Guys, you have been awesome! Def going to stick with the mobo and CPU above (AMD)
That Atomic case is this one but a different name!!
Raijintek Metis Black Windowed Mini ITX
Some nice videos on youtube about this case. Only thing i noticed was one guy saying that the rear fan and PSU both suck air out of case so they suggested using the rear fan to suck air into the case instead.
Not unusual for a case to appear with several different brand names: it's a bit like reference GPUs; the boards and coolers are made by AMD/NVidia, then Sapphire, ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI etc. just put their own stickers on them. There's big OEM manufacturers in Asia who produce cheap cases then European companies import them, brand them and sell them on.
Having not built in one I can't really comment on the airflow situation, but as you say if it becomes a worry there's nothing wrong with using the rear fan as an intake. A lot of cases have both case fans and PSU running as exhausts in their default configuration without causing issues, but there's nothing wrong with playing with the airflow once you've got the case.
I suggested an £85 card like a 750ti which is much more capable. Lower end cards like the two you listed (which are also the only thing available until £85) are pretty lousy and not worth considering.Originally Posted by scaryjim
A 750ti is around 2.5x as fast as the 7870k's integrated graphics.
The 7870k review above shows an A10-7870k has perhaps a 10-15% typical advantage in video encoding tasks.
A 150% improvement in some programs or a 10% improvement in others? Unless you spend an awful lot of time doing the latter tasks it seems like an obvious decision to sacrifice a small amount of speed in one area in order to gain a huge increase in another.
And of course, in reality you'd use the G3258's Quicksync functionality for a lot of encoding which AMD only has the poorly supported VCE to match so it might be much faster in practice.
The biggest improvement demonstrated so far has been a reduction in CPU usage.
Maybe the future will bring more use for AMD's extra integer performance but I don't think it's terribly likely as AMD are moving away from that design next year.
When the case requirements don't allow for a single slot or dual slot low profile graphic card it makes sense. As soon as you go to something like the Atomic/Metis the case for it collapses.
How come it collapses? The option is there to add a gpu card in the future?
So you're suggesting spending £15 - £20 more on a set up that will only do one thing better, and that's a thing the OP isn't that interested in. If this was a budget gaming build, and the OP was happy to overclock (which the Pentium needs in modern game engines: see techreport's review for Crysis 3 figures), there'd be a case to be made for the Pentium. But it's not a gaming build. The OP's said they're happy gaming on low settings. An AMD APU will cope with that fine, and since we're agreed that there's no discrete card worth having for < £85, it works out to be the cheaper option too. No brainer, surely?
ASRock FM2A88X-ITX+
Does this mobo take screw in antenna that are rigid? I notice it comes with a 'floating' antenna. I would prefer a rigid / fixed antenna.
Or, can fixed antenna be used?
This the better choice mobo? Or this one:
MSI A88XI AC V2 AMD A88X
Last edited by cam1986; 23-10-2015 at 04:45 PM.
Why? If your reception isn't the best, with one you move the antenna but with the other you have to relocate the entire PC.
Where i am putting it the reception is great. Can i fix rigid antenna on the mobo with the movable one?
Someone has taken lots of photos of a build using this board here:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1440405/a...ri-ready-build
It looks like the included wifi card has cables that go to connectors on the IO shield at the back of the PC, in which case if you have some straight antennas then it looks to me like they are using standard connectors so you are good.
Thanks. I may go for the MSI A88XI above. Cheaper and also good reviews on net. You agree?
The antenna is easy to replace from the stock to an extension antenna. I done it too with my motherboard.
Thanks
Bear in mind that CPU performance has slowed down, so trading up to a faster CPU in future will be hardly any more limited than doing the same with a graphics card if the trend continues the way it's done for the last four years.
I suspect that's at least partly down to the AMD DirectX 11 driver issues with low performance CPUs given they used a 7950 for the test and I think you'd get higher on a 750ti, But let's assume that's the worst case CPU-limited performance.
It's 25fps 99th percentile frame rate on FHD medium settings.
The A10's integrated graphics will likely limit it far more than that. There's a test with similar settings here which puts The A10-7870k at 16.6fps average on FHD medium settings:
http://nl.hardware.info/reviews/6110...20x1080-medium
So even in the worst case scenario in games it's going to be at least as good, and on average it'll be substantially better.
Integrated graphics just doesn't make sense at these prices when a graphics card is an option. It only makes sense on cheaper chips (G1840 at £30, G4500 or A8-7600 at £65) or when you're going for a tiny case too small to take a card.
I am not interested in getting a dedicated GPU. Maybe i will one day but not for the foreseeable future.
