$600 Kaveri Build

Here's another build guide, using one of the new AMD Kaveri APUs.

CPU: AMD A10-7850K
Cooler: Noctua NH-L9a
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-D3H
RAM: 8GB Kingston Beast DDR3-2400
HDD: Seagate 1TB 3.5" Hybrid Drive
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0
PSU: Corsair Builder Series 430W
ODD: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD-RW

Total cost: $580.92 (as of 4/3/2014 via PCPartpicker.com)

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Metman2PSU/saved/4fZY

TimmyTechTV AMD A8-5600K Unboxing and Overview

Here is an unboxing and overview of the AMD APU that I have in my home system that was done on the TimmyTechTV YouTube Channel.

Fallout New Vegas Gameplay

I have been playing Fallout New Vegas on my rebuilt system and found no lag at 1080p Ultra High settings.  I installed Fraps to get an idea of my frame-rate versus the laptop (2.4Ghz Dual-core with 6GB of RAM without discrete graphics) that I was using before.

I was averaging about 20 FPS on the laptop on Low settings at 720p.  With the new system, I am averaging around 60 FPS during gameplay and noticed a few times that it dipped to 20 FPS for a very short time.

Overall though, the game is much more playable.  I realize that this is an older game, I may try to get results from demos of newer games to get some better (or current) benchmarks on the A8-5600K APU.

New PC is Built

This is an update on the progress of my personal rig.

I was able to get the new parts put into the old Gateway GT5404 case that I talked about in previous posts and in my YouTube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieZY7QLgAuo).

I am working on getting all of the drivers and BIOS updates installed before comparing benchmark numbers from Cinebench and the Windows Experience to the old configuration of the system.  I have successfully installed Windows 7 64-bit on the system and believe my only bottleneck at this time would be the HDD, which I will be replacing in the future with a Solid State Drive.

I am trying to think of different things that I may want to try to do with this computer in the future, including running AMD Dual Graphics or a water-cooling solution.  But I think those will be determined by the final choice of case I make.

New Parts Are Installed

I was able to get the new motherboard, processor, and memory installed and checked that the system will POST and boot to the BIOS.  I just need to reinstall the OS and then I will be able to run a few simple benchmarks that I was able to run on the old configuration to see what the difference will be in performance between the old and new.

I am not expecting astoundingly fast performance out of new processor, but I should see a nice boost, as I will be going from a 2.8Ghz Dual-core Pentium D with 2GB DDR2 to a 3.6Ghz Quad-Core A8-5600K with 8GB DDR3.  Also, while I did not play Fallout: New Vegas on this machine with the older parts installed, I will do a simple Fraps comparison to how it runs on the new machine vs. the laptop that I have been playing it on.  This PC is a 2.3Ghz Dual-Core Pentium T4500 with 6GB DDR3.

Personal Rig Upgrade NewEgg Unboxing

Here is a link to a quick video I made talking about the parts I ordered for the upgrade of my home personal computer.  This is my first attempt at an unboxing on camera and pretty much at YouTube uploading in general.  I did not do any editing to the video and I apologize for the shakiness and off centeredness of things at times.

I am going to try to do an overview of some sort and at a later time a review on the parts, but I do not yet know if it will get recorded for YouTube or not.

The part for the laptop was installed over the weekend, but I did not get a chance to film it.  I ended up doing it quickly because it is currently the only really good computer in the house and the battery was not able to charge at all.

Other than that, I hope you are able to enjoy it and I look forward to at least updating the upgrade process on the blog, if I do not get to film it.

Personal Rig Rebuild Phase 1

My delivery from NewEgg came today with the first phase of the rebuild of my personal rig.

The rig is starting life as a Gateway GT5404 which is as it was from the factory except for having 2GB of DDR2 upgraded from the 1GB that it was shipped with.

The first stage of the build will reuse the case, power supply, and hard drive, which I plan to upgrade in the 2nd phase of the build, which will be when funding permits.

For now, the motherboard is going to be replaced with the MSI FM2-A75MA-E35.  I chose this board based on past experience I have had with MSI and it is a low-cost FM2 socket board that has an HDMI port.  This was not meant to be any high dollar build with hugely exceptional performance, but as a good budget rig that I can use for gaming.  The gaming is where the HDMI comes in, as this will allow me to easily use my living room TV as the monitor.

For the processor and memory, I chose the AMD A8-5600K APU, which is a 3.6Ghz Quad-core processor with a Radeon 7560D GPU built into the processor, and G.Skill Sniper 1866 memory.  The 1866 memory is the max speed that the MSI board supports without overclocking and I know that it will be important to have that extra speed since the GPU will be using this memory.  With the memory sharing in mind, I chose the 8GB (2x4GB) kit.

The last piece of hardware in the NewEgg box was a Rosewill USB wireless adapter.  This may only get use until I setup DD-WRT on an old Linksys WRT54G I have laying around, but will allow me to get connected prior to having the DD-WRT'd router setup as a wireless bridge.

There was also another delivery of parts that consisted of a component board with USB, VGA and AC ports for my family laptop, a Dell Inspiron 1750.  This is to replace the current part with a damaged AC power connector.

I hope to get the chance to have unboxings, overviews, and reviews of all of these products on the blog and possibly YouTube soon.  I am also hoping to have some pictures or video regarding the removal of the old components and installation of the new components on both PCs.