB Cache / 7200rpm.
 $55
CD/DVD Burner ASUS DRW-24B1ST:
  • SATA. 2MB Cache.
  • 24X DVD+R/8X DVD+RW/12X DVD+R DL/24X DVD-R/6X DVD-RW/12X DVD-RAM/16X DVD-ROM/48X CD-R/32X CD-RW/48X CD-ROM.
  • 4x Newegg Customer Choice Award Winner - CD/DVD Burners.
 $25
Case/
Power Supply		 Cooler Master Elite 342 case with Cooler Master Elite Power 400W power supply (coolermaster-usa.com):
  • 352mm x 180 x 440 (H x W x D).
  • 2 x external 5.25" / 1 x external 3.5" / 5 x internal 3.5".
  • 4 x expansion.
  • Front I/O: 2 x USB 2.0/1.1 / Audio.
  • Fan: Front 1 x 120mm 1200rpm.
  • Cooler Master Elite Power 400W power supply.
  • ATX 12V v2.31.
  • 1 x 20+4 pin motherboard main / 1 x 4+4 pin ATX/EPS 12V CPU / 1 x 6 pin PCIe / 4 x SATA / 3 x molex / 1 x floppy.
  • Mini tower.
  • Supports microATX, not ATX motherboards.
  • Removable hard drive cage.
  • Case 4 kg.
 $70
Intel Desktop eMachine (Model: ID-EMA) $365

3.  Intel Desktop Workstation 1 Entry (Model: ID-WS1)

Intended For:

Specification Summary:

Intel Desktop Workstation 1 Entry (Model: ID-WS1)
Comp Spec Note Retail
Mother-
board		 MSI H55M-ED55 (us.msi.com):
  • Intel H55 Express Chipset (intel.com) / LGA1156 / microATX.
  • 1 x 24 pin motherboard main / 1 x 4 pin ATX 12V CPU.
  • Dual channel / 4 DIMMs / 1.5V / 1333 / 1066MHz DDR3 / 16GB max.
  • Supports Intel HD Graphics. 1 x HDMI / 1 x DVI-D / 1 x VGA.
  • 1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 / 1 x PCIe x16 (x4 mode) / 1 x PCIe x1 / 1 x PCI.
  • 6 x internal SATA 3Gb/s / 1 x back eSATA.
  • 12 x USB 2.0/1.1 (6 x back + 6 x internal header). Audio header.
  • 1 x gigabit (10 / 100 / 1000 Mb/s) ethernet.
 $100
CPU Intel Core i3-550 Processor (ark.intel.com):
  • 4MB Cache / 3.20GHz / 2.5GT/s / LGA1156 / 32nm / Clarkdale.
  • Dual core with Intel Hyper-Threading Technology (2C / 4T).
  • Intel HD Graphics.
 $130
RAM Kingston KVR1333D3N9K2/4G (shop.kingston.com):
  • 4GB 1333MHz DDR3 / 1.5V / Non-ECC / CL9 / Kit 2 x 2GB.
  • 1333Mcyles/s x 8Bytes/cycle x 2 channels = 21.3GB/s, which equals the Intel Core i3-550 Processor max memory bandwidth.
 $55
GPU Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4650 (Model: 100254HDMI):
  • 1GB DDR2 / 128-bit / 600MHz core / 800MHz memory effective.
  • 1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 / DX10.1 / SM4.1.
  • 1 x HDMI / 1 x Dual link DVI / 1 x VGA.
 $70
Hard Drive Western Digital WD5000AAKS (wdc.com):
  • Caviar Blue / 500GB / SATA 3Gb/s / 16MB Cache / 7200rpm.
 $55
CD/DVD Burner ASUS DRW-24B1ST:
  • SATA. 2MB Cache.
  • 24X DVD+R/8X DVD+RW/12X DVD+R DL/24X DVD-R/6X DVD-RW/12X DVD-RAM/16X DVD-ROM/48X CD-R/32X CD-RW/48X CD-ROM.
  • 4x Newegg Customer Choice Award Winner - CD/DVD Burners.
 $25
Case/
Power Supply		 Cooler Master Sileo 500 case with Cooler Master eXtreme Power Plus 500W power supply (coolermaster-usa.com):
  • 432mm x 200 x 480 (H x W x D).
  • 5 x external 5.25" / 1 x external 3.5" / 4 x internal 3.5".
  • 7 x expansion.
  • Front I/O: 2 x USB 2.0/1.1 / 1 x eSATA / Audio.
  • Fans: Front 1 x 120mm 800rpm / Rear 1 x 120mm 800rpm.
  • Cooler Master eXtreme Power Plus 500W power supply.
  • ATX 12V v2.3.
  • 1 x 20+4 pin motherboard main / 1 x 4+4 pin ATX/EPS 12V CPU / 1 x 6 pin PCIe / 4 x SATA / 5 x molex / 1 x floppy.
  • Small mid tower.
  • Supports microATX and ATX motherboards.
  • 8 kg.
 $110
Intel Desktop Workstation 1 Entry (Model: ID-WS1) $545

