How well do the AMD APU's perform with gaming?

[mustangnick]

This is a pretty nooby question, but I was looking at the new-ish AMD APU's and saw that they come with integrated GPU's. Without a dedicated video card do these GPU's perform well? I've heard some pretty positive reviews on them, but I'd rather hear it from these forums. I would have to assume that nothing can beat a dedicated video card like a 7850 or 6870, but I just wanted to know the specifics with the GPUs.

Thanks,
Nick

 

[obsama1]

They perform well, but don't expect them to run every title maxed with all the eyecandy. The A10 had an integrated GPU comparable to a 6670, so for $130, you're basically getting a decent quad and 6670. Then, you can Crossfire it with a discrete 6670 and get more performance.

 

[mustangnick]

They perform well, but don't expect them to run every title maxed with all the eyecandy. The A10 had an integrated GPU comparable to a 6670, so for $130, you're basically getting a decent quad and 6670. Then, you can Crossfire it with a discrete 6670 and get more performance.

Pretty cool, I just hate the idea of an integrated card, but it might be something to take a look at.

 

[spleenbegone]

Not great overall, but surprisingly well considering the price. Here's a WoW right I build and benchmarked around an old llano a6. http://nerdforum.org/topic/1274-sub-300-wow-rig-updated/

The guy I made it for is using a 1368 x 768 monitor, and he's reported playable frame rates at that resolution on much more than I expected.

 

[mustangnick]

Not great overall, but surprisingly well considering the price. Here's a WoW right I build and benchmarked around an old llano a6. http://nerdforum.org/topic/1274-sub-300-wow-rig-updated/

The guy I made it for is using a 1368 x 768 monitor, and he's reported playable frame rates at that resolution on much more than I expected.

From what I've seen the GPU on the A10-5800K is pretty good, although I think my 5670 can perform at the same level if not a little bit better. Though NewEgg has a pretty good deal for a MB + 8GB of ram for $150. Not sure what I'm going to do.

 

[examplehi]

They perform well, but don't expect them to run every title maxed with all the eyecandy. The A10 had an integrated GPU comparable to a 6670, so for $130, you're basically getting a decent quad and 6670. Then, you can Crossfire it with a discrete 6670 and get more performance.

what would the performance equal to if you were to X fire them. HD 7770?

 

[mustangnick]

what would the performance equal to if you were to X fire them. HD 7770?

Probably, maybe a little bit more, it depends on what you are using it for.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1274862/amd-a8-3870k-apu-benchmarked-with-and-without-6670-dual-graphics
Refer to that for information on crossfiring them. The results seem pretty good, but then again you will most likely get the best performance out of a dedicated card.

I am waiting until BF comes because I'm sure there will be a great deal for this with a MB and maybe some RAM.

 

[rds1220]

From what I've seen the GPU on the A10-5800K is pretty good, although I think my 5670 can perform at the same level if not a little bit better. Though NewEgg has a pretty good deal for a MB + 8GB of ram for $150. Not sure what I'm going to do.

Thats great and all but it's still integtated graphics. It will be good enough on some games but on most games it's not going to play at decent fram rates with max settings and all that junk. To the OP I wouldn't bother with the APU if you plan on gaming. I would go with a good CPU and a good discrete video card.

 

[mustangnick]

Thats great and all but it's still integtated graphics and except or some games it's not going to play at decent fram rates with max settings and all that junk. To the OP I wouldn't bother with the APU if you plan on gaming. I would go with a good CPU and a good discrete video card.

Thanks for the tip.

 

[lazyboy947]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/a10-5800k-a8-5600k-a6-5400k,3224.html - BOOM THAT JUST HAPPENED! lol

 

[rds1220]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/a10-5800k-a8-5600k-a6-5400k,3224.html - BOOM THAT JUST HAPPENED! lol

I already saw and read that review and while the graphics are better they still aren't great and you would still be better off with a discrete video card. No to mention the CPU power is still crap.

 

[rds1220]

Thanks for the tip.

What is your budget like? You don't need to get an I5 or I7 to play games. A Pentium G or an I3 with a decent disctete video card would be better than the APU with integrated graphics.

