CPU and Motherboard Suggestions for Kids PC

[Zorton_Maverick]

Morning All,

Looking for some suggestions in relation to the final bits-n-bobs needed for a PC I am building for my kids.
It will be used primarily for Internet Browsing, Watching movies, Gaming (Steam catalogue), etc.
The games they play are LEGO Batman, Disney Infinity, LEGO Marvel Super Heroes and Sonic Racing Transformed.

Will be running on Windows 7 Home edition and the parts I already have are as follows --

- Case - Zalman Z11 Plus
- PSU - OCZ ZS 650W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply
- RAM - Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1333 Mhz CL9 or Kingston HyperX 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1866 CL10 (Have both)
- SSD - Corsair Force 60GB SSD (For Windows)
- HDD - WD 1TB 3.5 inch Internal Hard Drive - Caviar Blue
- Cooler - Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO (120mm)

Want to try and keep the price as low as possible and as I am in Ireland, will be sourcing from Amazon.co.uk, Overclockers.co.uk, Aria.co.uk, Scan.co.uk, Dabs.ie, komplett.ie or the amazon.fr or .de sites ?? - GO with wherever is cheapest at the time (including P&P).

I did have a GTX660TI sourced but the deal feel through so I am at looking at the AMD APUs at the moment as the price point for an AMD APU + Motherboard sounds appealing.

Would also like to be able to do a little overclock for the fun if possible - just to play around with as opposed to performance requirement..

So what would you guys recommend ??
PS - When I was looking at the AMD APUs on amazon.co.uk, I found a lot of the FM2 and FM2+ were getting paired up with Micro or Mini boards, would rather an ordinary sized board if possible.

Many thanks and apologies for rambling on a little.
Looking to order now so all help/suggestions greatly appreciated.

 

[Zorton_Maverick]

Hi,

After some reading, I am now looking at getting the -

AMD A8 5600K Black Edition CPU (3.6GHZ, 4MB Cache, 4 Core, HD6570, Socket FM2, 100W, Retail Boxed)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0095VPAVE/ref=gno_cart_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3Q93IXKL8QM8W

with

Asus A88XM-PLUS Motherboard (Socket FM2+, AMD A88X, DDR3, S-ATA 600, Micro ATX, 1x PCI Express 3.0 x16, USB 3.0)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00G3PR2W0/ref=gno_cart_title_0?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

Comes to £113 altogther. Think it ticks all the boxes.
Can always add a GPU later if needed.

If anyone has this GPU and/or mobo and has any advice - would be appreciated.
Many thanks !!

 

[Mandrake4565]

A8-7600 is the newest APU chipset and the graphics part will be much better

The board you choose would work or if you want to save a few bucks this

I like the Asus board you choose though.

I definitely feel the AMD Apu is the right direct for the build though. I put together an A10 7850k/X88 build for my dad recently and was presently surprised by it.

 

[Zorton_Maverick]

Hey Mandrake-
Cheers mate. Gonna go with that suggestion for the CPU - that's 2-for-2 now (RAM and CPU) ;-)
Will stick with the Asus mobo as it's only £7+ more and I've had 2 Asus Mobos already - none of which have given me any issues.
Ordering now - free delivery so will take a week to 10 days to arrive.

Look forward to setting it up. Wasted a little money on buying the 4 Noctua Fans for the case (silly but what can you do) .
Thanks again

 

[Johan45]

Don't know what ram you're going with but higher speed rams works better with the APU since the GFX memory is your system memory.

 

[Zorton_Maverick]

Hi Johan,
When my new G Skills RAM arrives this week - will be using that with the 8350 -> means the Kingston 1866 will be free.
Thus, will be able to use the Kingston (1866 cl10) or the Corsair (1333 CL9).

According to Amazon - will have to wait 2-4weeks for the CPU
Ah well, will be patient. Love using amazon as there is great after-sales service with easy returns.

All ordered ...

 

[Mandrake4565]

Don't know what ram you're going with but higher speed rams works better with the APU since the GFX memory is your system memory.

On this point if you do feel that the rig is suffering in its graphics performance definitely look for higher speed ram. My dads rig had a big improvement when I was testing it when running my 1866 snipers at 2133 over the stock 1866. Here's the link but for some reason the attachment pics aren't working.