[SOLVED] Best possible thing to do with Gigabyte F2A78M-HD2 Micro ATX Socket FM2+

[Tight.Budget.Gamer]

Hi Everyone,

Good Day!

I would like to ask for help & recommendations for my 4 year old motherboard, what is the possible maximum potential I can get with her considering that the only thing I don't plan to change with her is the APU which is AMD A8-7600 Radeon R7, 10 Compute Cores 4c +6G, AMD Radeon R7 Graphics? I want to achieve at least 80~100 fps on Ultra Settings in DOTA 2.

Current Set Up:
Operating System = Windows 7 Ultimate Service Pack 1
RAM = Kingston Hyper X 8Gb DDR-3 1866MHz Fury Red Memory
Graphics Card = None
HDD = Seagate 500Gb Barracuda 16Mb 7200RPM 3.5" SATA Hard Disk Drive
Case: Cooler Master N200
Power Supply: Power Logic 700Watts


For Reference:

New-Doc-2020-02-27-08-00-36-1

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4090037b-fc7b-46c6-a667-19c6da7ad965-1-574cda71829564806daad5a48aa0fd57

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[tennis2]

So you're asking what GPU you should buy?

What country are you shopping in and what's your budget?

Why haven't you installed service pack 3 for Win7 or done the free upgrade to win 10?

 

[Tight.Budget.Gamer]

So you're asking what GPU you should buy?

What country are you shopping in and what's your budget?

Why haven't you installed service pack 3 for Win7 or done the free upgrade to win 10?

I'm planning to get a GPU to do the "Dual Graphics" technique that I've been seeing with regards to my current APU. But I don't know how so far.

Also, I'm from the Philippines.

I do prefer Win7 over Win10 and I might do update this to service pack 3.

 

[DSzymborski]

I'm planning to get a GPU to do the "Dual Graphics" technique that I've been seeing with regards to my current APU. But I don't know how so far.

Also, I'm from the Philippines.

I do prefer Win7 over Win10 and I might do update this to service pack 3.

Dual graphics is essentially worthless in 2020. And even if it weren't, any GPU weak enough to dual GPU with an ancient A8 is going to be weaker than you want.

Your best hope here on a very low budget is to buy a used 1050 or 1050 Ti and hope your PSU (in 2020 terms, this is essentially a poorly made 360W power supply, not a 700W one) doesn't kill it. And no GPU that uses supplementary power. That's as close as you can get to your goal without a major upgrade.

It's also beyond the time to upgrade. Windows 7 has been EOLed and there are no more security patches or bug fixes coming; the time to when preferring it was a thing ended a month ago. You can use Windows 10 for free with a watermark in the corner. You're under even more risk if this is not a legitimate copy of Windows 7 Ultimate because, well, let's just say I have my suspicions that you're not running a properly licensed OS that cost $300 on this rig.

 

[Tight.Budget.Gamer]

Dual graphics is essentially worthless in 2020. And even if it weren't, any GPU weak enough to dual GPU with an ancient A8 is going to be weaker than you want.

Your best hope here on a very low budget is to buy a used 1050 or 1050 Ti and hope your PSU (in 2020 terms, this is essentially a poorly made 360W power supply, not a 700W one) doesn't kill it. And no GPU that uses supplementary power. That's as close as you can get to your goal without a major upgrade.

It's also beyond the time to upgrade. Windows 7 has been EOLed and there are no more security patches or bug fixes coming; the time to when preferring it was a thing ended a month ago. You can use Windows 10 for free with a watermark in the corner. You're under even more risk if this is not a legitimate copy of Windows 7 Ultimate because, well, let's just say I have my suspicions that you're not running a properly licensed OS that cost $300 on this rig.

I see and understand that this setup of mine is weak for year 2020 gaming, it's probably time to move on. I might just use this for office work & web browsing purposes.

Can you provide me with a full setup that will be strong for 2020 and still good after a few years from now?

 

[tennis2]

Need a budget.

Also, what websites do you shop on for components?

 

[punkncat]

Where the A8 7600 is a great little APU for surfing, general computing, HTPC, etc. it's not going to game anywhere near an "acceptable" level (or those frame rates) at 1080p for sure. I utilized one for use in making a smart TV rig. At one point I attempted to use it for some light gaming. I paired it with a GTX 960 at the time and the single most common issue was 100% CPU usage. I could play titles that were well over the curve at 720 mid settings, perhaps 40-60 frames.
If you were to invest in a GPU at all I would look to something 'not so powerful' or targeted to your next build.

The "crossfire" like setting where you can combine the APU with (some) AMD GPU is not worth going to the trouble to find a compatible card. Even with the super small increase in frames that I experienced utilizing it (mostly saw lows come up a frame or two) the problem always ends up back at the 'high CPU usage' error.

In relation to gaming, even if you went with a Ryzen 3 1200 system as cheap as you could find it will game circles around this A8.

 

[Tight.Budget.Gamer]

Need a budget.

Also, what websites do you shop on for components?

