Budget Setup, advice needed!

[boon147]

Afternoon all,

Hope everyone is well.

I am wanting to upgrade my PC, and been looking at the different CPU's out there, and I wanted your advice.

Basically the machine that I want will be a general all rounder: Web Surfing, Back up media (DVD, 360), and occasinonally very light gaming etc. This is where im falling over, because if i didnt want gaming in there, I know exactly what id get.

It will be light gaming for when my 360 isnt available, and im really not that fussed about pushing it to get max resolution or FPS, just something that will be playable.

So I have been looking at the A8, and reviews suggest that it can handle up to date games and play them well on slightly lower settings (which im not bothered about) and still look good. I know a lot will say the FM1 socket is to be replaced, but to be fair, by the time I upgrade this system again, all current socket's will be outdated, so a new Mobo & CPU would be required anyway.

This is the proposed setup:

Branded 550w PSU: £35
A8 3850 4 Core CPU / APU: £80 (without c/b)
Gigabyte Mobo (GA-A75M): £55
Corsair 8 GB RAM: £48
Samsung 830 64 / 128 GB: £50 / £78

+ DVD and Case Fan's etc

I already have a mATX case, and the board above is the best mATX i can find for that price range that supports 1866 RAM, and SATA3.

I have looked at the AM3+ socket CPU and boards, but couldnt get anything close regarding price vs motherboard specification. The board must have SATA3, and ideally support 1866 (not oc'd) & I will add usb3 via a card if I cannot get it included. I know AM3+ will outrun the FM1 socket, but id have to buy an additional GPU.

I understand the onboard graphics of the A8 wont be amazing, and wont last forever, but I can just disable it and install a new PCI-E HD card and all will be well for a couple more years. In regards to processing performance, the A8 isnt that bad so ive seen?

Total cost of this build would be around the 250 mark if i bought the bigger SSD.

Any other recommendations for similar price bracket?

Regards,

Paul

 

[bemaniac]

All fine except the 1866mhz requirement is not needed you'll do just fine with any generic ddr3 and won't notice any difference between 1333mhz and 2600mhz in practice. The 60gb drive will be fine and spend the rest on a storage drive if you don't have one. I understand the need for sata3 as it's very useful, try to get a board with intels white sata 3 ports, they are awesome and an intel nic is handy too. I discovered the pointlessness of fast ram moving from 1600mhz to 2133mhz myself.

 

[boon147]

Sounds good to me.

So your confident that, in 1 years time when the 6550d can't handle anymore, that the a8 will still be sufficient and last me a good few years if I buy a separate gpu,...or would you suggest the am3+ route? Bear in mind that when I do eventually upgrade the new system, most (if not all) sockets would have been replaced / discontinued, unless anyone can tell me any different?

If the ram won't cause any problems at 1333 then I'll get some of that, and then put the money saved towards the bigger ssd,...although as you say, if I got the 64gb version, I'd be able to get a new bigger storage drive too and still come in at about 250. Least then I do have the option of upgrading to faster ram with this motherboard, as well as adding a gpu when the integrated one becomes too tired.

Has anyone actually got an a8, and can confirm that base processing power is good, and will offer me a good budget system for a few years to come after I have upgraded to a dedicated gpu in the future (if / when that happens)?

Thanks for your input!

 

[Blue160]

For any other build that advice on the RAM would be correct. With a stand alone graphics card system RAM makes no difference to framerates. With an A8 APU setup though, the graphics uses the system RAM so it has a fairly big effect on framerates. It would be worth paying a little extra for some speedy RAM.

 

[JonSmith]

If you going for a llano APU setup then it's worth spending a little bit extra for the 1600 memory, it makes a fair difference to the frame rates. 1600-1866 isn't a massive jump in performance though, compared to 1333-1600 at least.

 

[boon147]

Good point, totally overlooked the speed of the RAM needed with integrated graphics.

I think im set on what im going to get now,...

Thanks for your input guys, ill be ordering within the next month!!