What is the APU sweetspot?

[Opcode]

@7850OC

 

I'm waiting for Carrizo to build a ITX Prodigy APU gaming machine. I'd like to find a 2400 MHz DDR3 kit that I can easily OC to 2600 MHz.

 

These are rumored to run +300 MHz @ 1.675v so 2600 MHz shouldn't be hard achieve.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231621

 

Which would be great to couple the iGPU for decent gaming performance. Especially on top of the lossless delta compression.

[DigitalHermit]

@DJ_Deedahx

Let's remember that we are considering OP's needs and wants here... He is looking for the APU sweet spot right now... All systems become dated sooner or later and we can never tell when a newer, better chip will come out... If we kept waiting for the new chip, we'll end up never buying or building anything... When AMD does come out with a better FM2+ chip, OP will still have the option to upgrade...

 

@Opcode

Having subpar gaming is better than having no gaming at all... Especially if we're talking a 6 month period...

He could got the Pentium/i3 + R7 250 route...

[7850OC]

@DigitalHermit 

 

true true, i think a A8 5600k with a FM2+ motherboard is what i recommend 

 

AMD A8-5600K 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor

MSI A88X-G43 ATX FM2+ Motherboard

Ubuntu GNOME

[Opcode]

Having subpar gaming is better than having no gaming at all... Especially if we're talking a 6 month period...

He could got the Pentium/i3 + R7 250 route...

Problem is the cheapest i3 he can get is the i3-4160 which is $133 and the cheapest R7 250 being $118. Which will perform far worse than the the A10-7850k for $175.

P-G3258 + R7 250 = 384 GCN SPU's 2GB DDR3 @ 1800 MHz @ $193i3-4160 + R7 250 = 384 GCN SPU's 2GB DDR3 @ 1800 MHz @ $251A10-7850k + iGPU = 512 GCN SPU's 2GB DDR3 @ 2400 MHz @ $175

He would save money and get far better performance for the time being. It's $75 for the G3258 for him as well which still ranks up even more cost with less graphical performance.

 

Money is a big issue as well seeing as how he needs an entire tower for just $500-550 AU.

[Opcode]

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.

Here's a build directly from MSY pricing that's only $12 over budget.

• A10-7850k = $175
• ASRock A88X Extreme4+ = $85
• 8GB Ripjaws-Z 2400 MHz = $105
• Coolermaster RC-K350 = $53
• EVGA 80 Plus 430W = $44
• SATA DVD RW ASUS (OEM) = $19
• Samsung 840 EVO 120G = $81

Total = $562 

 

Like said I would just run Windows 10 Preview for the time being until you can afford a copy of Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 once it releases.

 

Battlefield 4 @ 1080p @ Medium Settings

• Min: 20
• Max: 41 
• Avg: 27

 

That's with 2133 MHz memory and the iGPU at only 720 MHz (base frequency) with DirectX. If you get an aftermarket cooler and pump the iGPU up to 1 GHz then you should see a steady 30 FPS at these settings. Especially with the 2400 MHz memory and once you enable Mantle.