Bought New PC (Desperately Need Your Help!) Thanks!

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snapptastic

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Jun 22, 2012
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Hey everyone! First post here (second actually), but I've been here many many times. Thanks for all the previous help that you all have given me. Now to the point.

Today I bought a computer from Costco. It is an HP with an AMD A10 5700 (3.4 GHz) with 12GB of RAM (which is probably a waste) and a 2TB Hard Drive (probably a waste too). It also came with a GFX card (Discrete ATI RADEON HD 7660D), but I just noticed it's only 512MB of Dedicated Memory.. Now I paid $700 for this and am getting a $100 rebate in the mail.. Did I get a good/bad deal? I'm looking to play games like Diablo 3, Starcraft 2, and Battlefield 3 with it. How will it fare? What should I change?


My past PC was an Intel Pentium D (3.2 GHz) with 2 GB of Ram, a 1GB GT 520 (CRAP) Video Card, and a 160GB Hard Drive, so I saw this as a HUGE Upgrade.. And that computer ran Diablo 3 beautifully on Medium settings.. and Starcraft 2 on Low/Medium settings, with some stutter.. However it couldn't even load Battlefield 3.

So if you computer gurus could help me out here, I would REALLY appreciate it! Thank you!
 
SithSolo1

SithSolo1

Diamond Member
Mar 19, 2001
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It may say "Discrete" but thats actually the GPU built into the CPU. Think of it as souped up on-board.

I honestly don't think its a great deal for playing those games. If you can build your own, you could do better for $600. Heck, you can probably buy better pre-built for that money.
 
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snapptastic

Member
Jun 22, 2012
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See I don't pretend to know a hell of a lot about computers.. So I don't even try to build my own.. Can I add another GFX card to this computer? How good is this APU? I was under the impressions that the A10-5700 could compete with the HIGH END i5's and very LOW END i7's in CPU terms.. and that the GPU was much better than the integrated cards that Intel provides. Was I wrong to assume so? Is 512MB on the Graphics Card going to bottleneck??
 
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2is

Diamond Member
Apr 8, 2012
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Yeah, not a good deal. Should really have posed this question BEFORE making the purchase. That CPU can not even come close to high end i5's... AMD's best 8 core processors can't even do that. The built in IGP is better than that of the i5/i7 but if you're gaming you're going to have a standalone video card for video anyway.
 
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Xpage

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Jun 22, 2005
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www.riseofkingdoms.com
actually it's $600.

The PC isn't bad, CPU should be strong enough for many games, but may be taxed if you try to run at max settings, CPU will be limiting. The graphics is built in, 7660D is the GPU part of the llano cpu you are running.

HP won't let you OC the PC so your CPU is maxed, and you can probably add in a midrange GPU (say 150w draw max, depending on the PSU spec, but probably closer to a 100w one) without killing the meager PSU they give you on those builds.

It will game but not at max settings at a large resolution with playable frames.


I am outdated on video cards but if you can get something with will crossfire with your on board GPU that would be good, but for your budget spend the 100 rebate and another 50 and get a HD 7770 or preferrably a 7850
 
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snapptastic

Member
Jun 22, 2012
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I mean I have 90 Days to take it back, no hassle.. I just thought this was a good processor/graphics card combination. Can someone point me in the right direction as far as what is "good"?
 
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2is

Diamond Member
Apr 8, 2012
4,281
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Smoblikat said:
4gb is still plenty for gaming
Click to expand...

If by plenty you mean just bearly enough on a lightly loaded system, I suppose it's plenty.

OP: Take advantage of that 90 day return policy.

What's your budget? $700? And would you be interested in building your own?
 
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snapptastic

Member
Jun 22, 2012
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Xpage said:
actually it's $600.

The PC isn't bad, CPU should be strong enough for many games, but may be taxed if you try to run at max settings, CPU will be limiting. The graphics is built in, 7660D is the GPU part of the llano cpu you are running.

HP won't let you OC the PC so your CPU is maxed, and you can probably add in a midrange GPU (say 150w draw max, depending on the PSU spec, but probably closer to a 100w one) without killing the meager PSU they give you on those builds.

It will game but not at max settings at a large resolution with playable frames.
Click to expand...


See Battlefield 3 is the REAL test for me. My native resolution is 1600x1200 and I HOPE to run the game at medium settings (AT THE LEAST). Will this be possible? Is a 512MB GPU too little? I always see bigger numbers for graphics cards, so maybe I'm not understanding this right.. If you could point me in the right direction of understanding this or if you could explain it I would really appreciate it. Thank you!
 
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snapptastic

Member
Jun 22, 2012
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2is said:
If by plenty you mean just bearly enough on a lightly loaded system, I suppose it's plenty.

OP: Take advantage of that 90 day return policy.

What's your budget? $700? And would you be interested in building your own?
Click to expand...

Yeah $700-$850.. And I would be interested in building my own, but I don't know how to ACTUALLY build all of it lol. I have taken out and installed new PSU's, Graphics Cards, and RAM, but I don't know any of the other inner workings of computers..
 
SithSolo1

SithSolo1

Diamond Member
Mar 19, 2001
7,740
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Take it back, that processor will in no way compete with an i5, maybe an i3.

If you don't want to build your own, you could probably buy this system (Dell 620 w/ i5 + 6GB ram) as is and then toss this video card (MSI Radeon 7770 w/ $15 MIR Card ) in it and it would completely destroy the one you just bought. But thats not to says it would run BF3 maxed out at any playable frame rate.

Somebody double check this. Dell says it has a 300w psu. Even a completely bum one should run that card right?
 
2

2is

Diamond Member
Apr 8, 2012
4,281
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It's easy. Best thing to do is take your time and if you have any doubts about something, ask... Don't forget to ask before you take action though ;)

You'll soon be inundated with build suggestions I'm sure!
 
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2is

Diamond Member
Apr 8, 2012
4,281
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I say we bump that CPU up to a 3570k... It's well within his budget and will let him do some OCing when he's ready for it.
 
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snapptastic

Member
Jun 22, 2012
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Thanks for all the links guys! I really do appreciate it! One more question though. When I was at Costco, there was a Dell for $900 (and a $100 Rebate, so $800), with a Intel i7-2600, 12GB RAM, 1 TB HD. Is that a better deal than what I got, or crap as well?
 
2

2is

Diamond Member
Apr 8, 2012
4,281
131
106
snapptastic said:
Thanks for all the links guys! I really do appreciate it! One more question though. When I was at Costco, there was a Dell for $900 (and a $100 Rebate, so $800), with a Intel i7-2600, 12GB RAM, 1 TB HD. Is that a better deal than what I got, or crap as well?
Click to expand...

Much better from a CPU stand point but you would need to spend another $200-300 for a good video card (i'm positive it would be using IGP) so stlll a bad deal.
 
SithSolo1

SithSolo1

Diamond Member
Mar 19, 2001
7,740
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Its a much better CPU but they are still taking you to the cleaners. They give you 12GB of ram hoping you don't notice that its lacking any kind of decent graphics card.
 
Durvelle27

Durvelle27

Diamond Member
Jun 3, 2012
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snapptastic said:
Thanks for all the links guys! I really do appreciate it! One more question though. When I was at Costco, there was a Dell for $900 (and a $100 Rebate, so $800), with a Intel i7-2600, 12GB RAM, 1 TB HD. Is that a better deal than what I got, or crap as well?
Click to expand...

you'll still end up need a nice gpu so it will be more than $900
 
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snapptastic

Member
Jun 22, 2012
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Okay cool, I'll take all of this into real consideration! So I really want to build my own now.. but I also don't want to be without a computer for that whole week waiting for the parts to come in. I need to return this one to get the money before I can buy the new parts.


So are you all telling me that my CPU is what is going to bottleneck my whole system? Is that 512 MB HD 7660 GPU not that bad?
 
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