# The "quickie" $300 Gaming Rig (compatibility verification PLEASE)



## RooSalad (Jan 23, 2012)

*The Wife's $300 Gaming Rig (compatibility verification PLEASE)*

I will be ordering these parts later today, in order to get my wife a suitable _*gaming rig*_ which can handle Facebook games, Minecraft, and HD movies.

I just need to *double, triple, and even quadruple check* to make sure *all of these parts are compatible with one-another*- and that's where you guys come in!
If you see something that you think will not be compatible with the rig, please shout at me!

$20.00 *CASE: GIGABYTE GZ-F5HEB*
GIGABYTE GZ-F5HEB Black SECC Steel / ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Newegg.com

$50.00 *MOTHERBOARD: MSI FM2-A55M-E33 FM2 AMD A55 (Hudson D2) HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS *
MSI FM2-A55M-E33 FM2 AMD A55 (Hudson D2) HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS - Newegg.com

_Optional_ $16.00 *OPTICAL DRIVE: LITE-ON Model iHDS118-04 - OEM*
LITE-ON Model iHDS118-04 Black CD/DVD ROM - Newegg.com

$45.00 *POWER SUPPLY: CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 430W *
CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 430W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Newegg.com

$45.00 *RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2 x 2GB)*
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBXL - Newegg.com

$130.00 *CPU/GPU/APU: AMD A10-5800K Trinity 3.8GHz (4.2GHz Turbo) Socket FM2 100W Quad-Core Desktop APU (CPU + GPU) with DirectX 11 Graphic AMD Radeon HD 7660*
AMD A10-5800K Trinity 3.8GHz (4.2GHz Turbo) Socket FM2 100W Quad-Core Desktop APU (CPU + GPU) with DirectX 11 Graphic AMD Radeon HD 7660D AD580KWOHJBOX - Newegg.com

= $290.00 - $306.00


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## gcavan (Aug 13, 2009)

Chosen components are compatible. What about storage? (hard drive of SSD)


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## RooSalad (Jan 23, 2012)

gcavan said:


> Chosen components are compatible. What about storage? (hard drive of SSD)


I have her old 500gb internal I'll just pop in. She's already got all of her old stuff (and her favorite OS, etc) already on there.
Also already have her old monitor (just some cheepo 1366x768 720p landscape), old keyboard, and mouse as well.

This is good news  Hope a few more come by to verify it for me. I'm always paranoid about compatibility- since when I was a rookie I learned the hard way that not every amd mobo is compatible with every amd cpu, etc etc..


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## toothman (Jul 13, 2008)

Compatibility looks good. A few notes on component selection:


Motherboard - you can pick an ASUS or Gigabyte board of the same features for just a few bucks more:
GIGABYTE GA-F2A55M-HD2 FM2 AMD A55 (Hudson D2) HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Newegg.com
Newegg.com - ASUS A55M-A FM2 AMD A55 (Hudson D2) HDMI uATX Native HDMI/DVI Outputs AMD Motherboard With UEFI BIOS
PSU - only about $10 for the much better SeaSonic brand:
SeaSonic S12II 430B 430W ATX12V V2.3/EPS12V 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Newegg.com
or, better yet, the 550w XFX model that will give you room to upgrade:
XFX Core Edition PRO550W (P1-550S-XXB9) 550W ATX12V 2.2 & ESP12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Newegg.com
APU - The 5600k is almost as good and will save you about $30. For the listed needs, it's more than enough.
AMD A8-5600K Trinity 3.6GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) Socket FM2 100W Quad-Core Desktop APU - Newegg.com


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## RooSalad (Jan 23, 2012)

toothman said:


> Compatibility looks good. A few notes on component selection:
> 
> 
> Motherboard - you can pick an ASUS or Gigabyte board of the same features for just a few bucks more:
> ...



The only one that caught my eye there was the 5600k. I think I'm going to go overkill and get her the 5800k still, however- seeing as she does mostly do Facebook games, and Minecraft- but she always talks about how she misses playing Oblivion, and Morrowind. If she ever were to go back to those games, I'd feel more comfortable with her having more than she needs, than not enough to play at least Medium graphics settings, you know? Thanks again for the input!

I'll seriously consider going with that ASUS mobo. I'm an ASUS man at heart, but I'm really trying to shoot for a record as far as pricing a low end gaming rig here. I've never tried MSI, and hope that they can serve me well on our first outing together


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## gcavan (Aug 13, 2009)

> I have her old 500gb internal I'll just pop in. She's already got all of her old stuff (and her favorite OS, etc) already on there.


I doubt you will be able to simply "just pop in" the old drive. The operating system and applications will most likely have to reinstalled.

PS: you might also consider swapping in a stronger power supply. If you decide later to add a discrete graphics card, the 430 will limit your choices.


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## RooSalad (Jan 23, 2012)

gcavan said:


> I doubt you will be able to simply "just pop in" the old drive. The operating system and applications will most likely have to reinstalled.


Oh? I've never done it before, I assumed it was no different than swapping out memory cards in a phone, or console.
What makes it so that I'd have to re-install the OS? That's interesting news to me.
I don't mind it if I had to re-install/format the drive... but are you sure I'd have to?


