Components for APU-A10 Kaveri based system, Requesting help.

Hi!
I am looking for an affordable system for hobby and work-at-home, for basic modelling and 720p video editing at 30K.
(A10 processor + RAM + Mobo ; 10+8+10K ) ?

11. Anything else which you would like to say? Yes!
I am thinking of AMD APU based system, since A10 and A8's can perform good without a good GFX card to begin with. OC-capable motherboards for APUs are more affordable ?. Which mobo, RAM models would suite Kaveri APUs the best ?

Currently looking to rig a working PC, with a future-ready motherboard, and best performance RAM for it. Processor and every other parts I will upgrade in future, but looking to keep same motherboard and RAM. Will add GFX card in 3 months if needed.

Questionnaire filled :

1. purpose of the computer?
Wire-frame modelling + Video editing in Blender;
Adobe Illustrator;
Game - only McRae Dirt series.

2. overall budget
20K, push up 10k max right now (investing more in future).

3. Planning to overclock?
Definitely yes, but in future.

4. Operating System
Windows (8 or 10), Ubuntu 64bit low latency kernel.

6. Monitor
have 19" HDMI as well as DVI monitor, 720p

7. components already have :
PSU, ATX cabinet, Monitor, SSD, HDD, Keyboard+Mouse, speakers.

8. When are you planning to buy the system?
in less than 30 days.

9. Have you ever built a desktop before
Have experience assembling, updating BIOS etc.

10. Are you buying locally?
Bangalore local or online buy.

Any links and opinions much appreciated !
TIA.

Found bssunilreddy's suggestion elsewhere in this forum :

MD Ryzen 5 1400 -12500,
Asus Prime B350 Plus -8000,
Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB 3000Mhz DDR4 -6000.
Total -26,500.

Would the Ryzen be better than an A10 platform based rig ? AMD would be making more better A series over time or would wind it down ?

Nishandh said:
Found bssunilreddy's suggestion elsewhere in this forum :

MD Ryzen 5 1400 -12500,
Asus Prime B350 Plus -8000,
Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB 3000Mhz DDR4 -6000.
Total -26,500.

Would the Ryzen be better than an A10 platform based rig ? AMD would be making more better A series over time or would wind it down ?

Don't consider APUs unless they release ryzen+vega based ones.

New Generation APU are coming Q1 next year with Zen + Vega merged together.
So no brain going for APU now.

Thanks SaiyanGoku and lutenic.

So its either a 4 months wait or a heavier budget ..
That set apart, which would be the best 10K range FM2+ motherboard out there as of now ?

Ive been searching, but is there a thread on best/3 year future proof mobo for Ryzen series in TDF ? This would help making an estimate.

G

A6 9500 Bristol ridge is already available here.. see if others are available as well..
Check out it's benchmarks on YouTube..

If waiting is absolutely not an option and not considering an Intel + dgpu

You may consider that as a short-term medium term solution if you think performance is ok for your purpose , you will be able to use AM4 motherboard .. with all the modern tech like ddr4 ram , usb 3.1 gen 2 future upgradability and compatibility with ryzen CPU and apu..

Also q1 2018 is not confirmed Afaik .. highly probable

but instead of spending 7.5-8k on b350 mobo for overclcokability.. a 6k gt 1030 + 4k mobo could be better bang for buck performance right now combined with g4560 ( if unavailable or expensive look for g4400 .. its faster than a6 atleast .. but you wont get upgradability here ).. so amd a320 board at 4.5k makes more sense if you dont need overclockability budget wise.. but b350 are way more popular and mobo manufacturers will most likely support Ryzen 3rd gen ( zen 2- 2019) on them.. a320 not sure at this point..

so weigh pros and cons and decide..

what model and how old is your psu ?

B

Nishandh said:
Found bssunilreddy's suggestion elsewhere in this forum :

MD Ryzen 5 1400 -12500,
Asus Prime B350 Plus -8000,
Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB 3000Mhz DDR4 -6000.
Total -26,500.

Would the Ryzen be better than an A10 platform based rig ? AMD would be making more better A series over time or would wind it down ?

Ram prices have increased brother.
What is Kaveri? I mean is apu a board, sorry for the noob question.

