AMD A4 3400 Overclock

System:
Processor: AMD LIano A4-3400 APU Processor, 2.70GHz,
Memory: 2 x 2GB DDR3 1333Mhz Memory
1x 160GB SATA HDD, x1 1TB SATA HDD.
1x x52 DVD RW
400w PSU


Hi new to the site so umm... Hi,

I'm looking for advice on what I can do to bump up my gaming power with my budget AMD A4 I got from Novatech. I know my number one upgrade for gaming is the GPU unfortunately I will have to make do with the on board HD6410 for the time being as my budget is tight. Looking at an early x-mas prize on that one a few months down the line.

CPU cooling wise have a standard CPU fan so looking to upgrade as i want to overclock but the current fan will just not hack it. I wanted some advice on what sort of CPU fan I should go for. Unfortunately I am on a budget, I don't know this site well so not sure what people are like here but could anyone feeling the need to say my system sucks and to get something better; just don’t bother. Don’t waste mine and your time. So this is a budget build for a low/mid end gamer. Sucks but that’s the hand I've been dealt LOL.

The two fans I'm looking at atm to replace the standard one I have are these two... can you give me feedback on them or offer up a better option please... (FM1 chipset btw)

Akasa Venom Pico Performance CPU Cooler

or

Coolermaster Hyper TX3 EVO CPU Cooler


Also any advice on how to overclock and or what software to use would be much appreciated. I did try the AMD remote software for overclocking/system monitor, the one that you can run off your Smartphone but couldn't get it to communicate with the service running on my computer. Any advice on that would be good too.


Thanks for any help,

James.
Edited by Beradedgelfling - 5/10/12 at 5:57am

I’m using Windows 7 64 Ultimate.

Ah right, that makes sense. However the plan is in a few months to upgrade to an AMD Radeon HD 5770 as from what I've been told best of the budget GPU's. So not sure upgrading my RAM to improve the on-board GPU is the best way to spend what little I have. Still I my Mobo FSB supports up to 2400Mhz (OC).

How much of a difference would that make if I was running an AMD Radeon HD 5770 an not the on board?

Right now I have £30 that I won in a friendly poker game last week so I could just hold onto it and save up for the GPU. But I figured i might as well get the overclock setup sorted and running at get the GPU close to x-mas when it should have come down in price a little more, or I can go for a newer card for the same price.

Right now it does what i want just at the lowest end and can get a little jittery if too much on the screen at once... like running SWTOR in Fleet (lots of other players) or Left4Dead 2 when you get a mass zombie attack etc.

Thoughts?

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/kingston-pc-2400-ddr3-dimm-ram-memory-module-4gb-2-x-2gb-10849412-pdt.html?srcid=867&cmpid=comp~Google~Computing%20Accessories~10849412&istCompanyId=bec25c7e-cbcd-460d-81d5-a25372d2e3d7&istItemId=ptmpqmtt&istBid=t

Would this do the job? I only have 2 memory slots these will support up to 16GB of RAM so in an x2 8GB DIMMs setup. However I find it very hard to justify more than 4GB of RAM. Sure the more RAM the better at the end of the day, but not necessarily a good cost to performance boost ratio.

I don’t run much in the background in windows when playing games, I don’t use gadgets or any of that other windows 7 nonsense, I don’t host battle comm server, or host any other kind of server clients. So I really don’t see the need for anything more than 4GB if RAM right now. I can see the point of upping the speed of my RAM.

Is it possible to OC the 1333 DDR3 that I have in my computer at the moment? I assume I must be able to OC my RAM as the Mobo supports 2400Mhz (OC) so I assume it can be done. How do you go about OC RAM? If I can do this I assume I’d want to invest in some RAM heat sinks first?

As a rule of thumb I’d rather not replace what I have, but add to what I’ve got, if that makes sense. The computer is barley 3 months old and I don’t really want to go about replacing bits just yet. But adding to the system to make it go faster, that seems a better way to spend my money and look at replacing/upgrading bits a little further down the line.

So from what I can pick up on my best bet would be to save up and get a good GPU and then look at some faster (maybe more to 8GB) RAM then look at OC the CPU as the final tweak?


On the crossfire side...

My A4 3400 will only support a HD 6450 in crossfire with the on-board GPU. Anything else and the card will override the on-board GPU. So not sure that’s the best way to go as I was under the impression I’d get better performance out of a single good card than two low end cards in crossfire.
Edited by Beradedgelfling - 5/11/12 at 3:58am