Is my hdd bottlenecking my computer?

[Noobpc]

I'm pretty excited! This is my first ever "build" (i put everything together brand-new, except the case, which was a re-use of my old Dell Dimension 2400).

The new things i bought for my pc were:

AMD A6 6400k black series APU/CPU 4.1ghz
MSI FM2 A75MA E35 mobo
"WD Blue 250 GB Desktop Hard Drive: 3.5 Inch, 7200 RPM, SATA III, 16 MB Cache"
4gb 1600mhz ram (2.97gb usable??? why so little?)

So my question is: Is my hdd a bottleneck for my current setup? I am not a heavy duty gamer, but i DO enjoy playing games once in awhile. The games that I do play are not graphics intensive (Team Fortress Classic, Primal Carnage, Minecraft), but i would still like to see smooth fps on them.

Does the HDD even affect performance enough to make a visible difference in this scenario?

I was thinking about upgrading to an A10, but I'm not sure yet.

 

[patrick47018]

I would say you want a HDD with 64MB cache or even a SSD, that is not a very good performing HDD. and the A10-6800K is a great APU for light gaming, movies, etc. and you get better performance with faster RAM with your APU

 

[RazerZ]

I would say you want a HDD with 64MB cache or even a SSD, that is not a very good performing HDD. and the A10-6800K is a great APU for light gaming, movies, etc. and you get better performance with faster RAM with your APU

I agree but I don't believe its really bottle necking his computer. Since the APU is ram dependent maybe upgrade to 8gb as well and see if that helps.

 

[Swordkd]

No, your HDD isn't going to affect the performance in-game as far as FPS. You should probably think about getting 8gb's of Ram before investing in a better Cpu though, and preferably 1866mhz because it's about the same price as 1600mhz right now.

What is your budget for building your Pc?

:edit: Nevermind, saw that you already bought the items.

 

[Noobpc]

I understand my HDD isn't good.

No, your HDD isn't going to affect the performance in-game as far as FPS. You should probably think about getting 8gb's of Ram before investing in a better Cpu though, and preferably 1866mhz because it's about the same price as 1600mhz right now.

What is your budget for building your Pc?

:edit: Nevermind, saw that you already bought the items.

I primarily picked out most of everything so i could get the lowest prices possible.

The exception is the APU.

My ram stick only uses 2.97gb. After my research, it appears that I can increase that with BIOS remapping. Is that safe? (NO idea what i am doing here).

I could chuck in 1 more stick of ram as i have 1 free slot. Should i go with another 4gb stick or go all in with something bigger like 8gb stick?

 

[patrick47018]

The RAM I would recommend: http://www.macmall.com/p/8049944?dpno=9433323&source=zwb12166

 

[RazerZ]

The RAM I would recommend: http://www.macmall.com/p/8049944?dpno=9433323&source=zwb12166

8gb for $110 your kidding right?

He already has 4gb so he just needs 4gb more.

 

[RazerZ]

Get this 4gb stick and you should be good to go.

http://www.outletpc.com/sm6785-bls4g3d1609ds1s00-crucial-ballistix-4gb-ddr3-ram.html?utm_source=sm6785-bls4g3d1609ds1s00-crucial-ballistix-4gb-ddr3-ram&utm_medium=shopping%2Bengine&utm_campaign=pcpartpicker&utm_content=Crucial%2B-%2BMemory%20%28RAM%29%20%3E%20Desktop%20-%20DDR3%20Memory

 

[patrick47018]

I'm sorry, it was marked cheaper than that on pcpartspicklist, sorry, it was 63 a hour ago
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/kingston-memory-khx18c9x3k28x

 

[Noobpc]

Thanks guys for the ram suggestion. I'll look into getting another 4gb stick.

Can someone please tell me why so little of my current ram is usable? 2.97/4 is usable according to my computer. I'm not sure of any safe ways to up that number. Total noob at this.