AMD APU or Intel CPU ?

[Georg Grech]

Guys I need some more technical help:

Going to update my PC soon but I won't buy a GPU for now but I'm planning to update in the future.

I'll use my PC for light to moderate gaming and some game Development (UE4.etc).

My budget is around 100-150$ max

 

 

Should I go with:

 

an AMD APU (A10/A8) ?? 

 

or 

 

an Intel Core i5 ??

 

((Or is there something better than the previous 2 ??))

 

[Bittenfleax]

i5, all the way. Or go i7 if it is in budget (which I do not thing it will be unless you get a cheap cheap cheap one) for rendering (I am not sure what deving in UE4 is like on CPU's though) 

 

However, the A10 will be good if you have no GPU because the iGPU is not to bad. But then that means more $$$ in the future for CPU upgrades. 

[Erfurt]

Guys I need some more technical help:

Going to update my PC soon but I won't buy a GPU for now but I'm planning to update in the future.

I'll use my PC for light to moderate gaming and some game Development (UE4.etc).

My budget is around 100-150$ max

 

 

Should I go with:

 

an AMD APU (A10/A8) ?? 

 

or 

 

an Intel Core i5 ??

 

((Or is there something better than the previous 2 ??))

It kinda depense, what do you want the best performance (Intel) or value for money (AMD). But I would go with Intel for development

[DimasRMDO]

i5, it's stronger.... Just get a dedicated GPU.

[Ertman]

Do you have or can afford a dedicated GPU?

 

If yes, then the i5.

 

If no, then it depends on how light your gaming is and how important is gaming as a criteria in the decision making process?

 - If gaming is not important and/or it is extremely light (on the GPU), then the i5 is the best bet.

 - If gaming is important and/or light gaming is heavier than the i5's integrated graphics can handle, then the A10 is the best bet.

 

I am unsure where you plan on getting a i5 for < $150.

[Sauron]

150$? You can't really buy an i5 for that money...

 

Either way for development the i5 is a clear winner. Besides, APUs only make sense if you'll use the iGPU, and since you know you'll get a dedicated card that point is null. Not to mention intel iGPUs are enough for most light games.

[Ertman]

i5, it's stronger.... Just get a dedicated GPU.

Its unclear whether there is budget for that.

[Anarchyz11]

The iGPU in Haswell CPUs are actually pretty decent.  Not... great, but then again the APU's wont be that much better at all. 

 

APU will give you a slightly better iGPU, i5 will give you a massively better CPU.

 

 

Frankly you can get a secondhand dedicated GPU for $50-$75 that is twice as good as any iGPU.

[DimasRMDO]

$150? For $150 you might get an i3 instead, if you can afford a bit more you can get i5-4440 or 4460.

[-iSynthesis]

Guys I need some more technical help:

Going to update my PC soon but I won't buy a GPU for now but I'm planning to update in the future.

I'll use my PC for light to moderate gaming and some game Development (UE4.etc).

My budget is around 100-150$ max

 

 

Should I go with:

 

an AMD APU (A10/A8) ?? 

 

or 

 

an Intel Core i5 ??

 

((Or is there something better than the previous 2 ??))

How can you afford an i5 with a budget of 100-150$? Anyways, if you can afford it, get the i5, otherwise the amd apu will be nice aswell and should perform better in gaming without a seperate gpu.

[DimasRMDO]

How can you afford an i5 with a budget of 100-150$? Anyways, if you can afford it, get the i5, otherwise the amd apu will be nice aswell and should perform better in gaming without a seperate gpu.

If you can only choose between i5 and the APU, then the APU has better value for $100-$150.

[msvelev]

I bought my whole system without the GPU in the beginning of February. I planned to get my GPU next month with the next paycheck, but I had some BIG expenses this month and I couldn't so I've been running with the iGPU on a i5-4690K for about 2 months. I expected it to be far worse but it's actually pretty good for 720p games. I played through Bioshock Infinite on the lowest preset on 900p without a problem.

So if it's only for a few months I suggest - get an Haswell i5 now and then a GPU.
On the 1st of April I'm getting a GTX 970 and I'll put behind the iGPU days

 

P.S. you can't get a Haswell i5 for $150 AFAIK. I'd suggest an Haswell i3. They're pretty good from what I've seen.