What graphics card should I get with my apu build?

[ha1rtr1gg3r]

So I just built a pc a few days ago , just something to get me started on a tight budget , I spent about 400$ on it , I'm using it for gaming instead of my laptop , yes low end gaming , but Id like to fix that soon.

It's an AMD apu build (specs will be bellow ) and I believe the first thing Id want to upgrade when I get the money is the graphics card , and I do believe with apu's you can use 2 gpu's at the same time? So I believe I heard if you get a similar or low end graphics card with an apu it doesn't help performance? But somewhere else I heard that it takes the load off of the processor?

Maybe someone could shed some light on this for me , explain a little bit.

I'd like to play modern/demanding games with this , yes its not a great build but I plan to upgrade over time .

My thinking is the processor will be good at 3.8ghz for some time , I have 8gb of ram , but I feel my gaming is bottle-necked by the built in gpu , would you agree?

Is that what I should upgrade? really the only things I can upgrade though.

Im looking to spend 100-200$ on it , I'd like the most bang for my buck however , cheap as possible yet just enough , I really dont mind playing games on low settings at all , 25-30 fps is just fine (or sometimes lower , I can get by , really)

by modern/demanding games I mean ( dying light , dayz , rust , cod , ARK: survival evolved ) as you can tell I like a lot of crappy unfinished demanding poorly optimized games.

when I say I can get by with low settings and lag , I mean it , Id most definitely want to play on low to mid settings with a new gpu (if its possible) but Ive been playing dying light recently , everyone else would call it unplayable , seriously , like Im sure I only get 10fps or less at points . but I still have fun.

I'd really just like to play some of those games and such without lag on lowest to mid settings.

What card should I get?

Oh and btw thanks for reading all that xD.

Specs:
AMD A-10 5800k APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics 3.8GHz
8gb ram

64bit

windows 8

1 tb hard drive

AMD Radeon HD 7660D

550watt 80 gold plus

 

[xzerqiin]

AMD R7 250 is the GPU equivalent of your APU, so you could do perfect crossfire with your APU. Remember the clock of your APU graphics is 800Mhz so any r7 250 with either same or higher clock will run both paralleled to the lowest clock. (Just like how Goku and Vegeta did fusion, where they OCed their Super Saiyan at the same level not over powering the other.)
*Note: your APU's built in GPU will always be the primary card.

 

[ha1rtr1gg3r]

AMD R7 250 is the GPU equivalent of your APU, so you could do perfect crossfire with your APU. Remember the clock of your APU graphics is 800Mhz so any r7 250 with either same or higher clock will run both paralleled to the lowest clock. (Just like how Goku and Vegeta did fusion, where they OCed their Super Saiyan at the same level not over powering the other.)
*Note: your APU's built in GPU will always be the primary card.

Would this significantly Improve fps and performance?

 

[xzerqiin]

Yes on certain games that supports multiple graphics (example: Battle Field 4), but games that doesn't support crossfire wont change. Because APUs are made with its own primary GPU, meaning any game that only uses single GPU wont benefit.

 

[ha1rtr1gg3r]

Yes on certain games that supports multiple graphics (example: Battle Field 4), but games that doesn't support crossfire wont change. Because APUs are made with its own primary GPU, meaning any game that only uses single GPU wont benefit.

So I'm limited by my current graphics card , and game support ?

So if I was to go get a high end card , it wouldn't matter cause my integrated gpu caps the high end one so they both run on low.

And if I got one that matched my current one , it'd benefit on games that DID support multi gpu's?

 

[xzerqiin]

Yes -> "And if I got one that matched my current one , it'd benefit on games that DID support multi gpu's?"
Yes-> "So I'm limited by my current graphics card , and game support"

Yes and No-> "So if I was to go get a high end card , it wouldn't matter cause my integrated gpu caps the high end one so they both run on low."
-because your APU has its own GPU, example you get an r9 290x, the r9 290x wont become your primary GPU, so games that support single cards will still use the APU. Now with crossfire, if you use r9 290x as the slave, it will only run at the same speeds as your APU.

 

[xzerqiin]

Just to add, most of the current games made from year (e.g.)2009 are supporting multiple graphics configuration.

 

[ha1rtr1gg3r]

Yes -> "And if I got one that matched my current one , it'd benefit on games that DID support multi gpu's?"
Yes-> "So I'm limited by my current graphics card , and game support"

Yes and No-> "So if I was to go get a high end card , it wouldn't matter cause my integrated gpu caps the high end one so they both run on low."
-because your APU has its own GPU, example you get an r9 290x, the r9 290x wont become your primary GPU, so games that support single cards will still use the APU. Now with crossfire, if you use r9 290x as the slave, it will only run at the same speeds as your APU.

Can I turn off the APU iGPU and turn on just the dGPU in bios? So Im using just one gpu , the better one.

 

[xzerqiin]

I'm not sure about that but this section says: http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1708507/disabling-apu-graphics.html

You might need to dig deeper and check with your motherboards manufacturer. Because unlike Intel's integrated GPU, their's was at the motherboard. On the other hand with APU, their's is within the CPU its self.

At the section above they are talking about certain motherboards that lets you close the iGPU and/or motherboards that automatically closes the iGPU if theres a discrete GPU installed.

 

[not you]

Change that apu first if you want good gaming performance (i had personal experience i have the a10-6800k xD)

If you get by with low settings and low fps you could be fine with an r7 but an r9 270 (or 270x) would fit your budget too and it would have better performance

 

[RobCrezz]

If you plan to get a graphics card right away, just get the athlon 760k/860k (the same as the high end APUs just without graphics) and spend a little more on the card will get you better performance than crossfiring with the APU.

 

[not you]

^He already has the apu i think

You could try to sell that build but if you are ok with low settings the r9 270 or 270x is your best bet with the 100-200$ budget

 

[ha1rtr1gg3r]

Change that apu first if you want good gaming performance (i had personal experience i have the a10-6800k xD)

If you get by with low settings and low fps you could be fine with an r7 but an r9 270 (or 270x) would fit your budget too and it would have better performance

Why would I have to change the apu? Is it because it makes the dGPU tone down to match the iGPU?

 

[RobCrezz]

^He already has the apu i think

You could try to sell that build but if you are ok with low settings the r9 270 or 270x is your best bet with the 100-200$ budget

You can just about get a GTX 960 for $200 also, I would be looking at that.

 

[not you]

Its good too but he has an amd apu for an amd cpu an amd gpu should perform better ( in stability not performance a10-6800k + gtx 980 ti here)+ the gtx 960 is in pair with the 280x in price at least here in hungary xD

The gtx 960 can still fit in a 200$ budget but op wants it as cheap as possible

 

[not you]

To ha1rtr1 no but because the apu is weak on the cpu side and has no l3 cache that is good for gaming but for low or even medium settings + 30 fps that apu is plenty

And if you buy an r9 any of them you wont use the igpu anyway ( this also means it wont lower the speed of your gpu )

 

[RobCrezz]

Its good too but he has an amd apu for an amd cpu an amd gpu should perform better ( in stability not performance a10-6800k + gtx 980 ti here)+ the gtx 960 is in pair with the 280x in price at least here in hungary xD

The gtx 960 can still fit in a 200$ budget but op wants it as cheap as possible

That isnt true. Nvidia GPUs work just as well if AMD apus, if not better in many cases (nvidia drivers are less reliant on cpu performance than AMD).

 

[not you]

^true if op can find a gtx 960 for the price he is willing to pay there is no reason not to buy it