A10 5800K vs FX 6300 vs i3 3225

[bluechrism]

Hello,

I'm building a budget pc and hoping to make good use of Micro-center's $50 off MB/CPu (Am3+/i3 3225) combo deal right now, as well as about $50 in gift cards at amazon.

I'm looking at the 3 setups because they all come in around the 120-130 mark for the CPU, and with either $50 off boards at microcenter and/or a $50 amazon gift card CPU, board, graphics, case & PSu are possible for around $200. I have the RAM on the way already (8GB DDR 3 1600) which I bought just before my $30 in ebay bucks expired at the weekend.

The target isn't to do everything right away, but to use some components of my existing PC for now and then finish the job in a few months, just due to the budget i'm on. I was hoping to make use of the exisiting case I have with my current PC but it's only good for mATX boards and I have struggled to find good ones, especially for AM3+. This means buying a new case & PSU, and in the case of Am3+, a video card too, though mATX case is less upgradable in future. I want a system that has a decent board so the next series of upgrades I do might just be just a component here or there - I had my current pc since 2006 - Athlon 64 based. Ultimately, i'll end up with 2 complete pc's and sell (admittedly, probably for no more than the cost of a cheap video card) the old Athlon based one.

Anyway, so for now, CPU, board and if necessary Graphics card & case
Later Hard drive, Card reader, 2 Monitors, if necessary case & psu, plus other odds and ends.

Anyway, 4 configurations i'm considering (prices for total rig, after discounts):
AMD A10 5800K
(mATX) MSI FM2-A75MA-E35 ($130) [Edited 2/6 - just realized i had the put the wrong board in, the A85XA-G65 is ATX]
or
(ATX) FM2A85X Extreme6
Case & PSU combo ($210)

FX 6300
MSI 970A-G46 / Asus M5A97 R2.0 LE
Sapphire Radeon HD 6450 1GB
Case & PSU combo ($196 MSI / 201 Asus -the MSi one is out-of-stock right now at Microcenter near me)

Core i3 3225
AsRock Z77 Pro3 1155
Case & PSU Combo ($179)

Thoughts. Oh, this isn't for a gaming rig, just for day to day use, plus some development, possibly including windows phone which means Hyper-V to run the emulator - one of the reasons to ditch the Athlon.

 

[tiny voices]

Never get a case and psu combo. The psu is the last thing to every cheap out on. If it fails, your entire computer can go with it. Get a PSU from Antec, XFX, Corsair, Seasonic.

 

[djangoringo]

I3-3225, since you're not into gaming, the i3 build is the cheapest one in microcenter, it will be more than enough for your needs.
You might also consider the FX-6300 if you use some demanding application.
And yes, tiny voices is right, get a decent psu, no matter if it's 300W-400W but from a good make.

 

[bluechrism]

HI guys, thanks for the advice on the PSU & Case Combo's. I'm still unsure what makes for a good PSU, beyond having the requisite number of connections for the pc you are building. I know some get rated for power efficiency, though noise seems harder to find. Anyway, Comparing the 4 ATX PSU's at Microcenter that have 4* ratings for <$50 each right now and this looks like the best:
http://www.microcenter.com/product/367692/Gold_Series_ILG-400-2_400_Watt_ATX_Power_Supply
Though if i am willing to find the extra, i do see a jump up in quality to here:
http://www.microcenter.com/product/406086/CX_Series_CX430M_430_Watt_ATX_Modular_Power_Supply

I had another question too, since i wrote my original post. As i say, in future i am hoping if i do upgrades to do a piece here or there, hence looking for a board with USB3, STA 6GB's and fast RAm speeds. But on the processor front, If i understand right, AM3+ and FM2 are both going to have at least one more processor iteration. What about LGA 1155? Will intel offer future iterations on that socket? If not, do i have an upgrade route via i5/i7 (which i just can not afford right now)?

 

[bluechrism]

Sorry - double post due to a "site not available message" - Maybe Tom's doesn't play nice with Opera?

