Budget AMD build for son

[shredz]

I would like to get advice for building an inexpensive Desktop for my son. I am trying to decide whether to give him my current pc (see sig) and build a new system for me (~$1200) or build an inexpensive system for him (~$250) based on amd combo and maybe APU. I don't know much about how good the APUs are or about the AMD line though and need some help.

Uses: 7yr old son plays minecraft, stronghold, gamemaker studio, light photography, internet for school stuff

Location: DFW TX. Willing to drive to Frys or Microcenter for great deals, Otherwise Newegg is preferred.

Need:
CPU
MOBO
GPU (APU??? or have an old geforce n210 512gb to throw in)
RAM: 8gb something
Operating system: Win 7?
PSU: mayber corsair cx 430 builder @microcenter for $20 AR
CASE: prefer a mini tower due to space constraints. Core 1000 Fractal?


Have:
HD: OCZ Vertex 2 60gb for OS
HD 2: 1 TB Drive for storage

Frys has
AMD A4-5300 + Asus A55BM-E combo for $90 + tax. Is that decent? Is the onboard 7480 good?

Thanks in advance for the help. I'm not trying to be difficult with 2 builds, just trying to price out my options and I need the help! Thanks mfenn, Charlie98, Essence_of_War and Ken_g6 for the advice on an intel build for me!

 

[mvbighead]

If you're building the one for your son, I'd say my recommendation in another thread is pretty close:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/39l7g

Just drop the disk drive. Maybe select a faster RAM option (one is available from newegg for $75 for 8GB DDR3 at 2100 speeds), and perhaps the A10 processor (puts the range above $250 however).

Granted, this all depends on what kind of stuff he intends to do, but this would be a fairly good start for the prices you're considering.

However, this does not include the OS.

 

[shredz]

Ok, looks good. I just need some opinions on processor. I'm not sure how much apu/gpu I will want.

His uses now are: minecraft, stronghold crusader, other 2d multiplayer games we play, gamemaker studio, rocksmith, internet surfing for school homework.

 

[nwo]

Holy crap, I cannot believe somebody still plays Stronghold crusader... My all time favorite RTS game! :biggrin:

Pretty much any AMD APU will be sufficient for 2d gaming. An A4 is very, very low end, so keep that in mind. But for 90 bucks with a motherboard, you can't complain. It shouldn't be too bad with an SSD though. Apparently you can even play some 3d games with it on low/medium settings (WoW).

Since you're going with 8GB of RAM, it might be worth investing a few extra bucks (no more than 5-10) into faster RAM (2133) because the AMD APU GPU will benefit from it.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Eh, the price is right, but I would not buy a dual core AMD apu. Cpu performance is just not there if you ever wanted to do more cpu intensive tasks or add a discrete card for more demanding games.

I would go with at least a quad core apu, or even a pentium which would probably be fine for the games you play now, and add a cheap card later. Microcenter in my area shows an AMD A8-6600k plus a motherboard for 119.00, but the link seems to be broken, so I dont know if it is a valid price. I definitely would check out the microcenter bundles and go for a quad apu though.

Edit: do you need a windows license? Also, I would forget about the gforce 210. Even an intel igp is probably faster than that.

 

[mvbighead]

I'd definitely agree with the others on stepping up to a better APU/CPU. My suggestion was more based on your starting budget. This CPU would be a much better alternative for a bit more coin:

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/amd-cpu-ad679kwohlbox

Or this bundle:
http://www.microcenter.com/store/add_product.aspx?productIDs=0422578,0414754

Seems to have a hard time loading in my browser right now, but at $140, you're paying $10 more for the board. And the integrated GPU is much nicer.

 

[shredz]

Ok, need to up the CPU. The microcenter site seems to be down now.

I will need to get some kind of windows license. Not sure if 8.1 or 7 would be best. He is also a student so maybe I can get a discount.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Eh, the price is right, but I would not buy a dual core AMD apu. Cpu performance is just not there if you ever wanted to do more cpu intensive tasks or add a discrete card for more demanding games.

I would go with at least a quad core apu, or even a pentium which would probably be fine for the games you play now, and add a cheap card later. Microcenter in my area shows an AMD A8-6600k plus a motherboard for 119.00, but the link seems to be broken, so I dont know if it is a valid price. I definitely would check out the microcenter bundles and go for a quad apu though.

