[Canceled] FM2 gaming build

[TheWildRose]

[/THREAD]

Changing to AM3+

Before I get started, This computer is going to be serving two purposes: My mom's (Yes you read right, She's a 50 year old gamer girl (woman?).
And also acting as a temporary server some night when she's not using it (Most likely hosting a small Minecraft server for me and my friends, other game server, etc). It's also built with being an okay deal of futureproof.

Original budget: $1000

Parts:
Motherboard: F2A85-V PRO - We would've picked the regular version, but it isn't available from my supplier.
- ASUS Reliability.
- Good features.
- Not a cheap piece of turd.

CPU: AMD A10-5800k - We picked this processor/platform out of interest of the new APUs.
- High-end CPU will be more futureproof than say an A8.
- Higher-tier integrated graphics.
+ CoolerMaster Hyper612 PWM. (I'm very excited to try this cooler).

GPU: MSI Twin Frozr AMD Radeon HD 7850 - I'm donating it from my current half-broken rig.
- Great 1080p performance.
- Free (I will include it's current market price in the total though, in case anyone wonders the total with it.)

RAM: Corsair Vengeance (Blue) low-profile edition - Picked because it's Corsair and a decent price.
- 1600mhz.
- C9 9-9-9-24.

Storage:
1x Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB - Chose for it being my favorite brand of hard drive, always reliable.
- 1TB.
- Good price.
- Great drive.

Optical Drive: ASUS 24x DVD burner. - Because everyone picks this for a good reason.
- Cheap.
- Reliable.

PSU: Corsair TX650 - Chose for my love of Corsair, and their high reliability.
- 650W.
- 80+ Bronze.
- Good price.

Case: Cooler Master 690 II Advanced USB 3 - She liked the case. (It took literally hours to find a case she liked!)

Monitor: Dell S2230MX - Same monitor I'm getting 2 of for my workstation/gaming rig.
- 1080p.
- Not $400 (She wanted a touch-screen until we found out that detail.).

Keyboard: Logitech G110 - This is my surprise to her she doesn't know about, she likes colourful things.
- Good keyboard (Apparently the only good thing Logitech makes...).
- Macro keys.
- Backlighting.

Mouse: Razer Taipan - She's left-handed.
- Ambidextrous
- Good DPI
- Good brand

And of course, Windows 8.

Total: ~$1200 (Yes going over budget does run in the family).
Yes I know we could get rid of extras/fancy things to cut down, but it's really not that bad.
If you factor in that we're not buying the graphics card the build costs us ~$1025, so in terms of our actual budget we got in just over it!
Anyway, I think it's a nice build. What does everyone else think?

Thanks for any opinions/suggestions!

[BlueByte]

As soon as I saw the discreet card I was wondering why you were going with a FM2 build??? For the same price you should be able to get a 6 core AMD AM3 that will a) OC better b) have 2 more cores. You are pretty much buying two video cards to only disable one.

AMD FX-6300 Six Core Processor Socket AM3+ 3.5GHZ 14MB 95W Retail Box

[frontier204]

As BlueByte mentioned, you'll be wasting the GPU side of the A10 if you pair it with any GPU. (Even if you wanted to use the dual graphics feature, price/performance still goes to a regular CPU or Intel + a GPU that outperforms the dual graphics.)

From Newegg.com prices (because of your USA location), an Asus F2A85-PRO + A10-5800K will set you back $270. For the same $270 you could get with better performance:

Intel, no OC: (EDIT: also satisfies your curiosity for "APUs" as Ivy Bridge contains an IGP)
Newegg.com - Intel Core i5-3470 Ivy Bridge 3.2GHz (3.6GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2500 BX80637i53470
Newegg.com - MSI B75MA-P45 LGA 1155 Intel B75 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

AMD, with OC:
Newegg.com - AMD FX-6300 Vishera 3.5GHz (4.1GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 95W Six-Core Desktop Processor FD6300WMHKBOX
Newegg.com - ASUS M5A99X EVO R2.0 AM3+ AMD 990X SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
(seems to be a $10 instant rebate in with the CPU but doesn't show in the price)

[TheWildRose]

Originally Posted by BlueByte

As soon as I saw the discreet card I was wondering why you were going with a FM2 build??? For the same price you should be able to get a 6 core AMD AM3 that will a) OC better b) have 2 more cores. You are pretty much buying two video cards to only disable one.

