A10-5800k with 7850, 7870 or something else

kaiser1989

Honorable
Jan 20, 2013
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0
10,510
Hello,

2 months ago I made a mistake - bought an a10-5800k apu. I really wasn't gaming at all, so I thought a dedicated gpu would just be a waste of money. However, recently I have started gaming again, so I thought that maybe I should add a dedicated gpu to my setup. I just want smooth 1080p experience (I am fine with mid-high settings, but ultra, of course, is better). So, which gpu would you reccomend me? I am looking at hd7870, but won't the a10 bottleneck it heavely? I have a shitty (3+1 phase, no vrm cooling) motherboard, so overlocking the cpu is a no go. I also have a 430w psu (corsair cx430). So I am not sure it will be able to power a hd7870. I know I could add a hd6670 and hybrid crossfire it with the integrated gpu, but I think a dedicated gpu would be better.

My system specs:

Motherboard : Asrock FM2A75M-DGS
CPU : a10-5800k
RAM : 2x4 kingston hyperx cl11 2133mhz
SSD : intel 180gb
PSU : corsair cx430
 

voiidwulf

Distinguished
Jun 11, 2012
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19,010
I'm not sure I would trust a 7870 to a 430W PSU. Mine is 460W and a lot of people at school wonder how I can power it. The recommended is 500W.

A 7850 would give you good 1080P performance in most games at mid-high settings. That is probably your best bet.
 

grumbledook

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Dec 24, 2011
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18,710
I have a 660ti and a 4.2 ghz 3570k on a 450w power supply and it's running great. If your psu is decent then it's should be nothing to worry about, especially since you're not going to OC your cpu.
Here's the 7870 pulling 284w on a 2500k system. http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1967/11/
Tests of the 5800k shows it drawing a bit more power than the 2500k but as long as you've not connected 100 drives and usb devices you should be fine.
The better gpu you buy the better performance you get in most games. There will be games that you'll be cpu limited in, but they'll be in the minority.