Need APU recommendation

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Purity Denson

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Jun 14, 2014
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I need to decide on an APU for what will primarily be used as an office pc and am struggling to make a decision so hoping that someone with more experience than me can make a suggestion or two. Will it be a waste of money to get one with multiple cores... or should I go down that route anyway to future proof a little?

I've no intention of overclocking, will be using 2133 G-Skill RAM and would also like to ask whether the stock cooler that comes with the APU will be sufficient or whether I would need to replace it with an aftermarket cooler. For every post or article I read that says an aftermarket cooler is the way to go I read another that says the exact opposite so I'm really confused about it now.

Any help, much appreciated.
 
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geofelt
Yes, all lga1150 motherboards I know of will have monitor ports and can use the integrated graphics of the 4130. Similarly, sataIII, usb3.0 and usb3.0 internal headers should be present on every motherboard.
I suggest a slightly more expensive Z97 based motherboard.
Z97 gives you future cpu upgrade options to an overclockable cpu or th future 14nm broadwell cpu's.
Here is one example:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132130
I have no knowledge of Ubuntu. You need to check that it has drivers for Z97 motherboards and for intel integrated graphics. Windows 7/8 has been fine for quite a while.
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13thmonkey

13thmonkey

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if you are not overclocking you do not NEED an after market cooler in order for it to function.

However as this is an office machine, I would get a cheap air cooler as it will be quieter, that's the only reason you'll want/need one.

With regards to multi core, they are all multi core. I'd just get the cheapest quad.

On the other hand, an i3 would be just as good, and give you an upgrade path.
 
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Purity Denson

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In regards to the cheap air cooler, do you mean I should use that instead of the stock cooler or in addition to? Where would the cheap air cooler go? Sorry for asking such basic questions but I've no experience with building pcs.

Also, if I went the i3 route would I have to buy a graphics card as I'd much prefer to let the APU/mobo provie onboard graphics.

 
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geofelt

geofelt

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You buy an APU for the superior light gaming graphics.

For an office pc, the most basic integrated graphics from Intel will suffice.

My first component for such a pc would be a SSD. It truly makes everything you do feel so much quicker.

I like the Intel cpu's better. They are more efficient and require less cooling. The stock cooler is fine.
Spend what you will, but a $60 G3220 will work fine with a $50 lga1150 motherboard.

I might use a small ITX motherboard and put it in a quality small case like a lian li Q02 or Q07.
 
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Purity Denson

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I've already bought a 120Gb Samsung SSD and also a Corsair Carbide Series 200R case.

I'm intending to run Photoshop quite a bit on the office pc, does that make a difference to my best choice of CPU?

 
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geofelt

geofelt

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I suppose how important photoshop is to your usage.
You might want to read this:
http://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/optimize-performance-photoshop-cs4-cs5.html

Photoshop benefits from large amounts of ram.
Ram is relatively cheap, I would get a 2 x 8gb kit and a 64 bit os.

On the cpu side, you might want to buy a stronger cpu than the G3220 I suggested.
The i3-4130 @$130 would be reasonable. It has two 3.5 cores plus hyperthreading.
If you need heavy photoshop work, you can go up from there, all the way to a i7-4790K at $340.

 
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Purity Denson

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Thanks for the recommendation. Up until now I'd only looked at AMD CPUs but the i3-4130 does seem like a good choice. Am I right in thinking that I'll be able to use that CPU without having to install a separate graphics card?

If I was to go for the i3-4130 is there any particular motherboard that would make a good combination? I'd need SATA III, USB 3.0, a USB 3.0 header and support for 2133 RAM without overclocking.

The Photoshop use won't be of the heavy variety and I've got 8 GB or RAM. The main OS will be 64-bit Ubuntu and I'll be running the Adobe software as part of a virtual machine.
 
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geofelt

geofelt

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Oct 9, 2006
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Yes, all lga1150 motherboards I know of will have monitor ports and can use the integrated graphics of the 4130. Similarly, sataIII, usb3.0 and usb3.0 internal headers should be present on every motherboard.
I suggest a slightly more expensive Z97 based motherboard.
Z97 gives you future cpu upgrade options to an overclockable cpu or th future 14nm broadwell cpu's.
Here is one example:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132130
I have no knowledge of Ubuntu. You need to check that it has drivers for Z97 motherboards and for intel integrated graphics. Windows 7/8 has been fine for quite a while.
 
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