Problem solved. How well could this build perform?

[Meowcenary]

I'm going to be throwing together my own computer once I save up enough money here. I don't know too much about computers, just enough to get the compatible parts and how to put it together and some other basic crap, so I was wondering; how well could this computer build perform when running today's 'heavy' games like Battlefield 3?

Here's what I've been looking at so far

APU Processor: AMD APU 3.8GHz (4.2GHz Turbo) 4 cores (Radeon HD 7660D integrated video card)

Video Card: GIGABYTE Radeon HD 6670 1GB 128-bit DDR3

Mobo: ASRock FM2A55M-DGS FM2 AMD A55 (Hudson D2) Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Power supply: CORSAIR 430W 80 PLUS Certified

RAM: AMD Entertainment Edition 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3

Case: Haven't picked a specific one out yet, any basic case would work

OS: Windows 7 64 bit


Overall the build cost $450 (excluding windows 7), and the 6670 video card I chose is currently (well, last time I checked anyway) the most powerful videocard that can work with AMD's APU graphics together. Later on down the road I'll buy a new beefy video card and disable the integrated graphics on the APU when I need to upgrade / get the money for it.

My question is, how well could a build like this run resource demanding games such as Battlefield 3 or CryEngine games?

 

[Sharkey]

You might get 30fps or so lowest settings in bf3, maybe a little higher depending on your monitors resolution.

You're missing a hard drive, not the best ram (outofstockanyway), unless you're doing a micro build you probably want a larger motherboard (more space to work with, better cooling).

 

[Meowcenary]

You might get 30fps or so lowest settings in bf3, maybe a little higher depending on your monitors resolution.

You're missing a hard drive, not the best ram (outofstockanyway), unless you're doing a micro build you probably want a larger motherboard (more space to work with, better cooling).

Alright, thanks for the feedback.

I take it the video card is the weak point and the processor should be enough?

 

[ProbeX]

Alright, thanks for the feedback.

I take it the video card is the weak point and the processor should be enough?

processors fine, I dont have to much experience with the Newer ATI brand cards, but yeah you would want to go to the higher end of the spectrum, also be sure to cross reference cards, just because it's newer, doesn't make it better.
Edit: My card versus your pick http://www.hwcompare.com/10841/geforce-gts-450-vs-radeon-hd-6670-oem-1gb/

 

[ViperStriker]

PSU sounds a bit lacking, I'd have to check to be sure. And a newer Radeon card like the 7970 if you can afford it would be pretty good but you's want a higher wattage PSU in that case.

And yeah, you need a HDD. Western Digital or Seagate are the better HDD makers in my opinion.

 

[Meowcenary]

PSU sounds a bit lacking, I'd have to check to be sure. And a newer Radeon card like the 7970 if you can afford it would be pretty good but you's want a higher wattage PSU in that case.

And yeah, you need a HDD. Western Digital or Seagate are the better HDD makers in my opinion.

I'd love to have a high end card like that but currently I'm on a really low budget.

Also, I'm a retard when it comes to video cards, so could someone recommend me a video card that could run BF3 on at least low settings with 30 fps in intense multiplayer combat situations? It doesn't have to be anything new, even discontinued cards would work.

 

[Derpingson]

From what I know, your processor is pretty good, while other stuff are kinda low-end for "heavier" games.

 

[๖ۣۜZaldarius]

what exactly is your budget? I'll look everything over when I get home and see what I can do ( on my phone ATM)

 

[Meowcenary]

what exactly is your budget? I'll look everything over when I get home and see what I can do ( on my phone ATM)

About $550. I'm not expecting to run today's games on ultra with a budget low as mine. I'd be more than happy if I could get 30 fps with low settings while running BF3

 

[๖ۣۜZaldarius]

Alright, I get off in about 6 hours, ill see what I can get you for 550
Also is that 550 going to include tax+ shipping?

 

[Derpingson]

You might want to upgrade your RAM to 8GB at the very least, being that you are $100 under your budget. (I see that you said that the video card provided in OP was the most powerful choice)

Afterwards, when you get more cash or something, upgrade that video card to a 2/3GB.

