What is the APU sweetspot?

[officiallyasimulator]

Hey guys, as the title says, what is the sweetspot apu for general web browsing and some light gaming, until i can afford a graphics card.

also, does higher ram speed benefit apus that much.

[Manny Calavera]

What is your budget?

[harrynowl]

A10 7850K recently got a price drop. With DDR3-2133 that's fairly decent for 720p gaming.

[DigitalHermit]

Top end A8, then overclock to at least 4GHz... Getting anything higher might end up pointless if you're not planning on dual graphics...

[s3ns3]

tell us your budget and location . you can do better than a APU

[officiallyasimulator]

tell us your budget and location . you can do better than a APU

$500-550 with a copy of windows 8.1 64 bit so basically 400-450. the shop will be msy since i can get to one super easily

[Opcode]

It boils down to a lot of factors.

1. Do you overclock?
2. What are the most demanding games you play?
3. What will be your GPU of choice when the time comes to buy one?

[officiallyasimulator]

 

It boils down to a lot of factors.

1. Do you overclock?
2. What are the most demanding games you play?
3. What will be your GPU of choice when the time comes to buy one?

 

1. yes

2. bf4 and fc4

3. 970 (probably windforce)

[Opcode]

1. yes

2. bf4 and fc4

3. 970 (probably windforce)

Pairing a GTX 970 with an APU isn't really the best choice. You would be better off buying a FX-8320 and running any old cards that you have laying around. The question is how long do you plan on it being before you buy a discrete GPU?

[officiallyasimulator]

. The question is how long do you plan on it being before you buy a discrete GPU?

6-12 months probably

[Opcode]

6-12 months probably

That's quite a long time to wait just to get a discrete GPU. Your APU will be dated by then. I'll take a look and see what I can throw together that may offer better performance than just an APU since you're playing games that are quite heavy on the GPU.

 

Just to throw this out there. You can skip purchasing a copy of Windows for right now to throw $100 into your build. You can download and run the Windows 10 Preview for the time being. What exactly do you need in hardware? The entire tower or?

[officiallyasimulator]

 

Just to throw this out there. You can skip purchasing a copy of Windows for right now to throw $100 into your build. You can download and run the Windows 10 Preview for the time being. What exactly do you need in hardware? The entire tower or?

i may just take the drive thats in my laptop. and put it in the tower, if that would work.

i just need the tower. i have a monitor keyboard and mouse.

[s3ns3]

3. 970 (probably windforce)

an APU will bottleneck that card badly. and if you will want to upgrade you need to change motherboard too couse on FM2+ you are stuck with weak athlons. for now get a pentium g3258 . once you get the gtx 970 overclock the pentium till you can buy a cpu like the i5 4460.it will work on the same motherboard

 

so build a rig around these parts http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/DCsw8d

[SoftenButterCream]

1. yes

2. bf4 and fc4

3. 970 (probably windforce)

Each processor needs to be paired with the right graphics to deliver the best experience, such as a 3258 w/ 980 is pointless as a 750 ti with it is a better pair. I suggest getting a R9 270X windforce, and you won't be disappointed ^^

[Timmy-P]

i may just take the drive thats in my laptop. and put it in the tower, if that would work.

i just need the tower. i have a monitor keyboard and mouse.

Sorry to but in, but if that is the case then can't you take your hard drive out of your laptop as well, so you won't need to worry about the OS?

[Opcode]

i may just take the drive thats in my laptop. and put it in the tower, if that would work.

i just need the tower. i have a monitor keyboard and mouse.

Yes, you should be able to take out the drive in your laptop and use it in your desktop as long as it has the same SATA interface (not staying that you can use the OS already on it).

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: AMD A10-7850K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($185.00 @ Mwave Australia) 

CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 45.0 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler  ($27.00 @ IJK) 

Motherboard: ASRock FM2A88X Extreme4+ ATX FM2+ Motherboard  ($96.00 @ CPL Online) 

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Z Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory  ($108.00 @ CPL Online) 

Case: BitFenix Comrade ATX Mid Tower Case  ($49.00 @ PCCaseGear) 

Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($69.00 @ CPL Online) 

Total: $534.00

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-23 04:58 EST+1100

 

I would just slap Windows 10 Preview on it for now and skip paying out of pocket for a copy of Windows 8.1 OEM.

