AMD Radeon APU's -- surprisingly powerful

[steveeoaktree]

Well fellas, this the first review that I have posted on Forever Pontiac regarding Computers. I had previously reviewed items for an online computer hardware store, as well as building many custom systems over the years. When mom wanted to buy an "off the shelf" system, I couldn't hack that so we built one. Starting with a Cooler Master mini ITX case and a MSI a55 mobo, the decision was which APU to try? I then decided to build the lowest priced, quality system that I could. I found an A-4 3400 new and stuck it in there not expecting much. Mom basically surfs the web and not much else so I figured that it'd be OK for that... Well fellas, I was shocked at the performance of this little APU. I bought her a 24" 1080p monitor (a Dell swivel) and the graphics are utterly amazing! Paired with a Plextor sata 3 SSD the thing starts and runs very quick. I spent a total of $314 including the monitor, and it outperforms any value prebuilt system that I have ever used... by far. The case came with a small, compact 150w power supply which is ample for this system so it's very light on the energy bill as well. After building many rigs with dual 7870's, single 290x's and many others.. I wonder why I didn't try one of these little APU's before...?

 

 

Just a few thoughts for anyone that could use them.

[havoc1482]

What was your benchmark game/program?

 

I just upgraded my MB and CPU.

 

ASUS Sabertooth Z97 Mk.I paired with a Intel i7 4790K @ 4.0GHz

 

GPU is an EVGA GTX 970 SC

 

16GB (2 x 8GB Duel Channel) DDR3 1866MHz

[Ringo64]

$314 including the monitor? Damn... 

[steveeoaktree]

$314 including the monitor? Damn... 

Well I must admit that the AMD 2133 ram was free ( I had previously reviewed it as well as the Plextor SSD)

[steveeoaktree]

What was your benchmark game/program?

 

I just upgraded my MB and CPU.

 

ASUS Sabertooth Z97 Mk.I paired with a Intel i7 4790K @ 4.0GHz

 

GPU is an EVGA GTX 970 SC

 

16GB (2 x 8GB Duel Channel) DDR3 1866MHz

Honestly I didn't benchmark mom's rig, but the WEI scores were 7.2 7.8 7.7 7.9 7.9.  When I have 2000 in a rig, I expect it to perform well, but with the (or one of the) lowest performing 1st gen APU's it far exceeded my expectations. My personal rig has the AMD 9590 with the Powercolor R9 290X and 16gb Radeon 2133 on an Asrock Fatality 990fx Professional mobo. Twin Samsung 840 EVo ssd's ...

 

http://www.overclock.net/u/266654/oldcompgeek