Evetech AMD upgrade Kit, wotth while?

karnuffel

karnuffel

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Ok so I need to replace my mobo after some lightning damage. Im just looking at options while I am waiting for the insurance but I am thinking of getting this upgrade kit:

http://www.evetech.co.za/PC-Hardware/amd-quad-core-apu-upgrade-kit-559.aspx

Contents:
- MSI A78M-E35 AMD Motherboard
- AMD A10-7850K Kaveri Quad Core APU
- Crucial Ballistix Tactical Tracer 4GB DDR3 1866MHz Gaming RAM

I will reuse my old case, screen, drives and psu. I have an ATI ati 6850.

Would it be better to go the intel route and use my current GPU?
Maybe this one:
http://www.evetech.co.za/PC-Hardware/budget-i5-gaming-upgrade-kit-436.aspx
Contents:
- MSI ZH87-G43 GAMING SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Motherboard
- Intel Core i5 4590 3.6GHz Quad Core CPU
- Crucial Ballistix Tactical Tracer 4GB DDR3 1866MHz Gaming RAM


I mostly use my pc to download and I play WOW from time to time.

How much bang for my buck will I be getting from the evetech upgrade bundles?
 
Go for the ADM bundle seeing as you just download and play WoW, it's more than enough and the price increase with the Intel doesn't justify it.
 
Shaun108 said:
Go for the ADM bundle seeing as you just download and play WoW, it's more than enough and the price increase with the Intel doesn't justify it.
Click to expand...

Silly question, but will it make sense to use my old graphics card? I havent done much reading on the APU concept TBH.
 
jouda said:
Silly question, but will it make sense to use my old graphics card? I havent done much reading on the APU concept TBH.
Click to expand...

Well, the card is a bit dated but I don't think playing WoW requires much graphics power.

There are a lot of cheap-ish newer cards out there that you can look for if you want better graphics.
 
Any particular reason you want to go AMD?

EDIT: What do you have at the moment in terms of CPU, Motherboard, RAM and GPU?

You could get an Intel upgrade for cheaper with an Intel motherboard. The chipset used in the Intel motherboard is closer to high end than the chipset used in the AMD bundle.
 
I have an AMD phenom XII 800 (IIRC) with ddr 2 1066 RAM. Problem is my MOBO is fried.

I thought the AMD might be a better cheaper than an Intel option with a newer graphics card.

Im still very much just trying to get some info and the AMD was exactly in my budget.
 
I personally think Kaveri APUs (like the one in the AMD bundle that you linked) are overpriced. They do have decent onboard GPUs, but their CPU performance is not as good as that of Intel. I would rather buy a cheaper CPU and buy a discrete GPU.
 
Ancalagon said:
I personally think Kaveri APUs (like the one in the AMD bundle that you linked) are overpriced. They do have decent onboard GPUs, but their CPU performance is not as good as that of Intel. I would rather buy a cheaper CPU and buy a discrete GPU.
Click to expand...

So its fair to say something like an intel core I5-4460 and my old ATI 6850 would be a better bet?
 
I'm in the process of building up an APU system for my parents, but with the A8-7600, not the A10.

With the APU's, the higher the memory frequency, the better - unless you have a dedicated GPU, in which case it's not that important.

When building up their machine, I considered the board in that bundle, but for a bit more, I got this: http://www.takealot.com/msi-amd-a88xm-e45-motherboard-socket-fm2/PLID32842342

That chipset:

- Has more RAM slots
- Runs ram natively at 2133, rather than having to OC

That bundle has 2 x 2 gig sticks, which fills up all the slots. Quite lame.

I haven't put much effort into researching the A8 I'm getting. All I know is that it's fairly on par with the old HD 4850 my parents were using. You can also crossfire the APU with certain R7 GPU's which I plan to do if gaming performance is pretty pear (in Flight Sim X :P).

A friend of mine has an A6 APU (not sure which one) and it runs Dota 2 on mostly high settings (although sacrifices had to be made). The A10 is quite a beast so I'm sure it'll run WoW without the need for your GPU. Doing a quick search, I found this on YouTube:

[video=youtube;m8RLQyPlZeQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8RLQyPlZeQ[/video]
 
mr_norris said:
I'm in the process of building up an APU system for my parents, but with the A8-7600, not the A10.

With the APU's, the higher the memory frequency, the better - unless you have a dedicated GPU, in which case it's not that important.

When building up their machine, I considered the board in that bundle, but for a bit more, I got this: http://www.takealot.com/msi-amd-a88xm-e45-motherboard-socket-fm2/PLID32842342

That chipset:

- Has more RAM slots
- Runs ram natively at 2133, rather than having to OC

That bundle has 2 x 2 gig sticks, which fills up all the slots. Quite lame.

I haven't put much effort into researching the A8 I'm getting. All I know is that it's fairly on par with the old HD 4850 my parents were using. You can also crossfire the APU with certain R7 GPU's which I plan to do if gaming performance is pretty pear (in Flight Sim X :P).

A friend of mine has an A6 APU (not sure which one) and it runs Dota 2 on mostly high settings (although sacrifices had to be made). The A10 is quite a beast so I'm sure it'll run WoW without the need for your GPU. Doing a quick search, I found this on YouTube:

[video=youtube;m8RLQyPlZeQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8RLQyPlZeQ[/video]
Click to expand...

Thanks, Ill go watch that when I get home tonight.
 
Yes, your AMD 6850 will be faster than a Kaveri, due in part to it's much greater memory bandwidth.

EDIT:

Op, get these three:
http://www.wootware.co.za/intel-bx8...socket-22nm-dual-core-3-6ghz-desktop-cpu.html
http://www.wootware.co.za/g-skill-f...-5v-cl9-dual-channel-ares-desktop-memory.html
http://www.wootware.co.za/asrock-h97m-pro4-intel-h97-chipset-lga1150-m-atx-desktop-motherboard.html

You could upgrade to a quad core i5 for about R1000 if you wanted. Total cost for that just a little under R4000.
 
Last edited:
Ancalagon said:
Yes, your AMD 6850 will be faster than a Kaveri, due in part to it's much greater memory bandwidth.

EDIT:

Op, get these three:
http://www.wootware.co.za/intel-bx8...socket-22nm-dual-core-3-6ghz-desktop-cpu.html
http://www.wootware.co.za/g-skill-f...-5v-cl9-dual-channel-ares-desktop-memory.html
http://www.wootware.co.za/asrock-h97m-pro4-intel-h97-chipset-lga1150-m-atx-desktop-motherboard.html

You could upgrade to a quad core i5 for about R1000 if you wanted. Total cost for that just a little under R4000.
Click to expand...

Thanks!!!! ill have a look. I checked on esquires website but seems like they dont have a single processor in stock in jhb (fail!)
 
I paid R650 for a GTX550 ti secondhand. That card scores 2200 in passmark. Kinda on par with the HD6850
The fastest I could get with an APU was 600, with a new Gen4 i5.

Those APUs can run just about every game, just not play them well.
MK9 and Injustice, it couldn't really handle at a respectable frame-rate and those are games a 8800GT dedicated card can handle with ease.
 
^^ For perspective, a Tegra X1, Nvidia's latest low-power SoC, outruns or at best matches the graphical performance of a GTX 280.
 
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