Well I’m from the Philippines so purchasing online is kinda hard in here, I might as well purchase each hardware 1 by 1 in order to built the gaming PC that I wanted, My budget is around 30,000 Pesos or 600 USD, can you give me your suggestion for a gaming PC that is within that budget?

 

[tennis2]

Ryzen 3600 = ₱10,300.00
MSI B450M Mortar Max = ₱5,150.00
2x8GB DDR4-3200 = ₱4,400.00
MSI GTX1650 Ventus = ₱7,450.00
Subtotal = P27,300

I'd recommend re-using your current case to maximize the budget for performance. What case do you have? If not, maybe this case for ₱2,000.00 (tempered glass, 3 included fans, dust filters, mesh front) here's the manufacturer's website

Depending on the quality (and/or age) of your current PSU, the remaining money would go toward a new Power Supply = ₱2,530.00 or a 256GB SSD = ₱2,950.00

 

[King_V]

Depending on how tight the budget is, I'd drop down to Ryzen 5 2600 for P6,400.00 from that same site. Almost 40% savings, but only losing maybe 10% performance.
https://dynaquestpc.com/collections...5-2600-6-core-12-thread-3-40-3-90ghz-16mb-65w

I don't trust Cooler Master for power supplies, but the site does have, for some more money, this one:
Corsair CX550M for ₱3,750.00
https://dynaquestpc.com/collections...ies-cx550m-80plus-bronze-modular-power-supply

Seasonic Focus Gold 550W for ₱4,020.00
https://dynaquestpc.com/collections...ocus-gold-550fm-550watts-80-gold-semi-modular

Also, this, but this may be budget-busting:
Corsair TX650M for ₱4,950.00
https://dynaquestpc.com/collections...650watts-80plus-gold-modular-cs-cp-9020132-na


Of those 3, the CX is acceptable, but I would really, REALLY want you to put the extra ₱270.00 and get the Seasonic Focus Gold. That's got about the quality of the TX650M, but is more affordable. It's definitely better than the CX550M, and very well worth the extra 7% cost over the CX550M.

 

[tennis2]

For the price difference between the CX550M and the SS Focus Gold 550W, the later wins that battle hands down. The fact that I was speccing out a GTX1650 leads me to think that the PSU I linked was decent enough (it is their newer version/platform after all), even if it's not necessarily fantastic.
The Seasonic S12III 550W = ₱3,200.00 is another to consider, depending on where you want to land on the PSU budget.

I can agree with the Ryzen 2600 recommendation also. I was operating on the assumption that perhaps the existing PSU and case are decent enough to reuse, but obviously need more info.
The Ryzen 2600 savings allows you to fit the SSD AND the PSU (and perhaps even the case) into the budget. Or maybe you buy a little more GPU... It's all a big balancing act. That's why no 2 people will give you the same recommendations.

 

[Tight.Budget.Gamer]

For the price difference between the CX550M and the SS Focus Gold 550W, the later wins that battle hands down. The fact that I was speccing out a GTX1650 leads me to think that the PSU I linked was decent enough (it is their newer version/platform after all), even if it's not necessarily fantastic.
The Seasonic S12III 550W = ₱3,200.00 is another to consider, depending on where you want to land on the PSU budget.

I can agree with the Ryzen 2600 recommendation also. I was operating on the assumption that perhaps the existing PSU and case are decent enough to reuse, but obviously need more info.
The Ryzen 2600 savings allows you to fit the SSD AND the PSU (and perhaps even the case) into the budget. Or maybe you buy a little more GPU... It's all a big balancing act. That's why no 2 people will give you the same recommendations.

Thank you very much for your replies. One more thing, what other "little more" GPU can you recommend for me?

 

[tennis2]

Well, the RX5500XT and GTX1650 Super are basically the same. The 5500XT probably wins by 5%.

Basically, you'd be looking at RX5500XT = ₱9,150.00 which is about 33% faster than the non-super GTX1650 I linked earlier for a 23% price increase. The MSI Mech series cards are slightly better coolers than the Ventus ones also.

 

[Karadjgne]

The only way to CF that APU in dual graphics is with an r9-250. What you'd end up with is graphics that'd either be slightly better than a gtx750ti, slightly worse, or seriously worse, depending on the CF support in the game. Far better to forget the APU graphics and use a discrete graphics card by itself, using the APU as cpu only.

 

[Tight.Budget.Gamer]

Thank you everyone, will this build be able to hit 60+ fps on DOTA 2 in ULTRA settings?

