Hey everyone Been a while since I last posted on here, been far too busy with work and all that jazz to have time to do much to my computer. My parents are wanting to upgrade their PC I made for them three years ago, and having not had to buy much tech within that time, I'm a little behind when it comes to best 'bang for buck'. Having had a quick scan at scan (like what I did there ) I was thinking of going for a AMD APU A6 - 3670K, and matching it with a suitable motherboard - Asus F1A75-M, then getting 4GB of DDR3 1333. I’ve had a small look at what the APU systems have to offer, but can't find an answer to what I'd consider to be a relatively simple question - Do you require a separate GPU when using a APU CPU, or is it only if you wish to increase performance? If I can run it without a dedicated GPU, that’s fine, as it will only be used for relatively straight forward tasks on a daily basis. I was also thinking of adding a SanDisk SSD. I would be extremely appreciative if someone could point me in the right direction with this, like I say, I’ve got a bit of catching up to do. Thank you Gaz
Do your parents play games? If not or if they are fairly easy to run games at medium res then an APU will no doubt suit them perfectly. I would also stump up for 8gb of ram, that seems to be the minimum these days. A mid range SSD would be good too, not seen much about the san disk ones but for the price they will still be much better than an hdd.
personally I would look at either 1600 or 1866 ram and 2x4GB - the onchip graphics really likes faster ran , something like: £35 - 1600mhz ram http://www.scan.co.uk/products/8gb-...pc3-12800-(1600)-non-ecc-cas-9-9-9-24-xmp-15v or http://www.scan.co.uk/products/8gb-...c3-14900-(1866)-non-ecc-cas-9-10-9-27-xmp-15v for £41 for 1866mhz ram
Thanks for your reply CrapBag. They certainly won't be lol, only internet use, slight photo editing, and that’s it really. I was very surprised at how cheap DDR3 is now, so I'll take a look at how much more 8GB would be. Do you know if I would need a dedicated GPU with using a APU, or is the whole idea of a APU that you only use the processor unless you require more graphical power? I plan to use the same PSU which is a corsair 430 builder series, and put it in the original case. Only extra thing I’ve realised is we'll have to get a SATA DVD-RW, as the FM1 board doesn't support IDE (kind of expected it wouldn't lol).
Thanks Harlequin, however thats just reminded me of a slight issue with the whole RAM thing, I'll be using XP 32 bit, not 64 Thats probably another good question, does the FM1 tech still support XP ok?
Oh dear, thats sort of thrown another spanner in the works, as the budget was £200 lol, I think I'll have to have a re-think. I assume everything from Vista onwards is supported?
Don't use XP. It's a massively dated OS with more holes in it than a sieve. Might as well get them Windows 8. It only took my parents a week or so to get used to it. The APU is generally used for things like games, certain video encoding programs and for HD movies. Even the base gpu in the C50/60 series can handle 1080p blu-ray so I wouldn't worry about the A6 lacking power.
Thanks Tangster. I'm just a little worryed that it will take a while for them to get used to another OS, although theres only one way to find out lol. I might also consider the dual core A4 APU, would this still be reasonable for general every day usage? They'll be coming from a Athlon II 2.8GHz Thanks for your time Gaz
I can agree with what everyone else says, apart from Windows 8. I can't trust a Microsoft OS for at least 6 months after launch, or SP1. The PC I built for my parents a little while ago was an APU, and they think that's the bee's knee's. I even put an SSD in there for good measure. I'd stick with Windows 7. I'm taking the original reason for XP was becuase that's what your parents are used to- Windows 7 is way more similar to XP than 8, so it'll be easier to adapt to. That's my recommendation.
actually the £30 A4 would be quite a good choice http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/ian-stevenson/amd-a4-3400-apu-review/ review shows its not all that bad for the money tbh edit: problem though is 1 of cost - if they already have winxp , then you need to throw £50 or so for win7 - whilst win8 upgrade is under £25 till the end of of jan
I use a AMD C60 APU(pretty much the lowest spec APU) on my laptop. That's fast enough for internet and such. Probably not great for photo editing. The A4 5300 is still an upgrade from the Athlon II. The original A4 is an Athlon II with a GPU bolted on. Here are a couple baskets. Top is FM2 and SATA3 with the faster A4 5300, lower is FM1 and SATA2.
get the FM2 kit - and get win8 from doing the upgrade win win all round edit: I use http://www.scan.co.uk/products/8gb-...pc3-12800-(1600)-non-ecc-cas-9-9-9-24-xmp-15v better cas timings and 1.5v
Thanks for all these replies guys, very very appreciated. I definitely would want to go down the SSD route, so I think I'll stick with a SATA 6GB board, purely for future proofing, as my parents tend to keep their computers for quite some time. I'll try and find some decent videos to try and show them the comparisons between windows 7 + 8, and see which they would prefer. I was thinking of getting Windows 7 myself, does anyone know if I could purchase one disc, but two CD keys from Micro$oft? Once again thanks everyone, fantastic to get this sort of response, given me a lot to think about lol