 

[djangoringo]

I couldn't answer at the time, but this one is cheaper, it's a quality psu : http://www.microcenter.com/product/369035/Basiq_Series_VP450_450_Watt_ATX_Power_Supply

With the i3, you'll have the upgrade path to an i5 or i7 sandy or ivybridge, there's no more cpus coming for the lga 1155 socket.
With the am3+ you can upgrade to any FX cpu, it's rumored that the older boards will support the new steamroller cpus from amd(no date announced).
In my opinion, either the i3 or the FX-6300 will suit you best, the apu is a slower cpu in comparison to the two above.

 

[twelve25]

If you are not planning to spend at least $60+ on a video card, get the A10. It comes with suprisingly capable graphics built in, and performs roughly on par with the i3 for non-graphical applications. The A10 will play any game out there at low resolution, so it's not a bad setup at all for the casual gamer. Even if you don't game, the higher end graphics subsystem seems to smooth out performance in a lot of areas.

The fx-6300 is the best, but you'll have to buy a graphics card. If you were going to make gaming a priority, you would be spending $150+ on one anyway, so then the 6300 becomes the better buy.

I can't see i3 being very attractive at this price point unless it is only for office use or you want to save a couple bucks a year on power.

 

[masterman467]

HI guys, thanks for the advice on the PSU & Case Combo's. I'm still unsure what makes for a good PSU, beyond having the requisite number of connections for the pc you are building. I know some get rated for power efficiency, though noise seems harder to find. Anyway, Comparing the 4 ATX PSU's at Microcenter that have 4* ratings for <$50 each right now and this looks like the best:
http://www.microcenter.com/product/367692/Gold_Series_ILG-400-2_400_Watt_ATX_Power_Supply
Though if i am willing to find the extra, i do see a jump up in quality to here:
http://www.microcenter.com/product/406086/CX_Series_CX430M_430_Watt_ATX_Modular_Power_Supply

I had another question too, since i wrote my original post. As i say, in future i am hoping if i do upgrades to do a piece here or there, hence looking for a board with USB3, STA 6GB's and fast RAm speeds. But on the processor front, If i understand right, AM3+ and FM2 are both going to have at least one more processor iteration. What about LGA 1155? Will intel offer future iterations on that socket? If not, do i have an upgrade route via i5/i7 (which i just can not afford right now)?

fast ram is no real issue... it make a VERY minimal difference in games. less then 1 fps. next gen intell is going to be lga 1150 or something to that effect. diffrent, but this next update is more wattage lowering, not much more power. still 22nm. not really worth it. loooool 6gb/s xD unless your using 2ssd's on one line you will never use that. usb 3.0 is still far from mainstream, most peripherals will stay with 2.0, anyways.

 

[masterman467]

If you are not planning to spend at least $60+ on a video card, get the A10. It comes with suprisingly capable graphics built in, and performs roughly on par with the i3 for non-graphical applications. The A10 will play any game out there at low resolution, so it's not a bad setup at all for the casual gamer. Even if you don't game, the higher end graphics subsystem seems to smooth out performance in a lot of areas.

The fx-6300 is the best, but you'll have to buy a graphics card. If you were going to make gaming a priority, you would be spending $150+ on one anyway, so then the 6300 becomes the better buy.

I can't see i3 being very attractive at this price point unless it is only for office use or you want to save a couple bucks a year on power.

i disagree with the fx, there is very little diffidence between the i3 and 6300. i3 is 10 bucks less most places.

 

[twelve25]

fast ram does make a difference if you go with the A10 because the RAM is taking the place of the graphics RAM (which is normally speciallized DDR5). You'll see a big jump going to 1866, for only a few bucks more.

If you have a discrete card (which the OP didn't seem to be too interested in) then 1333 is fine, but 1600 is usually the same price.

 

[twelve25]

i disagree with the fx, there is very little diffidence between the i3 and 6300. i3 is 10 bucks less most places.

For a lot of day-to-day apps, you are right. Performance is the same. But in high performance apps that can use all 6 cores on the AMD, it is up to 50% faster. That's a lot of performance to leave on the table for $5-10.

http://www.techspot.com/review/586-amd-fx-8350-fx-6300/page4.html


As for the A10 vs i3, they are neck and neck in almost every benchmark, basically leapfrogging each other +/- 5%. IF they perform the same and cost about the same, why not get the one that comes with a free $60 Graphics card built in?