AMD FX-6300 Six Core Processor Socket AM3+ 3.5GHZ 14MB 95W Retail Box

I'm very interested int he FM2 A10 processor.
The discrete card is (As I mentioned) a hand-me-down from me.
We were looking into a 6-core AM3+ build but got interested in the A10, After a bit of research and price checking the build will be cheaper on FM2 anyway.
The A10 is all she'll ever need for a processor, and the same with the GPU.

If the AM3+ parts we'd like to get go down in price we might switch, but for right now FM2 is cheaper so that's what were going with. As for more cores, more cores aren't ALWAYS better. 4 will be plenty, As for overclocking, I doubt there will be much of that, But in the case that there is any the Hyper612 can handle that nicely, so all around Fm2 is a good build choice at the current moment.

[TheWildRose]

Originally Posted by frontier204

As BlueByte mentioned, you'll be wasting the GPU side of the A10 if you pair it with any GPU. (Even if you wanted to use the dual graphics feature, price/performance still goes to a regular CPU or Intel + a GPU that outperforms the dual graphics.)

From Newegg.com prices (because of your USA location), an Asus F2A85-PRO + A10-5800K will set you back $270. For the same $270 you could get with better performance:

Intel, no OC: (EDIT: also satisfies your curiosity for "APUs" as Ivy Bridge contains an IGP)
Newegg.com - Intel Core i5-3470 Ivy Bridge 3.2GHz (3.6GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2500 BX80637i53470
Newegg.com - MSI B75MA-P45 LGA 1155 Intel B75 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

AMD, with OC:
Newegg.com - AMD FX-6300 Vishera 3.5GHz (4.1GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 95W Six-Core Desktop Processor FD6300WMHKBOX
Newegg.com - ASUS M5A99X EVO R2.0 AM3+ AMD 990X SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
(seems to be a $10 instant rebate in with the CPU but doesn't show in the price)

Thanks for the input!
As I mentioned in my previous reply to BlueByte, The FM2 build is currently cheaper than an AM3+ build with the parts we want, We don't need to worry about cores or OC as much.

As for the IGP, The A10's GPU is much stronger than Intel's (according to the reviews I've read/watched, and benchmarks) So it's a good fallback for my (heavily) used 7850 that could very easily fail. According to the previous owner it was bought at the release of the 7850 Twin Frozr, And been in pretty uch daily use since then, And it's performance is starting to drop a bit. (Then again it could be my half broken motherboard...) but it's a good fallback.

If prices shift I might change to an AM3+ build, or possibly an Intel build, But in that case we'll probably buy a new graphics card alltogether.

[ShinraCorp]

So an APU with a Discrete GPU that's not even compatible for a Dual-Graphics mode. Your settings aren't future proof. I myself have the 1st Gen APU and to be frankly honest APU's are nothing more but for mainstream computers, I can play Starcraft 2 on High, Battlefield 3 on Medium and that's about it. To enable Dual Graphics mode is a headache itself (switch the HDMI cables around from the on-board graphics to the discrete card and modifying the BIOS settings.) You also need Windows 7, I do not think AMD programmed Dual-Graphics for Windows 8 yet.

Now as for the server side of things... I suppose this is good for minecraft, but for high end games, forget it. The CPU part of the APU is very weak, and Minecraft if I remember correctly only uses a single core which AMD isn't best known for single core tasks. Minecraft wasn't programmed with multi-core in mind since it's running off JAVA and the game itself isn't really a CPU intense game... but a server however is always CPU intense, if you really want a game server you will need Intel processors, it's a fact sorry.

