2 Computer Upgrade

[choliscott]

Hi Everyone, I have been tasked with picking out some parts for a couple of computer upgrades that will probably happen in the next month or two. The first one is for an adult & the other is for a teenager.

The teenager machine would need to be as cheap as possible, but still allow for playing of games (like Battlefield, Mass Effect, etc) & watching of videos. I was looking at an APU, but from what I've read, its better to go with an AMD 750K & pairing it with either a 7770 or 7850 video card? Or would it be better to pair one of these two cards with an 6300?

The adult machine would also need to be cheap, but not as cheap as the teenager machine. The overall idea of this machine would be able to last for a while & be able to handle most things thrown at it (play games, watch videos, video editing, etc). I was thinking of either Maybe a 6300 or an 8320 or possibly an I5 (depending on the cost difference at the time of purchase).

However as I look, I see the 8120 is on sale at Newegg for $120 for the next few days.

Another idea I had was to possibly sell them my I7 2600K CPU & MB & use that to fund an Upgrade to an I7 4770K, but I'm not sure if it's even worth the hassle to do this even if the cost was only a couple of hundred to upgrade.

Any feedback would be most appreciated !

 

[MeldarthX]

When do you need to make the systems? Second; screen size for first system? If its in the next couple months I'd say wait until Kaveri is out and most likely go with that for APU.....or pick up A88 board with say 6800k or 6700k.....specially if you're not running 1080p.

Either of those apus will run everything fine under 1080p - but you'll have to use lower settings at 1080p with them - good memory and they overclock nicely and can later upgrade to Kaveri if you don't want to wait

Second machine......if you're going AMD I'd go with 8320 - its faster than the 8120 and usually overclocks better - also uses less power if that matters to you

Multithreaded apps you'll see it fly; lightly threaded apps; no it won't be as fast as an I5 - but in real world differences you won't notice it. Specially if you already have MB for the 8320....

Selling your 2600k is an interesting idea - question is do you want to tear your system apart?

 

[myocardia]

AMD only sells two processors anyone should consider buying for high-performance computers: the FX-6300 and the FX-8350, and I'm honestly not sure why anyone would buy an 8350, since it has about half the price/performance of the FX-6300. The 6300 gives you 80% as much performance as the 8350, for only $119, and with a ton less heat/power usage. The teenager's system, and the adult's as well actually, would be best served by buying an FX-6300, plus a somewhat cheap motherboard, and pairing each of them with AMD 7950's @ $200 each. There is no better price/performance video card on the market, nor is there a better price/performance CPU on the market.

 

[frozentundra123456]

For gaming, I definitely would go with a discrete GPU. Any APU on the market now will struggle with some new, graphically intense games at even less than 1080p, not to mention future games. As for waiting for Kaveri, nobody really knows when it will come out, or what the performance will be. I could see waiting for it on a laptop, but for a desktop, I cant see it being better than a low/midrange cpu plus discrete card.

For the first system, your ideas seem good. For cheapest, go Athlon x4 plus discrete, but since you dont seem extremely budget limited, I would try to go to FX6300 or FX6350.

For the second machine, FX8320, 8350, or i5 would all be good choices. I would avoid the FX8120, no matter how cheap, as it is the older Bulldozer architecture, which was pretty abysmal. Personally, I would go with an i5, as it is the more efficient and well rounded processor, although somewhat more expensive. An FX is competitive in highly multitheaded games, as fast or faster in highly multithreaded productivity apps, but considerably slower in games that are heavily dependent on per core cpu performance.

 

[choliscott]

Screen size on teenager is 17" CRT & the other is 19" LCD (square shaped) & besides the ram & hard drive, just about everything else would need to be purchased.

As far as selling the 2600K setup, I'm open to tearing my machine apart as I've been thinking of also getting a bigger case (one that has better cable management & allows for longer video cards then 8"), but not sure if the upgrade from 2600K to a 4770K is worth it for a couple of hundred dollars or a slightly over that.

