FX-8370 w/ r7-250 vs A10-7850k w/r7-250 in Crossfire

jrgreed · Sep 25, 2014

FX-8370 w/ r7-250
vs
A10-7850k w/ r7-250 in crossfire

Which is better? Does the A10s CPU bottleneck before the single GPU FX-based build?

For high-resolution 1080 gaming...

Only interested in these two builds, no alternatives please. Build is reliant on a low profile r7-250 and an AMD CPU, so no alternative build please.

damric · Sep 25, 2014

Just get an i3 or Athlon x4 and pair it with an r9 270 and it will outperform either of the above.

zxt827 · Sep 25, 2014

The fx line will give you more processing power. the A10 will give you more graphic power, but in exchange, you lose some CPU power. I would suggest you go with the fx and upgrade the GPU later. A10 is not very good on multitasking, unless all you do is gaming.
FX is considered a deadend, because AMD will not further develope this product line, but A10 as a APU will be further developed. Although nothing is future proof.

boosted1g · Sep 25, 2014

A10 bottlenecks very easilY

Best use of money:
FX-8320 + R7-260X. 8320 can be found on sale often for $140, you can get 260x for $120 or less

EDITED: Why do you need low profile card?

jrgreed · Sep 25, 2014

I am only looking for answers specific to these builds, no alternative builds please.

The reasons are:

1) AMD-loyalty. Money wants to go to AMD, not nVidia or Intel.

2) Low Profile. r7-250 is the highest end AMD card with a low-profile design.

Because of that, I am only looking at an FX or A10 build with an r7-250 specifically. No alternative builds please, just looking for questions on these builds.

boosted1g · Sep 25, 2014

You are not going to get 1080p gaming with a 250

boosted1g · Sep 25, 2014

An 8370 is just a more overclocked 8350.

If not using a high end gpu neither the 8350 or the 8370 will help you. Money is best spent on a fx-8320. That is still AMD and AM3+ socket.

boosted1g · Sep 25, 2014

Is it a power supply issue, a case issue or why is it that you only want a low-profile card?

jrgreed · Sep 25, 2014

boosted1g :

Case/Space issue. Helping someone with an inexpensive low-profile build for their livingroom.

They dont want a full-sized case in their livingroom, and they want to spend their money with AMD rather than Intel or nVidia.

boosted1g · Sep 25, 2014

I see.

There are htpc cases that can fit a full size card. He is just really limiting himself by restricting to low-profile, and like I said the r7-250 wont be able to handle 1080p gaming.

Anyways, with your parameters, the fx-8320 is the best processor to spend the money on, it would be pointless to spend the extra money on a 8370.

jrgreed · Sep 25, 2014

boosted1g :

Im not looking to get 1080p in ultra settings on all games, but I do want 1080 gaming, and it is possible with the r7 250 or a10-7850k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gn0xnxe4bZ4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axyHkKn_e80

I intend to build more powerful rigs than those...

At the end of the day I just want to know what will work better.. a FX with a single r7-250, or an A10 with a crossfired r7-250... So hard to get an answer

jrgreed · Sep 25, 2014

damric :

not an option. Please only insight on FX-8370 vs A10-7850k in crossfire only...

AMD video card needs to be low profile, and processor needs to be AMD.

jrgreed · Sep 25, 2014

damric :

im limited to a low profile AMD card, the best of which right now is the r7-250... low-profile and amd is required.

That said, which is the best AMD card to pair with it? Does the A10 compete when you consider the possibility of crossfiring the GPU vs a single GPU?

damric · Sep 25, 2014

Ok get these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113379

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150713

iamlegend · Sep 25, 2014

Many not good comments above. Firstly for saying the A10 7850k will bottleneck the R7 250 is a VERY big understatement. I am using the A10 7850k with HD 7970 and there is no bottle neck. Again THERE IS NO BOTTLENECK!!!

For the OP, I will recommend the A10 crossfired with R7 250. This is more efficient than a FX 8370 with R7 250.

Rationale:

A10 will not bottleneck R7 250 and gives you a CPU-GPU perfect match.

FX is a powerful CPU and R7 is a weak GPU which will give you not good match.

anbello262 · Sep 25, 2014

I also recommend the crossfire option. As it will be an HTPC, it would not need much processing power, and the A10 is enough for those tasks. And, for gaming, the crossfire option will work better. And you will be able to handle 1080p, just not on high/ultra on newer games.
But it will probably handle high/ultra on games that are 2-3 years old, though.

zxt827 · Sep 25, 2014

iamlegend :

Agreed, get the A10 + 250, they kinda match up perfectly. FX line is more powerful, but pair with r7 250 is a waste of cpu power.

anbello262 · Sep 25, 2014

Getting the 8320/50/70 is not only a waste of CPU power, also more heat generated and you don't get the crossfire option.
The A10 is somewhat powerful, also.
I'm using an A10-6800k, which is a lot weaker than the A10-7850, and for everyday tasks I have absolutely no problem.

jrgreed · Sep 25, 2014

iamlegend :

Which leads me to a follow-up question...

r7-250 1GB DDR5 vs r7-250 4GB DDR3.... which would be the better option in crossfire?

The two running thoughts I am having are:
1) does the DDR5 get slowed down to the systems DDR3 ram speeds when the GPU is crossfired with the CPU?
2) will the 4GB vs 1GB difference make a larger impact specifically on high resolutions/textures than the DDR5 vs DDR3?

Thanks for the insightful response

jrgreed · Sep 25, 2014

anbello262 :

Yeah, Ive seen A10-7850ks do well alone, as well as r7-250s. Neither great, but both achieving 30+fps in most titles... And while there are various reviews reporting great gains when crossfiring the r7-250s with their a10s, they never seem to give benchmarks of it vs a more powerful CPU, so it is hard to get a real perspective outside of theory...

Thanks for the info... Any insight to the questions I just posted above about 1GB DDR5 vs 4GB DDR3 when crossfired with a CPU?

iamlegend · Sep 26, 2014

Having larger Memory clocks means you can process large amount of data in shorter time, which corresponds in gaming at higher resolution. i.e. for 144 or 4k resolution it will require more memory and for demanding games as well. (BF4, AC4, Crysis 3).

So for your 2nd question the answer is yes, but my knowledge about DDR5 and DDR3 is limited that I cannot explain it thoroughly. Please consult Linustechtips for more information.

For your 1st question I cannot answer that because I don`t run in crossfire, but I will recommend getting the DDR5.

FX-8370 w/ r7-250 vs A10-7850k w/r7-250 in Crossfire

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