Accelerated Processing Units and being a cheapass about PC building

[Rujasu]

Alright, I've come to the conclusion that my laptop is starting to be inferior to anything a budget desktop PC can be, largely because - just like now - I was a cheapass about it and got the model with a wet noodle of a GPU just to save a hundred euros. This time I plan to do the same and get away with it by virtue of having an upgradeable system.

Laptop's most relevant stuff, for reference:
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3630QM CPU @2.40GHz
NVIDIA GeForce GT 635M 2Gb
8Gb RAM

It's been a while since I've done any part scouting but it's apparent that the GPU is the most expensive single part, and the best way to cut down on costs is to not buy one in the first place. I've been thinking of finding a cost effective APU to double as a GPU until I can reverse my slow descent into hobodom.
So what's left is a case, mobo, RAM, HDD and a PSU powerful enough to support that potential future GPU. I'll just use my TV for a monitor and an OS is a separate concern for now. All this should ideally fit around the 500€ mark, though that's a very loose limit so if you think there's a better cost/benefit ratio a bit higher up the price range, I'm open for suggestions.
Bonus points for fitting it all in a mini-ITX case, but cost before convenience.

I'm still worried I'll end up shooting myself in the foot by not just going for a dedicated GPU and CPU right from the bat. Having to immediately conclude that the APU is not good enough of a CPU after getting that graphics card is a situation I'd like to avoid because it's a sign that my penny pinching has come to bite me in the ass again.

 

[Splintert]

If you want to improve over your current situation, don't get an APU. It's just glorified integrated graphics (ie ****). The best APUs also have a ****ty CPU side, so you're missing out on both ends.

What I would recommend is getting some kind of Intel i3 or i5, combined with a mid tier in the AMD R9 270X or Nvidia GTX 760 area. It'll cost a bit more up front, but the performance advantage over an APU is going to be massive.

 

[Rujasu]

How about an AMD FX-6300? It seems to outperform i3s for around the same price, and with an R9 it should keep up with most things I throw at it, at 1366x768 anyway.

 

[Splintert]

It might outperform i3s in benchmarks but AMD's processors have comparatively bad singlethreaded performance, which is what games need. An equivalently clocked Intel processor will be much faster in games than an AMD.

Although it's a good choice if you're not too concerned about getting the best. Keep in mind that a CPU bottleneck won't be alleviated by a low resolution. At 1366x768 you might be able to go for a lower GPU and a higher CPU without losing anything.

 

[Rujasu]

Possibly, yes. Isn't gaming slowly moving away from singlethreading, though?

I'll have to think about sacrificing GPU performance for a slightly beefier CPU. For now, though, let's throw something preliminary out there:

Mobo: MSI 970A-G43 AMD AM3+ ATX ~63€
GPU: ASUS AMD Radeon R9 270X 2GB DirectCU II ~190€
CPU: AMD FX-6300 6C 3.5G 14M AM3+ 95W ~99€
RAM: G.Skill 8GB (2 x 4GB), DDR3 1600MHz, CL11, 1.5V ~75€
PSU: LC-Power 600W, 6600GP V2.3 Silent Giant Green black ~60€
HDD: WD CAVIAR BLUE 1TB SATA3 7200RPM 6Gb/s 64MB ~55€

...Which would be roughly 542€ without the case. I'm tired as **** right now so I haven't looked to closely at the parts, but everything should fit together. Not too sure about the PSU. 600W is enough as far as my limited knowledge goes. If anyone sees problems, or better yet, improvements on this list, do tell.

 

[Splintert]

The current generation of processors will be long out of date by the time games move fully into multithread optimization. The issue isn't that developers aren't capable of implementing it, it's that there's no way to implement it that would benefit performance.

Your system is approximately equivalent if not better than my brother's, which runs everything reasonably well. 600W is enough to power just about anything so long as the 12V rail has enough amperage. Make sure you get a case to put it all in too 

 

[Kevlar]

Cases are unnecessary really :p

Your motherboard box is basically perfect.

 

[Rujasu]

That's a bit too ghetto for me. 
Anyway, did a more thorough search of the Finnish side of the internet, and ended up with this:

BitFenix Merc Alpha	37.00€
G.Skill 8GB (2 x 4GB), DDR3 1600MHz, CL11, 1.5V	74,90€
Netzteil 600W LC-Power LC6600 V2.2 12cm	52,00€
FX-6300 6C 3.5G 14M AM3+ 95W	99,30€
AMD Radeon R9 270X 2GB DirectCU II	190,70
MSI 970A-G43 AM3+ ATX DDR3	59,90€
WD CAVIAR BLUE 1TB SATA 7200RPM 6Gb/s 64MB	59,00€
Total	572,90€

Which hits 595,68€ with postage and a USB flash drive because I don't think I have one for the OS. Swapped the LC6600GP V2.3 PSU with an LC6600 V2.2 to fit in the 600€ limit, which probably won't backfire horribly and make everything explode. Comments before I sell my bank account to the corporate overlords and their 24% VAT prices?

