I built a computer for my friend, but the performance is nowhere near expected!

[JackTheTurdious]

Hello,

 

 I recently built a budget gaming pc for my friend:

 

Specs:

AMD A10 7850K (Stock clock/Stock heat sink)

ASROCK Extreme6+ mobo

4gb run of the mill 1333mhz ram (From his previous pc)

Seagate barracuda 1tb HDD

Corsair Builder Series CX 430w PSU

Windows 8 (Not sure whether 64 or 32bit)

 

Anyway, I also built basically the same system for my other friend except his had 8gb of 1600mhz ram, 64bit windows 8 and a different 7200rpm HDD and his pc performed how we expected. It can play pretty high end games at high/medium settings at a decent frame rate (Borderland 2, high, decent fps/ League of Legends, highest, 130~ish fps). But the friend who's pc I built recently is performing terribly compared to that. The same system essentially can only run League of Legends on low settings while getting 40ish fps which drops as low a 20 sometimes, and can only play Minecraft at the highest/fancy settings with I think a 9 chunk render and get like 40-50 fps with some big drops. I have installed catalyst 14.4 and right now only installed the drivers on the disc which came with the motherboard (we had and internet issue so I just used the disc). But I seriously cannot think of what's making his pc perform so poorly. So can you please help me out. I don't want to let down my friend/converted console gamer.

 

Thanks!

[Sonefiler]

RAM. its slow.

 

Check if it's 32 bit windows.

[Cokeman]

With APUs ram speed effect frame rates tremendously I'm talking like 20+ fps difference for 1600 to 1866

[ForsakenLive]

The memory speed matters quite a bit on APUs, getting 2133mhz+ is a good choice, 1333mhz is on the lower end and will not perform that great, and 4GB is pushing it a bit, you have to assign memory to the GPU on the APU, at least give it 1GB,

I think it automatically assigns memory for you at first, maybe with only 4GB is only using 512MB. I suggest you check the settings and increase that. But it would be good if you change the RAM.

[ZacDaMan72]

SLOW RAM.

[William12h]

Upgrade the RAM, The APU uses the System RAM just as a GPU uses its own RAM, Fast RAM = Faster load of graphics. 

I have the 7850k with 2133Mhz RAM and i get LoL on max settings at steady 60, maybe 45 if lots of crap happens. 

 

If you get a Better CPU cooler, you can OC the integrated GPU , The default clock is 720Mhz, but you should get around 920Mhz and be stable,

 

Edit, If you get 8GB or more RAM, I sudged Dedicated 2GB of RAM to the APU (2GB is the max allowed otherwise illd say give it more lol) 

Hello,

 

 I recently built a budget gaming pc for my friend:

 

Specs:

AMD A10 7850K (Stock clock/Stock heat sink)

ASROCK Extreme6+ mobo

4gb run of the mill 1333mhz ram (From his previous pc)

Seagate barracuda 1tb HDD

Corsair Builder Series CX 430w PSU

Windows 8 (Not sure whether 64 or 32bit)

 

Anyway, I also built basically the same system for my other friend except his had 8gb of 1600mhz ram, 64bit windows 8 and a different 7200rpm HDD and his pc performed how we expected. It can play pretty high end games at high/medium settings at a decent frame rate (Borderland 2, high, decent fps/ League of Legends, highest, 130~ish fps). But the friend who's pc I built recently is performing terribly compared to that. The same system essentially can only run League of Legends on low settings while getting 40ish fps which drops as low a 20 sometimes, and can only play Minecraft at the highest/fancy settings with I think a 9 chunk render and get like 40-50 fps with some big drops. I have installed catalyst 14.4 and right now only installed the drivers on the disc which came with the motherboard (we had and internet issue so I just used the disc). But I seriously cannot think of what's making his pc perform so poorly. So can you please help me out. I don't want to let down my friend/converted console gamer.

 

Thanks!

[DigitalHermit]

The 1333MHz RAM is your problem...

 

I used to run on APU only with a dual channel 1333MHz Kingston Low Profile... It was not an outstanding experience, but it was good enough for me...

[Swndlr]

try and upgrade the ram to at least 1600mhz if not 1866. thats the one thing about an apu, the ram plays a huge role in in game performance

[CoolBeans]

it is not the RAM, you should be able to play league of cancer with 60+ FPS. Did you install the drivers correctly? 

[dragoon20005]

first problem I see is the RAM speed

 

try bumping the RAM speed to at least 1800MHz from 1333MHz

 

8GB is the minimum for APU systems

 

the stock cooler for the APU is just a piece of useless block

 

it could be overheating

 

and do not use drivers from the disc for the mobo

 

download the latest chipset drivers from the Asrock website

 

are you guys running AHCI for the HDD?

