Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in
Your question
Solved

AMD A10-series APU processors and graphics

Last response: in CPUs
Share
October 20, 2013 3:54:22 PM

I was looking into building a tiny PC (mini-ITX form factor) using those snazzy cases Inwin has on Newegg.

Since the case has a very small (180W PSU built-in, I was looking at an AMD processor with GPU. I saw that the A10 was near the top of the APU line for AMD and that the AMD A10-6800K has an associated Radeon HD 8670D GPU. But then I was shocked when I looked up on Passmark and saw how poorly that GPU compares to even mid-range discrete GPUs.

So now I'm asking the assembled wise folks here. Are the AMD APUs as poor as the integrated graphics on Intel processors? If so I better plan my approach better.

If you had a hard ceiling of 180W and you had to put the best CPU/GPU in, what would you choose? An Intel I5 and a low-end graphics card, or an AMD APU?

I need a little headroom, because I know the SSD and the motherboard, and all other peripherals such as USB devices and optical drives will need a little slice of power.

And yea, I know htat case is kind of dumb, it's just a lark, I'm not intending for this build to replace my real desktop. At best it can maybe be a family PC or a media center PC.- I'll hook it up to the network for file storage.

More about : amd a10 series apu processors graphics

October 20, 2013 4:01:06 PM

AMD has the best integrated graphics on the market period. You can't expect amazing graphics performance from an on die gpu using system ram, but AMD's apus are head and shoulders above intel's offerings. BTW the faster the system ram the better the igpu performs.

To answer the second question... 180w isn't much at all, but I'd go with an APU over say an i5 with a GT 610.

If you aren't going to use it for gaming or anything other than a media center, then just go with an A-6 or i3 and use the integrated graphics (which would be more than enough for media center duties).
m
0
l

Best solution

October 20, 2013 8:34:35 PM

Currently the most powerful iGPU is the Radeon HD 8670D found in the A10-6700 and A10-6800k. However, for a 180w PSU I would not consider the A10-6800k based on the below power consumption.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/a10-6700-a10-6800k-...



Roughly speaking, the Radeon HD 8670D is as powerful as a desktop Radeon HD 6670 DDR3 when paired with DDR3-2133 RAM. The Radeon HD 6670 DDR3 is basically halfway between a desktop Radeon HD 5570 and a Radeon HD 5670. The Intel HD 4600 in Haswell CPUs are slightly more powerful than a Radeon HD 5570.

Share
Related resources
October 20, 2013 8:53:14 PM

If you want to go with an Intel CPU, then you will need to use a 65w CPU as recommended by the case's manufacturer. That more or less means something like the i5-4440s. It costs more than the A10-6700 though and there is no review regarding how much power a system with it actually consumes. However, a low power GPU can most likely be installed. But this is a more expensive option.
m
0
l
October 20, 2013 9:53:26 PM

AMD's apus are far superior in graphics to Intel's igpu. Especially the A10's.

What are you trying to do? HTPC? Budget gaming?

Any A10 with speedy ram will play most games at 720p fairly well. You can add a HD 6670 to it and run dual graphics and play 1080p at low-medium settings on average. Even an A4 will easily handle multimedia playback duties for a HTPC setup.

But if you are capped at 180 watts, you should not get a 100w apu. Avoid the K-model A8s and A10s. You are not going to overclock on that setup anyway. I say go for a A10-5700, A10-6700, A8-5500, or A8-6500 as they are all 65w and are 95% as powerful as their K-model counterparts.
m
0
l
October 21, 2013 12:56:27 AM

SO many good answers! Thank you all. I'll look into the options and suggestions and then I'll mark one as the "solved" answer. I would mark all it I could. They all are informative.
m
0
l
October 21, 2013 1:44:13 AM

This one is the best for you, IMO. A10-6700. It's perfect for HTPC and such, nice performance with reasonable demands.


Here you go, a good review for it:

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/amd_a10_6700_revie...


Also, maybe you could wait like 3-4 months? New generation of APUs' is coming soon, I don't think it will be OMG groundbreaking, but it will be better.
m
0
l
!