FM2 Mobo recommendation for Crossfire please

[bonn4lolly]

Hi All,

New here and eager to get thoughts for an imminent build!

I'm after a budget gaming machine to replace my Xbox360 and keep up with the new next gen consoles (for a while at least). Asking a lot on a budget, maybe.

I'm looking at an AMD A8-5600k with SSD and 2x4Gb 1866 RAM. However, I've struggled to find any info on the web as to how much difference the mobo choice makes on the crossfire efficiency... It may be that I live with just the APU for now, but I'd like to give it the extra kick from crossfiring it with a dedicated graphics card in the near future - I want to make sure the mobo I pick will make a good job of this.

Or if you think I'm better with another CPU and dedicated graphics (for around £100-£120 or less), please say - I'm not precious!

Many thanks

[jimbouk]

Do you mean crossfire (2 discrete graphics cards) or AMD "Dual graphics" (APU + discrete graphics card)?

[DanceswithUnix]

The motherboard seems to matter at the very high end. On a budget system, I can't see it being important.

Have a look at this:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6985/c...-in-haswell-/5

The top graph is with a single external graphics card, the 5600K does OK here. If you add another 7970 graphics card, then the boards with PCIe 3 start to rise up the rankings. With three 7970 GPUs plugged in, the PCIe 2 stuff which includes all the AMD platforms are at the bottom, and basically the third card didn't help with PCIe2.

If you can afford three 7970 GPUs, then my guess is you will be starting with an i7 and a single 7970.

So I am guessing you are not in that market, just like the rest of us
The basic APU is fine for light gaming. If that runs out of grunt, save up and get the most expensive card you can afford to plug in.
If you wait a few days for prices to settle, then new A10 parts might look tempting.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

What is your budget??

Alternatively you could get a Phenom II X4 965BE and the following motherboard:

http://www.ebuyer.com/507066-amd-ath...-ad760kwohlbox

http://www.ebuyer.com/436858-biostar...herboard-ta970

The total comes to under £120. However,I would not advise overclocking much on that motherboard.

There is also the Richland based Athlon II X4 760K and an A85X based motherboard:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/amd-a...he-100w-retail

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asroc...3-sata-600-atx

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/gigab...dvi-d-hdmi-atx

That total will be between £125 to £135.

You could get a cheaper motherboard of course,but you should be able to do some overclocking too with ones I suggested.

[Pob255]

Do you mean crossfire (2 discrete graphics cards) or AMD "Dual graphics" (APU + discrete graphics card)?

I'm guessing he's talking about dual graphics
The A8 can only be combined with a 6570 and it's only going to give benefit in some games, in general you're far better off with a non-apu cpu and a lower end mid range card such as the 7770 or 7850, the issue will be budget.

Just because the new xbox and ps are using an AMD based APU don't expect to get the same performance out of a same spec pc

[bonn4lolly]

Sorry, Pob255 & Jimbouk have hit it on the head - I meant AMD dual graphics.

Budget wise, I'm looking at look at up to £60 for the motherboard and then £80-£90 on an APU/CPU + vid card. Is there a separate CPU & vid card deal that could beat the A8-5600k (or A10 at a push)? I'm not dead set on AMD.

Thanks for help so far, it's becoming clearer all the time. You don't know how little you know until you start asking!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

What is the budget for the graphics card??

[bonn4lolly]

Ahh, that would £90 all in, CPU and video card. Hence I've only been looking at APUs on my budget.

If I got an A10, I'd get a video card to add in at a later date. If I went for a CPU without integrated graphics, I'd be looking at a very cheap video card with a view to upgrading it in the future.

So basically, for the price of an A10, is there a CPU and video card that can beat it?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

How much is your RAM budget??

If you list a budget for the entire PC including what hardware and software you need,it would be heplful!!

[IronEgg]

Get 16GBs of RAM using only 2 Module Slots, this will allow you to upgrade to 32GBs if necessary.

[Pob255]

So we're talking £150 total for cpu + gpu + motherboard, for gaming . . . sorry but that's really tough, might be able to do something 2nd hand

The A10's ondie 7660D + ddr3 1866mhz ram is around the same performance (or a bit behind) the 6670 gddr3 graphics card (around £45 new)
So compared to older cards we're looking about between the 4770 and 4850

Get 16GBs of RAM using only 2 Module Slots, this will allow you to upgrade to 32GBs if necessary.

He's talking about a low budget build, there's absolutely no need for 16gb of ram, 8gb will be fine, heck I've got a feeling he could probably get away with 4gb of ram if he's not using onboard graphics (as that will eat into system ram)

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The think is we know what the OP has budgeted for the whole build it would be easier to make some suggestions. Higher speed RAM also costs more too.

What PSU does the OP have or want to use??

If the OP goes for the Phenom II X4 965BE or Athlon II 760K,they can get one with a motherboard for a total of £120.

Scan are selling this refurbished EVGA GTS450 GDDR5 for around £51:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-e...gts-450-refurb

So for around £170,the OP can get a better setup.

The OP can also get free postage from Scan on the order after 20 posts too:

http://forums.hexus.net/scan-care-he...tup-guide.html

[jimbouk]

Hmmm, given the limited budget I would suggest just getting an APU + motherboard + ram now and saving for a graphics card later. FM2 motherboards are reasonable priced, pick your chip-set based on requirements and go for something with reasonable power chips.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

With high speed RAM you are spending another £10 to £20 over 1600MHZ DDR3,and the Phenom II X4 965BE or Athlon II X4 760K are around £25 to £30 cheaper and no slower than the CPU section of the A10 5800K or A10 8600K. The OP appears to doing a dedicated gaming build,so the setup I suggested is no more expensive.

[DanceswithUnix]

Which games are you hoping to run?