 

[๖ۣۜZaldarius]

alrighty, just got home, ill keep editing as i get new parts, dont want to open a metric fuckton of tabs\
first off, ive always had issues with ATI cards personally, and wouldnt go with anything except for an NVIDIA card
found one thats cheaper than your ati card with a little bit faster core clock
VIDEO CARD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130792
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130808
(comes with a DVI port if your still running a VGA monitor, otherwise has its standard 1 DIVx) also slightly cheaper

your PSU is pretty lacking, it will probably handle your system, but it will degrade much faster as its running nearer to capacity, you lose I think about 5-10% of your PSU's total continuous wattage per year but i could be off on that number, that being said, you can use the money saved on your video card to go with a more solid Antec PSU with a higher wattage and more +12V rails
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371016

As someone above me stated, that MOBO is a MicroATX and youll probably want to upgrade that to a full ATX for improved airflow and more expansion room, ASrock is a pretty reliable budget brand, but I personally wouldnt go with anything except an ASUS board
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157333
(a full atx version of the board you linked) but its a good bit more money

since you are buying a video card, i cant for the life of me figure out why you would want to buy a CPU/GPU combo, as those will drain the proccessing power of your cpu to divert resources to the GPU portion of the unit, im personally running a 3.3gig with no problems, save some money and downgrade with
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113283
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113282
and just disable the integrated graphics portion of the CPU to get the full benefits

4Gigs of RAM isnt going to be nearly enough for what your wanting to do, Double your ram power with some quality Kingston ram for 30 bucks
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104339
or get a slightly higher frequency ram for a little extra cash
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139984

For your case, you can never go wrong with a quality Antec case, I reccommend the case im currently using,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129180
(keep in mind youll probably have to buy fans for it, the one i bought was the Illusion case which came with 2 front 1 top and 1 back, but i think they discontinued it)

noticed you didnt have a HDD featured, ill go ahead and link you the nice caviar blues that are on sale right now for the same price as blacks, a good 500Gb should hold you till you pick up an external for your music/movie storage
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136769

 

[๖ۣۜZaldarius]

assuming you dont need a keyboard/mouse/monitor, that should about cover your build (and assuming i caught everything) total before tax and shipping is 430.93 (not counting the OS) can probably get you a couple more upgrades if you can spend more just lemme know

:edit
just noticed you didnt include a dvd or bluray player or burner, did you need one of those as well?

 

[Meowcenary]

assuming you dont need a keyboard/mouse/monitor, that should about cover your build (and assuming i caught everything) total before tax and shipping is 430.93 (not counting the OS) can probably get you a couple more upgrades if you can spend more just lemme know

:edit
just noticed you didnt include a dvd or bluray player or burner, did you need one of those as well?

Sorry for my late reply. I have a dvd burner, monitor keyboard and mouse from my old computer so I should be covered when it comes to that

Thanks for taking the time to put this all together for me, I really appreciate it. The build I posted was questionable because one of my friends threw it together for me. After doing some research about the parts I found it was 'sloppy' so to say, which is why I came here to get your opinions on it.

 

[๖ۣۜZaldarius]

Sorry for my late reply. I have a dvd burner, monitor keyboard and mouse from my old computer so I should be covered when it comes to that

Thanks for taking the time to put this all together for me, I really appreciate it. The build I posted was questionable because one of my friends threw it together for me. After doing some research about the parts I found it was 'sloppy' so to say, which is why I came here to get your opinions on it.

yeah, managed to keep it pretty well under budget too, you could go a little extra on a higher end video card if you wanted, but everything else should be good to run bf3 on at least mid settings with no problems

 

[PsychoRealm]

found one thats cheaper than your ati card with a little bit faster core clock
VIDEO CARD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130792
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130808

My experience shows that GT cards are garbage. Also, as far as I heard BF3 is all about CPU...

Anyhow, I'm selling my PNY GTX 460 1GB GDDR5 (has been used for 1 year) for $120. (New one goes for $250). If you are interested - let me know.
NVidia's website says you will get 42-45 fps in BF3 with this card on Ultra quality. I managed to get 40 fps on Ultra quality

 

[Mr. Socko]

It would be better if you change the processor to a bulldozer FX-6100(119.99 $) or FX-6300 (139.99 $) as they both are 6-core processors. Since you would be playing BF3, the game is very good at utilizing all 6 cores. The APUs are only good if you are building HTPC without a video card.

Here is a motherboard which goes with FX series for the same price : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157323

 

[Sharkey]

It would be better if you change the processor to a bulldozer FX-6100(119.99 $) or FX-6200 (139.99 $) as they both are 6-core processors. Since you would be playing BF3, the game is very good at utilizing all 6 cores. The APUs are only good if you are building HTPC without a video card.

Here is a motherboard which goes with FX series for the same price : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157323

Speed is more important than number of cores

 

[Mr. Socko]

Speed is more important than number of cores

The benhmarks:
FX-6100:5402
APU 5700k: 4897

 

[Sharkey]

The benhmarks:
FX-6100:5402
APU 5700k: 4897

Generally you're going to see more fps in modern games with speed than you would by sacrificing it for two more cores, if you can get two more cores and manage the same stock (or overclock), then by all means. (Posting benchmark scores is useless when you don't say which benchmark it is)