4.  Intel Desktop Workstation 2 Intermediate (Model: ID-WS2)

Intended For:

Specification Summary:

Intel Desktop Workstation 2 Intermediate (Model: ID-WS2)
Comp Spec Note Retail
Mother-
board		 MSI P55M-GD45 (us.msi.com):
  • Intel P55 Express Chipset (intel.com) / LGA1156 / microATX.
  • 1 x 24 pin motherboard main / 1 x 4 pin ATX 12V CPU.
  • Dual channel / 4 DIMMs / 1.5V / 1333 / 1066MHz DDR3 / 16GB max.
  • No Intel HD Graphics support. Add-in GPU required.
  • 1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 / 1 x PCIe x16 (x4 mode) / 1 x PCIe x1 / 1 x PCI.
  • 6 x internal SATA 3Gbps / 2 x back eSATA. RAID.
  • 14 x USB 2.0/1.1 (10 x back + 4 x internal header). Audio header.
  • 1 x gigabit (10 / 100 / 1000 Mbps) ethernet.
  • microATX.
  • SATA 3Gb/s. USB 2.0/1.1.
  • The second PCIe x16 slot is x4 and from P55 PCH (2.5GT/s), not PCI 2.0 (5.0GT/s) as manual and online specs might have one believe.
  • Second place: Or if P55 chipset without dual GPU x8/x8 compatibility seems strange for non-gaming computer, and spending more for motherboard without SATA 6Gb/s and USB 3.0 does not GIGABYTE GA-P55M-UD4 (gigabyte.com) $150.
 $135
CPU Intel Core i5-650 Processor (ark.intel.com):
  • 4MB Cache / 3.20GHz / 2.5GT/s / LGA1156 / 32nm / Clarkdale.
  • Dual core with Intel Hyper-Threading Technology (2C / 4T).
  • Intel Turbo Boost.
  • Intel HD Graphics.
 $185
RAM Kingston KVR1333D3N9K2/8G (shop.kingston.com):
  • 8GB 1333MHz DDR3 / 1.5V / Non-ECC / CL9 / Kit 2 x 4GB.
  • 1333Mcyles/s x 8Bytes/cycle x 2 channels = 21.3GB/s, which equals the Intel Core i5-650 Processor max memory bandwidth.
 $120
GPU Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5670 (Model: 100289L):
  • 1GB DDR5 / 128-bit / 775MHz core / 4000MHz memory effective.
  • 1 x PCIe 2.1 x16 / DX11 / SM5.0.
  • 1 x DisplayPort / 1 x HDMI / 1 x Dual link DVI.
  • ATI CrossFireX. ATI Eyefinity.
 $120
Hard Drive Western Digital WD10EALS (wdc.com):
  • Caviar Blue / 1.0TB / SATA 3Gb/s / 32MB Cache / 7200rpm.
  • SATA 3Gb/s.
 $80
CD/DVD Burner ASUS DRW-24B1ST:
  • SATA. 2MB Cache.
  • 24X DVD+R/8X DVD+RW/12X DVD+R DL/24X DVD-R/6X DVD-RW/12X DVD-RAM/16X DVD-ROM/48X CD-R/32X CD-RW/48X CD-ROM.
  • 4x Newegg Customer Choice Award Winner - CD/DVD Burners.
 $25
Case/
Power Supply		 Cooler Master Sileo 500 case with Cooler Master eXtreme Power Plus 500W power supply (coolermaster-usa.com):
  • 432mm x 200 x 480 (H x W x D).
  • 5 x external 5.25" / 1 x external 3.5" / 4 x internal 3.5".
  • 7 x expansion.
  • Front I/O: 2 x USB 2.0/1.1 / 1 x eSATA / Audio.
  • Fans: Front 1 x 120mm 800rpm / Rear 1 x 120mm 800rpm.
  • Cooler Master eXtreme Power Plus 500W power supply.
  • ATX 12V v2.3.
  • 1 x 20+4 pin motherboard main / 1 x 4+4 pin ATX/EPS 12V CPU / 1 x 6 pin PCIe / 4 x SATA / 5 x molex / 1 x floppy.
  • Small mid tower.
  • Supports microATX and ATX motherboards.
  • 8 kg.
 $110
Intel Desktop Workstation 2 Intermediate (Model: ID-WS2) $775

