First $400 gaming build, should i go with an APU?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
S

stevenkc

Honorable
Jul 21, 2013
4
0
10,510
So i'm planning to build a $400 gaming pc. i'm trying to play current games at medium settings like battlefield 3, diablo 3, dayz. I researched a lot and found that APUs are great for budget builds, but my question is are they feasible for graphic card upgrades in the future?

This is my current researched build:

CPU; AMD A10-5800K APU: http://amzn.to/13i1cUC

Motherboard; MSI FM2-A75MA-E35 Motherboard: http://amzn.to/11ZgJCe

RAM; 8GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 http://amzn.to/ZkATWc

HD; 500GB Western Digital Caviar Blue Hard Drive: http://amzn.to/13hWRR9

Case; NZXT Source 210 Case: http://amzn.to/12A23g7

PS; 430W Corsair CX430 Power Supply: http://amzn.to/19PZCeR

i already have the OS, monitor, optical drive


I am planning to upgrade the APU with a discrete graphics card in the future(in a year), but for money purposes ill be on the integrated one. Is it a bad idea to purchase the AMD A10, only to upgrade the Gpu later on? If so can anyone recommend a CPU GPU combination that would fit my price range/gaming needs?

thank you!
 
Solution
Sangeet Khatri
That build looks like the one Duncan33303 (Austin Evans) on Youtube recommended if i am not wrong while that was a great build at the time (around February) but since then a lot of good parts like the quad core Athlon II X4 750K have came out, so it would be better to go for that CPU instead of going for the APU.

The Athlon II X4 750K is basically the same processor but without the graphics, which means you can have the same CPU power for much cheaper and less power consumption. Also, you can overclock the hell out of these processors to get better performance in the future. So it is a very good buy.

Also the graphics card i selected is believe me like 2-3 times better than the card that is integrated in the A10 CPU. So for under...
Sort by date Sort by votes
bryonhowley

bryonhowley

Splendid
Oct 24, 2011
3,742
0
23,960
Well if you can live with integrated graphics for that long you should be OK. Since the motherboard supports PCI-E 2.0 x16 it would be no problem to drop in a discrete GPU at a latter date.

If possible I would go with the CORSAIR Builder Series CX600. Given the fact you are going to upgrade to a discrete GPU at a latter date you would be better off with a PSU that would be able to handle it. I am not sure about Amazon because I do not ever get any thing from Amazon they are just to high priced by the time you add shipping and tax on top of it. But you can get the CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 at Newegg for $69.99 free shipping http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Sn1992-1361850

Sn1992-1361850

Dignified
Jul 13, 2013
4,360
0
16,960
Get this far better performance thaN an APU and your previous built

CPU: AMD FX-4100 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI 970A-G43 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($80.91 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition 1GB Video Card ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Azza Triton 401 ATX Mid Tower Case ($25.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($22.50 @ Newegg)
Total: $426.36
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-22 01:02 EDT-0400)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Sangeet Khatri

Sangeet Khatri

Honorable
May 26, 2013
2,640
1
13,460
That build looks like the one Duncan33303 (Austin Evans) on Youtube recommended if i am not wrong while that was a great build at the time (around February) but since then a lot of good parts like the quad core Athlon II X4 750K have came out, so it would be better to go for that CPU instead of going for the APU.

The Athlon II X4 750K is basically the same processor but without the graphics, which means you can have the same CPU power for much cheaper and less power consumption. Also, you can overclock the hell out of these processors to get better performance in the future. So it is a very good buy.

Also the graphics card i selected is believe me like 2-3 times better than the card that is integrated in the A10 CPU. So for under hundred dollars this is going to be an awesome rig.