Like the man wrote, stay away from "dualcore"/single-module APUs. The "quadcore"/dual-module ones are not that much more expensive, and can potentially double your CPU performance. Even at the expense of slightly lower clocks...

This article is worth a read. It only covers Trinity, for Richland just add the higher clocks:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/trinity-vs-ivy-bridge.html

Since you're going with 8GB of RAM, it might be worth investing a few extra bucks (no more than 5-10) into faster RAM (2133) because the AMD APU GPU will benefit from it.

Be aware that ONLY the 6800K (and Kaveri) officially supports 2133MHz memory. The rest is 1866MHz maximum, they do not have the proper divider for 2133MHz operation. Everything above 1866MHz is technically overclocking. I'm not saying you shouldn't be doing that, but its still something to keep in mind.

I have done a lot of testing with the Trinity/Richland memory controller. You should aim for 1866MHz, with the lowest timings you can afford. AMD's memory controller loves speed, but not at the expense of timings. Timings first, speed later...

 

[shredz]

Micro Center has the A10-7850k plus ASUS A55BM-E FM2+ Combo for $159 which seems like the most bang for the buck. Any opinions on that? I've read the reviews of the 7850k and they seem pretty mediocre. Also, is this motherboard up to snuff? Some newegg reviewers say that they had trouble with the bios. I don't really like being on the first generation of new tech, but the price of a a fair cpu/gpu/mobo seems tempting.

But review postings like this one give me pause:
I purchased the AMd 7850K and an Asus A55BM-E motherboard as part of Microcenter's bundles in Feb. 2014. I encountered nothing but issues.
The main reason is that of the time of this review, none of the included motherboards support the FM2+ processors out of the box.

I read multiple reviews of people not being able to use DVI out of the box. Had to use another CPU to get the board to post/windows and then after bios updates the board would accept the 7850k. Uggh. I don't think I'm up for that.

 

[mvbighead]

7850 supports a lot of newer feature sets:
http://cpuboss.com/cpus/AMD-A10-7850K-vs-AMD-A10-6800K

As for the board, you could get lucky and get a newer one. I have always had good luck with Asus myself, but I have seen boards require different CPUs to flash prior to using a specific CPU. We had that at a retail store I worked at ages ago, so we just went through our inventory or 20 or so boards and updated them all to avoid customer issues.

Can't say that MC does that sort of thing or not, but these have been out a while now so I suspect if MC is selling the combo, they may have boards with newer BIOS versions.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Micro Center has the A10-7850k plus ASUS A55BM-E FM2+ Combo for $159 which seems like the most bang for the buck. Any opinions on that? I've read the reviews of the 7850k and they seem pretty mediocre. Also, is this motherboard up to snuff? Some newegg reviewers say that they had trouble with the bios. I don't really like being on the first generation of new tech, but the price of a a fair cpu/gpu/mobo seems tempting.

What's mediocre about it? Essentially the same, even slightly better in some cases, CPU performance as the 6800K, at 400MHz lower clock. The 6800K and 7850K can even compare with the low-end Ivy i3, in multi-threaded workloads. The IGP outperforms both the 6800K, while using less power, and the highest end Intel Iris Pro graphics. That's nothing to scoff at...

Compared to an Intel CPU with a discrete graphics card, is another matter entirely. Another thing to mention is that Intel's drivers often don't play very nice with older titles.

I'm a little more hesitant about that board though. It uses the ancient A55 chipset (no SATA3, no USB3). I'd certainly recommend finding at least an A75/8 board to pair it with. The ASUS A78M-A looks very interesting feature vs. cost wise.

 

[shredz]

You are right Insert_Nickname! I didn't even notice. Only Sata3 and no USB 3.0. The next step up for $189 is the Asus A88XM-A, which has both USB 3.0 and SATA6gbs. The newegg reviews on it are only ok.

 

[nwo]

USB 3 and SATA 3 are nice, but according to the parts you listed, you don't need either one of the two. The SSD you have is SATA 2, and there isn't a HDD on the market today that is able to saturate SATA 2 bandwidth. Unless your son uses external HDDs or flash drives that are USB 3.0 I do not see the need for that either.

