[VCrool]

Hi.

A search brought me here. Thanks for the wealth of information posted by everyone regarding these HTPC builds.

I'm in a bit of a quandary. I decided to build the system recommended in this helpful thread by eskro.
My build is going to be A8-3850 / Asrock A75 Pro4 M / Silverstone ML03 / Crucial Ballistic 1866 DDR3.
I went for this system as it will play both roles of a main desktop PC and a HTPC. This APU seemed ideal. All the parts are ordered but now I'm having second thoughts about the A8-3850 (runs hot / power hungry, dead platform / no upgrade path, old architecture? etc). I'm wondering if I should've gone down the Intel route (i3?) with a dedicated GPU card.

Any A8-3850 users care to advise? Keep or return?

Kind regards
VC

[Jetster]

Im not a A8 owner, but the A8 architecture is newer then the i3. i think you will be happy and there is the option of adding a dedicated graphic card for X fire if you want higher end graphics for gaming (not that it needs it). The only advantage the i3 i5 have would be in things like video transcoding where raw CPU power would be needed

[GortWillSaveUs]

Not sure what you use your main desktop pc for,...but I have an A6 and it runs perfectly.
I use it for XBMC in the family room, which also allows them to get on assorted web pages,...as well as a second place for me to play one particular PC game.
Haven't had any lag or performance issues.

When you said you were having second thoughts,..I thought you were going to say that you wished that you brought an A6 instead.

I did just build an A8 for someone and they are ecstatic about how it came out.
I'm very happy that I went with an A6, and I can see this being in use for many years to come.

As far as future-proofing PCs,..I say it's impossible.
You'll probably overspend on components that will be outdated the same as components that do the job just as well.

After all,...is it really that important to get 20 sec boot time, instead of 30 second boot time.

[VCrool]

Thanks Jetster.

Gort - your builds were two of the many I was looking at. In-fact mine is extremely similar, I have the same PSU too.
I was going to get the A6-3500 but I found a deal on the A8 (£69 - I'm in the UK) and as it's also going to serve as a desktop I though the extra processing power of the A8 would be worth it. But to be honest I think the A6 would've been fine. Maybe I'm just getting a bit nervous as I'm extremely out of touch with PCs these days. I hate buyers remorse.

With regard to the A8 and cooling. Did you find a case fan necessary in the ML03?
I went with a Cooler Master GeminII M4 for the CPU cooling.

Cheers

[GortWillSaveUs]

Gort - your builds were two of the many I was looking at. In-fact mine is extremely similar, I have the same PSU too.
I was going to get the A6-3500 but I found a deal on the A8 (£69 - I'm in the UK) and as it's also going to serve as a desktop I though the extra processing power of the A8 would be worth it. But to be honest I think the A6 would've been fine. Maybe I'm just getting a bit nervous as I'm extremely out of touch with PCs these days. I hate buyers remorse.

With regard to the A8 and cooling. Did you find a case fan necessary in the ML03?
I went with a Cooler Master GeminII M4 for the CPU cooling.

Cheers

I understand totally about "buyer's remorse",..but for me,..it's when I go to buy stuff.
When I wanted to build this system,..I hinted at it to my wife,....and eventually, she saw the light and told me to "pull the trigger already".
The funny thing is,..I had researched this stuff for weeks,...but when I got the green light,..it took me 2 days just to press the Buy button.

The ML03 doesn't come with a case fan,..but I LOVE this case.
Did you mean the stock CPU fan? If so,..I could have went with that,..but I decided to get the Big Shuriken CPU Cooler,..and from that link,.it looks exactly the same.
I works perfectly and the temps never get high at all. With the fan speed at 1 and auto,..I can't hear a thing.
I think the pipes alone keep the thing cool.
Good luck on the build,..you're going to love it!

