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Upgrade path for A8-7600

Homerboy

Homerboy

Lifer
A Christmas or 2 ago I set my son up with a AMD A8-7600 machine - nothing fancy or crazy just something to do homework on, play minecraft and a few other games (Gary's Mod etc)

Well now he's looking to upgrade, and I was wonder what the best and/or least expensive path would be.

I was thinking about toss in an X4 870K in there and a GTX 750 Ti and getting him an SSD for his boot drive.
Is this the best path? Or should I just go about trying to piece up a whole new PC?

At most he will play in 1080p. Maybe some newer games eventually though he has his PS4 for that...

Thanks in advance.
 
Homerboy said:
A Christmas or 2 ago I set my son up with a AMD A8-7600 machine - nothing fancy or crazy just something to do homework on, play minecraft and a few other games (Gary's Mod etc)

Well now he's looking to upgrade, and I was wonder what the best and/or least expensive path would be.

I was thinking about toss in an X4 870K in there and a GTX 750 Ti and getting him an SSD for his boot drive.
Is this the best path? Or should I just go about trying to piece up a whole new PC?

At most he will play in 1080p. Maybe some newer games eventually though he has his PS4 for that...

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
What is you budget limit for upgrades or building a new PC? How about this build, it's under $400:
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/RzkB8K
Just add a video card such as the 1050Ti.
 
Homerboy said:
Not a bad option - could just get the CPU/MB/RAM actually and carry over the case/PSU/HDD
I'd have to do a complete Windows reinstall though - and that sucks 😛
Click to expand...
You should be able to as long as case fits the motherboard's form factor and the PSU will meet the requirements of the video card.
 
Yeah I'd think they would.
Still not EXACTLY what I wanted to do though. That's a lot of work/headache for me 🙂
 
Homerboy said:
any other suggestions for upgrade paths for this build? Ideally upgrading what is in place.
Click to expand...

Homerboy said:
I was thinking about toss in an X4 870K in there and a GTX 750 Ti and getting him an SSD for his boot drive.
Click to expand...

IMHO, you've pretty much answered your own question. The above certainly isn't a bad idea, though you might consider a newer GT1030 or even 1050non-TI. That should work for light gaming @ 1080p. As a bonus you get full decode acceleration for VP9, which Youtube uses. The 750TI lacks this.

If your board supports it, you can consider the Athlon 845. If you can dig one up somewhere. Its the "best" CPU for FM2+ from a feature standpoint, being identical to AM4 Bristol Ridge, though it gets outperformed by higher clocked Kaveri/Godavaris. I have two systems with this CPU and it isn't bad for the price.
 
Insert_Nickname said:
IMHO, you've pretty much answered your own question. The above certainly isn't a bad idea, though you might consider a newer GT1030 or even 1050non-TI. That should work for light gaming @ 1080p. As a bonus you get full decode acceleration for VP9, which Youtube uses. The 750TI lacks this.

If your board supports it, you can consider the Athlon 845. If you can dig one up somewhere. Its the "best" CPU for FM2+ from a feature standpoint, being identical to AM4 Bristol Ridge, though it gets outperformed by higher clocked Kaveri/Godavaris. I have two systems with this CPU and it isn't bad for the price.
Click to expand...

This Athlon 845?

https://www.amazon.com/AMD-Near-Sil...TF8&qid=1512568126&sr=8-1&keywords=Athlon+845

It'd be going into a MSI A78M-E35 so I will have to check the compatibility.

Edit: Which it doesn't look like it supports: https://us.msi.com/Motherboard/support/A78M-E35#support-cpu
 
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Homerboy said:
This Athlon 845?

https://www.amazon.com/AMD-Near-Sil...TF8&qid=1512568126&sr=8-1&keywords=Athlon+845
Click to expand...

That's the one.

Homerboy said:
It'd be going into a MSI A78M-E35 so I will have to check the compatibility.

Edit: Which it doesn't look like it supports: https://us.msi.com/Motherboard/support/A78M-E35#support-cpu
Click to expand...

I find it odd there is no support for even the Godavari (Kaveri refresh) APUs. MSI properbly forgot about the model or chose not to support it. Your best bet on that board would be the 860K. The extra frequency and not having to share the TDP with an IGP should help out.

Kaveri downclocks to 3GHz if the IGP is loaded BTW.
 
Insert_Nickname said:
That's the one.



I find it odd there is no support for even the Godavari (Kaveri refresh) APUs. MSI properbly forgot about the model or chose not to support it. Your best bet on that board would be the 860K. The extra frequency and not having to share the TDP with an IGP should help out.

Kaveri downclocks to 3GHz if the IGP is loaded BTW.
Click to expand...

Yeah - I found it weird too that there are "gaps" in their list of supported CPUs. Could just be they aren't listing them all being that it's an older board. Still I'd rather be 100% sure it will work versus assuming a CPU will work.And yeah. based on that chart the 860K is my best bet so I think that is the route I will go with an IGP. Probably toss in a SSD too make it "feel" faster all around.
 
Just want to share my experience after recently sidegraded to X4 845 from 860k. Overall it's better. Much lesser heat and slightly better than 860k (based on CPUZ benchmark). A lot of store have year-end sale and in my case I got this for less than $50.
Oh, and also if you already had heatpipe-based HSF, it will keep 845 in its turbo mode for quite a long time.

edit: after looking for your board's BIOS update, I don't think 845 will work on your board. It's a shame because your board supposed to be better than mine. Second hand 860k and beefy HSF maybe your best bet.
 
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ao_ika_red said:
Just want to share my experience after recently sidegraded to X4 845 from 860k. Overall it's better. Much lesser heat and slightly better than 860k (based on CPUZ benchmark). A lot of store have year-end sale and in my case I got this for less than $50.
Oh, and also if you already had heatpipe-based HSF, it will keep 845 in its turbo mode for quite a long time.

edit: after looking for your board's BIOS update, I don't think 845 will work on your board. It's a shame because your board supposed to be better than mine. Second hand 860k and beefy HSF maybe your best bet.
Click to expand...

Yeah it's not listed whcih is a bummer. Might still support it but I'm not gambling.
For now he can stick with the A8-7600, turn off the AGP and I have a GTX 1050 on the way to use. Should be quite a notable upgrade for him I think.
Thanks for your input though
 
Homerboy said:
Might still support it but I'm not gambling.
Click to expand...
iirc 845 (carrizo) uses different imc than kaveri apu so it needs agesa update to function properly (should come with BIOS update around 2015-2016). If you stick with 7600, I suggest to tweak its DRAM latency. It's quite noticable, even when just browsing around the web.
 
You need to get him new motherboard, new generation cpu, new ddr4 ram or get an used intel haswell platform for dirt cheap then throw in any used/modern video card with the horse power of a 1050ti or Rx 470.

Any upgrade on Am2+ or am3+ platform is meanlingless
 
There is no real CPU upgrade for your board. The Athlons and A-series are basically the same architecture (845 is slightly different), you might get a very slight clockspeed bump but I doubt changing out the CPU with any other FM2+ chip will be a noticeable improvement. You're looking at a full rebuild.
 
Insert_Nickname said:
The A8-7600 uses the FM2+ platform, which, while being effectively EOL with the AM4 release, isn't exactly old from a feature perspective.

Don't let the Athlon branding fool you, they exist for FM1/2(+) too.
Click to expand...
What’s the difference between an Athlon and an apu? Athlon is pretty much the same chip minus the integrated graphics
 
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