A10 7850k is a pretty decent budget CPU/APU. Should be more than enough for the uses you listed above. The CPU itself retails for $185 on newegg, so if you can get a CPU and motherboard for less than the price of CPU itself... You know it's a good deal :thumbsup:

 

[mfenn]

Needing Windows really kills your $250 budget. You effectively have $150 to spend on CPU, mobo, RAM, PSU, and case. I don't see how that's realistic.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

USB 3 and SATA 3 are nice, but according to the parts you listed, you don't need either one of the two. The SSD you have is SATA 2, and there isn't a HDD on the market today that is able to saturate SATA 2 bandwidth. Unless your son uses external HDDs or flash drives that are USB 3.0 I do not see the need for that either.

I'm going to respectfully disagree with that. The OP might not need it now, but its nice to have the future option for plugging a higher capacity SATA3-capable SSD later. USB3 is also very practical to have around, if you need to move large amounts of data for some reason.

 

[mvbighead]

I'm going to respectfully disagree with that. The OP might not need it now, but its nice to have the future option for plugging a higher capacity SATA3-capable SSD later. USB3 is also very practical to have around, if you need to move large amounts of data for some reason.

But the build is for his kid. An adult I could see, but a kid is not going to be backing up his prized family pictures or family videos.

If he was building this for himself, absolutely what you said. But as it's a kid, I just don't see the point.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

But the build is for his kid. An adult I could see, but a kid is not going to be backing up his prized family pictures or family videos.

You'd be surprised what kids can (will...) do to a PC...

Anyway, the way I see it the OP is "on the hook" for supporting the system. Might as well make it easy for himself.

 

[mvbighead]

You'd be surprised what kids can (will...) do to a PC...

Anyway, the way I see it the OP is "on the hook" for supporting the system. Might as well make it easy for himself.

Supporting the system??? The kid is 7. I really don't see how SATA3 or USB3 is going to make this system any more or less easy to support for a 7 year old.

 

[VirtualLarry]

The kid is getting an SSD already, a decent SATA2 performer. I don't think that they have a SATA6G or USB3.0 requirement.

 

[nwo]

Supporting the system??? The kid is 7. I really don't see how SATA3 or USB3 is going to make this system any more or less easy to support for a 7 year old.

Haha, even I overlooked the part where it says his son is only 7... You do not want to spoil him right off the bat. Give him something to look forward to in the future. Either way, he should be pleased with whatever you give him.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

I would like to get advice for building an inexpensive Desktop for my son. I am trying to decide whether to give him my current pc (see sig) and build a new system for me (~$1200) or build an inexpensive system for him (~$250) based on amd combo and maybe APU.

Build new for you and give him your old box. Nothing you build at such a low price point is going to be able to game. He will want more power fairly quickly.

 

[mvbighead]

Build new for you and give him your old box. Nothing you build at such a low price point is going to be able to game. He will want more power fairly quickly.

There are two edges to this concept though. Building for himself will be considerably more expensive.

I agree though, and that is my usual path. I have a PC, a virtual 'server', my wife's PC, and about 3-4 other computers out of parts I've had over the years. Some day, my son will have a computer... and it won't cost me much.

However, with an i7 in his computer, I would figure it still too early to do a system overhaul for his own. However, it could be a good route. Just a bit more $$$.

 

[shredz]

Build new for you and give him your old box. Nothing you build at such a low price point is going to be able to game. He will want more power fairly quickly.

However, with an i7 in his computer, I would figure it still too early to do a system overhaul for his own. However, it could be a good route. Just a bit more $$$.

Yes, I agree with both of your points. I'm not really ready to upgrade my I7 yet, but it would be more fun to build a new pc for me instead of a more budget limited one for my son's use only. But the cost difference is high. On the other hand, whatever I do I still need to spring for some constants (Case, PSU, CPU, RAM -$$, Windows). So, I'm leaning towards giving him my old PC and building a new one. The budget build sounds great on paper, but once I buy windows and RAM, the savings only really come from CPU/APU, MOBO and if I cheap out on PSU/CASE.

 

[mvbighead]

Hmmm, this might be the right pricepoint with windows, integrated GPU, and other specs:
http://www.officemax.com/technology/...k3KzkmTnA9Mg==

May not be available in your area, but that looks like a good price at a glance.

 

[shredz]

Hmmm, this might be the right pricepoint with windows, integrated GPU, and other specs:
http://www.officemax.com/technology/...k3KzkmTnA9Mg==

May not be available in your area, but that looks like a good price at a glance.

looks like a decent deal. But I can't see a way to check for stock near me.

If I do end up building, Windows 7 Home premium is $80 on newegg today. Should I get that or windows 8.1? Aaargh.....so many decisions.