[VCrool]

Yeah I read the Big Shuriken and the GeminII are similar in performance but I found the GeminII to be a fair bit cheaper over here so I went with that. I am however wondering if any 80mm case fans are needed in addition to this CPU cooler when using an A8 as I've read it runs hot. I suppose I'll find out.

Looking forward to building now. Thanks!

[stammie]

I just built an AMD A8 system for my nephew last week who wanted it as an htpc, a games machine (to run at 720p as that's all his tv supports) and a video encoder/photoshop pc for his college media work.
He couldn't be happier with the performance of his new pc, I got him the AMD 3870K solution for its overclocking capabilities and the only downside is overclocking over 3200 ghz would require a different fan from the stock one as the noise becomes quite bad.
PC's are like cars, as soon as you've paid for it its out of date and depreciating in value but from my limited experience so far your A8 is a better system than an i3
Just on the games performance to quote my nephew "at 720p its as good as my xbox 360" and the desktop performance with 8gb of ram surpasses what he thought the pc would do.

[Beer40oz]

I am building an A8-3850 for a mid entry gaming PC at the moment. Let me tell you it's incredible. Now down the road if he wan'ts to play with better FPS he can buy a 6670 GPU and crossfire it.


For pure HTPC can't beat a A6-3500 ... even play some games.

[Mick1152]

I have an A8-3870K system in my living room. I don't do a lot of "desktop PC" stuff on it but, I do use it to play Portal/Portal 2 from time to time and it doesn't have any problems with that. I can't think of anything I do on my desktop that this system would have any problems with though. I can tell you that transcoding a bluray rip does take longer on this system than my desktop, about 18-20 hours versus 10-12 of my desktop. Other than that, I wouldn't have any problem using this system as my desktop PC for what I do.

I have a case fan in my ML03. I have a full size, ATX PSU with the octopus mess of cables coming off it, an SSD and two 3.5" HDD's. All this makes the case a little tight. I don't feel I get very good ventilation in there now so I added a single case fan as a precaution. Temps are a little higher with the A8 vs my A6 system, but, that's to be expected with the higher power APU. Even without the case fan, I never had high temps but added it just to help keep things cool when it is really working.

[assassin]

For pure HTPC can't beat a A6-3500 ... even play some games.

I disagree.

[Beer40oz]

For pure HTPC can't beat a A6-3500 ... even play some games.

I disagree.

To each there own... all I know its a great APU and many people here are satisfied with it. Plays everything flawless I trow at it. If I needed another HTPC then it will be my first choice.

But new stuff is coming out. So down the road will see what is best.

[eskro]

For pure HTPC can't beat a A6-3500 ... even play some games.

+1

A6-3500 FTW!!!!

[assassin]

I am happy to be in a cordial disagreement with AMD users on this forum. Having used both I have a different opinion. Both remain solid options for HTPC depending on what you want and what your goals are.

[VCrool]

Helpful and interesting comments. Thanks.

I've had a read of your guides assassin. Cheers.

As this is going to be my main desktop PC as much as my HTPC (probably more so) I'm now wondering if a Llano is the most appropriate CPU to base this build on?

What hardware is required to surpass the CPU performance of the A8 and equal it in GPU performance?
I've seen an Ivy Bridge i5 3450 3.10GHz (OEM) for £128 but that's quite a big difference over the £69 I've paid for the A8. Mobos are similarly priced so no issue there.
I don't upgrade my PC hardware often so buying a strong CPU now is attractive.

@Mick1152 - that's quite a time difference. What is your desktop PC based around?

I should've asked these questions before I ordered but it's not too late to return the mobo and A8 if I decide too.
Thanks for the help!

[GortWillSaveUs]

For pure HTPC can't beat a A6-3500 ... even play some games.

I disagree.

Assassin: Don't think it's fair for you just to make a statement of "I disagree" without explaining "Why" you disagree. Beer has been a pretty awesome resource of information and he's helped make a lot of people very happy! Not only do I agree with Beer's statement that you've quoted,..I confirm that statement to be true.