[Timmy-P]

A "Sweet spot" would definitely the fastest A10, which would be the 7850K suggested in the post above me.  As a CPU they aren't the most powerful, but they are still viable.  As to answer your question on RAM speeds, the iGP will benefit from it, so, again, the build above me has 2400 MHz RAM, in which the APU will love when you're throwing games at it.  JayZTwoCents demonstrates this with different RAM speeds in Battlefield 4.

[Linux User]

Top end A8, then overclock to at least 4GHz... Getting anything higher might end up pointless if you're not planning on dual graphics...

The Kaveri A8s are locked as far as I know

[DigitalHermit]

@Linux User Pardon, since the quote function is still broken...

 

I see... Then, the unlocked A10s... I suggested the A8 since I was able to get mine to match the boost clock of the top end A10 Trinity... If OP was going for dedicated graphics down the line, the onboard will just end up being a fallback in case the graphics card fails...

[Opcode]

@DigitalHermit

 

The problem is he doesn't plan on getting a discrete GPU until at least 6-12 months from now. Which is quite some time to be relying on only 6 CU's to push big game titles like BF4.

[DigitalHermit]

@Opcode

 

True... I was only able to get 45fps avg (24fps dips, 55fps max) when running AAA titles at 720p high (vsync off, 8x AF) with my iGPU... But if OP can live with that for a few months...

[7850OC]

the A8 6600k is the "sweetspot" with a 4 cores CPU that run at 4ghz and have a great iGPU with 256sp (is old but good)

 

 

Sempron 3850 is a 4 cores 1.3ghz with 128sp (is new and cheap)

Athlon 5150 is a 4 cores 1.6ghz with 128sp (is new and cheap)

Athlon 5350 is a 4 cores 2ghz with 128sp (is new and cheap)

 

A8 5600k is a 4 cores 3.9ghz with 256sp (is old but good and cheap)

A8 6600k is a 4 cores 4.2ghz with 256sp (is old but good and cheap)

 

A10-5800k is a 4 cores 4.2ghz with 384sp (is old and good)

A10-6800k is a 4 cores 4.4ghz with 384sp (is old and good)

A8 7600 is a 4 cores 3.8ghz with 384sp (is new and good)

A10-7700k  is a 4 cores 3.8ghz with 384sp (is new and good)

 

A10 7800 is a 4 cores 3.9ghz with 512sp (is new and good)

A10 7850k is a 4 cores 4ghz with 512sp (is new and good)

[Opcode]

@DigitalHermit

 

While it may get him by for a little while 6-12 months is quite some time to deal with sub-par performance. It's $159 for the A10-7770k and $175 for the A10-7850k. So the price difference isn't that big to not consider the extra 2 CU's.

 

@7850OC

 

An even sweeter spot would be the A10-6800k since it's price drop down into the the $159 US area. I run it myself and have done a bit of testing in games like Tomb Raider with it while being playable on lower settings. The problem for him is the A10-6800k is $152 which is only $23 short from having 128 extra SPU's based on GCN architecture and better CPU IPC. With a slight overclock the A10-7850k will last the longest in the 6-12 months he plans on running it for gaming. If he planned on getting a discrete in 1-2 months I would of told him to just get a FX and cope with no gaming until then. The FX-6300 is only $128 for him. Tho the time gap between now and his plans on buying a discrete is so large that honestly I don't think he will even be running this system when that time comes.

[7850OC]

@Opcode

 

yea, the best APU out there (for me)

 

is the A10 7800 with 512sp

 

is expensive  :blush:

 

but is also like haveing "two" A8 6600k with 256sp at the end 

 

- - - - 

 

i have in the plans build a machine

 

with the Ultra cheap Sempron 3850 that is a 4 cores 1.3ghz with 128sp 

 

or the Athlon 5150 that is a 4 cores 1.6ghz with 128sp (also Ultra cheap)

 

just for fun 

 

and for a "you tube machine"   

[DJ_Deedahx]

@DigitalHermit

The problem is he doesn't plan on getting a discrete GPU until at least 6-12 months from now. Which is quite some time to be relying on only 6 CU's to push big game titles like BF4.

...which, in a sense, I could consider a somewhat bad idea... AMD may release the new A10-8xxx series by now, and his system may be dated.

I would only wait maybe about 1-2 months then get a Radeon R7 260x.