A10-6800K VS. FX-6300 + $~150 GPU (650ti/7850)

dToast

Honorable
May 4, 2013
45
0
10,530
So I know that the APU system is a fair bit cheaper, and that the CPU+GPU will beat the APU in gaming performance.

The real question is: if in the future, would it be worth it to add a mid/low end GPU to the system (like a 650ti, 660, or 7850), or would the CPU performance from the 6800 cause a bottleneck?
Would I need to upgrade the CPU to add the GPU?

Thanks in advance.

APU System:
PCPartPicker part list: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/1h7en
Price breakdown by merchant: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/1h7en/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/1h7en/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD A10-6800K 4.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($157.99 @ Canada Computers)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A85XM-D3H Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard ($59.99 @ NCIX)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($55.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.00 @ Vuugo)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Window ATX Mid Tower Case ($52.18 @ Newegg Canada)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($17.50 @ Vuugo)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($97.99 @ NCIX)
Total: $560.63
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-15 22:31 EDT-0400)



CPU + GPU System (With a 650ti)
PCPartPicker part list: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/1h7x1
Price breakdown by merchant: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/1h7x1/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/1h7x1/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($119.99 @ NCIX)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($63.99 @ Canada Computers)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($55.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.00 @ Vuugo)
Video Card: Galaxy GeForce GTX 650 Ti 1GB Video Card ($119.99 @ NCIX)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Window ATX Mid Tower Case ($52.18 @ Newegg Canada)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($17.50 @ Vuugo)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($97.99 @ NCIX)
Total: $646.62
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-15 22:43 EDT-0400)


 
Solution
As long as you're okay with accepting lower graphic settings for the newer games, go for it. Besides, with some of the money you save, you can use it to invest in a bigger, better GPU down the line. (Although, it might be overall better if you invested in some faster RAM; at least 1866. Depending on how good of RAM you get, you might experience upwards of 20% performance boost, for gaming.)

My significant other has a A10-5800K. She working on Mass Effect 2, going on 3, and they run perfectly fine. I recently bought her Tomb Raider, which will only get decent frame rates when I set most of the settings to low. (Texture quality, level of detail, and depth of field are still at medium.) It's not the enthusiasts' dream, but game is...

Z1NONLY

Distinguished
I just did a 5800k build and was surprised to find that it can actually play Crysis 3 smoothly (on low settings @ 1152X864 resolution).

I would be surprised if the 5800k bottlenecked a single 650ti or 660.

Your 6800k should fair better.

 

Z1NONLY

Distinguished


With most games today, the GPU does the heavy lifting. As long as the CPU doesn't bottlneck the GPU there should be little (if any) difference in game play.

 
APUs don't have a level 3 cache, which is generally a boon for gaming. That's why the FX-4300 manages to do slightly better on gaming benchmarks than an A10-5800K, despite being almost identical.

As for bottlenecking, I think you're in the safety zone. At worst, it would be minimal.

For the practical differences between the two CPUs, I am not sure what you would actually find. The 6800k is clocked fast enough that it might make-up for the lack of resources. That said, the FX-6300 *does* have more resources to utilize. The world of gaming is finally playing catch-up with actually utilizing more than one or two cores; so the FX-6300 might age better.
 
As long as you're okay with accepting lower graphic settings for the newer games, go for it. Besides, with some of the money you save, you can use it to invest in a bigger, better GPU down the line. (Although, it might be overall better if you invested in some faster RAM; at least 1866. Depending on how good of RAM you get, you might experience upwards of 20% performance boost, for gaming.)

My significant other has a A10-5800K. She working on Mass Effect 2, going on 3, and they run perfectly fine. I recently bought her Tomb Raider, which will only get decent frame rates when I set most of the settings to low. (Texture quality, level of detail, and depth of field are still at medium.) It's not the enthusiasts' dream, but game is still playable and doesn't look completely awful. I am actually thinking of upgrading my own video card (Radeon HD 6870) and installing it on her computer.
 
Solution