 

[mustangnick]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/a10-5800k-a8-5600k-a6-5400k,3224.html - BOOM THAT JUST HAPPENED! lol

It is really tempting, but if you really think about it... you can get a 965 BE at Microcenter for $89 with a MB included for free and a 6670 for about $40-50 from Newegg, for about the same price as the APU alone. The 5800K and the 965 are pretty much the same, aside from the integrated GPU, which you don't really want to begin with.

 

[mustangnick]

What is your budget like? You don't need to get an I5 or I7 to play games. A Pentium G or an I3 with a decent disctete video card would be better than the APU with integrated graphics.

My buget is about $200, at the moment my system is pretty decent (for me at least.. lol). I'll list my specs just for the heck of it.

550 II BE (Only 2 cores, couldnt overclock to 4)
4GB of DDR2 RAM (Don't even remember the speed)
430W Thermaltake PSU
5670 Radeon HD 1GB DDR3 Graphics Card
GA-MA785GM-US2H Motherboard
500GB HDD

Got some extra money, wanted to upgrade my graphics and possibly my CPU, it's tough to do it for under $200.

 

[rds1220]

My buget is about $200, at the moment my system is pretty decent (for me at least.. lol). I'll list my specs just for the heck of it.

550 II BE (Only 2 cores, couldnt overclock to 4)
4GB of DDR2 RAM (Don't even remember the speed)
430W Thermaltake PSU
5670 Radeon HD 1GB DDR3 Graphics Card
GA-MA785GM-US2H Motherboard
500GB HDD

Got some extra money, wanted to upgrade my graphics and possibly my CPU, it's tough to do it for under $200.

That 200 is just for the motherboard and CPU right? If thats for the whole build you're not going to really be able to do much with just 200 dollars.

 

[lazyboy947]

try to save some more as a A10 with its ipgu is similar to a 9800gt which looks similar to ur current but u can add a 6670 to get 6770 performance which for me does bf3 @high settings. But A10 requires a $130 cpu, 70$ motherboard, depending on ddr3 ram u choose can range form $20-40, and if u choose the 6670 it'll b around $65. and at that point could go with a Phenom II X4 965 with mobo and 7770 for like $60 more but not really the best solution in a budget.

 

[sarinaide]

Many titles surprisingly work at 1680x1080 res, some work on higher textures others on lower but the APU delivers playable FPS on many mainstream titles. BF3 is capable of low-med settings no tessellation or anti aliasing and being playable. Another feature is the liquidity of frame latency which is massive at 35ish FPS it still is smooth.

Discrete GPU performance, in many metrics plays withing 2 FPS of a i3, others matches and a good few can actually beat a i3 where optimized for better core usage, on a pure GPU orientated front the A10 is a perfect match up in discrete performance. Where it falls behind is in CPU bound games but either way you will still get high FPS, at a budget maximum FPS is out of the question anyways so 80 or 100 FPS is not really going to affect it much.

The other bonus of the FM2 platform is high end features on a budget platform, take a ASRock A85 Extreme 6 in my sig, 8 SATA 3.0 ports, 6 USB 3.0 as well as support for 2 more with the connector and a connection port for chassis USB 3.0 support, also 2 USB 2.0 ports. It supports eyefinity without the need of a discrete card and it has 8+2+1 Phase control VRM's which is what you see on a AM3+ ASus Crosshair V motherboard which is the highest end AMD motherboard, add Wi-fi to the mix at under $100 you get a high end feature rich setup that can game with or without a gpu at little over $230.

Trinity is not a performance king its a king of budget performer and does so with swagger.

PS: by budget its what it implies, do not expect the iGPU to max out sleeping dogs with full eye candy or any other demanding title, but you can achieve playable frame rates at low med settings in many titles.

 

[mohit9206]

you could look at my sig rig and see what i did on a tight budget..
pentium G630+hd7750 will cost you about $160. but factoring in cost of a new mobo + 4gb ddr3 ram will total about $250. NOT bad at all.. your psu is fine. you could choose a better cpu like a G870 or G2120 for some extra kick and the total should still be around $250
look at these combos
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1017102