I recently went to AMD's Fan Day in San Francisco. I got for free for standing in line for like 5 hours
1. A8-5600k apu processor http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113281&Tpk=a8-5600k&IsVirtualParent=1
2. ASRock FM2A85X Extreme4-M http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157342
I have already put this in my custom pc I made back in the beginnning of January. And I love the performance boost since I am crossfiring with a HD6670 in it compared to what I had before.
My question is on overclocking and adding more ram. Can I overclock with the stock cpu cooler or am I recommended to get a cpu cooler? Also what kind of ram is recommmended on a apu build like this?
What is recommended for a $50-70 budget right now?
Cpu cooler first or increasing ram to 8GB?
If possible, are there low profile cpu coolers, I want to put one in my Couagar Spike case.
This is my current rig right now.
Custom PC Specs
CPU: Intel Celeron G540 CPU 2.50 GHZ
GPU: GIGABYTE GV-R667D3-1GI Radeon HD 6670
Motherboard: MSI H61M-E33 (W8)
PSU: Cooler Master eXtreme Power Plus 500w
RAM: Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333 MHz (PC3 10666)
Computer Case: COUGAR Spike Black Steel / Plastic MicroATX Mini Tower Gaming Case
Thanks in advance for any replies.
Well most AMD APU's like to have more bandwidth, so 1866 mHz RAM is your best bet to improve your build a bit more (you have DDR3 1333 mHz listed).
[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231550]G.SKILL Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model F3-1866C9D-8GAB[/url]
* RAM set has low profile heat spreaders, so you can install just about any aftermarket CPU HSF.
What would be more benifical in lets say playing games as I am crossfiring with a 6670. Faster ram first? or buying aftermarker cpu cooler and overclocking the cpu? I am also wanting to play ps2 games via PCSX2 like FFX,GT3 and GT4 and God of War
Well that is a tough question. You could always OC the APU first and see how far that takes you on the stock CPU HSF. This will also tell you if the OC'ing is really helping you out much in your games that you play. Personally I think that a good dedicated GPU (like the AMD 7770) would be better than your current Xfire setup, but that is just my opinion.
Dont feel like spending on another video card when I already own the 6670 since Jan. of this year. I do not even play play on 1080p. I played on a 32 in Samsung tv that only supports up to 720p. Windows can go all the way to 1080 but it looks like crap on the tv. Windows reconmmends 1366x768 so that is what I play on. All I know is that this apu xfire with a 6670 is better than my celeron g540 with the just the 6670. What would you suggest now?
Okay, I would still try and OC the APU and see what kind of results you can get with the stock cooler. If you feel you want more OC'ing headroom than I'd buy a $20-40 CPU HSF and see what kind of results you get. The next option is to invest in some faster RAM.
[img]http://www.legitreviews.com/images/reviews/1652/re5-memory.jpg[/img]
Faster RAM on APU helps a bit over 1333 mHz.
$30 - $5 MIRc = $25!!
[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099&Tpk=cooler%20master%20evo%20212%2b&IsVirtualParent=1]Cooler Master Hyper 212+[/url]
With the APU your integrated graphics will be using the DDR3 ram speed, so I would go for more ram and have it be the highest clocked and tightest latency scored that you can get.
It is my understanding that your DDR5 possessing second GPU will downclock to the DDR3 speed, so faster DDR3 is better!
Sorry forgot to say that the 6670 I have is from Gigabyte and it is the DDR3 version so I think I will go for the faster ram at this moment. But I heard that ram prices are skyrocketing for some reason. Should I wait to buy the ram?
RAM prices are like a yo-yo, just buy it when you need it. The basics of economics will stop the price from being too much of a rip off.
If you have the $ now, I would buy it. Not sure that we are going to be back to the ~$30-35 for 8 gb's of DDR3 anytime soon though.