[Lord Pantaloons]

Others have said it already but I'll elaborate on it a bit, your issue is RAM. When using the iGPU on AMD's APU's the rated speed of the RAM will have the greatest impact on the APU's ability to perform in games. The APU's iGPU uses the system ram as VRAM and the faster it is the better the APU iGPU can perform. The slower the RAM the worse the performance of the APU's iGPU will be, due to this you really need to ensure that you get the fastest RAM that both you can reasonably afford and your motherboard can support. 1333Mhz RAM is far too slow to achieve optimum performance with ANY APU much less a 7850k, 1600Mhz is the absolute slowest RAM you should ever pair with an APU if you plan on using the iGPU for anything. That motherboard is rated to support up to 2600Mhz RAM, however something like 1866Mhz or 2133Mhz would be more than sufficient and reasonably priced.

 

That being said if you're actually running a 32bit OS your PC won't be able to use more than 4GB even when more is installed so you should confirm what type of Windows OS is on the PC before upgrading, when you do upgrade you should consider buying a 2x4GB kit of 1866/2133Mhz (2 4GB sticks of RAM) to ensure that you get the best performance out of your APU. Doing this would allow you to allocate the maximum amount of system RAM to your APU's iGPU while leaving enough for the rest of the system to work with. In order to use more than 4GB you will need a 64bit OS, in the future you should ensure that any version of windows that you use is a 64bit version as a lack of RAM is a common cause for reduced PC performance in most cases.

[marioo1182]

DO NOT UPGRADE THE RAM

RAM speed is not the issue.

300Mhz in the RAM isn't going to make a difference.

 

Minecraft is running fine, because it is a CPU intense game and not a graphics intense game.

 

LoL is more graphically intensive and less CPU intensive. You have no graphics card which is hindering your performance. Yes APU's have ok graphics ability, if they didn't your performance in LoL would be worse.

You need to add a GPU to the system, and not even a very expensive one.

Even something like an R7 260x will work fine for what you want to do.

[William12h]

Completely Wrong, it makes a whole lot of difference, My 7850k with 2133Mhz RAM And OC the iGPU get better performance then a GTX 650. Mincecraft Depends on the CPU performance and java (AKA RAM) 

A Lot of his issue is the OS being 32 bit and Not having more than 4GB of slow RAM 

 

APU don't have dedicated RAM like GPU, would you use DDR3 2500Mhz RAM on a GPU? when you could use DDR5 5000Mhz, no. upgrading the RAM will increase bandwidth performance for the aloread little amount it has. 

gettin better RAM will allow for files (graphics) to be uses and stored as needed and for them to be swapped faster for the game a hand.

 

My un OC A10-7850k was getting 60 FPS Capped on high settings on LoL, and i get around 120FPS on MC with everything Maxed (With 2GB Dedicated RAM 64 bit OS)

 

DO NOT UPGRADE THE RAM

RAM speed is not the issue.

300Mhz in the RAM isn't going to make a difference.

 

Minecraft is running fine, because it is a CPU intense game and not a graphics intense game.

 

LoL is more graphically intensive and less CPU intensive. You have no graphics card which is hindering your performance. Yes APU's have ok graphics ability, if they didn't your performance in LoL would be worse.

You need to add a GPU to the system, and not even a very expensive one.

Even something like an R7 260x will work fine for what you want to do.

[JackTheTurdious]

Okay, thanks guys. I kinda always knew that had a larger effect on APU's than CPU+GPU but I never knew it could effect it that much. So i'll try get him to upgrade then all should be fine. Once again, thank you!

[Eniqmatic]

DO NOT UPGRADE THE RAM

RAM speed is not the issue.

300Mhz in the RAM isn't going to make a difference.

 

Minecraft is running fine, because it is a CPU intense game and not a graphics intense game.

 

LoL is more graphically intensive and less CPU intensive. You have no graphics card which is hindering your performance. Yes APU's have ok graphics ability, if they didn't your performance in LoL would be worse.

You need to add a GPU to the system, and not even a very expensive one.

Even something like an R7 260x will work fine for what you want to do.

 

Wrong. You could be right if we were talking about normal CPU and a GPU, however for GPU it has been noted that RAM speeds from even 1600 to 1866 can be quite noticeable. I haven't seen from 1333 to 1866 but I'd imagine it's quite the difference. 

[marioo1182]

Completely Wrong, it makes a whole lot of difference, My 7850k with 2133Mhz RAM And OC the iGPU get better performance then a GTX 650. Mincecraft Depends on the CPU performance and java (AKA RAM) 

A Lot of his issue is the OS being 32 bit and Not having more than 4GB of slow RAM 

 

APU don't have dedicated RAM like GPU, would you use DDR3 2500Mhz RAM on a GPU? when you could use DDR5 5000Mhz, no. upgrading the RAM will increase bandwidth performance for the aloread little amount it has. 

gettin better RAM will allow for files (graphics) to be uses and stored as needed and for them to be swapped faster for the game a hand.