W

Kaveri/APU is processor with integrated gpu just like intel core series processors with inbuilt intel HD graphics.

hey that is a very useful input, gta5. The fact that AM4 compatible APUs are in market is a new info for me.

I am looking to get a value-for-money bristol ridge processor, and the max peformance-to-bucks AM4 mother board.
This MSI B350 TOMAHAWK ARCTIC looks good in some reviews [ AM4, DDR4 64GB max RAM 2800MHz, crossfire yes, no SLI, NO onboard Video, HDMI, USB3, ATX,]
any thoughts please ? link : *www.amazon.in/MSI-B350-Motherboard-TOMAHAWK-ARCTIC
Reviewers on Amazon mentions about selected RAM sticks incompatibilities, and some recommends X series instead of B.

Looking for the best VFM 4GB or 8GB RAM too to start with (2133Ghz or more)

@gta5, The existing PSU is CoolerMaster Elite 390 and 350, both in TDF blacklist. Planning to get these upgraded in a later stage.

@billukara, as @whitestar_999 has said, Kaveri is the processor architecture , it gets revised, even in the same branding line up. in this case, increases GPU performance and lower TDP.

Nishandh said:
hey that is a very useful input, gta5. The fact that AM4 compatible APUs are in market is a new info for me.

I am looking to get a value-for-money bristol ridge processor, and the max peformance-to-bucks AM4 mother board.
This MSI B350 TOMAHAWK ARCTIC looks good in some reviews [ AM4, DDR4 64GB max RAM 2800MHz, crossfire yes, no SLI, NO onboard Video, HDMI, USB3, ATX,]
any thoughts please ? link : *www.amazon.in/MSI-B350-Motherboard-TOMAHAWK-ARCTIC
Reviewers on Amazon mentions about selected RAM sticks incompatibilities, and some recommends X series instead of B.

Looking for the best VFM 4GB or 8GB RAM too to start with (2133Ghz or more)

@gta5, The existing PSU is CoolerMaster Elite 390 and 350, both in TDF blacklist. Planning to get these upgraded in a later stage.

@billukara, as @whitestar_999 has said, Kaveri is the processor architecture , it gets revised, even in the same branding line up. in this case, increases GPU performance and lower TDP.

It is better to go with R5 1400 + 1030 than spend money on older gen architecture even though the socket is updated to AM4.

G

stick with gigabyte or asus for good after sale services.. if your plan is very heavy overclocks only then Choose X series as they have good VRM .. but b350 is good for moderate overclocks

yes ram compatibility , you should properly check.. search about bios issues and overclocks , vrm temps also..

corsair vengance ddr4 2400 mhz

you didn't mention how old is your PSU.. if it is more than 2.5-3 years old or heavily used you risk shortening life of your new motherboard,hdd,ssd by using with that psu .. and risking killing components when that psu dies if you are unlucky ..

a6 9500 appeared for sale only a week or 2 ago.. maybe other models are on its way as well ask vedant or mdcomputers ..

but remember this is an old architecture.. and consider only as a short- medium term solution if you are fixated on going with amd apu+ mobo.. plus you may have very less takers for these apu when you decide to sell it..

h110 mobo - 4.3k
g4560 - 5.5-6k
gt1030 - 6k

this is much better than your amd apu + b350 combo and better resale prospects.. g4560 is oos everywhere though right now.. but how much gpu power do you need..

plus there is no absolute gurantee that your mobo will still be working after 4.5 years.. good chances but still something to consider to not put too much reliance/money/expectations on it for long term.. mobo are not super reliable for long term.. unlike cpu and ram

@Nishandh

Choosing AM4 for motherboard is the right choice. AMD is proposing to support that pin for coming 4 or so years so getting a replacement for your rig at any time in the future upto 6 years should be possible.

Considering that you plan to upgrade to a good CPU/GPU combination in the near future (around 1 year or so) with overclocking in the pipeline, go for a good motherboard now itself. Unless it conks off, you won't have to change it later.

As getting a good CPU/GPU combination now is pricey and not in your present budget range, going for an affordable AM4 pin APU that matches your minimum requirements is good choice right now. I have seen the game play video of A6-9500 on YouTube for around 10+ games and that looks decent. It costs less than 5 K now so you can just think of it as a small loss investment. Get a fast RAM to go with it and which you can continue to use for your future upgrade too. This will help get the maximum out of the minimum processor right now.

