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helping a friend with a build

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givmedew

Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2010
Location
Chicago
Hi, my friend sent me a text said his computer is to slow to decode x264 1080p. It is kind of hard to believe that a 2GHz dual core cant handle that but none the less he just wants to build a new computer complete budget build. He has a 939 so no way to really upgrade.

What I was wondering is if there would be any reason to use a A85X over an A75. As far as I can see the only difference is that it has 8 sataIII ports which is just silly. I don't see anything that would suggest a lower power consumption or better overclocking ability or what not.

Also from my understanding there is an upgrade path for this socket in other words at least 1 more set of CPUs will launch on it. Given that if he is just looking for watching x264 1080p and surfing the web should he just get a cheap dual core and a decent motherboard and if he needs more buy it in a year or so?

He only needs a motherboard, processor, and memory. Everything else is covered.

Motherboard
processor
Memory

Or if he wants to spend some extra money on the proc I would prolly tell him to go all out and get the a10 and not have to worry about upgrading for a while.
 
A85X over an A75 = is most likely going to depend on the board manufacturer. Often entry level chipsets live on entry level motherboards. Bios development for manual adjustment may suffer on the entry level board.

Now if he wants the A10 then I would let a revew that does overclocking in the course of the review and let that guide me toward a board. And then I would g00gle the crap out of the board for some user that is either over joyed are greatly put off and see what is what.

EDIT:
Although not specified I assume we are talking Trinity APU?
END EDIT.
 
Any APU should be able to decode HD video without much trouble. The motherboard won't have much affect on that. It boils down to whether or not he wants to upgrade in a year. Seems silly to buy a slower APU now if he's going to end up upgrading next year. Next year's APUs will certainly be better but they won't be a huge improvement over the current ones. If he doesn't want to overclock I would get a reliable but cheaper motherboard and an A10 5800k. He'll be good for a while with that.
 
You can also shave some more dollars off the RAM. APUs love fast RAM but you could probably find a 1600 kit that will OC well past 1866 on the trinity IMC.

As far as the A75 vs A85 chipsets, well the more important thing is to make sure that you get one with a VRM heatsink. If hes planning to overclock you are REALLY going to want to look into a K series chip. The APUs like LGA 1155 chips have the PCI-e and a host of other things tied up in the CPU off the bclk. APUs generally only like going 1-6 Mhz over spec before issues spring up. To get past that you can disable AHCI and a few other options and shoot for 133(IDE mode + 133 bclk trigger a legacy divisor) as a starting point, but thats a pretty stiff OC off the top and your giving up ALOT of performance on disk access and other areas to get it.
 
Thanks for the info/help everybody. He told me he would be willing to throw an extra $100+ at it since he didn't need any hard drives, dvd-rom, or PSU so I talked him into going with a ASROCK z77 w/i5-3570k. Used the same Sniper Ram. Was going to get the 2500K from Microcenter but they upped the price (was $160) and after tax ($19) and driving (Chicago traffic sucks) the price difference on the 3570k wasn't worth it so went with newegg.

Let you guys know how it went after its all done. (Thursday or Friday I hope)
 
Thanks for the info/help everybody. He told me he would be willing to throw an extra $100+ at it since he didn't need any hard drives, dvd-rom, or PSU so I talked him into going with a ASROCK z77 w/i5-3570k. Used the same Sniper Ram. Was going to get the 2500K from Microcenter but they upped the price (was $160) and after tax ($19) and driving (Chicago traffic sucks) the price difference on the 3570k wasn't worth it so went with newegg.

Let you guys know how it went after its all done. (Thursday or Friday I hope)
 
Thanks for the info/help everybody. He told me he would be willing to throw an extra $100+ at it since he didn't need any hard drives, dvd-rom, or PSU so I talked him into going with a ASROCK z77 w/i5-3570k. Used the same Sniper Ram. Was going to get the 2500K from Microcenter but they upped the price (was $160) and after tax ($19) and driving (Chicago traffic sucks) the price difference on the 3570k wasn't worth it so went with newegg.

Let you guys know how it went after its all done. (Thursday or Friday I hope)
 
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