 

My un OC A10-7850k was getting 60 FPS Capped on high settings on LoL, and i get around 120FPS on MC with everything Maxed (With 2GB Dedicated RAM 64 bit OS)

 

Wrong. You could be right if we were talking about normal CPU and a GPU, however for GPU it has been noted that RAM speeds from even 1600 to 1866 can be quite noticeable. I haven't seen from 1333 to 1866 but I'd imagine it's quite the difference. 

You don't know how hard I'm lol'ing right now.

Please show me the benchmark difference in FPS with the same set-up and faster RAM.

Please also take a look at this video 

And look at the benchmark at 2:10

The differences are in the margin of error

 

A new gpu would kick the crap out of and AMD A10 any day of the week (ie R7 260x)

 

If he did upgrade his RAM he be better off upgrading to 8gb and 64 bit windows anyways.

But buying 1600Mhz 4gb to replace 1333Mhz is ridiculous.

[dragoon20005]

^^

 

seriously bro

 

APU is a different chip altogether

 

if you don't know how it works

 

stop giving wrong advice

[DigitalHermit]

It's an APU guys...

 

It uses part of the system's RAM as VRAM... Faster ram will directly benefit it, unlike systems with a dedicated graphics card...

[TriBeard]

You don't know how hard I'm lol'ing right now.

Please show me the benchmark difference in FPS with the same set-up and faster RAM.

Please also take a look at this video 

And look at the benchmark at 2:10

The differences are in the margin of error

 

A new gpu would kick the crap out of and AMD A10 any day of the week (ie R7 260x)

 

If he did upgrade his RAM he be better off upgrading to 8gb and 64 bit windows anyways.

But buying 1600Mhz 4gb to replace 1333Mhz is ridiculous.

That's for a typical CPU/GPU setup. This is a bit old, and the APU's are two generations older, but the basic tech is the same.

 

[marioo1182]

Completely Wrong, it makes a whole lot of difference, My 7850k with 2133Mhz RAM And OC the iGPU get better performance then a GTX 650. Mincecraft Depends on the CPU performance and java (AKA RAM) 

A Lot of his issue is the OS being 32 bit and Not having more than 4GB of slow RAM 

 

APU don't have dedicated RAM like GPU, would you use DDR3 2500Mhz RAM on a GPU? when you could use DDR5 5000Mhz, no. upgrading the RAM will increase bandwidth performance for the aloread little amount it has. 

gettin better RAM will allow for files (graphics) to be uses and stored as needed and for them to be swapped faster for the game a hand.

 

My un OC A10-7850k was getting 60 FPS Capped on high settings on LoL, and i get around 120FPS on MC with everything Maxed (With 2GB Dedicated RAM 64 bit OS)

Could you explain to me again how it does a better job?

R7 260x kicks the crap out of integrated 7850k graphics.

Having a dedicated card is very much superior to upgrading RAM from 1333 to 1666

/e source: http://www.techspot.com/review/785-free-to-play-games-benchmarks/page4.html

[TriBeard]

Could you explain to me again how it does a better job?

R7 260x kicks the crap out of integrated 7850k graphics.

Having a dedicated card is very much superior to upgrading RAM from 1333 to 1666

/e source: http://www.techspot.com/review/785-free-to-play-games-benchmarks/page4.html

I don't think anyone was arguing that a discrete card of about the r7 260x or higher would give better performance. Of course it would. The original question was why this system wasn't performing as it should be, and a slow, small amount of RAM in an APU based system is the most likely culprit.

[dragoon20005]

^^ what he says

 

it a budget build

 

the APU is great for gaming without a discrete GPU

 

the problem we see here is slow RAM

 

a 260X will set the user back 120 bucks

 

1866-2133MHz RAM are cheaper and only cost like 80+ bucks

 

APU + 2133MHz can net good fps in games like LoL and Minecraft

[bmxtricky5]

just overclock the ram...

[marioo1182]

^^ what he says

 

it a budget build

 

the APU is great for gaming without a discrete GPU

 

the problem we see here is slow RAM

 

a 260X will set the user back 120 bucks

 

1866-2133MHz RAM are cheaper and only cost like 80+ bucks

 

APU + 2133MHz can net good fps in games like LoL and Minecraft

An extra $40 for 40 more FPS seems like a no brainer to me.

Not sure why you would just get upgraded RAM when it's far more value and much more superior.

[dragoon20005]

An extra $40 for 40 more FPS seems like a no brainer to me.

Not sure why you would just get upgraded RAM when it's far more value and much more superior.

that will defeat the purpose of the APU

 

the iGPU in the A10 is like a 250/X performance

 

not that far from the 260X