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APU Advice!

746 views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  mdocod 
#1 ·
Hey all.
I am building a new computer for someone who will use it for basic desktop things (browsing the web, simple office applications, etc), but I visit them often and would like to be able to play some PC games in a usable state (not going for super high quality and fps, but low quality and alright fps). This means I don't need any fancy parts for the sake of it, just the things that matter. I am going to use an AMD APU as they are pretty cheap. The one I was thinking of was an A6-6400K, but I wanted to ask the community for advice. The entire proposed build is HERE and I want to keep it below £400. I am willing to accept any advice on the build as I have never dealt with an APU.
 
#2 ·
I made a few changes to your build.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD A8-6500 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£70.01 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: MSI FM2-A55M-E33 Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard (£31.86 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£61.39 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£29.37 @ Dabs)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£33.41 @ Ebuyer)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 360W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply (£62.11 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£11.83 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 - OEM (64-bit) (£81.05 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £381.03
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-02-19 22:02 GMT+0000)

CPU - Lots of newer games are going to run better with a quadcore and it's not that much more expensive.
Memory - Went from 1 chip to 2 and increased the speed. These are both important factors in supporting an APU as they rely heavily on memory.
Storage - I didnt even know they made 5900 RPM drives. If you arent getting an SSD, dont torture yourself with anything slower than a 7200
Power Supply - I hear lots of bad things about Corsair CX series, some are good, some are bad, why risk it? Pretty much all of Seasonic is rock solid.

Think that about covers it. I have used that exact motherboard in 8 different builds, it's a really great little board. Zero problems so far with all of them.
 
#3 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by wizardonthejob View Post

I made a few changes to your build.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD A8-6500 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£70.01 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: MSI FM2-A55M-E33 Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard (£31.86 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£61.39 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£29.37 @ Dabs)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£33.41 @ Ebuyer)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 360W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply (£62.11 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£11.83 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 - OEM (64-bit) (£81.05 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £381.03
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-02-19 22:02 GMT+0000)

CPU - Lots of newer games are going to run better with a quadcore and it's not that much more expensive.
Memory - Went from 1 chip to 2 and increased the speed. These are both important factors in supporting an APU as they rely heavily on memory.
Storage - I didnt even know they made 5900 RPM drives. If you arent getting an SSD, dont torture yourself with anything slower than a 7200
Power Supply - I hear lots of bad things about Corsair CX series, some are good, some are bad, why risk it? Pretty much all of Seasonic is rock solid.

Think that about covers it. I have used that exact motherboard in 8 different builds, it's a really great little board. Zero problems so far with all of them.
i too made some extra adjustments.
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/narrdarr/saved/3Ot2
1. apu change to a8-5600k as it better and cheaper.
2. ram change as the apu are heavily dependent on faster ram. the ram i choose is 1600 mhz but it should be easy to OC to 1866.(even on the fm2-a55-e33 mobo)
3. mobo change to fm2+ mobo. (optional). A. i too have a fm2-a55-e33 mobo, but if you ever want to add gpu, (depending on gpu) it sometime gets in the way sata ports on the mobo.
B. if you want to overclock the cpu you wont be able to go farther then the turbo feature lets you.
C. if you want to upgrade your apu in future you'll want a fm2+ mobo anyways.
 
#4 ·
Use the CPU, HD and PSU that Wizard recommended, and use the motherboard that narrdarr recommended, then pick a 2x4GB 1866 speed kit for the same price instead, as these DO support that speed native and performance DOES scale with the RAM speed on these APUs. ( http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/geil-memory-goc38gb1866c9dc ) [yes you could overclock something, but why go through the trouble of having to overclock and stability test a build for someone else? Just pick a kit that has the profile intact. ]

When you're down in this range of parts, you're almost always 5-10£ away from something that is dramatically better in either quality or performance. I think it's worth those "baby steps" to get up out of that "gutter" range where you're just paying for the inconvenience of having to sell something at that price point, rather than actually getting some value.
 
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