I've won an AMD APU

[Ian_Itor]

hey guys! long time no see!
i've started playing tf2 again recently, though. but my pc can barely handle tf2 resulting in fps drops etc.

what a great coincidence that i've just won this beauty, an AMD A-8 3780K APU. Worth about 100€.

my current specs are (you're gonna laugh at this):
Intel Core 2 Dual @1,8GHz
Geforce 8600GTS
2GB DDR2 RAM

Since I'm short on money I was planning on building a new computer for christmas, but now I don't know if I can wait
But I'd need a new motherboard, RAM etc.

What should I do now? And what do you  think of the APU? Should I still get an additional video card? Currently I'm only playing tf2, minecraft and binding of isaac, cause these are the only games mc current PC can handle. I'm not going to play BF3 or any similar high graphic shooters.

[AraS]

how did u win it hexus competition or something ?

[Ian_Itor]

some new german website called hardbloxx.de gave some prices among the first 1000 new users.

[Topher]

Very nice, that'll be a decent CPU upgrade. However I'd suggest waiting to upgrade your system. If I understand that CPU/APU correctly you need to allocate part of your system ram for the integrated graphics processor to use. The more you can afford to allocate the better and the higher your ram is overclocked makes a huge difference with this processor.
As far as benchmarks look the IGP is much faster than the IGP on the Intel sandy bridge CPUs but you really need to overclock that AMD CPU/APU to get the most out of it and even then it's still beaten by a £40 to £50 graphics card (that's testing with old low graphics games). So you're going to need a new motherboard of course, new ram is a must not only if you intend on using the IGP but also as you need DDR3 ram. Finally I'd still suggest you get a low end dedicated graphics card aswell.

Congratulations on your win.

[AraS]

nvm what topher said ^

heres review of it give you better idea if you want dedicated gpu or not and etc : http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/ha ... eview.html

[Ian_Itor]

thx topher and aras. I am already talking to some of my friends who are more into hardware than I am.
I already got a recommendation for a MB (link). I already got told that an APU needs a lot more RAM in order to unfold its full potential, so I think I'm gonna get some decent 8GB RAM.
About overclocking.. I'll get some help for that

Only question is, if I can afford it now or if I'll have to wait. If I get a dedicated GPU will be a decision for christmas or so, so I can just test it without first.

[Topher]

Aras, that's the review that I used It points out how the GT 430 which is an old £40 card beats the IGP in all game benchmarks they tested (low end games set to min graphics)
However it could be a good idea to do as you said ian and get the mobo + ram now and wait to see how it runs. Also you can't go wrong with an Asus board, good choice. However I'm not really up to date with AMD chipsets so I'll leave it to Aras for any further comment there.

[AraS]

board seems fine nows get some ram and tell us how it performs .