AMD's laptop APUs vs Intel's i3 or i5, in Dell machines? How to they compare to each other?

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King_V

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So, for Dell's lower end machines, the Inspiron Desktop systems (not the small desktop), on the lower end I see they offer Intel's i3-6100 and i5-6400.

On the AMD side, they offer the A8-7410 and A10-8700P. I'm judging by their much lower TDP that these are generally considered laptop processors.

So, strictly on CPU performance (as if I were to consider one of these machines, I'd get a discrete video card), how do these specific A8 and A10 APUs compare to the i3 and i5, say from generally a more gaming oriented perspective?
 
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Ecky
The A8 7410 is not really a laptop processor, even - it's more of a tablet CPU. It's similar to Intel's Atom, which is actually found in many cellphones, and is a terrible choice for a desktop PC.

The A10 8700P is a fair CPU, but it's definitely low-end. It's outperformed by a wide margin by the i3 in basically all tasks. I believe it's soldered to the motherboard and so cannot be upgraded, too. The A10's only real selling point is that it has a slightly better integrated GPU than the i3.

Between the i3 and i5, I'd get the quad core if it's not too much more. The i3 is about $120 retail, whereas the i5 is more like $190, so I'd say go for it if the difference between the two configurations isn't more than about $80-90.

Be aware...
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Ecky

Ecky

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The A8 7410 is not really a laptop processor, even - it's more of a tablet CPU. It's similar to Intel's Atom, which is actually found in many cellphones, and is a terrible choice for a desktop PC.

The A10 8700P is a fair CPU, but it's definitely low-end. It's outperformed by a wide margin by the i3 in basically all tasks. I believe it's soldered to the motherboard and so cannot be upgraded, too. The A10's only real selling point is that it has a slightly better integrated GPU than the i3.

Between the i3 and i5, I'd get the quad core if it's not too much more. The i3 is about $120 retail, whereas the i5 is more like $190, so I'd say go for it if the difference between the two configurations isn't more than about $80-90.

Be aware that Dell generally includes very small power supplies with their machines, so you may need to replace that if you want to use anything but a low-end discrete card. It's also possible that you might run into compatibility problems with the case when you try to drop in a video card or power supply, so you may need to replace that too, though lately most OEM PCs have been using stadard ATX designs.

What particular models are you looking at?
 
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manv

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If gaming is your primary concern then get the i5 system and use a dedicated GPU(you are getting one right?).
AMD APU's are good only when you are looking to run stuff using the inbuilt graphics and not spend any cash on getting a dedicated GPU.
Also using an integrated GPU will consume more of your RAM(hardware reservation by the integrated GPU).
Hence by all means if its gaming get an intel paired with a dedicated GPU like the RX480/470 or GTX1060/1070.
Cheers!
 
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King_V

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Thanks guys - I knew to avoid the Celeron, but had no idea where the APUs fell in the performance hierarchy.

I'd likely go with the i5, as in the Inspiron (standard size) desktop, it's only about $30 more than the i3.

This is something I'm likely to get as an upgrade for my son, as right now he's on an Inspiron Small Desktop with a Pentium G3220... wackily shaped power supply to fit the case, and an AMD R7 250E. Even though it's only 220W total on the PS, I calculated it and thus have small but safe margin of safety on the power draw.

The normal size Inspirons come with 300W power supplies, and given the trend toward lower powered GPUs, and that my son (he's 10) doesn't play the high-end super-detailed games, I'm thinking i5 is the way to go... and I could always upgrade the PS in that case as it's more of a standard size.
 
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