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6347/amd-a10-5800k-a8-5600k-review-trinity-on-the-desktop-part-2/4

 

[bluechrism]

fast ram is no real issue... it make a VERY minimal difference in games..... loooool 6gb/s xD unless your using 2ssd's on one line you will never use that. usb 3.0 is still far from mainstream, most peripherals will stay with 2.0, anyways.

While that's true now, will this still be true 3 years from now or 5 years. My current HDD is SATA1, but my next might be SATA 6 and after that SSD (still too expensive right now). If i change my CPU will 1600 start to hamper CPU performance? I don't know that i'll upgrade anything for a while, but if i do, i don't want to upgrade everything next time.
Maybe, since i'm not going to be doing a lot of gaming, it doesn't matter and i don't need to be aiming as high. I will be going dual monitor, and occasionally hooking it to my TV, doing app development, streaming full screen video, and watching dvd's, but i know that in the grand scheme of things, these are not demanding tasks.
Am i placing too much value on this stuff? If i am, fair enough, but my goal is to get something that will last, while recongnizing my current limitations mean i can't afford an i5/i7 or an FX 8350.

 

[twelve25]

Am i placing too much value on this stuff? If i am, fair enough, but my goal is to get something that will last, while recongnizing my current limitations mean i can't afford an i5/i7 or an FX 8350.

Do you plan to afford an i5 or an 8350 someday? IF so, then it makes sense to buy into a socket that has an upgrade path to very high end CPU (i.e. not FM2). There will be another generation of FM2 chips, but I doubt at the FX-8350 level. The next gen of i5 will need a new socket anyway, so not much upgrade path, really, by the time you would upgrade.

I would NOT buy a new motherboard without at least a couple USB and SATA 3 ports. You will be kicking yourself down the road, guaranteed. Who wants to get a shiny new build with 10 year old ports that are already becoming obsolete?

If you were my brother, I'd be telling you to get the A10. I think that fits your usage pretty well. It can be overclocked, too, if you decide you want to wring another 20% or so out of it down the line.

 

[nokiddingboss]

fx6300 no doubt. it'll provide you a decent amount of performance whilst not breaking the bank that much. and since you're not planning to upgrade to an i5/i7 the i3 is not gonna be an attractive choice considering it is only a dual core/HT cpu. you are better of with an fx6300 as it torches the i3 when it comes to apps. since you said that you are not going to use it for gaming anyways is the more reason to pick the fx6300 and just be done with it. the A10 comes close to second as it'll pretty much provide you everything you'll need (4cores and a decent igpu)

 

[johnnyq1233]

Aside from the cpu debate going on..you asked which power supply from the links you provided...
The Corsair is by far the supperior..just look at the +12v specs..the first one had a miniscule 20 amps while the Corsair had 32 amps... and the bronze 80% efficiency rating!!

 

[bluechrism]

OK, Updated system i'm thinking of now, and to cap it all, i've gone and bought a PSU from newegg - $40 now, free shipping and $20 rebate for
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026

As to the rest:
AND Fx 6300 ($120 @ mirocenter)
Biostar T Overclocker TA970XE Socket AM3+ 970 ATX AMD Motherboard ($35 @ micocenter with bundle discount, additional $10 rebate)
Sapphire Radeon HD 6450 1GB ($39.99 @ amazon, but i have gift card $'s to cover it with $10 to spare)
Coolermaster ATx 371 case ($39.99 at amazon, with $10 covered by gift card)
Tax of about $15 on CPU + board
About $199 up front with rebates of $10 = $189. PLus PSu=209

Or (bonus usb 3 headers for not much more)
Swap board for Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 Socket AM3+ 970 ATX ($50 at microcenter, with $10 rebate)
Swap case for Raidmax ATX-248NWB ( $40 at Amazon, 10 covered by gift cards)
About 215 up front with $10 rebate = 205. plus PSU = 225

 

[twelve25]

Do you plan on never even trying to play a game? That's the only way you could be happy with a 6450.

 

[butremor]

please not the biostar mobo

 

[bluechrism]

please not the biostar mobo

Why not?

