Budget APU build $500

SpringWater

SpringWater

Member
I'm building a computer for a friend, it's going to be a budget gaming rig for playing strategy games like EU4 and Civ5. Here is what I've got:



He would like to keep it as close to $500 as possible, are they any tweaks that we could apply to this build to save some more money?
Edit:Or make it somewhat better?

Dvd: ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM $16
Case: DIYPC Solar-M1-G Black SECC ATX Mid Tower USB 3.0 Gaming Computer Case w/ 2 x 120mm Green Fans
$40
Hdd: TOSHIBA DT01ACA100 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
$65
Mobo: MSI A88XM-E35 FM2+ / FM2 AMD A88X (Bolton D4) SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
$68
Psu: EVGA 100-W1-500-KR 500W ATX12V / EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active
PFC 3 Year Warranty Power Supply Intel 4th Gen CPU Ready
EVGA 100-W1-500-KR 500W ATX12V / EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC 3 Year Warranty Power Supply Intel 4th Gen CPU Ready
$45
Ram: GeIL EVO Veloce Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model GEV38GB1600C9DC
$63
Cpu: AMD A10-7700K Kaveri 3.5GHz Socket FM2+ 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor AMD Radeon R7 series AD770KXBJABOX
$170

Os: Microsoft Windows 8.1 - 64-bit - OEM
$100

TOTAL: $566

+a free copy of BF4 that comes with the cpu

PS
The computer has to be off of newegg
 
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Is it has to be APU?
Would Athlon 750K/ 760K with R7 250 better?

If it has to be APU, it worth spending extra on faster RAM.
May be Team Vulcan DDR3 2133 at $75 ?

HDD - usually pick those with 64MB Cache WD blue or Seagate Barracuda
 
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You'll definitely want faster RAM. It yields much more than on any other platform.
Your APU uses your system RAM for it's GPU RAM (which is usually in the likes of 5GHz on GPUs)
I wouldn't use a Toshiba HDD. Sure it'll work, but WD/Seagate is preferred. Should cost the same.
 
I'll look into the r7 250 + athlon option. The thing is that with the apu the computer uses less power, amd you can add on a dedicated card for a performance boost. Do you think that pc could run on a lower wattage psu? Cx430/some 350w silverstone?
 
I'm running an i5-4570S + R9 270X on a CX430M, so yes, you can run APU/Athlon+R7 on the same :)
I would advise against the R7 series though. I'd suggest an only APU build or the lowest end R9+CPU - even though you are on a tight budget.
 
Jiniix said:
I'm running an i5-4570S + R9 270X on a CX430M, so yes, you can run APU/Athlon+R7 on the same :)
I would advise against the R7 series though. I'd suggest an only APU build or the lowest end R9+CPU - even though you are on a tight budget.
Click to expand...

The main reason of considering R7 is $$$

750K + R7 250 = $80 + 90, which cost ~ A10-7700K
R9 270 @ $200, over budget.
 
I didn't realize the 260X was R7 :) I thought 250 was highest end R7, and that's a bad card.
Can you claim rebates?
If so:
XFX HD 7750 1GB: $90 ($20 rebate)
AMD Athlon X4 750K: $80
This costs the same as your APU, but performs a lot better. Doesn't bottleneck because your RAM is slow as well.
Also get the Seagate Barracuda/Western Digital Blue 1TB: $65 instead. Either are equally good, but both are better than the Toshiba :)
Case looks bad to me, to be honest, but it does come with two fans and USB3 at $40 - and there's no electricity to go wrong like in a cheapo PSU.
 
Thanks Jiniix, I think I'll go with your idea because it's nice to have a dedicated card, although I think the kaveri apus have 7750 chips in them so I don't think there will be any performance difference.
 
They have a somewhat equivalent of a 7750 in the A10-7850K, which has 512 GPU cores. The 7700K only has 384 cores, so it'll be worse. You can also isolate the GPU when having a discrete GPU, meaning you can overclock it easily and keep the heat away from the CPU.
And again, back to the RAM. Unless it's strictly for browsing the web, office tools and watching videos, I wouldn't build an APU build without RAM above/equal to 2133MHz.
 
A 260 is $50 more, and he is already ~$60 over the desired budget. It's better indeed, but depends if he's ready to shell out the extra cash.
 
The R7 250 performs in between a 7730 and 7750, and it doesn't even support TrueAudio.
Either which is cheaper of the two, and I think the 7750 was $10 cheaper with rebates.
 
I've looked at ebay and it looks like you can buy a decent used/refurbished oem pc with an i5 (smething like a 2400/3470) for $200-300. Do you think with a budget of $500 buying that and putting a better video card + psu in it would be a better idea than building the computer from scratch? That way I could probably slip in a 7850 (or whatever its r9 brother is) or maybe even something better.
 
SpringWater said:
I've looked at ebay and it looks like you can buy a decent used/refurbished oem pc with an i5 (smething like a 2400/3470) for $200-300. Do you think with a budget of $500 buying that and putting a better video card + psu in it would be a better idea than building the computer from scratch? That way I could probably slip in a 7850 (or whatever its r9 brother is) or maybe even something better.
Click to expand...

Yes, you'd get better performance from the i5 + 7850 (or something similar) than you would from an APU. I say go for it. :good:
 
I had no doubts in an i5 paired with a 7850 beating an amd quad core paired with a 7750. My only concern is that the card might not fit in most oem cases, but then I guess I am willing to do some hdd cage cutting if it means saving $100.
 
Or you could maybe move the motherboard out of the case it comes in and put it it in another case maybe?
 
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