I'll be happy to help you more if you need any more info.

[BlueByte]

The FM2 is good for 1080P on medium settings, thats not a problem. He will be able to use this as a small game server, you won't need an intel over AMD(both will work well for him). Once you scale past a certain point you are looking at a different build compleatly anyways for a game server. This will work for a game server with a dozen of your friends connecting.

If you go with this build go for faster ram if you do end up using the GPU part of the APU. 1866Mhz would be the starting speed I would suggest looking at.

[Bond007]

With that budget I would not recommend FM2. There are much faster processors that would fit your budget, and give better performance, since you are using a discrete card. There are certain times when APU are great, IMO this type of build is not one of them.

[TheWildRose]

To address everything: (Skip to the bold "CONCLUSION" at the bottom to not read me explaining our/my mindset/thought process)

The original build was going to be an AM3+ build.
The problem with that build was we were looking for a certain motherboard, Turns out the motherboard isn't released and is set on a huge delay. So I looked around at a lot of motherboards that have the features I want. All of them either were too cheap (And had plenty of reviews to back the quality) Wasn't one of the brands we're looking for, or we're a bit out of the price range for a mobo we had. After a lot of looking into AM3+ we took a lot at FM2. It seemed like a good idea. After the feedback it seems otherwise.

I should've stayed on a platform I was more familar with, I seem to have messed up a bit here.

Note some things I'm aware of though:
- I'm aware Intel is much better for servers, But this PC will only act as a maybe 6-player (At most) Minecraft server, And possibly the same size BF2 server, Etc. Nothing huge. Any other server needs I have I can just run alongside the game on my main workstation that I'll be building (3770k, 32GB RAM, GTX 680), It'll just be a nice benefit that I can run a server off the remote connection rather than directly on my PC (I have a REALLY bad habit of accidentally closing things, Believe me, that can get annoying)

- I'm aware that Intel would be a good choice for the purpose, But since the donated 7850 is a bit tired, It's possible that it's being close to failing (Can't tell since my current mobo is already broken) And the graphics on the APU are much better for temporary use than Intel's, Not to mention the APU is only $120, vs $200 for an i5-3470. And if we were going with the i5 we'd probably just go with the 3570 anyway. Plus a new graphics card better than the used 7850. And that adds cost. Especially since we would most likely go with a 660 ti.

-AM3+ Would be a slightly better choice. But remember this wasn't going to be a huge performance PC.
And seeing as to a Core 2 Duo can still run any game today maxed, CPU power isn't really a big requirement.
Plus, since there is no Integrated Graphics Processor we would want to go with a new graphics card for sure, (Again, most likely a 660 ti) So it ends up being more expensive in the long run (For exactly what we want, At least.)

Things I wasn't aware of:
- The 7850 isn't compatible with the hybrid dual-graphics mode
- Technology isn't fully compatible with the FM2 technology yet.

CONCLUSION:

We'll be switching to an AM3+ build, with a new dedicated graphics card.
I'll update this build, and (Probably) post again the new revised specs.
I thank everyone for the feedback, I've learned a lot about FM2 in this couple of days, So if anything this semi-failure still gained me some knowledge about the APUs.

[frontier204]

Originally Posted by TheWildRose

But since the donated 7850 is a bit tired, It's possible that it's being close to failing (Can't tell since my current mobo is already broken)

What "tires" out a video card? Did you run it overclocked in a case with bad cooling? If not, then I wouldn't be putting any "artificial" lifespans on that card. Just look at how many people on this forum are still doing 24/7 Folding@Home on nVidia GTX 2xx cards.

Clean the dust off the fan of that 7850, and run MSI Kombustor on that card for half a day - that should be enough to tell you if you should use it in your new build.