Pemalite said:
Gilgamesh said:
Pemalite said:
Gilgamesh said: Hoping this isn't too off topic but since there's some pretty smart PC builders here I was wondering for a budget PC build is a APU the best way to go? I'm not a huge PC gamer but I do enjoy the occassional game, it will be connected to my tv. |
There are allot of variables that need to be considered.
Such as... * 1. Your budget. * 2. What resolution are you gaming at? (I.E. 1366x768 or 1920x1080 which are the common TV resolutions.) * 3. Form factor. (ITX, I.E. Shoe-box sized, Micro-ATX, ATX etc'.) * 4. Upgradeability. * 5 .Performance, I.E. Intel are faster than AMD in the CPU space, AMD are generally faster in the GPU space at any given price point, are your workloads/games more CPU or GPU heavy? (RTS games generally favor the CPU, FPS generally favors the GPU.) * 6. Noise. (AMD stock coolers, put jet engines to shame.) * 7. Overclocking.
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1.$500 (been looking at the new 2014 budget gaming pcs and they look really interesting.
2. 1920x1080 is my next TV.
3. This is sometihng to do with the motherboard, I haven't got much thought into that (never built a PC before always wanted to.)
4. Some, but I'm not overly worried (I proabably see myself playing a lot of older games on my PC, and most of the new ones would the PS3/PS4.
5. The only workload would be the games and like I said I'm not looking to maxed out all settings, maybe around high. (I don't play current RTS games)
6. Quiet would be nice for a living room computer, I don't want to be cranking the volume on the TV because the PC get's to loud.
7. Doubtful.
So pretty basic.
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You *Could* Sacrifice some of the Powersupply to save some money and bring it under the $500 mark, but personally I would stick with the Corsair TX, it will probably outlive the entire system so you can use it in the next, IMHO it's the most important component in a PC, it can save you money on energy, it supplies cleaner energy so your components last longer... And has protection mechanisms to protect your PC.
I would also look at spending an extra $100 and get a Quad-Core Haswell if you wan't your system to last longer. On Average in Single and Dual threaded scenario's the Pentium would be anywhere from 30-60% faster than an AMD APU, which sadly is still what the majority of games still target. http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116895
With Mantle the CPU is less of an issue in games that support it however and the Dual-Core is more than adequate for most games today even.
AMD FX CPU's, all of them... Are pretty bloody horrible. (I type this from my AMD FX machine.)
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Thanks for the info and advice, I'll definitely look into that.
You aswell Lucidium, I'll likely look into getting a second hand GPU. Sorry to derail your thread.