@sling-shot ,thanks, this is exactly the investment-pathway that I am seeing in front of me.
@gta, thankyou again for inputs, my SMPS is 3 year old, sadly.
@SaiyanGoku, yes R5 and 1030 is promising, but budget-wise putting pressure on the balance amount available for motherboard and RAM.

Right now I am down-sampling videos for small screen, so 1080P is quite comfortable. Video editing allows whole project export (source files + proxy files +Editlist transfer) from one system to another, so in case I need to render a <1080 resolution, I can take this task to a studio system on rent. So a system which allows fast-scrubbing through timeline, using proxy video files, is the need of time.
Blender is often quoted to work faster in chips, which allows more FloatinPointUnits calaulations, as per reviews and articles. Initial search says its good in some APUs, looking more into this.

Reportedly, the main problems to look for, in APU-based motherbaords are
(1)driver issues with ATI graphics card ,
(2)SLI is not possible in affordable ones
(3)RAM full-utilisation needs BIOS updates and OC.

Looking for a mobo in which atleast some of these issues are solved. B350 chipset is the one in focus, or and X 350 if it comes affordable.
Kindly suggest if you came across any X or B 270/350 series or similar motherboard with interesting specs..

Came to know the hard fact that AM4 motherboards, none of them have an integrated graphics chip.
Any exceptions for this please ? is there any series which comes with graphic card ?

Nishandh said:
Came to know the hard fact that AM4 motherboards, none of them have an integrated graphics chip.
Any exceptions for this please ? is there any series which comes with graphic card ?

APUs have integrated GPUs. Mobo's having integrated GPUs is an obsolete thing.

one noob question, in case we load a Ryzen, would it be capable of loading a BIOS screen ? would it run the OS screen too albeit low performance?

Nishandh said:
one noob question, in case we load a Ryzen, would it be capable of loading a BIOS screen ? would it run the OS screen too albeit low performance?

Nope. Current ryzen CPUs don't have an iGPU either. You need a dedicated one.

The problem with this is that in case of GPU failure there is no backup. Even to just run the OS.

W

Cheapest R5 230 card is available for 2k.Is it worth it to get an outdated/old/less efficient architecture APU just to save 2k?One can always buy a cheap 2k gfx card as temporary solution/backup in case more powerful/costly primary gfx card goes for RMA to run day-to-day tasks on pc.

V

Have you considered the i3-8100 which is quad core and has integrated GPU. It costs 10.5 k. add a mobo for 13500 and ram . It won't overclock but has great performance.

Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk

vivek g delhi said:
Have you considered the i3-8100 which is quad core and has integrated GPU. It costs 10.5 k. add a mobo for 13500 and ram . It won't overclock but has great performance.

Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk

A Z370 mobo for an i3 is not worth the extra money.

whitestar_999 said:
Cheapest R5 230 card is available for 2k.Is it worth it to get an outdated/old/less efficient architecture APU just to save 2k?One can always buy a cheap 2k gfx card as temporary solution/backup in case more powerful/costly primary gfx card goes for RMA to run day-to-day tasks on pc.

Do such cards get driver support for current OS version?

W

Yes but only for install,no updates(the last final driver for R5 230 was released on 29/07/2015 which is compatible with win 10). In any case such low end cards don't require driver updates because one is not looking for improvement in gaming performance on such cards which is the main reason for updating graphics card driver.

While I was about to order a cheap Bristol Ridge GPU, (with a notion that I could upgrade to a Ryzen later),
Came across the fact that Ryzen ThreadRipper uses an sTR socket.

Any guess if the Ryzen+Vega units would be released for AM4 or sTR4 socket please ?

Nishandh said:
While I was about to order a cheap Bristol Ridge GPU, (with a notion that I could upgrade to a Ryzen later),
Came across the fact that Ryzen ThreadRipper uses an sTR socket.

Any guess if the Ryzen+Vega units would be released for AM4 or sTR4 socket please ?

Threadripper is different. AM4 is the mainstream AMD lineup which you should be aiming for. I won't recommend any current APU over a Ryzen CPU + Low end GPU for display.