This build should be able to run games at high 1080p well above 30FPS. So this is indeed a very good build when compared to the AMD A10 build that you were going for. So here is the 400 dollar beast :

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 750K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($79.29 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI FM2-A75MA-E35 Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard ($56.00 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost 1GB Video Card ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($34.00 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($22.50 @ Newegg)
Total: $416.76
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-22 01:00 EDT-0400)

I hope this answer helps.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
Sangeet Khatri

Sangeet Khatri

Honorable
May 26, 2013
2,640
1
13,460


I would never recommend a CPU with the Bulldozer architecture ever to anyone.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Sangeet Khatri

Sangeet Khatri

Honorable
May 26, 2013
2,640
1
13,460


Are you sure that you would still stick to what you have said after seeing these benchmarks?

20tNMet.png


qCcHZ91.png


Just because it has an Athlon Branding does not mean that it is a bad CPU. It is just a rebranded AMD A10 with the graphics turned off. It uses the PileDriver Architecture which anyone would recommend over the bulldozer which was a big fail. The AMD A10 easily beats the 4300 as seen in the benchmarks of a Youtuber Duncan33303 (Austin Evans) . Also many other reports say the same and since the Athlon 750K is basically an AMD A10, I would recommend it to anyone looking for a budget CPU.

And this is what I would stick to.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Sn1992-1361850

Sn1992-1361850

Dignified
Jul 13, 2013
4,360
0
16,960
Get this for u


CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($117.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: MSI 970A-G43 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($69.24 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition 1GB Video Card ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Azza Triton 401 ATX Mid Tower Case ($25.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($22.50 @ Newegg)
Total: $445.68
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-22 01:35 EDT-0400)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Sangeet Khatri

Sangeet Khatri

Honorable
May 26, 2013
2,640
1
13,460


1. GPU matters more when it comes to gaming. Anyways a 4 core CPU is more than enough for gaming currently. There is really no point in getting a 6300 when the 750K has similar per core performance for a much less price.

2. The 7770 does not even come close to the 650 Ti boost.

3. I would never trust that MSI motherboard as it has relatively weak VRM than the rest of the competition and you cannot overclock that CPU as it is all but certain to burn out when overclocked.

4. Your build is like 50 dollars over the budget.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
S

stevenkc

Honorable
Jul 21, 2013
4
0
10,510



Thank you for all of the input, really useful information! and also thanks Sn1992 for your opinion.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Sangeet Khatri

Sangeet Khatri

Honorable
May 26, 2013
2,640
1
13,460


1. GPU matters more when it comes to gaming. Anyways a 4 core CPU is more than enough for gaming currently. There is really no point in getting a 6300 when the 750K has similar per core performance for a much less price.

The 6300 is no use (for this price range) unless you plan to invest in a good water cooler and overclock the CPU to like 5GHz, then the 6300 is clearly a beast at that clock speeds, but it would suck a lot of power and also good water cooler costs more than 80 dollars.

You also would need a very good motherboard like the Gigabyte UD3 to overclock the 6300 that high, and it costs like 95 dollars currently.

2. The 7770 does not even come close to the 650 Ti boost.

3. I would never trust that MSI motherboard as it has relatively weak VRM than the rest of the competition and you cannot overclock that CPU as it is all but certain to burn out when overclocked.

4. Your build is like 50 dollars over the budget.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Sangeet Khatri

Sangeet Khatri

Honorable
May 26, 2013
2,640
1
13,460
So this is the build which i was able to fit in that budget. There is not much compromise in performance though, the 7770 is still a good card for that budget, not quite as good as the 650 Ti Boost but it is not bad either, so you should be fine with this build, considering that the parts are little bit expensive in canada. I was not able to go any cheaper than this.

So this is the best you can get under 400 Canadian Dollars :

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 740 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($86.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Motherboard: MSI FM2-A55M-E33 Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard ($49.00 @ Vuugo)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($55.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ Canada Computers)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition 1GB Video Card ($89.99 @ NCIX)
Case: Zalman ZM-T2 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($32.27 @ DirectCanada)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($44.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $414.21
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-22 05:54 EDT-0400)

I hope this helps.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom