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inherendo

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Nov 1, 2012
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Looking to build a htpc for my parents. Got most of the general stuff but am unsure whether to go for a10 or a8. Also need help with fm2 mobos. I can't seem to find many vendors selling many.

I'd like it to play some light gaming at 1080. Nothing heavy like battlefield but games like limbo, sims, etc. 20ish bucks seems like a fair price for the increase in performance but would I need the increase for a future game like sim city at medium specs? Thanks for the help guys.
 
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Yes memory bandwidth is very important to APU, the differance between DDR3 2400 and DDR3 1333 is substantial, Anandtech ran a review, think THG did to on memory bandwidth, 1600-2400 yielded at times around 10-15FPS, which is substantial. DDR3 1866 should yield enough anyways.
Two scenarios;

1] integrated graphics only.

If you want integrated performance only, I would consider a A10 5700 or 5800K due to the higher level iGPU compared with the A8 range. It is also imparitive that you use faster SPD RAM as anything less than DDR3 2133 and you are doing yourself a massive disservice.

A ASRock A85 Extreme 6 has all the features of the high end Gigabyte and ASUS equivilants but sub $100 USD, i would consider that board with Lucid MVP support.

2] Discrete graphics

If you want to throw in a discrete graphics card, then the A8 5600K is the best bet as you won't be relying as much on integrated performance, also you can then save on memory by sticking to 1866 SPD's rather.
 

inherendo

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Nov 1, 2012
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I've skimmed the review sites regarding ram speed, is it definitive that ram speed be higher or performance takes a big hit? I have some 1600 mhz ram, that runs at 1.5v at 1600 that can run at 1.65v which should overclock to 1866 fine.

Also, don't want a dedicated as I'm not doing graphic intensive games. Just want to run lower end games at 1080p like sims 3 and simcity when it releases.
 
Yes memory bandwidth is very important to APU, the differance between DDR3 2400 and DDR3 1333 is substantial, Anandtech ran a review, think THG did to on memory bandwidth, 1600-2400 yielded at times around 10-15FPS, which is substantial. DDR3 1866 should yield enough anyways.
 
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