$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

My Thoughts on Windows 8...so far

I have been toying around with the Windows 8 Release Preview (32-bit) for a little bit, during slow times at work, on an older PC that I have.

The PC has an Intel Pentium D 2.8Ghz CPU with 2GB of RAM.  I have it setup as a dual-boot between Windows 8 and Vista that came on it.  I have installed Classic Shell on it, to get the Start Menu back and to minimize the use of the metro interface, which I am not a fan of at all.

Performance-wise, the computer runs quite smoothly with Windows 8 (especially compared to Vista) and Adobe Flash Player only seems to have crippling effects on the CPU for the first bit of a YouTube video.

Here is the video that I tested with on 720p setting:

Skorch82 - Borderlands Co-Op w/ ShadowZack: Part 41 (Walkthrough / Playthrough)

The video started at 100% CPU usage (using simple CPU Utliization Gadget) and stablized at 50 - 60% throughout the remainder of the video, which is better than it does on some Windows Vista and Windows 7 videos, where the CPU usage varies and creeps back to 100% causing severe lag.  Once the video finished and the system went back to a mostly idle state, the processor was only running at 3%.

I was able to successfully install Google Chrome, Super Anti-Spyware, Microsoft Office Pro 2010 and Visio 2010 with no issues.

I was also able to connect to the PC from a Windows 7 machine using TeamViewer.

Before setting up Classic Shell to get the traditional Windows Start Menu back, I was not fond of Windows 8, but now see it as a usable Operating System to compare to Windows Vista/7.  Without Classic Shell, I saw it as more of an OS for a mobile or touch screen device.

I will continue messing around with things on the Release Preview for as long as Microsoft will allow it and will update this blog with anything I find that is great, annoying, or helpful.

Windows 8 Launch Party

On October 24, 2012 at 11:15AM EDT MicroSoft will have a webcast event for the launch of Windows 8.

Follwing the Launch Party will be a webcast for the Microsoft Surface beginning at 1:30PM EDT.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/presskits/windows/