# Finished HTPC build with a10 6800k



## xkm1948 (Aug 4, 2013)

First thanks for the folks who helped me in choosing the component.

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=187490

Finally get the HTPC all tuned out.Here is the final spec:

A10 6800K
Thermalright AXP-100
Asrock A85X Extreme 4-M
GSKill RipjawX 2133 8GB
Seagate 1TB
LiteON DVD
Silverstone SG02-F
Antec Green 380W

After a few days of tweaking it is able to achieve 4.6GHz stable on air. The graphic core runs at 1013MHz. The RAM runs at GSKill's XMP profile speed. The overall performance is more than adquete for a living room HTPC. That is to say, for playing HD videos and some old games. 

I didn't expect the APU to be so hot. With the stock little cooler it idles ~47C and goes over 80 under load. That is in stock speed settings. I have to invest in an AXP-100 to keep it cool and quiet.(The stock cooler noise is horrible). I did overclocked the CPU to 4.6 to try its limit. Even with AXP-100 it can't keep the load temp below 65 when operating in 4.6GHz. Consider there is little performance increase from stock settings to 4.6GHz I return to default. In the end I kinda regretted getting the 6800K. Since the AMD K series is advertised as overclockable CPU. It will take a good liquid cooling solution to do any serious overclocking. A 6700 should work just fine   Also, it seems a i3 + discrete GPU is a better idea after all. The cost is about the same, but the performance will be better. There will also be less concern of overheating problem.I haven't built an AMD system since the good old days of AthlonXP. Overall I am not impressed with the APU system. AMD could have done a better job than this. 

Anyway, it is all done and now sitting happily behind my TV. Played L4D2 for a brief moment. Man, steam feels good in the "big picture" mode. 

And here are the pics!

3DMark Vantage with overclocked GPU and stock CPU speed.






Build pics:


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## newtekie1 (Aug 5, 2013)

xkm1948 said:


> I didn't expect the APU to be so hot. With the stock little cooler it idles ~47C and goes over 80 under load. That is in stock speed settings. I have to invest in an AXP-100 to keep it cool and quiet.(The stock cooler noise is horrible). I did overclocked the CPU to 4.6 to try its limit. Even with AXP-100 it can't keep the load temp below 65 when operating in 4.6GHz. Consider there is little performance increase from stock settings to 4.6GHz I return to default. In the end I kinda regretted getting the 6800K. Since the AMD K series is advertised as overclockable CPU. It will take a good liquid cooling solution to do any serious overclocking. A 6700 should work just fine Also, it seems a i3   discrete GPU is a better idea after all. The cost is about the same, but the performance will be better. There will also be less concern of overheating problem.I haven't built an AMD system since the good old days of AthlonXP. Overall I am not impressed with the APU system. AMD could have done a better job than this.



What temp sensor are you using to read these temps?  The package sensor is absolute garbage, and way off from the real temperature.  The sensor on my 6800K while sitting at idle will jump between 40°C and 80°C in one update cycle in HWMonitor, that sensor it junk.  I use the CPUIN sensor instead, it is much more accurate(though still not as accurate as I'd like).

As for going with an i3 setup, it wouldn't be the same price or perform better.  The A10-5800K matches a 3220, and beats it when overclocked, the 6800K beats the 3220 at stock.  So pop a discrete graphics card in the a10 system and it'll be cheaper than the i3+discrete and faster.


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## de.das.dude (Aug 5, 2013)

i dont see any intake fans? you are chocking that cpu cooler with the GPU heat.


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## newtekie1 (Aug 5, 2013)

de.das.dude said:


> i dont see any intake fans? you are chocking that cpu cooler with the GPU heat.



The top fan is an intake, and there is no GPU so no GPU heat to choke the CPU cooler with.


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## de.das.dude (Aug 5, 2013)

i see. i thought that fan was from a gpu XD. i guess i still havent worken up completely XD


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## xkm1948 (Aug 5, 2013)

There are 2 intake fans. One by the side and one on top. This case has better airflow using positive pressure.

Still trying to get the most of it as now. Gonna try to push the RAM to 2400 first.


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## de.das.dude (Aug 5, 2013)

positive airflow is good for keeping off dust but not good for cooling. the warm air will circulate inside, and fresh air wont be drawn in.


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## xkm1948 (Aug 5, 2013)

It can only mount 80mm fans so I am still tweaking to see which will be the best combination.


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## Slomo4shO (Aug 5, 2013)

Love your desktop background


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## xkm1948 (Aug 5, 2013)

Slomo4shO said:


> Love your desktop background



That's one of many windows 7's default wallpapers I believe.


