I’m looking at building a new computer for around 350. I want to use it for TF2, Tribes, Battlefield 3 and maybe cyris. I am used to playing on an old tube tv so my graphics expectation would be low. I need help answering a few questions. I am a light gamer and this computer will be used for web surfing too. I watched Logans 350 pc build and I really like it but am concerned about how everyone says the apu isn’t as good as a low end processor with a higher end graphics card
At my price range is it better to get the A10 (current gen not Richland) or go with an older am3+ with dedicated card.
If I end up getting the older am3 plus DGC could I expect med 1080p gamming?
What kind of gaming experience could I expect out of the A10.
For someone like me who is a casual gamer that is used to playing on a tube tv do you think marginal 1080p performance would be worth it in my budget, or would my gaming experience be better with great performance at 720p.
And lastly here are two builds I came up with built on the two cpus would you guys take a look and tell me what you think?
I was about to go with an APU system myself, but then I ordered this[http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Hb6O] because it has many upgrade options later on. The APU system is great for what it is... but you won't have nearly as many cpu options in the future.
It is true with the APU that you have less future upgrades. But there has been talk of some new APU chipsets from AMD. So if you want you'r rig to hold up for a year or two then they'll might have upgrades. And my last tip is if you go with the APU then maybe thinking of throwing in 55$ and get a 667O wich will almost double your power. There are videos all over Youtube of its performance. It can run most titles at medium to high settings with 35+ Fps.
I just don't really know how to make a system that cheap that I would want to use, unless maybe you just completely ditched the pretense of gaming at higher than 720p. Because to power the additional Radeon 6670, you need a 500W power supply, and for that you need a case that can accomodate a full ATX one so that you can get it cheaply, but you don't want to stick really horrible parts into it, so you want to get the A10, and the 2133 MHz RAM and the terabyte drive and the Radeon 6670 and the halfway not horrible case... Yeah, expect to pay the full retail of the brand new console to get a computer that can perform as well as it. It simply won't happen at 350.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/HczC
This would be a fairly powerful mid-level PC, so it would be capable of playing many games at full 1080p with settings between low and medium.
Most powerful setup here in terms of raw gaming performance, and probably all you will get for close to 350... unless you downgrade to a Athlon x4 and smaller HDD.
Mndless... AMD APU's cant use Radeon 6xxx series with 2Gb or GDDR5 for Dual Graphics mode and if you get a Radeon HD 6670 1gb GDDR5 it will dial it down to DDR3. So you are basicaly wasting some money... Also Mini-ITX FM2 boards are crap.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/HgHt
It has 2133Mhz DDR3 CLS9 RAM and that is good for video editing and somewhat in games because CLS is response time and it will be great when you upgrade to Richland. I have fixed some things I know it goes over 350$ budget by alot but I would like to know how much you can really spend on a personal computer.
The APU's are multimedia chips, not gaming. When I was a student and PC's were really expensive and I didn't have much money at all, I just didn't buy a case. I ran my first two PC's from an old cupboard. You can improvise with a case, in fact, chances are that if you're into gaming and you buy a case, you'll mod the crap out of it anyway, so why not skip the unnecessary costs. That money, plus the money saved on getting a Phenom II instead of an A10, can then be invested into a 2GB Radeon HD 7850 for instance, which is a 4k capable card with overclocking potential than can be had relatively cheap with a dual fan and vapor chamber solution. If I were to have to build a PC for less than 500 USD now, I would go with an AMD PhenomII X4 955 on a 970 chipset Asus board with 4+2 phase power that is also capable of FX processors, 1 stick of 4GB of 1866 DDR3 G.Skill ARES RAM (can be expanded later), an AMD 7850 2GB GDDR5 from Sapphire for instance, as long as it has two fans and a vapor chamber so that it can be overclocked, a cooler master hyper 212 cooler to overclock the CPU, a decent 600 W power supply, and a generic hard disk.
The Phenom II X4 is faster than an FX4170, which is a processor Crytek says can run Crysis 3 with full bling, and can be overclocked considerably without breaking anything (it's good old 45nm tech, these things can still take a beating), and the 7850 pairs up nicely with a PhenomII X4 but also with an FX, it doesn't get too hot, only one six pin is required, and with a good cooler it can be overclocked considerably. Both the Asus AI Overclock and the AMD control software work with the system for a centralised automatic or manual overclock from within the BIOS or the GUI, which makes overclocking really easy and adaptable on-the-fly. You can most probably get Crysis3 to run at 30 fps in 1080p with full bling without filters with such a system, and it will feel pleasingly snappy in productivity applications.
am3 build the apu is ok but even the x3 with 7750 is 15% more powerful then an a10 and a 6670 in crossfire. Also the x3 and 7750 cost less then the a10 and 6670