Poor mans hack.. Celeron or Pentium?

[Davabo]

I'v decided to to build a really cheap mac..

I'v got a 90W Pico PSU
screen, mouse and keyboard.
80 GB Sata hdd 2.5"

I need:.............I'm thinking of buying: .... Price:
Mother board.....GA-H61M-DS2 rev 1.2 ..... $59
Memory........... Crucial 4 GB . . . . . . . . . . $29
CPU................ Celeron G530 . . . . . . . . . $55
Graphics card.... Gigabyte GeForce 210 ..... $31

All in all this will be $174 ..

My concerns are if it's worth another $20 for the Pentium G620? I still can manage to get below $200.. but is the Pentium that much better?
I have thought through the i3 option to be too expensive.. in a year i might upgrade to Ivy Bridge

I'v read a ton of reviews and are certain that 90w picoPSU will be enough, but can I still undervolt the Celeron and Pentium like the i3 if i want to?

 

[Gordo74]

I would go with the most power you can afford. I personally wouldnt build anything less than the i3-2105 ($120) because it includes the GPU on it and you get another core. So it's really a matter of $80 vs $120.

 

[ashman70]

There must be plenty of used Core 2 Duo CPU's out there for sale, you might have a tougher time finding a Gigabyte socket 775 motherboard, but I think that would be cheaper and give you a really good multi core system. Pick up used Nvidia 8800GT and you've got a nice system for not much $$$. If you can buy new, then sure a nice i3 system would be way faster, depends on what you plan to do with the system. I am not familiar with the 90w pico PS, is it for a small form factor system? You can pick up a new 430w PS for $40.00

 

[Davabo]

I would go with the most power you can afford. I personally wouldnt build anything less than the i3-2105 ($120) because it includes the GPU on it and you get another core. So it's really a matter of $80 vs $120.

Here in sweden the i3-series starts at $140 with the 2105 at $160.. the Celeron G530 it will still be quite an upgrade from the 230 Atom-processor of today. And hopefully I can upgrade it further when Ivy-bridge i3 becomes availably.

I don't want a old system, because the power consumption is a great deal to me! The picoPSU was bought for another mini-ITX-project with the Cedar View Atom-processor that never happed. But I'm quite sure it will go even in a slight larger system.

Do you think I should go with the Celeron given this?

 

[Gordo74]

What you have listed will work.

 

[goober296]

620 pentiums run osx great, i have 2 of them. I suppose a celeron would be about the same. Gordos thoughts on integrated graphics are safer, the video card hunt can be quite the adventure.

 

[Davabo]

620 pentiums run osx great, i have 2 of them. I suppose a celeron would be about the same. Gordos thoughts on integrated graphics are safer, the video card hunt can be quite the adventure.

Thanks for all advices!

Now is everything ordered. Shipping cost $14. I found a MSI N210 D512D2 for just $25.. according to the Graphics card database this should be working without extra work..

Total so far $153

Memory am I going to buy secondhand on ebay..

This will be a long weekend

 

[humanoidal]

and you get another core.

Both g530 and i3-2105 are dual core.

 

[doctorevil30564]

I was considering a G620 based build to replace my aging core 2 duo build. thanks for posting this info, mucho appreciated

 

[Davabo]

Just another question.. can I run Snow Leopard on this setup as well?