From the sounds of it, getting the 6300 would be the way to go. My question is the 7950 that much better then the 7770 to justify the $100 increase (I saw the 7770 was around $100 - $125 at Newegg). Kind of asking (just in general) is it worth paying the extra $100 to get an Intel I5 compared to a AMD 6300 or 6350?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Screen size on teenager is 17" CRT & the other is 19" LCD (square shaped) & besides the ram & hard drive, just about everything else would need to be purchased.

the interesting info is, "what is the resolution of the screens?". That determines what the GPU performance needs to be.

Btw, decent LCD screens can be had for under $100. No reason to consider running a CRT IMHO, unless he has specific reasons (such as running emulators for arcade games at original res, and getting "native" CRT scanlines).

 

[frozentundra123456]

the interesting info is, "what is the resolution of the screens?". That determines what the GPU performance needs to be.

Btw, decent LCD screens can be had for under $100. No reason to consider running a CRT IMHO, unless he has specific reasons (such as running emulators for arcade games at original res, and getting "native" CRT scanlines).

A 7950 right now is a terrific bargain, but gross overkill for either of those monitors, at least at the resolution I would expect they are running.

A "square" lcd is very poor for gaming, as it cuts down field of view. I would definitely try to find money somewhere to try to upgrade both monitors to 16:9 or 16:10 lcd. As virtual said, you can get a decent 900p or 1080p monitor for around 100.00.

 

[choliscott]

I can't exactly remember the resolution on both, but I believe it would be the standard resolution for the size.

As far as monitor upgrades go, those would probably come shortly after the computer upgrade, depending on what the prices are at the time they are ready to pull the trigger.

 

[escrow4]

I'd build a single box around a 4770 or 4770K, H87 or Z87 and a 280X. That way instead of splitting the budget you have a very powerful box that will last and last and last, not some yawn worthy AMD chip(s).

 

[choliscott]

I would probably agree with this, if they were a 1 computer house hold, but like mine, they are not

I'd build a single box around a 4770 or 4770K, H87 or Z87 and a 280X. That way instead of splitting the budget you have a very powerful box that will last and last and last, not some yawn worthy AMD chip(s).

 

[Warsam71]

For the first system you've mentioned (for the teenager), I suggest going with an FX processor (either the 8350 or the 6300, depending on your budget) and the HD7950 (not an APU). It will give him plenty of power to play lots of the current games at high resolutions. About the screen, if budget permitting, I recommend a 24" flat panel. Combined with the rest of the components he will have a nice gaming rig that will last for a while (at least a year). You may also want to consider 8GB of memory and a 550w PSU.

 

[VirtualLarry]

For the first system you've mentioned (for the teenager), I suggest going with an FX processor (either the 8350 or the 6300, depending on your budget) and the HD7950 (not an APU). It will give him plenty of power to play lots of the current games at high resolutions. About the screen, if budget permitting, I recommend a 24" flat panel. Combined with the rest of the components he will have a nice gaming rig that will last for a while (at least a year). You may also want to consider 8GB of memory and a 550w PSU.

All solid suggestions, but I might tweak those a little bit. The 23" (or 23.6") LCD panels can be a bit cheaper, but not noticeably smaller. Also, if you are planning on OCing the 8350 and 7950, I would rec. a solid 650W PSU, like a Seasonic, Delta (Antec EarthWatts), or XFX (Seasonic design).

 

[choliscott]

I was planning on recommending the 6300 setup for the teenager to them. As far as video card & Monitor goes, that would probably have to come (shortly) later, depending on the cost of everything.

Also is the 7950 that much better then the 7850 or 7750 to justify the cost difference? when I look at the comparison charts, I tend to get confused on if something is that much better ($100 is worth it) or just better ($100 is not worth it)

Overall currently they "dead in the water" as far as any working desktop is concerned, but they do have a laptop they are using for the time being. As far as adding a monitor & video card to the purchase, knowing them they would probably use what they currently have just to get up & running & probably a month or two later purchase a monitor & better graphics card.