tight budget, software development machine... does this look OK?

texaganian

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Dec 15, 2009
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First, thanks to those who answered a post by me a week or 10 days ago. It certainly helped me understand some things better. Now I think I have a grasp on what I need but would certainly like some feedback before I spend the bucks...

I've built a lot of boxes over the years but back in the days when dinosaurs ruled the earth, so a lot has change.

I do light-to-medium software development and need a box with more memory than what I've got and that will support a reasonable amount of display real estate.

Approximate Purchase Date: this week (?)

Budget Range: Not trying to cop out but as small as possible. Budget is really tight. ~$800 total (w/tax, shipping, etc) is probably as much as I can afford for this.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Light-to-medium software development. No gigantic compiles or anything. NO GAMES.

Are you buying a monitor: Yes, I need to add at least a second monitor.

Parts to Upgrade: Everything except mouse/keyboard

Do you need to buy OS: No

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: NewEgg

Location: Michigan

Parts Preferences: None

Overclocking: NO

SLI or Crossfire: NO

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920 x 1080 acceptable, 1920 x 1200 preferable

Additional Comments: I play NO games and nothing needs to be flashy. It just needs to be my workhorse for a long time. Want the motherboard to support up to 64GB RAM (might accept 32GB limit but I'd prefer not to), though I'll probably only populate with 16GB right now.

COMPONENTS

AMD A4-6320 Richland 3.8GHz Socket FM2 65W Desktop Processor AMD Radeon HD8000 Series AD6320OKHLBOX
Model #:AD6320OKHLBOX
APU

BIOSTAR Hi-Fi A85W FM2 AMD A85X (Hudson D4) SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
Model #:Hi-Fi A85W
motherboard

Corsair Carbide Series 200R Black Steel / Plastic compact ATX Mid Tower Case
Model #:CC-9011023-WW
case

CORSAIR CX series CX430 430W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply
Model #:CP-9020046-NA
power supply

G.SKILL Value 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-1600C11D-16GNT
Model #:F3-1600C11D-16GNT
memory

Western Digital WD10EZEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive, Blue - OEM
Model #:WD10EZEX
hard drive

SAMSUNG DVD Burner SATA Model SH-224DB/RSBS
Model #:SH-224DB/RSBS
DVD Burner

Planar PLL2210W 22" Edge LED LCD Monitor - 16:9 - 5 ms
Model #:997-6897-00
Monitor

QUESTIONS
1. Is this 430W PS adequate?
2. What do people think of Biostar MBs? (There is an MSI I also like for the same price. MicroATX, so it has fewer slots but that's probably not a big deal)
3. I MUST have support for dual displays. Will this APU do that?
4. How to I connect dual displays? One to DVI and one to VGA connector on motherboard?
5. What if I need to add a third display?
6. Have I overlooked anything?

adTHANKSvance
 

Echocookie

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Mar 12, 2014
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1. Yes, it is a good thing you decided not to do gaming on this because a graphics card would eat up more power.
2. I don't have a problem with Biostar, but you should most likely go Gigabyte or Asrock. Biostar are decent budget mobos, but Gigabyte offers some great motherboards for really good prices.
3. Yes, most APUs support 2 monitors. On some the connection has to be digital (HDMI or DVI)
4. Yes.
5. The graphics may not be able to handle 3 monitors, and I don't even know if it supports 3, but you could try.
6. Cooling. Get some fans and a CPU (or in this case, APU) cooler. Also, if you want anything like a fan controller or something you could get that.