A10-5800K+iGPU vs i3-3220+dGPU. Which consumes less power?

[vazurahan]

I'm on a really tight budget would like to build a cheap HTPC/Gaming PC and found out about the A10-5800K.

I looked for a similarly priced Intel processor and found i3 3220. It has a TDP of 55W compared to the A10-5800K's 100W.

I know that i3 + discreteGPU is more powerful and much more expensive than this build, but which is more Power Efficient?

i3-3220 + discrete GPU

vs

A10-5800K + integrated GPU


I'm kinda concerned of the electric bill.

 

[FinneousPJ]

A10 without a discrete GPU is the probable answer.

 

[jaideep1337]

also depends on what discrete GPU you are going to use since some lower end cards like the Hd6450 consume about 32 watts but then the system would be weaker at playing games.

So the A10-5800k would be the low power option here.

 

[vazurahan]

Let's say something equivalent of the A10-5800K's 7660D or a little better but cheap.

Now I know that A10-5800k would consume less power, is there a way we can get the computation? Like how much is the disparity of energy consumption between

A10-5800K + integrated GPU

vs

i3-3220 + cheap but good GPU?

What GPU can you recommend for the i3?

 

[djangoringo]

Strictly htpc the i3-3225 (yes the 5 in the end means it has a intel hd 4000) will be better than a A10-5800k and will consume less.
If for gaming then only the A10 will do decent framerates.

 

[lengcaifai]

i3 3220 plus a discrete 7750/7770/650ti will only use similar or a little bit more wattage (won't more than 50w) but gives you significantly better gaming performance, but if you don't have the budget, an A10 APU still very enough for most games in medium settings and resolutions

 

[djangoringo]

If to use a discrete gpu, a pentium G630+7750 AMD fanless will be the best option.

 

[jaguarskx]

The Core i3-3225 (Intel HD 4000) would consume less power when playing game, but when the system is idling, the A10-5800k will consume less power by about 7w.

Source: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/graphics/display/amd-trinity-graphics_11.html#sect0

Looking at the power consumption while gaming, the A10-5800k consumes 41w more than the Core i3-3225 when using the Intel HD 4000. I really do not know how much power the Intel HD 4000 consumes when it is stressed. I would say about 12w - 15w is a reasonable assumption. So when playing games the Core i3-3220/3225 would consume 53w - 56w less than the A10-5800k taking the Intel HD 4000 out of the picture.

Okay so going with a Core i3 with a "disabled" HD 4000 graphic core means there's about 53w - 56w to play with to equal the power consumption of the A10-5800k. Before choosing a graphics card for the Core i3 system, let's just look at the performance of the A10-5800k's integrated Radeon HD 7660g. Benchmarks are in the following link to XBitlab's review:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/graphics/display/amd-trinity-graphics_6.html#sect3

Basically the benchmarks shows that the integrated Radeon HD 7660g is slow than the Radeon HD 6570 discrete graphics card which really is not considered a graphics card for games. Therefore, you can simply buy a Radeon HD 6570 an install it into the Core i3 system and be done with it. The Radeon HD 6570 provides better performance and it only consumes about 25w - 30w of power so the Core i3 system will be both more powerful for games (but not by much) and also consume a little less power.

Alright, let's cut to the chase, you want better performance than the Radeon HD 7660g or HD 6570 can give you, but you also do not want to exceed the amount of power the A10-5800k consumes. You basically have two choice for the best performance. You can choose the Radeon HD 6670 which is relatively inexpensive (probably around $60 after rebate at newegg.com) and peak power consumption (meaning spikes up to) of 50w. The Radeon HD 6670 would slap both of the other Radeons silly. Your other option is the Radeon HD 7750 with a peak power consumption of 43w. It is basically the equivalent to the Radeon HD 6770 and it can be bought for about $90 after rebate at Newegg.com.

Power consumption: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/HD_7750/24.html

From a cost perspective, going with the A10-5800k would be cheaper than buying a Core i3-3220 + discrete graphics card. However, going with the Core i3-3220 + discrete graphic card will give you superior graphics performance (compared to the Radeon HD 7660g), and slightly less power consumption.

 

[vazurahan]

Thank you very much for the replies especially to jaguarskx for the detailed explanation.

So I'm weighing on all my options now. The i3+discrete GPU is more expensive but I'll think about it. Thanks for the detailed comparison.

But before that...

Somebody also advised a Pentium G630+7750 AMD, but the 7750 is too expensive. Based on jaguarskx post the 6670 will be a viable alternative.


Pentium G630 Sandy Bridge 2.7GHz LGA 1155 65W ($64.99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116406

+

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6670 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI ($64.99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102988

So that's $64.99 + $64.99 = $130 which is equivalent to A10-5800K ($129.99)

With 15W more power consumption 65W + 50W = 115W (If that's how it works.)

Will this combination really outperform the A10-5800k? Or will the A10-5800K be more worth it overall?

 

[jaguarskx]

From a gaming perspective the G630 + HD 6670 would perform better than the A10-5800k in games. The HD 6670 is much more powerful than the Radeon HD 7660g. Even in games that can make use of more than 2 cores, the G630 + HD 6670 combo is still better because the HD 7660g will bottleneck the A10-5800k CPU core.

 

[djangoringo]

Yes, it will be the best option, too bad that the cheap 7750(it was at 59.99$) in newegg site is no more, its sold out.

 

[vazurahan]

Best answer selected by vazurahan.

 

[vazurahan]

Thanks guys, I really thought AMD hit the jackpot on low-end gaming with this one and will almost buy it.

I think I'm going to have to stick to Intel again with my next PC.

 

[jaguarskx]

Here's a Radeon HD 6670 w/ 1GB DDR5 RAM for $60 +$7 shipping after rebate:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127586

Here's a Radeon HD 6670 w/ 1GB DDR3 RAM for $50 + shipping after rebate. The $10 price difference means you get slower DDR3 RAM. That means it will be around 10% slower than the HD 6670 with DDR5 RAM.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102988

 

[vazurahan]

BTW, if I were using the G630 + HD 6670 setup will the Video Card try to turn to low power mode if I'm just browsing the web? Or if doing non gaming stuff? Also the CPU.

Or my system will constantly run 115W no matter what I do?

I'm currently rereading all the info and benchmarks and the one advantage I see is that the A10-5800K consumes low power at idle mode.