Upgrade checklist

[Guest]

Hey guys,

I'm doing a major upgrade on my families desktop computer and was wondering if you think this list of components is kosher:

CPU: ■AMD Llano A8-3850 2.90GHz Socket FM1 4MB L2 Cache Retail = £104
Motherboard: ■Biostar TA75M+ Llano Socket FM1 VGA DVI HDMI 8 Channel Audio mATX = £69
RAM: ■G-Skill 4GB DDR3 1600Mhz Ripjaws = £27
HDD: ■Seagate 250GB Momentus XT 2.5" Hybrid HDD/SSD SATA-II = £66
PSU: ■OCZ 500W Mod XStream Pro PSU - 2x PCI-E 6x SATA = £50
Network card: ■Tenda Wireless-N300 PCI Adapter = £10
Buying off eBuyer

I'll be using the DVD-RW, HDD and Thermaltake Soprano case from the old build.
I'm just double checking that all these components compatible?

One other thing, as most of you probably already know, the CPU I've chosen for this upgrade is one of the new AMD APU doo-hickeys that is a CPU and GPU combined.

Would I be better off using the GPU on this APU or an nVidia GeForce 8600GT?
What would be better performance/quality wise?

Thanks guys.

 

[Outlander_04]

I'd say Llano is more powerful than an 8600GT which is an old card .

But if you have one already you can use it in the FM1 motherboard and see

 

[boiler1990]

You could try and get one of the 6670s or whatever and boost the GPU performance. The APU and GPU graphics can work together to increase the video capabilities.

Just curious, what is this computer for? Just general usage?

 

[Guest]

You could try and get one of the 6670s or whatever and boost the GPU performance. The APU and GPU graphics can work together to increase the video capabilities.

Just curious, what is this computer for? Just general usage?

Get one of 6670s??

Aye General usage, social networking, internet, watching movies maybe few games like Bad Company 2?

 

[boiler1990]

With the APU you can pair a discrete graphics card with the APU graphics and get increased performance: http://www.amd.com/us/products/technologies/dual-graphics/pages/dual-graphics.aspx#/3

The APU alone should be able to handle everything but games. That's where the discrete card comes in. The 8600GT might be able to handle the games alone too. If you have the card already it wouldn't hurt to try it out.

 

[Guest]

"AMD Radeon™ Dual Graphics requires an AMD “A” series APU plus an AMD Radeon™ discrete graphics configuration"

Does the APU only pair up with an AMD Radeon HD 6670 graphics card?

Or are you saying I should try it with the 8600GT and see how it flies?

 

[boiler1990]

Go to the link I posted and click the "Desktop" tab. It lists the GPUs compatible with the A8 GPU.

I'm saying that the AMD Dual Graphics might give you better performance than the 8600GT (because you can't pair it with the APU), but if you already own the 8600GT it's worth trying out before you buy something else.

 

[Guest]

Grand. I'll give the nVidia a bash first and see how it runs.

Apart form that, are the rest of the components decent looking?

I mean will they future proof the machine for a few years?

 

[boiler1990]

That should run for a while; heck, the Pentium 4s are still in use in home computers. As long as you don't plan any hardcore use for it, you could run it to the ground really.