I have read that AMD is the best route if not getting a dedicated GPU. Youtube has some good reviews of real world gaming with an APU. Going by these facts, is the A10-7870K the best contender in the AMD route?
You're still recommending they spend more money, when it'll only benefit game performance. By all means make a case for the A8-7600 as a cheaper option; that makes sense (although I suspect the OP will still opt for the 7870k as the most powerful desktop APU available), but I don't see why you're so set on persuading the OP to spend more money on a set up that will only do one thing better, when that thing is something they're not that bothered about...?
EDIT:
Depends what you mean by best contender
The 7870k is the most powerful APU, and has an unlocked multiplier so is easier to overclock if you decide further down the line that you want to get a discrete card and push the performance up.
You could save yourself ~ £7 by going for the 7850k or 7800 - they're both clocked lower than the 7870k: the 7850k is also unlocked for overclocking, while the 7800 has a lower TDP and therefore should use less power and produce less heat: but the Hexus review found it was almost identical to the 7850k in power draw!
Ignore the A10-7700k; it's been superceded by the A8-7670k; this has less GPU shaders than the A10s (384 vs 512) so the graphics isn't as potent, but the CPU is pretty much the same and again is unlocked for ease of overclocking. That's currently £82, so you'd see a > £20 saving if you went for that.
Finally, the A8-7600 is the darling for many people. Again it's got the second-grade GPU with only 384 shaders, and it's lower clocked on the CPU than the others, but it's still a decent quad-core APU and it's currently only £66, making it exceptional value.
For my money, there's no real point going for anything between the A10-7870k and the A8-7600: the 7850k and 7800 are too close in price to the 7870k, and if you're not getting an A10, the unlocked multiplier on the A8-7670k probably isn't worth the £18 premium over the A8-7600.
The 7870k is flat out faster than the 7600; more GPU shaders and higher clock speeds on the GPU and CPU. Theoretically that means it will use more power and generate more heat, but a lot of reviews show there's not that much difference in real world usage. OTOH, the 7600 should be more than adequate for light gaming at low settings, and the £40 price difference is pretty significant at this end of the market.
So really, it's down to whether you think that a little extra performance (because as Endless say, no APU can rival a discrete card in gaming) is worth the extra £40 to you....
Last edited by scaryjim; 25-10-2015 at 05:37 PM.
Many thanks for your reply. Yes, i think the A10-7870Kis my best bet tied with the MSI-A88XI AC V2 motherboard. A mate of mine is giving me 2 x 8GB DDR3 1600 ram.You're still recommending they spend more money, when it'll only benefit game performance. By all means make a case for the A8-7600 as a cheaper option; that makes sense (although I suspect the OP will still opt for the 7870k as the most powerful desktop APU available), but I don't see why you're so set on persuading the OP to spend more money on a set up that will only do one thing better, when that thing is something they're not that bothered about...?
EDIT:
Depends what you mean by best contender
The 7870k is the most powerful APU, and has an unlocked multiplier so is easier to overclock if you decide further down the line that you want to get a discrete card and push the performance up.
You could save yourself ~ £7 by going for the 7850k or 7800 - they're both clocked lower than the 7870k: the 7850k is also unlocked for overclocking, while the 7800 has a lower TDP and therefore should use less power and produce less heat: but the Hexus review found it was almost identical to the 7850k in power draw!
Ignore the A10-7700k; it's been superceded by the A8-7670k; this has less GPU shaders than the A10s (384 vs 512) so the graphics isn't as potent, but the CPU is pretty much the same and again is unlocked for ease of overclocking. That's currently £82, so you'd see a > £20 saving if you went for that.
Finally, the A8-7600 is the darling for many people. Again it's got the second-grade GPU with only 384 shaders, and it's lower clocked on the CPU than the others, but it's still a decent quad-core APU and it's currently only £66, making it exceptional value.
For my money, there's no real point going for anything between the A10-7870k and the A8-7600: the 7850k and 7800 are too close in price to the 7870k, and if you're not getting an A10, the unlocked multiplier on the A8-7670k probably isn't worth the £18 premium over the A8-7600.
The 7870k is flat out faster than the 7600; more GPU shaders and higher clock speeds on the GPU and CPU. Theoretically that means it will use more power and generate more heat, but a lot of reviews show there's not that much difference in real world usage. OTOH, the 7600 should be more than adequate for light gaming at low settings, and the £40 price difference is pretty significant at this end of the market.
So really, it's down to whether you think that a little extra performance (because as Endless say, no APU can rival a discrete card in gaming) is worth the extra £40 to you....
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