Better performance in gaming

[avto]

What would give me better performance in gaming, note that i wont be upgrading later.

 

A6-7400k + 8gb of ram

 

or

 

A8-7600 + 4gb of ram

[blueballs]

a8 7600 

[Goldensapling]

Better to get the better CPU and 4GB of RAM, that way you can upgrade your RAM in the future

[Faceman]

Are you just limited to those two options?

[avto]

Are you just limited to those two options?

no but i think i cant get any better than that.

 

link to my first thread

 

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/396831-officegaming-pc-for-240%E2%82%AC/

[incarnate]

i guess you can't stretch the budget for an a8 and 8gb of ram? if not i'd still recommend the a8 unless he'll be playing something more intensive than older games.

[avto]

He will play older racing games because its hard to find newer ones that are good and he will also play sports games like Fifa 16 when it comes out. So A8 + 4gb will be enough for these games ?

Monitor is resolution is 1400x900 and he can play on low settings.

 

I cant stretch the budget any more. its really hard to decide even if in the future i decide to install 8gb of ram i would need to buy new 8gb kit, because motherboard only has 2 slots. Was thinking of buying 1 stick of 4gb ram for possible future upgrade but i dont think that is a good idea because when i was looking at the benchmarks there was huge performance drop without dual channel for APU

[Faceman]

He will play older racing games because its hard to find newer ones that are good and he will also play sports games like Fifa 16 when it comes out. So A8 + 4gb will be enough for these games ?

Monitor is resolution is 1400x900 and he can play on low settings.

 

I cant stretch the budget any more. its really hard to decide even if in the future i decide to install 8gb of ram i would need to buy new 8gb kit, because motherboard only has 2 slots. Was thinking of buying 1 stick of 4gb ram for possible future upgrade but i dont think that is a good idea because when i was looking at the benchmarks there was huge performance drop without dual channel for APU

An APU will suit your uses well. For an APU, you need to have some high speed memory. I would aim for at least 2133Mhz. Go with a single 4GB stick and later buy a 2nd. It sounds like money is really tight and doing that will at least have you closer to an upgrade rather than having to save even more money for 8GB.

[avto]

An APU will suit your uses well. For an APU, you need to have some high speed memory. I would aim for at least 2133Mhz. Go with a single 4GB stick and later buy a 2nd. It sounds like money is really tight and doing that will at least have you closer to an upgrade rather than having to save even more money for 8GB.

Are you sure i am asking because i saw this. low frequency dual channel ram performs better than single stick of high frequency RAM

 

[Faceman]

Are you sure i am asking because i saw this. low frequency dual channel ram performs better than single stick of high frequency RAM

Dang, thats a pretty big difference for an APU.  I knew APU is heavily dependent on speed, but didn't know single vs. dual had this much of an impact on APUs.

 

Maybe wait until you can straight up afford a nice kit of 8GB 2133/2400Mhz memory?  If you do buy a kit of 4GB RAM, and end up having to get rid of it to move up to 8GB, it will probably take you longer, and I am curious what kind of an impact 4GB vs. 8GB has on an APU.  Do they even make 2x2GB kits of high frequency RAM? Based on availability alone, you might be forced to go with a single 4GB stick of 2133/2400Mhz RAM.  At least using PcP in the U.S. I am not seeing any 2x2GB kits of performance RAM, but I am seeing 1x4GB sticks of performance stuff.

 

That said, it doesn't sound like you are playing mainstream AAA titles, so 4GB might be enough for your intended use.

[FellTheSky]

Are you sure i am asking because i saw this. low frequency dual channel ram performs better than single stick of high frequency RAM

 

Definitely high speeds ram on dual channel is the way to go on APUs, but the problem is that 4 gbs is too little. I had 4gbs and some games were unplayable. Like GTA V, Planetside 2, and dying light. Thats why is better to go for 4 gbs now, and 4 gbs later.

But if your build is to play games... and absolutely cant spend more money... i guess i would go for the 4 gbs pf faster ram. (But you will regret when not playing games, a couple chrome tabs and pdf's and im well past 5 gbs of ram usage)

[SteveGrabowski0]

no but i think i cant get any better than that.