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## xkm1948 (Aug 7, 2013)

It seems CPU OC doesn't yield much improvements. I just leave it default and OCed the IGP. Not bad at all.


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## newtekie1 (Aug 7, 2013)

Yeah, most games and game benchmarks will be limited by the iGPU not the CPU, so overclocking the CPU won't make much of a difference.


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## xkm1948 (Aug 7, 2013)

Gonna try to push the IGP to 1200 core later. Gonna see if it crashes.


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## Vario (Aug 9, 2013)

How does that compare to my 4ghz phenomii with an ebay $20 9800gt?


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## GreiverBlade (Aug 9, 2013)

A10-6800K (and 5800K) are on the level of a Phenom II X4 965 BE, alas in your spec i dont see any Phenom II so by not knowwing the model its hard to say (and for the OP aswell) but for exemple.

my Phenom II X4 955 BE (at 4.2ghz) with a Asus R.O.G Matrix 9800GT 512 i brought for 2$ (out of order due to a bad flash but meh ... nothing fubar) was on par with my A10-5800K build at 4.2 locked with the IGP at stock. (or slightly slower sometime huhuhu 9800GT are nice but old guns still, i prefere my 80$ GTX480 AMP! for that )


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## Vario (Aug 9, 2013)

Was hoping the igpu was faster than a 9800 

PII is a 965 BE x4


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## GreiverBlade (Aug 9, 2013)

it is faster but meh(not mentioning IGP are way faster in some specific case and the DX/OGL compatibility) ... GDDR3 versus DDR3 and dedicated GPU have higher DDR rate

in fact with a APU the IGP will benefit from higher clocked ram supported by the cpu

well my 955  is on a 965 cpu level up (ASUS CHIVF 890FX board) not much difference between 955 and 965 when you clock the 955 at 4.0-4.2


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## Vario (Aug 9, 2013)

Good info, I hope AMD continues with integrated graphics emphasis but wish it was faster than a processor from 2010 and dgpu from 08


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## GreiverBlade (Aug 9, 2013)

well you can also wait on FM2+ and Kaveri for 2014, i didnt steped on 6800K since the 5800K is still a good performer. 

on a side note : IGP are mainly mean to be hardware video decoder/GPGPU computing strong added vallue(with a "hum ... but why not" on it)/and light gaming(aka Med to High in some selected games)

i run my 5800K with a 7950 alongside because i had a spare one and i hate having leftover hardware  but i also have a friend interested in a Lanbox/HTPC and i allready proposed him 500$ for the whole build (maybe not with the 7950 but we will see when he decide) i paid 599$ total (second hand piece, some with warranty some with none, and case/psu/hdd are news)

my only negative point on that build is : i couldnt get a FM2A85M-ITX instead of the A75, it was a 150$ bundle i got (mobo+APU compare that to the A10-5800/6800K price and make a big grin! )


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## Slomo4shO (Aug 9, 2013)

xkm1948 said:


> That's one of many windows 7's default wallpapers I believe.



Never bothered looking through the default wallpapers, none of them are designed for 5760x1080 resolution .


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## DrunkenMafia (Aug 9, 2013)

Nice little system mate, I have used that case a few times and it works well.  I would suggest buying an SSD for it.  I think they are a vital part of any pc these days and will make your system feel 100 times faster.  Just put your OS and programs on it and keep all your media libraries etc on the 1tb.  120gb will be big enough and can be found for around $80 these days.


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## Jetster (Aug 9, 2013)

nice setup. They run hot, dont overclock you dont need it


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## GreiverBlade (Aug 9, 2013)

Jetster said:


> nice setup. They run hot, dont overclock you dont need it


With that case ... Yes, mainly why i've took a Node304 and used a CM Hyper Tx3 Evo push/pull and after a H60

And i love the AXP-100  if i where heatsink limited :IT would be my choice too ( un many review it outperform any topflow lp HS, Noctua inclued)


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## Izule2003 (Aug 16, 2013)

*Question*

Hey, I am planning on making a build like this, was wondering what games you can play on it and what games you ran into issues with, dont think I will use it for any major gaming but would like to have to option to play around with the Steam Big Picture Mode. This will be my first computer build so a little nervous so any tips would be great. Thanks.


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## xkm1948 (Aug 17, 2013)

DrunkenMafia said:


> Nice little system mate, I have used that case a few times and it works well.  I would suggest buying an SSD for it.  I think they are a vital part of any pc these days and will make your system feel 100 times faster.  Just put your OS and programs on it and keep all your media libraries etc on the 1tb.  120gb will be big enough and can be found for around $80 these days.