 

[Splintert]

Looks good. If you get lucky you might be able to overclock that FX to get it up to par in terms of performance.

 

[Rujasu]

Well then, the parts are here and it seems to run fine. Can't get it connected to the internet properly before next week so now's a good time to ask about the 20+4 pin connector. It's not exactly connected as it should be right now. I know I'm not the only one who has had trouble getting it to go deep enough for the latch to lock it in place, and I fear I'll just harm the mobo if I try any harder. It's been a couple of hours and my fingers are still a bit numb from tryng to fit it in.
That said, it's certainly not in any danger of falling off on it's own, and the PC booted up just fine. I'll probably give it another shot tomorrow, but what's up with those connectors? It doesn't seem too rare that they're an extremely tight fit.

 

[Splintert]

If the latch caught then it's fine. Did you do it backwards/mismatch the pins? Might want to get that right

 

[Rujasu]

There's only one way the thing goes in it's socket. The hook is resting on the bump on the side of the socket because it's a millimeter or so not deep enough. It's not properly attached, though everything relevant seems to make contact. Leaving such an important cable improperly secured is bad, of course, and I'll try again later, but as hard as it is to push in, it's also so tightly in there that you have to push down on the mobo to not bend it trying to pull it out.

Spoiler: Someone else's photo but this is basically how it is.

Runs fine regardless, benchmarked and average of 67 fps on the tutorial of The Witcher 2, max settings 1080p. A misleading result because of all the pausing the tutorial does, but still a good number to see after the ten or so frames my laptop managed on minimum 720p.

 

[Splintert]

As long as the latch catches and everything runs fine it -should- be okay. It looks like just poor motherboard manufacturing, or poor power supply cables.

 

[Rujasu]

What I've been trying to say is that the latch doesn't catch. But it does run fine, and it doesn't seem to be able to detach itself.

Edit: Alright, so it doesn't run perfectly fine. Every now and then it just dies. The only signs of life are the 6-pin connectors that are still lit on the GPU and the blinking power light. It remains unresponsive until I unplug and replug the power cable, after which it starts normally.
I once (or twice) accidentally put my headphone jack into my laptop's USB port in the dark, and the symptoms were very similar. Not sure if the problem is the 24-pin connector, which I think I managed to get a little deeper now that I tried again, but it's still not quite the full distance. In any case, something's shorting out and I'm surprised everything is still functional.
Edit2: Hmm, did some fiddling and it's been fine so far.
Edit3: Nope. The timing of it feels completely random. It's either a PSU issue or the CPU logs a false temperature reading and shuts itself down or something.

 

[Splintert]

If it just drops power then you're probably looking at a power issue. Do you get a BSOD or just ploop dead?

 

[Rujasu]

It usually gives a BSOD on reboot, but it powers itself down without warning.
The BSOD seems to be caused by - and I wish I could say surprisingly - an AMD driver, I'll see if I can't get that fixed.
Edit: WhoCrashed is also giving me the same cause as the bluescreen, but the timestamp isn't when I rebooted and got the BSOD, but when the PC powered down. If I'm lucky I might just get away with just installing the beta drivers.

 

[Splintert]

What do you mean by "gives a BSOD on reboot"? If the OS has time to write down that it crashed beforehand it may not be a power issue.

 

[Rujasu]

How it usually goes, is that it shuts down and the power light starts blinking. This happened at around 2am last night, according to the crash log. It always happens without warning. Then, once I woke up I unplugged the PC because it won't start again otherwise. Then I hit the power button, the fans start spinning, the monitor starts showing signs of life, it gives me a BSOD and restarts once more without further issues.

Got the AMD Catalyst 14.6 beta drives in the morning and it hasn't done anything strange since, so I'm positive that I can blame AMD for all this instead of the hardware.

Edit: Nevermind, spoke too soon.

On Fri 30.5.2014 7:00:35 GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\053014-25974-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: usbfilter.sys (usbfilter+0x1953)
Bugcheck code: 0x7F (0x8, 0x80050031, 0x406F8, 0xFFFFF880045EF953)
Error: UNEXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP
file path: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\usbfilter.sys
product: AMD USB Filter Driver
company: Advanced Micro Devices
description: AMD USB Filter Driver
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that the Intel CPU generated a trap and the kernel failed to catch this trap.
A third party driver was identified as the probable root cause of this system error. It is suggested you look for an update for the following driver: usbfilter.sys (AMD USB Filter Driver, Advanced Micro Devices).
Google query: Advanced Micro Devices UNEXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP

Deleted the driver entirely to see what happens.