Two quick questions.

[burningpatch]

First off, I am building a very basic custom build for around $800. I have only accounted for one mechanical hard drive and not an extra SSD.

1. Is an SSD entirely necessary or is it something that people just use to go 'All Out' on their build?
2. My processor is this one: http://msy.com.au/product.jsp?productId=10490. Now don't ask me if this is overclocked/overclockable/pre-overclocked; because I don't know. I don't plan on overclocking it so should the Heat Sink fan that comes with it be good enough or should I invest in an after market one?
3. I plan to have 8GB of RAM. Is there an advantage to have two sticks of 4GB as opposed to 1 stick of 8GB?

Thanks in advance.

 

[James Mason]

The stock cooler should be fine for it, unless you live in a really hot part of australia. What are you ambient room temperatures like?
how many ram sticks you need depends on your mobo, but generally 2 sticks would be better, as it allows more traffic to go through, think of ram slots as lanes on a road, is a one lane road better or a two lane road?

 

[burningpatch]

The stock cooler should be fine for it, unless you live in a really hot part of australia.
how many ram sticks you need depends on your mobo, but generally 2 sticks would be better, as it allows more traffic to go through, think of ram slots as lanes on a road, is a one lane road better or a two lane road?

Ok thanks, that was very helpful Are you able to help me with question 1 too?

 

[shortstuff_mt]

1. An SSD is not necessary. They are nice to have because they help a lot with boot times and overall system responsiveness, but are absolutely not necessary.

2. If you're not overclocking then the stock fan will work fine. That's what it is designed for, after all.

3. Yes, if you get 2x4GB then the RAM can run in dual-channel mode which gives you an increase in bandwidth. It's especially helpful on APU setups like yours.

 

[James Mason]

1. An SSD is not necessary. They are nice to have because they help a lot with boot times and overall system responsiveness, but are absolutely not necessary.

2. If you're not overclocking then the stock fan will work fine. That's what it is designed for, after all.

3. Yes, if you get 2x4GB then the RAM can run in dual-channel mode which gives you an increase in bandwidth. It's especially helpful on APU setups like yours.

The 4130 is actually not an APU it's a regular CPU.

[strike]And after thinking about it a bit, the 4130 does run a bit hot, you might be better off with the 6300 for only a little bit more: http://msy.com.au/product.jsp?productId=9740[/strike]

Nevermind they all kind of run a bit hot.
An after market cooler is recommended if you're going to do any gaming.

 

[shortstuff_mt]

1. An SSD is not necessary. They are nice to have because they help a lot with boot times and overall system responsiveness, but are absolutely not necessary.

2. If you're not overclocking then the stock fan will work fine. That's what it is designed for, after all.

3. Yes, if you get 2x4GB then the RAM can run in dual-channel mode which gives you an increase in bandwidth. It's especially helpful on APU setups like yours.

The 4130 is actually not an APU it's a regular CPU.

Yes, that's true. I was helping with a couple threads at once and got it switched around. Either way, dual channel is the way to go...

 

[burningpatch]

1. An SSD is not necessary. They are nice to have because they help a lot with boot times and overall system responsiveness, but are absolutely not necessary.

2. If you're not overclocking then the stock fan will work fine. That's what it is designed for, after all.

3. Yes, if you get 2x4GB then the RAM can run in dual-channel mode which gives you an increase in bandwidth. It's especially helpful on APU setups like yours.

The 4130 is actually not an APU it's a regular CPU.

Yes, that's true. I was helping with a couple threads at once and got it switched around. Either way, dual channel is the way to go...

Could you please clarify the difference between an APU and a CPU. I've never before heard of an APU.

 

[James Mason]

An APU is a cpu that has a graphics card built into it, so you can have a computer without a graphics card, but they seriously can't compare to a computer with a graphics card, and are basically only useful for web browsing and word processing.

Like all the Intel i3/5/7 series processors are APUs and all the A# CPUs from AMD are APUs.

They are designed to save money and energy and ect for laptops and office pcs.

 

[shortstuff_mt]

I didn't mean to cause any confusion. Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) is the name AMD uses for their chips that include a GPU on the same die as the CPU. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_Accelerated_Processing_Unit

You don't need to worry about what that all means since it doesn't apply to your system. Sorry again for the confusion.