Well, I did purchase 2 SSDs. One 840pro 256GB and one 840 250GB. But in the end I put one in my main rig and one in my laptop. Figure I dont need that kind of speed for a HTPC. Hell, the boot time is very decent already.



Jetster said:


> nice setup. They run hot, dont overclock you dont need it



No kidding man. 6800K feels like a volcano. Reminds me of my old AthlonXP. I only get the GPU part overclocked to 1013MHz. I left the CPU alone. That turbo boost 4.4G is pretty decent.



GreiverBlade said:


> With that case ... Yes, mainly why i've took a Node304 and used a CM Hyper Tx3 Evo push/pull and after a H60
> 
> And i love the AXP-100  if i where heatsink limited :IT would be my choice too ( un many review it outperform any topflow lp HS, Noctua inclued)



AXP-100 can barely keep it done. Wish I got the AXP-200, that will be good enough for a little bit OC.



Izule2003 said:


> Hey, I am planning on making a build like this, was wondering what games you can play on it and what games you ran into issues with, dont think I will use it for any major gaming but would like to have to option to play around with the Steam Big Picture Mode. This will be my first computer build so a little nervous so any tips would be great. Thanks.



Well, been playing L4D2 at 1080P very high since I got the build running. FPS is very good. I play mainly L4D2 and TF2 and those 2 are very smooth at 1080p.

I also tried CS:GO and Dragon Age Origins. Both checked out 1080P smoothly. 

Word of advice: if you plan to do some gaming on your HTPC, I strongly suggest you look at a Intel i3 + discrete GPU setup. APUs look nice, but they run very hot and requires expensive memory to achieve decent gaming performance. Not to mention their "Hybrid Crossfire" is basically a scam(check Tomshardware's new review on the hybrid crossfire)


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## erocker (Aug 17, 2013)

1ghz+ on an integrated GPU is amazing. What RAM are you running in the system? Have you tried slightly overclocking the Northbridge at all?


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## xkm1948 (Aug 17, 2013)

erocker said:


> 1ghz+ on an integrated GPU is amazing. What RAM are you running in the system? Have you tried slightly overclocking the Northbridge at all?



Asrock Extreme4-M. NB/GFX voltage is left on default. I am using GSKill RipjawX 2133 8GB kit.

I tried 2.2GHz on NB but it crashed on L4D2, approximately 20mins into the game. I left it on stock now, running at 2GHz.

I also tried 1083 on the iGPU, but it wont even boot without a serious voltage bump to the NB.


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## erocker (Aug 17, 2013)

xkm1948 said:


> Asrock Extreme4-M. NB/GFX voltage is left on default. I am using GSKill RipjawX 2133 8GB kit.
> 
> I tried 2.2GHz on NB but it crashed on L4D2, approximately 20mins into the game. I left it on stock now, running at 2GHz.



I have the same board and a 5800K (which is essentially the same thing) and I need a small bump in voltage to get 2.2ghz on the NB. It does help a bit... Though I'm not using the integrated GPU so I probably have a little more headroom. 

You also might want to try running your ram at 1866 with tighter/lower timings.. Maybe. I'm not sure if it will help or not, but AMD used to like it that way. I wish I had another set of 2166mhz to test...


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## xkm1948 (Aug 17, 2013)

erocker said:


> I have the same board and a 5800K (which is essentially the same thing) and I need a small bump in voltage to get 2.2ghz on the NB. It does help a bit... Though I'm not using the integrated GPU so I probably have a little more headroom.
> 
> You also might want to try running your ram at 1866 with tighter/lower timings.. Maybe. I'm not sure if it will help or not, but AMD used to like it that way. I wish I had another set of 2166mhz to test...



Nope. These APUs love high speed RAMs, even if the timing is as horrible as it can get.

I tried 1600 when I first setup the system. 3DMark Vantage was only about 6300 on the 1600 settings. After switch to the XMP profile of 2133 the score increased to 7037 at the default 844 core. At 1013 core the score is about 7300.


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## newtekie1 (Aug 17, 2013)

xkm1948 said:


> Word of advice: if you plan to do some gaming on your HTPC, I strongly suggest you look at a Intel i3   discrete GPU setup. APUs look nice, but they run very hot and requires expensive memory to achieve decent gaming performance. Not to mention their "Hybrid Crossfire" is basically a scam(check Tomshardware's new review on the hybrid crossfire)



Or even better, a much cheaper 5600K+Discrete Graphics.


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## xkm1948 (Aug 17, 2013)

newtekie1 said:


> Or even better, a much cheaper 5600K+Discrete Graphics.



Yeah. Either way. The old CPU+GPU is still way better than All In One.


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## Izule2003 (Aug 17, 2013)

Thanks.


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