 

[bluechrism]

Do you plan on never even trying to play a game? That's the only way you could be happy with a 6450.

What should be my target for graphics. It's probably not the case that i will "never" play a game, but I completly admit to not having any sort of idea about graphics performance. My main requirement is that it should have HDMI, VGA and DVi, had dual monitor support, and wasn't completely bottom of the pile. My goal is to pair it with 2 monitors at 1920 x 1080 resolution - i like to get a lot of info on screen, and Higher resolutions in development environments like Visual Studio is helpful.

My impression was that the 6450 would be worse than what i would get on board with the A10, but better than the Intel 4000 i might get with the i3 3225. But that's , one of the reasons i'm on here is that I know i'm fumbling through this - I haven't built a pc since probably 2004/2005, and i bought my current one off the shelf in 2006 after i moved to the US, so I'm having to re-lean what's important and what's not.

If you have a recommendations for reasonable budget graphics card that would be in a similar price range, or maybe older cards that were higher end but discounted now, then I'd be up for it. Or if there are particular features or specs i should be looking for in a graphics card and why, i'd be glad to understand it.

 

[bluechrism]

Aside from the cpu debate going on..you asked which power supply from the links you provided...
The Corsair is by far the supperior..just look at the +12v specs..the first one had a miniscule 20 amps while the Corsair had 32 amps... and the bronze 80% efficiency rating!!

Got it . $40 with $20 mail in rebate from Newegg.

 

[masterman467]

I'm building a budget pc and hoping to make good use of Micro-center's $50 off MB/CPu ([strike]Am3+[/strike]LGA 1155/i3 3225) combo deal right now, as well as about $50 in gift cards at amazon.

Do this with Microcenter. spend your gift card on a GTX 650 and it will blow the a10 out of the water for 50 bucks more.

Biostar is looked down apon by many. ASRock has some cheap-o mobo's that are better quality.

 

[masterman467]

or if you want a little more getup-n-go you could get a GTX 650ti. just look at its cute little PCB <3

 

[twelve25]

Do this with Microcenter. spend your gift card on a GTX 650 and it will blow the a10 out of the water for 50 bucks more.
.

Can't argue with that. like I said earlier, the A10 has the equivalent of a $50-60 video card built in. Something along the lines of a GT 630 or Radeon 6570. If you go beyond that, then you'll get better performance with a discrete video card. But a 6450? That barely beats Intel HD 4000.

So I'm still leaning A10 unless the OP can find an extra $50 to move to a 7770 or GTX650.

p.s. $40 for a 6450 is highway robbery. You can find 5450s (same card) for $15-20 after rebate, which is as much as I'd want to pay for a non-gameable card.

 

[bluechrism]

On the graphics front, one thought I had was if I got the i3 or an A series (I noticed they topped the poll in this forum of best AMD office PC) I'd be using built in graphics - radeon 7000series with amd or Intel 4000 Hd on the i3. Obviously, the strong suit of the AMD apu is graphics, but if I go with thefx and buy a graphics card seperate, I'd like it to be similar quality to Intel 4000. Reading a review yesterday evening, the reviewer (I think for i5 3750k) put graphics between Radeon 6450 and 6700 or something like that. Is 6450 really that bad.

I'm also sure is heard, like twelve25 mentions, that 5450 and 6450 are the same but searching for comparisons suggests a decent step up (for a budget card). If I'm better off with a 5450 then that's great.

Update - just found this which is useful:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html - grapics card comparison chart
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-6450-caicos-blu-ray-3d,2920-13.html 6450 review - so yeah, might look at other options...
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2012/05/28/intel-hd-4000-investigation/1 not the i5 review i previously saw, but a review including the 6450 in comparison to the HD 4000 that's built into intel chips like the i3 3225.

In general I'm leaning towards the fx6300 now, but if it's just going to be too much to get an ok graphics card i might just go to the A10 or i3. Maybe I started this wrong. I should have asked for best budget office/software development box under $250 needing CPU, board, graphics, case that can do dual monitor HD displays.

Still, this has been helpful and thanks for the ideas and responses so far. Keep em coming. Hoping to do some shopping in store at the weekend (or online before then).