Hi Everyone 
I have been tasked with building the other half a new PC to replace the ageing (yet still does the job) AMD phenom II with 4GB RAM & RADEON 5000 Series GPU
Some of the components are listed below:
CASE - Will be BitFenix Prodigy (Black) Mini ITX Tower Case most likely (Lush!)
MB - ASRock FM2A88X-ITX+
CPU - AMD A10-7850K 3.7GHz Quad-Core
COOLER - Corsair H105 73.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
PSU - SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold"
BOOT - Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" SSD
RAM - Will be 8GB of good RAM (see below for query)
Those are the components I'm happy with, quality parts at pretty good prices.
The trouble comes with RAM & Graphics!
This computer will be used for general internet use, multimedia and of course some gaming but the games he plays are mostly WoW but he does play other things too such as lots of things on steam, like L4D2, KF, MoH, Skyrim, Fallout 3, GTA but it does get stretched with things like Tomb Raider (new 2013 version) now and then but NOT the latest games that most people play these days (
Ok the questions / Queries I have:
1 - This being taken into account and the power of the graphics available on the CPU, would it be necessary to have a separate graphics card or would the APU suffice? As times change obviously popping a card in would be a doddle if needed but as this stage, surely the APU has more than enough grunt to deal with graphical needs?
2 - Assuming I do use the APU, is it advisable to allocate 1GB or 2GB of RAM to it? I would never bother with Crossfire with an APU as I have used it myself on my own computer and found it slower than the GPU on its own!
3 - I know DDR3 isn't very fast like DDR5 on most dedicated graphics cards so I understand that there is a greater need to select faster, quality RAM when using an APU but my query is what one do I go for? That Motherboard is capable of taking up to DDR3-2400 but is DDR3-2133, DDR3-1866 or DDR-1600 going to make much of a difference? Also I do not understand the CL numbering so is for example CL9 better than CL12 for example?
Bottom line is, with the RAM choice, if you were making the same system, what would you get? I tend to use Overclockers (or Amazon for bits if much cheaper)
4 - Finally! Is my plan rubbish and I'm better with another CPU choice and go for the GPU? I know people will say go for Intel but I'm keeping to AMD as Intel experiences haven't been too great and it boils down to trying to stay economical.
Thanks in advance people
Ryan
I have been tasked with building the other half a new PC to replace the ageing (yet still does the job) AMD phenom II with 4GB RAM & RADEON 5000 Series GPU
Some of the components are listed below:
CASE - Will be BitFenix Prodigy (Black) Mini ITX Tower Case most likely (Lush!)
MB - ASRock FM2A88X-ITX+
CPU - AMD A10-7850K 3.7GHz Quad-Core
COOLER - Corsair H105 73.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
PSU - SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold"
BOOT - Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" SSD
RAM - Will be 8GB of good RAM (see below for query)
Those are the components I'm happy with, quality parts at pretty good prices.
The trouble comes with RAM & Graphics!
This computer will be used for general internet use, multimedia and of course some gaming but the games he plays are mostly WoW but he does play other things too such as lots of things on steam, like L4D2, KF, MoH, Skyrim, Fallout 3, GTA but it does get stretched with things like Tomb Raider (new 2013 version) now and then but NOT the latest games that most people play these days (
Ok the questions / Queries I have:
1 - This being taken into account and the power of the graphics available on the CPU, would it be necessary to have a separate graphics card or would the APU suffice? As times change obviously popping a card in would be a doddle if needed but as this stage, surely the APU has more than enough grunt to deal with graphical needs?
2 - Assuming I do use the APU, is it advisable to allocate 1GB or 2GB of RAM to it? I would never bother with Crossfire with an APU as I have used it myself on my own computer and found it slower than the GPU on its own!
3 - I know DDR3 isn't very fast like DDR5 on most dedicated graphics cards so I understand that there is a greater need to select faster, quality RAM when using an APU but my query is what one do I go for? That Motherboard is capable of taking up to DDR3-2400 but is DDR3-2133, DDR3-1866 or DDR-1600 going to make much of a difference? Also I do not understand the CL numbering so is for example CL9 better than CL12 for example?
Bottom line is, with the RAM choice, if you were making the same system, what would you get? I tend to use Overclockers (or Amazon for bits if much cheaper)
4 - Finally! Is my plan rubbish and I'm better with another CPU choice and go for the GPU? I know people will say go for Intel but I'm keeping to AMD as Intel experiences haven't been too great and it boils down to trying to stay economical.
Thanks in advance people
Ryan
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