APU and Graphics Cards

[Guest]

Hello,
I am thinking about building a gaming PC and was wondering if I could have a graphics card (Radeon HD 7770) running with the Integrated graphics (Radeon HD 7660D) of the AMD A10-5800K APU.

Any information is appreciated since im kinda a noob at this, Thank you!

 

[bawchicawawa]

7770 won't crossfire with an apu.

The highest it will go is a 6670 (and a 7670 when it comes out, but it's the same chip though, so no real performance upgrade there.)

I'd just wait a little for piledriver to come out and match the 4 core with the 7770.

 

[Wolfshadw]

As I understand it, the AMD APUs are only compatible with the HD6xxx series of graphic cards (for now). Of course, you can install an HD7xxx series card, but it will not work in conjunction with your APU.

-Wolf sends

 

[Guest]

7770 won't crossfire with an apu.

The highest it will go is a 6670 (and a 7670 when it comes out, but it's the same chip though, so no real performance upgrade there.)

I'd just wait a little for piledriver to come out and match the 4 core with the 7770.

Ok then, how good is the Radeon HD 7660D integrated graphics? How well can it handle newer games (Like Battlefield 3, Skyrim, Dishonored, etc.)

 

[dyc4ha]

Ok then, how good is the Radeon HD 7660D integrated graphics? How well can it handle newer games (Like Battlefield 3, Skyrim, Dishonored, etc.)

It is barely playable at the lowest settings at 1080p; we are talking about sub-30fps. IGPU still have a long way to go before being able to replace entry level discrete GPUs. It would do fine for LoL or low details SC2 or WoW though (DX9 games). If you are building a gaming rig, I would avoid trinity. If you are building a budget rig with occasional gaming and do not have high graphics expectations, then it has a good value proposition.

 

[Guest]

It is barely playable at the lowest settings at 1080p; we are talking about sub-30fps. IGPU still have a long way to go before being able to replace entry level discrete GPUs. It would do fine for LoL or low details SC2 or WoW though (DX9 games). If you are building a gaming rig, I would avoid trinity. If you are building a budget rig with occasional gaming and do not have high graphics expectations, then it has a good value proposition.

Can you recommend a CPU? I plan on making a gaming pc just dont have a load of money to spend

 

[dyc4ha]

Can you recommend a CPU? I plan on making a gaming pc just dont have a load of money to spend

For $100:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116777&Tpk=pentium%20g2120

but I would personally spend an extra $30 to get an i3:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116775&name=Processors-Desktops

Then again you could save the $30 on the CPU and allocate it to the GPU budget, really depends on what you prioritize more.

 

[willard]

Crossfiring an APU with a GPU is a great way to get decent gaming performance on the cheap. Kind of leaves you with no upgrade path, though, because the APUs use their own socket and you can't go stick an 8150 in there if you want to upgrade.

 

[dyc4ha]

Crossfiring an APU with a GPU is a great way to get decent gaming performance on the cheap. Kind of leaves you with no upgrade path, though, because the APUs use their own socket and you can't go stick an 8150 in there if you want to upgrade.

You can crossfire a 6670 ($~70) with the 7660d, the 6670 being the best discrete card that you could hybrid crossfire with.

However, I believe the intel offerings + 7750 will outperform the APU + 6670 build (in terms of CPU and GPU performance) and uses less power and has a better upgrade path; both builds being around the same price.

 

[Wisecracker]

AMD Athlon II X3 450 Rana 3.2GHz: $60

ASRock 970 EXTREME3 AM3+ : $75

 

[dyc4ha]

$69
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116397&name=Processors-Desktops

$89
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121509&name=Intel-Motherboards

Slightly more expensive, but significantly better performance for modern games IMO if you are that tight on a budget. The Athlon X3 will bottleneck games like skyrim/bf3, check benchmark:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/189?vs=404

EDIT: to avoid confusion, the benchmarks shown used games that are far less demanding than skyrim/bf3