 

link to my first thread

 

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/396831-officegaming-pc-for-240%E2%82%AC/

 

Don't buy DDR3-1600 with integrated graphics, RAM speed is massively important in an APU. Spend the extra few bucks on at least DDR3-1866.

 

[ScaryFatKidGT]

Weird, everyone always told me ram speed above 1600mhz didn't madder? I got some 8 cas 1600mhz ram but now I wanna ditch it all for some 2133/2400mhz stuff lol.

[Hieb]

Weird, everyone always told me ram speed above 1600mhz didn't madder? I got some 8 cas 1600mhz ram but now I wanna ditch it all for some 2133/2400mhz stuff lol.

 

For normal system RAM, the difference between 1333MHz, 1600MHz, 1866MHz, 2133MHz etc. is negligible. However GPUs are extremely dependent on having high bandwidth memory. To resolve this, GPUs typically have their own memory on-board. Usually it's GDDR5 and in AMD's latest GPUs it's stacked HBM. APUs do not have their own memory, and rely on system memory to use as their video RAM. Therefore having higher-bandwidth system RAM makes a large difference for APU performance in games.

 

If you have a standalone CPU and GPU, the difference between 1600MHz and 2400MHz RAM is usually less than 3% in gaming. If you have an APU such as the A8-7600, the difference between something like 1600MHz and 2400MHz RAM can be as much as a 30% performance difference. It will depend on the specific APU (since more powerful integrated graphics will see more gain from higher bandwidth), and the compatibility with higher speed RAM.

 

Generally for an APU, getting 8GB 2133MHz RAM is the sweetspot. Gives you enough RAM for system operation alongside using the RAM as VRAM, and the 2133MHz is fast enough that you'll get close to optimal performance out of the APU.

 

I don't think you'd get very good performance out of just 4GB of RAM, since a chunk of that is going to be reserved for the graphics, and 4GB of system RAM for a gaming rig these days is not enough (unless you avoid triple A titles completely). I'd agree that saving up for 8GB is gonna be your best bet.

[Nena Trinity]

Go for the better CPU!

[SkilledRebuilds]

What would give me better performance in gaming, note that i wont be upgrading later.

 

A6-7400k + 8gb of ram

 

or

 

A8-7600 + 4gb of ram

Whichever has the fastest core speed under load,...also.. IMO it's a MUST HAVE.....for FAST RAM (2133Mhz or Better) on CPU's with onboard graphics.

/AMD & Intel's iGPU's both benefit from the faster system memory being used

[avto]

A8 is faster, but its not that easy to decide, i can only get 4gb of 1600MHz ram for A8, so it will get bottlenecked by RAM. For A6 is can get 8gb 1866MHz ram so it wont be bottlenecked, thats why i cant decide because i dont know if A8 which is better and have better IGPU will be better even when bottleneckd by RAM or will A6 without RAM bottleneckd be better for gaming. I dont plan to upgrade anything in the future

[Faceman]

A8 is faster, but its not that easy to decide, i can only get 4gb of 1600MHz ram for A8, so it will get bottlenecked by RAM. For A6 is can get 8gb 1866MHz ram so it wont be bottlenecked, thats why i cant decide because i dont know if A8 which is better and have better IGPU will be better even when bottleneckd by RAM or will A6 without RAM bottleneckd be better for gaming. I dont plan to upgrade anything in the future

If at all possible, you should continue to save money because some of the choices you have presented are not very appealing. You really want either 2133/2400Mhz RAM for an APU, as well as 8GB of RAM.

 

Especially since you don't want to upgrade to anything in the future, just do it right from the start instead of trying to piece it together over time.

[d1screet]

Consider buying used components for your computer instead; unless you're REALLY needing it to run off of the integrated graphics solution.

[Prysin]

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/yvKZ7P
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/yvKZ7P/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD A8-6600K 3.9GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($92.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-D3H Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard  ($50.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory  ($51.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Xion XON-310_BK MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($23.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CSM 450W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($23.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $243.84
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-30 17:14 EDT-0400

 

 

With this, you only need to find a dirt cheap HDD somewhere. This is the best i can do.

When going suber budget, it is better to pick the older 100W apus as they can give some more grunt then the lower 95w kaveris. Do note that Kaveri and Richland (100w APU) natively only support 2133Mhz RAM. You are not guaranteed to make them run with 2400. Usually it is no problem, but 2133 will always work.