I3 + 6670 or A8-3850 + 6670?

[VariaManX]

I'm planning on building a HTPC that can handle gaming at 720p. The games I play now and or will be playing are Guild Wars 2, Borderlands 2, Diablo 3, and Minecraft. I know that CPU wise, the i3 is much more powerful, but with the A8's Dual Graphics mode I have heard that gaming wise it's more than what the i3 can pull off. Any thoughts? Is any of that true? Or will they perform about the same? Thanks for any answers.

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

The A8 has a MUCH stronger iGPU, but even when used in Hybrid CF it's actually not quite as good as an i3 with a good dedicated card.

With that said, for the games that YOU will be playing, the A8 with a 6670 in Hybrid CF should be passable.

 

[Guest]

I'm planning on building a HTPC that can handle gaming at 720p. The games I play now and or will be playing are Guild Wars 2, Borderlands 2, Diablo 3, and Minecraft. I know that CPU wise, the i3 is much more powerful, but with the A8's Dual Graphics mode I have heard that gaming wise it's more than what the i3 can pull off. Any thoughts? Is any of that true? Or will they perform about the same? Thanks for any answers.

only when using the igpu. adding a discrete graphics card sways the performance towards the i3. even a pentium with a discrete will out perform an A8.

 

[Guest]

An A8 + 6670 is good enough. The reason why it "performs lower" then an i3 + same card is that nobody stresses the Dual Graphics enough to see the real speed boost.


At that, Dual Graphics was really meant to save power and have a subtle boost of power. It's not like your going to get a 7970 from adding a card in the mix.

 

[qbsinfo]

Benchmark Results: With Discrete Graphics
Clearly shows that when adding a graphics card the performance sways towards Intel.

 

[VariaManX]

Best answer selected by VariaManX.