mITX for the AMD A8 5600k

bandyleg

bandyleg

bandyleg

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Hi everyone, as the title suggests i am after a mITX board to accommodate the A8 5600k, its totally over kill for what i need but I wanted the built in graphics as i dont want to use a separate gpu.

It has to be mITX as its going into an old NES case so size is everything, I had looked at a couple of boards on the A75X chipsets but then realised AMD recomend the A85X chipset so im a little stumped as i only seem to be able to come across the one ASrock board.

I dont need this build to be super pumped and clocked out all singing and dancing as I am only building this to run as a home media center running plex media server and streaming via LAN to my tv.

Any help and info is greatly appreciated and budget is around £100 for the board (less is better tho)
:)
 
I think so far there's only that one ASRock board for A85x in this form factor. The A75 boards should be fine though, they lack a few things, but nothing that would be relevant for a media PC. MSI has an A75 mini ITX board, as does ASRock.

The 5400K would do fine for what you want, by the way. The GPU is still fine for video playback.
 
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For an HTPC the basic A4-4000 is capable, but it's weak compared to the other APUs. The 5400K is more than capable for this. If you think you'll want to do more than HTPC stuff (e.g. light gaming) then you'd want the A8-5600K or better.

You're not missing anything, there's very little available for mini itx. That ASRock board is fine. There's an A85X one too (though ocuk hasn't got it listed).
 
Thanks,Im glad im not missing much ha.
I do have the A8 5600k black edition, I have no intention of clocking it if anything I will be setting it up for power consumption as its going to be on 24 7 so i have access to some other parts of my network when im away from home.

Thanks for the help. :)
 
Ah I didn't realise you already had the APU.

It runs nice and low powered when idle, without having to undervolt or anything. I've got the 6800K and a low profile cooler - never hear the thing.
 
Thats good to know as silence is another factor when watching movies as my gaming rig sounds like its gonna take off at times hahah.

I was chatting on a thread a few weeks back about power consumption and the new amd are far better than intel at idle so thats why i chose amd. It was just the boards that were throwing me I just couldnt understand why I couldnt find a recommended A85 chipset for it.

If the A75 chipset is up to the job then I am happy to pay slightly less and use the 75 versions. The ASrock is looking favorable for my budget.

Thanks for all the help much appreciated.
 
No problem. You're right that at idle the APUs use less power than Intel - more power at load, but you'll never be at load really as video playback uses barely anything. You might want to get a different cooler though, the stock AMD cooler is apparently a bit noisy (I've never even used mine).

You can get the ASRock A85x chipset from Amazon - they've got it in stock. I'd get that over the A75 one personally but it's a little bit more expensive.

edit: actually, it's out of stock!
 
That's good info thankyou, I shall take a look. I have on order one of the corsair hydro and was thinking of using that if I can make it fit but if not I'll bare in mind replacing the cooler.
 
Avoid that the A75 based AsRock motherboard as it had VRM failures. The A85 based one they did has not had any issues AFAIK,as it uses a better designed VRM section.

Moreover, the A85 based version is the same price as the A75 based one.
 
Did you ask about the power supply to this project on Yahoo Answers a few weeks back? I pointed someone there in the direction of a Pico PSU for a NES case build.

Anyway, as CAT says, the A75 Asrock is one to avoid - check overclock.net for a whole load of people having problems with it. The A85x Asrock is supposed to be great, but is a little harder to find, and the MSI A75 is fine if you don't need voltage controls.
 
Ok everyone very helpful and much appreciated, The AsRock A85x chipset board is what i went for ordered it about a half hour ago, I found it on ****** at £61.82 posted.
Just got to figure out my cooler now.

Cheesyboy: Nah I didnt ask about it I did my research or as much as i could anyway, the pico psu are great but I will have to check the wattage as I think the APU I chose at full load is around 138w if my memory serves me well. not that ill ever reach that but its better to be safe.
 
If your RAM doesn't have heatsinks, the Coolermaster GeminII M4 is a decent low profile one. It's about 60mm high.
 
Ok, I'll keep that in mind as I said earlyer if I can get the corsair to fit (can't rremember the one I ordered) but if I can get it to fit I'll be using that. If not I'll strap it to my gpu in my other machine :)
 
ok guys the board has arrived, the stock AMD cooler will fit nicely but still wanting to swap it out if I can squeeze in some liquid cooling it should run virtually silent, anyway the new board looks amazing and it should provide me some excellent foundations for my nes build.

Thanks guys.
 
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