Upgraded Kernel & Mesa Yield A Big Boost For Athlon R3 Graphics

[dungeon]

Anyway i liked those tiny APUs so ordered AM1M-A + Athlon 5350, hope i will have it in few days so i could also test how it goes

[molecule-eye]

Ok so things aren't looking so grim anymore. Not too concerned with Catalyst performance though since the drivers are pure junk. Can't properly run Source engine games, breaks Chrome smooth scrolling, weird 2D issues, breaks graceful resume from suspend, etc. (Of course I can only speak for my system.)

I'm looking to build a cheap HTPC for media consumption and light gaming. This is what I priced out (in euros) for two systems at exactly this time:

Athlon 5350 build
Asrock am1 board: 25.05
Athlon 5350: 47.3
4gb ddr3 1600: 28.92
LC-Power LC-1360mi USB 3.0 Mini-ITX 75 Watt case: 45.6
120gb Mach Xtreme Technology DS Fusion GT Series SSD: 54.9
Total: 201.77

A4-4000 build
Gigabyte FM2 board: 48.6
AMD A4-4000 (Richland 65W): 26.44
Team Group Vulcan Series Gold, DDR3-2133, CL10 - 8 GB Kit: 59.9
LC-Power LC-1360mi USB 3.0 Mini-ITX 75 Watt: 45.6
120gb Mach Xtreme Technology DS Fusion GT Series: 54.9
Total: 235.44

(It's possible that 75W PSU isn't enough for the A-series build under heavy load, but you can get cases for the same price with slightly beefier PSUs.)

That's a mere 33.67 difference, and you get double the RAM, faster processor, better upgrade path, and faster RAM in the A-Series build. Unless you really need that low TDP, there's no reason as far as I can see for getting the 5350.

[curaga]

Yes, those are the cases I'm talking about. I can't like them. I just can't see the appeal as anything other than a NAS...

Shuttle cases for the win since 2002!

[curaga]

(It's possible that 75W PSU isn't enough for the A-series build under heavy load, but you can get cases for the same price with slightly beefier PSUs.)

It ain't. Speaking as the owner of another 65W richland (a8-6500), the thing idles at 55W and takes 110W under load with no drives attached. You're not supposed to use 100% of a PSUs capacity anyway, so add some leeway and you're at 175W at minimum.

It's got this old PSU: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article131-page1.html that I had lying around. It's quite silent, but only 68% efficient it seems. So if you get a 90% efficient PSU for example you could make it with 130W only.

[molecule-eye]

110W under load with no drives? That seems odd for a 65W chip. Also, the kind of board you use makes a significant difference, with ITX ones often drawing "much" less power than ATX and mATX boards.

Anyway, unless one never loads the system, probably a 90W would do, but I wouldn't risk it. I would try to keep the PSU wattage under 300 for sure though for efficiency reasons, unlike that old 350W you're using. The problem is I hate these external bricks. I wish they would make more cases with low-wattage, small internal PSUs.

[curaga]

The mobo is a Gigabyte matx f2a88xm-ds2.

When you calculate the efficiency difference between 68% and 90% it seems better:
110 * 0.68 / 0.9 = 83W

[AJSB]

75W is not enough for a A4-4000 ?!?

So, can you explain *HOW* i managed to power up a Slim DVD , a 2.5" 1TB HDD , 8GB DDR3 at 2133MHz and a A6-5400K will all energy saving options OFF, Turbo OFF, CPU cores at 3.6GHz and iGPU OVERCLOCKED to 800 MHz (plus buid uses a total of *3* fans) and *NEVER* had a problem and only drain 63W peak (*before* AC/DC brick) from the wall playing games like BFBC2 and ETQ:W ?!?


I tell you exactly how i did it....

UNDERVOLT, UNDERVOLT and then... UNDERVOLT some more

Read my build log 1st post FULLY...:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1440405/asrock-fm2a88x-itx-fm2-mitx-board-kaveri-ready-build

PS: I intend to run a A8-7600 in this build...with stock 75W PSU

[AJSB]

I have this cube case:

http://www.coolermaster.com/case/mini-itx-elite-series/elite130/

Besides the fact that a dual fan thick rad will congest the 2.5" drive bay under the 5.25" one, its been pretty great. Got a 4770k and a 7870 (its a work machine with some late night Xonotic fun on radeonSI). Best part is you don't have to compromise (much) on the PSU, so I have a gold rated one.

But if you don't like the cube aesthetic, you are going to hard pressed to think of this as screaming anything but console:

http://www.silverstonetek.com/raven/products/index.php?model=RVZ01

I intend to build my brother a Steambox in either this case or one really similar to it next year, hopefully after Ubisoft starts bringing their catalog to Linux. I still want to see someone try a full blown water cooling setup in that thing (240mm dual fan rad in the gpu bay, cpu and 2.5" bracket mounted pump, gpu + cpu cooled) but it is also fine for a dual slot cooler GPU + low profile CPU cooler like the CNPS8900. It also has up to 3x 2.5" drives and a 3.5" one, so an ssd and storage disc easily fit.

Silverstones stuff is amazing though, I've been won over big time with some builds in the last few years.

At 1st i did like the Silverstone RVZ01 technnical solutions ...but then all those ridges in the plastics , and that kind of Slim ODD w/o a tray is simply not for me...besides i also don't like how tall and deep is the case...

There is/was a cheaper and smaller case (is more wide but with less height and deep), the InWin BK644....VERY clean design just like i like and overall smaller (and even can use a standard sized ODD !!!).

...but good luck finding one for sell (i think they discontinued it)

[AJSB]

Is it just me, or do "Cube" cases ( Not little NUC's or NUC-likes. Those I like) rub other people the wrong way too? Whenever I see a rectangular prism / cube case I just think "NAS, not Desktop." But maybe thats just me. This is what I'm talking about: http://images.anandtech.com/doci/611...of%2010%29.jpg

Nice build by the way, AJSB. Perfect little mini desktop for tight areas or a mini-server, or someone who just likes a clean, minimal look.

The build I'm doing is.... http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Ericg92/saved/43TD

Cooler Master hyper 212 Evo for now. Its gonna be a TIGHT fight though. Like the maximum cooler height for the 350D case and the height of the Hyper 212 EVO is 1mm difference. Corsair H60 / H100i is the next 'upgrade' depending on how well the EVO cools the 7850k.

Thanks, yes, i love to do this kind of "micro tower" builds
I made several with that 65x220x210 case model...

I don't use for NAS but as HTPC and light gaming machine...it plays OK, ETQW (more than OK, actually pretty well in LINUX or XP with Catalyst...total fail in Linux with OSS driver and total crap in Win7/8.x) , BFBC2, BF2, etc.

I'm also not a big fan of cube-like builds but if was to make one , in special if it was to use a dGPU, it would be using a SILVERSTONE SUGO SG05...

One of the smallest that there is with full height dual slot PCIe slots...
....and you can even flip it sideways 90 degrees so the case will be narrower to save space

...at least that's i would do...and it would still look good and cool well...

[zanny]

And I wasn't sure if you could fit a dedicated card in the Rvz, I'd prob go for Nvidia's new Maxwell card (forget the number, GTX something... 760?) if it was a dedicated gaming machine. Good performance, better power efficiency, small profile.

The RVZ supports over foot long graphics cards (13", but if you say a foot you cover your bases if you get one with power connectors off the back rather than side). It is designed to hold a potent gaming system. You could, if you were sufficiently crazy, stuff a 4670k + 290 / 780 in there.