Motherboard = MSI B450M MORTAR MAX
https://dynaquestpc.com/collections/motherboard-socket-am4/products/msi-b450m-mortar-max

RAM = GSKILL RIPJAWS V 16GB DUAL DDR4 3200MHZ CL16 (F4-3200C16D-16GVKB)
https://dynaquestpc.com/collections/memory/products/ripjaws-v-16gb-2x8gb-3200mhz-f4-3200c16d-16gvkb

CPU = AMD RYZEN 5 2600 6-CORE 12-THREAD 3.40-3.90GHZ 16MB 65W
https://dynaquestpc.com/collections...5-2600-6-core-12-thread-3-40-3-90ghz-16mb-65w

GPU = MSI RADEON RX 5500 XT MECH OC 4GB
https://dynaquestpc.com/collections/graphics-card/products/msi-radeon-rx-5500-xt-mech-oc-4gb

PSU = SEASONIC FOCUS GOLD 550FM 550WATTS 80+ GOLD SEMI MODULAR
https://dynaquestpc.com/collections...ocus-gold-550fm-550watts-80-gold-semi-modular

CHASIS = TECWARE ALPHA M USB 3.0
https://dynaquestpc.com/collections/chassis-mid-tower/products/tecware-alpha-m-usb3-0-black

STORAGE = ANY RECOMMENDATIONS PLEASE

 

[tennis2]

You're WELL past 60FPS on Dota2 now!!!

Storage - what is the situation with your current system hard drive? How old is it? What's your remaining budget for new storage?

 

[Tight.Budget.Gamer]

You're WELL past 60FPS on Dota2 now!!!

Storage - what is the situation with your current system hard drive? How old is it? What's your remaining budget for new storage?

I will be giving my old PC setup to my younger siblings for their studies, that is why I will be needing recommendations for a great storage. I still have around 10,000 pesos for storage.

 

[Tight.Budget.Gamer]

Thank you everyone, will this build be able to hit 60+ fps on DOTA 2 in ULTRA settings?

Motherboard = MSI B450M MORTAR MAX
https://dynaquestpc.com/collections/motherboard-socket-am4/products/msi-b450m-mortar-max

RAM = GSKILL RIPJAWS V 16GB DUAL DDR4 3200MHZ CL16 (F4-3200C16D-16GVKB)
https://dynaquestpc.com/collections/memory/products/ripjaws-v-16gb-2x8gb-3200mhz-f4-3200c16d-16gvkb

CPU = AMD RYZEN 5 2600 6-CORE 12-THREAD 3.40-3.90GHZ 16MB 65W
https://dynaquestpc.com/collections...5-2600-6-core-12-thread-3-40-3-90ghz-16mb-65w

GPU = MSI RADEON RX 5500 XT MECH OC 4GB
https://dynaquestpc.com/collections/graphics-card/products/msi-radeon-rx-5500-xt-mech-oc-4gb

PSU = SEASONIC FOCUS GOLD 550FM 550WATTS 80+ GOLD SEMI MODULAR
https://dynaquestpc.com/collections...ocus-gold-550fm-550watts-80-gold-semi-modular

CHASIS = TECWARE ALPHA M USB 3.0
https://dynaquestpc.com/collections/chassis-mid-tower/products/tecware-alpha-m-usb3-0-black

STORAGE = ANY RECOMMENDATIONS PLEASE

Also, what is the MAXIMUM potential of this motherboard? I mean what is the best GPU, CPU, RAM and PSU it can handle? So that I can look forward to having those when the money is not a concern anymore.

 

[tennis2]

Also, what is the MAXIMUM potential of this motherboard? I mean what is the best GPU, CPU, RAM and PSU it can handle? So that I can look forward to having those when the money is not a concern anymore.

The mortar max is a great board. Ryzen 3950X.
Motherboard doesn't determine PSU or GPU.
128GB max RAM (4x32GB if you can ever find that)

 

[tennis2]

I will be giving my old PC setup to my younger siblings for their studies, that is why I will be needing recommendations for a great storage. I still have around 10,000 pesos for storage.

XPG SX8200 Pro 512GB SSD = ₱4,690.00 would be an option

10k on the table still, even after the PSU and GPU upgrades, and a case? We've far exceeded the original 30k budget you set. What is the actual budget? 45 to 50k now?
What monitor do you have? Maybe we start looking at that?

 

[Tight.Budget.Gamer]

XPG SX8200 Pro 512GB SSD = ₱4,690.00 would be an option

10k on the table still, even after the PSU and GPU upgrades, and a case? We've far exceeded the original 30k budget you set. What is the actual budget? 45 to 50k now?
What monitor do you have? Maybe we start looking at that?

Yes, 50k will be my limit. Currently I have Philips 191EL LED Monitor with max resolution at 1366x768. If this one gives up then that's time I'll purchase a 1080p monitor and probably exceed my 50k limit. So, if you can also suggest a good performing 1080p monitor in a value for money amount it would be much appreciated too.

Do I still need a HDD and NVME for this setup or that SSD is enough?

 

[tennis2]

The SX8200 Pro is an NVMe SSD.

Whether you need a hdd as well is something you'll have to answer. A good way to check is to look at how much used space is on your current system's hard drive.

If I'm keeping track (with the 512GB SSD I recently suggested), your build is sitting at ₱39,710 currently (not sure what taxes and shipping turns out being).
Do you need to reserve money to buy Windows 10? If not, that still leaves you 10,290 for a monitor before you hit your limit. Trying to stick as close to the limit as possible, that gets you Asus 24" IPS 1080p 48-144Hz FreeSync = ₱9,700.00 or MSI 24" VA 1080p 48-144Hz FreeSync = ₱10,900.00