Opinions on $400ish budget build

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FearTheCow

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I am trying to put together a cheapish build for my dad that will play world of tanks with medium/high settings at 30+ fps @ 1920x1080.

I need a case, MB, CPU, Video card, PSU, and OS.

Case - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0074V2UXI/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3KGNLL200UCI2

MB - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009HP42HQ/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Processor - http://www.amazon.com/AMD-A6-5400K-...431&sr=1-1&keywords=a6+5400k&tag=hardfocom-20

video card(?) - http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Rade...1?ie=UTF8&qid=1360223200&sr=8-1&keywords=7770

PSU - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002A17OG0/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_5?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

OS - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004Q0PT3I/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
 
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darkstarcow said:
I am trying to put together a cheapish build for my dad that will play world of tanks with medium/high settings at 30+ fps @ 1920x1080.

I need a case, MB, CPU, Video card, PSU, and OS.

Case - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0074V2UXI/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3KGNLL200UCI2

MB - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009HP42HQ/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Processor - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0095VP8D4/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

video card(?) - http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Rade...1?ie=UTF8&qid=1360223200&sr=8-1&keywords=7770

PSU - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002A17OG0/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_5?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

OS - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004Q0PT3I/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
Click to expand...

I noticed that you forgot about the RAM. Do you need any new DDR3 RAM? Or do you already have some DDR3 RAM? And if you do have spare DDR3 RAM, which brand and model is it? And what voltage is it rated at? (Without any RAM whatsoever, that new build would not even run at all.)

With that said, I agree with Danny. Getting an AMD APU-based PC with a discrete GPU more than completely defeats the singular advantage the APU has over Intel's CPU/HD Graphics setup. With the GPU portion of the AMD APU completely disabled by the simple installation of a discrete graphics card, the performance falls back to the CPU portion of the APU. And this is where quad-core AMD APUs fall short of even dual-core (and sometimes even single-core) Intel CPUs in most everyday applications.
 
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darkstarcow said:
How big of a performance difference between the A6, Pentium, and I3 in gaming?
Click to expand...

Have you ever heard of the term "CPU bottlenecking GPU"? Well, that exactly what happens if you pair an AMD APU, especially the dual-core A6, to any decent discrete GPU. As I stated earlier, a discrete GPU will more than completely negate the singular advantage of the AMD GPU over the Intel setup: Relatively fast integrated graphics without the need for a discrete GPU. In other words, that A6 will bottleneck the discrete HD 7770 even more than the A10 will - in some cases, the A6/HD 7770 combo will actually perform slower than a PC with a cheapo Intel CPU and a lower-end discrete GPU.
 
darkstarcow said:
How big of a performance difference between the A6, Pentium, and I3 in gaming?
Click to expand...

Pretty large between the Pentium G860 and the A6-5400K:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/676?vs=404

The A8-5600K is faster than the A6-5400K and the Pentium G860 is faster than the Pentium G850. Since the above link shows the Pentium G850 outperforming the A8-5600K in games, that should give you a pretty good idea of the performance difference in games between the Pentium G860 and the A6-5400K. Hence why we've been saying that an AMD APU setup with a discrete GPU does not make sense since you've effectively negated the sole advantage of the AMD APUs which is their integrated GPU.

As for the performance difference between the Pentium G860 and Core i3 3220 gaming, it's honestly not as large as the difference between the A6-5400K and Pentium G860. It's pretty dependent on the game:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/289?vs=404

The Core i3 3220 is 3 to 5% faster than the Core i3 2100. So add 3% to 5% to the performance numbers of the Core i3 2100 to get an idea of the performance of the Core i3 3220.
 
Alright, i3 it is, I get the feeling it will give an overall better experience for the next couple years.
 
I just want to give my thanks for your guys help, the computer is together and running great!

Edit: Due to time constraints I had to change the case to the NZXT Elite 210 black, along with the hyper 212+ the CPU doesnt go above 42c in Prime95.
 
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