5.  Intel Desktop Workstation 3 Performance (Model: ID-WS3)

Intended For:

Specification Summary:

Intel Desktop Workstation 3 Performance (Model: ID-WS3)
Comp Spec Note Retail
Mother-
board		 ASUS SABERTOOTH X58 (usa.asus.com):
  • Intel X58 Express Chipset (intel.com) / LGA1366 / ATX.
  • 1 x 24 pin motherboard main / 1 x 8 pin EPS 12V CPU.
  • Triple channel / 6 DIMMs / < 1.65V / 1866 / 1800 / 1600 / 1333 / 1066MHz DDR3 / 24GB max. Supports Intel Extreme Memory Profile (XMP).
  • No Intel HD Graphics support. Add-in GPU required.
  • 2 x PCIe 2.0 x16 / 1 x PCIe x16 (x4 mode) / 2 x PCIe x1 / 1 x PCI. Supports dual GPU ATI CrossFireX/NVIDIA SLI at x16/x16.
  • 2 x internal SATA 6Gb/s / 6 x internal SATA 3Gb/s / 2 x eSATA 3Gb/s back. RAID.
  • 2 x USB 3.0 back / 12 x USB 2.0/1.1 (6 x back + 6 internal header). Audio header.
  • 1 x gigabit (10 / 100 / 1000 Mb/s) ethernet.
 $210
CPU Intel Core i7-950 Processor (ark.intel.com):
  • 8MB Cache / 3.06GHz / 4.80GT/s / LGA1366 / 45nm / Bloomfield.
  • Quad core with Intel Hyper-Threading Technology (4C/8T).
  • Intel Turbo Boost.
  • Intel HD Boost.
  • Intel QuickPath Interconnect (QPI).
  • No Intel HD Graphics.
 $300
RAM Kingston KVR1066D3N7K3/12G (shop.kingston.com):
  • 12GB 1066MHz DDR3 / 1.5V / Non-ECC / CL7 / Kit 3 x 4GB.
  • 1066Mcyles/s x 8Bytes/cycle x 3 channels = 25.6GB/s, which equals the Intel Core i7-950 Processor max memory bandwidth.
 $180
GPU Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5770 (Model: 100283-3L):
  • 1GB DDR5 / 128-bit / 850MHz core / 4800MHz memory effective.
  • 1 x PCIe 2.1 x16 / DX11 / SM5.0.
  • 1 x DisplayPort / 1 x HDMI / 2 x Dual link DVI.
  • ATI CrossFireX. ATI Eyefinity.
 $175
Hard Drive Western Digital WD1002FAEX (wdc.com):
  • Caviar Black / 1.0TB / SATA 6Gb/s / 64MB Cache / 7200rpm.
  • SATA 6Gb/s.
  • Caviar Black.
 $100
CD/DVD Burner 2 x ASUS DRW-24B1ST:
  • SATA. 2MB Cache.
  • 24X DVD+R/8X DVD+RW/12X DVD+R DL/24X DVD-R/6X DVD-RW/12X DVD-RAM/16X DVD-ROM/48X CD-R/32X CD-RW/48X CD-ROM.
  • 4x Newegg Customer Choice Award Winner - CD/DVD Burners.
 $50
Case Lian Li PC-9F (lian-li.com):
  • 473mm x 210 x 498 (H x W x D).
  • 3 x external 5.25" (one with 5.25" to 3.5" adapter) / 6 x internal 3.5".
  • 8 x expansion.
  • Top front I/O: 2 x USB 3.0 / 1 x eSATA / Audio.
  • Fans: Front 2 x 120mm / Rear 1 x 120mm.
  • Regular size mid tower.
  • Supports microATX and ATX motherboards.
  • Removable hard drive cage.
  • 6 kg.
  • Alternative: If basic regular size mid tower is good enough Antec One Hundred (antec.com) $60.
 $140
Power Supply Thermaltake Toughpower 575W (TPX-575M) (thermaltakeusa.com):
  • ATX 12V v2.3 / EPS 12V v2.91.
  • 80 PLUS Bronze Certified / Active PFC / 5 year warranty.
  • 1 x 24 pin motherboard main / 1 x 4+4 pin ATX/EPS 12V CPU / 1 x 8 pin EPS 12V CPU / 1 x 6+2 pin PCIe / 1 x 6 pin PCIe / 8 x SATA / 6 x molex / 1 x floppy.
 $110
Intel Desktop Workstation 3 Performance (Model: ID-WS3) $1265

6.  Additional Reading