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## gcavan (Aug 13, 2009)

When Windows installs, it configures itself to match the installed hardware. When you change that hardware, Windows must be reconfigured. When it comes to components such as the processor/memory, graphics cards, or other peripherals, system BIOS and/or a driver upgrade will usually handle it. However, swapping the motherboard with anything but an exact duplicate almost always means a fresh install of the OS and apps.

You can sometimes get away with a Repair install, and there are ways to prepare the previous system to avoid it, but those are iffy and will usually take as long as if you simply did a fresh install.


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## RooSalad (Jan 23, 2012)

gcavan said:


> When Windows installs, it configures itself to match the installed hardware. When you change that hardware, Windows must be reconfigured. When it comes to components such as the processor/memory, graphics cards, or other peripherals, system BIOS and/or a driver upgrade will usually handle it. However, swapping the motherboard with anything but an exact duplicate almost always means a fresh install of the OS and apps.
> 
> You can sometimes get away with a Repair install, and there are ways to prepare the previous system to avoid it, but those are iffy and will usually take as long as if you simply did a fresh install.


Without any prep on the hard drive, I could just plug it in, with the OS CD ROM in, boot from Optical Drive, and continue a fresh installation from there, right? Or would there be a need for some other steps before I could get a fresh copy of the OS on there?


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## gcavan (Aug 13, 2009)

Well, you would want to back up any saved files (pictures, music/video, documents, etc) to another drive and/or PC before hand as those would otherwise be lost. Also remember to retrieve any forgotten passwords.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

If nothing else, definitely replace that PSU with a good quality unit.
If gaming is intended, you'll want a dedicated GPU and that PSU, aside from being poor quality, will not be sufficient.


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## RooSalad (Jan 23, 2012)

Tyree said:


> If nothing else, definitely replace that PSU with a good quality unit.
> If gaming is intended, you'll want a dedicated GPU and that PSU, aside from being poor quality, will not be sufficient.


Even if the intended gaming is facebook games (flash-based)/minecraft?


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

The Radeon HD 7660D on the A10 APU will do quite well for Facebook flash type games Minecraft and HD movies she's looking to play.

In that build I would use the S12II 380B or the SS-400ET either will have more then enough power for a micro ATX APU set up> PSU Compare


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## RooSalad (Jan 23, 2012)

Tyree said:


> If nothing else, definitely replace that PSU with a good quality unit.
> If gaming is intended, you'll want a dedicated GPU and that PSU, aside from being poor quality, will not be sufficient.


How is a Corsair 430 watt powersupply insufficient? The APU will never use more than 130 watts. Ever. After countless benchmarks and stress tests, I've never seen a feedback show me more than 125 watt usage.

With 4gb 2x2 ram, and a simple micro motherboard... 430 watt is plenty, and Corsair has never done me wrong in the past.

I fully realize the importance of the PSU within a computer- but it seems like it's being scrutinized far too heavily on this site, by a few regular members.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

Tyree said:


> If nothing else, definitely replace that PSU with a good quality unit.


The one recommended by wrench97 will be fine if no dedicated GPU will be added.


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## RooSalad (Jan 23, 2012)

SeaSonic is a brand I've never yet tried. I suppose if there was ever a time to try them out, now is the time. I'll toss the Corsair 430w, for this SeaSonic 400W (listed by Wrench) SeaSonic SS-400ET Bronze 400W ATX12V V2.2/EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Newegg.com
Hope it doesn't let me down. I constantly hear fantastic things about SeaSonic, but I've never had a reason to switch to them, or try it out.


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

The older Corsair TX HX and a couple of the VX series were Seasonic built so if they are the models you used in the past that's what you had, the newer Corsair series are built mostly by CWT using the PSHII chassis that is not as solid as the older PSH design let alone the Seasonic designs. 
It's more about the quality of the power then the quantity in this build.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

None better than SeaSonic. It should serve you well.


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## RooSalad (Jan 23, 2012)

This may seem silly, but what about swapping out the RAM I had in the original post, with something slighly faster like G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model F3-14900CL9D-4GBXM

Do you think that will make a significant difference? I hear RAM speeds are a lot more important when running an APU like this A10's.


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Same price so it won't matter the faster speed from 1600 to 1866 won't be noticeable in normal use.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

You will see no difference in speed using the 1866 over the 1600.
Going with a 2x4GB matched pair of 1600 would be a better option.


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## RooSalad (Jan 23, 2012)

Wrench97 said:


> Same price so it won't matter the faster speed from 1600 to 1866 won't be noticeable in normal use.


And maybe one more silly question... Would it be worth throwing an extra $10 at the motherboard, for this one ?MSI FM2-A75MA-E35 FM2 AMD A75 (Hudson D3) HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

I'm not a MSI fan but besides that if you are not using the PCIe slot or overclocking there are no benefits to the A75 over the A55.


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## RooSalad (Jan 23, 2012)

I'm so indecisive. LOL.... Now I'm sitting here staring at this... twiddling my thumbs... Newegg.com - AMD A10-6800K Richland 4.1GHz (4.4GHz Turbo) Socket FM2 100W Quad-Core Desktop Processor - Black Edition AMD Radeon HD 8670D


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

The higher the CPU clock and the higher the GPU number the better it will preform.


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