Upgrade advice for system with an Intel APU

[mrwolf33]

Hi there,

I have a nice mini-ITX build with an i3-4340 CPU and ASRock motherboard, I want however to upgrade this, mostly for the integrated GPU aspect.

By reading around (in particular http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/three-generations-intel-hd-graphics-tested/ and a few other sources) I came to the conclusion that the best pick if I stay with Intel is i3-6300 (see also the nice TDP there).

However AMD's A10-7870K seems like better suited if I am upgrading for integrated GPU reasons, and I shouldn't care that much about TDP honestly.

My only concern by going AMD is that I might regret it later as the technology seems a bit worse than Intel in general (no flames please, I was a big fan of AMD!).

What is your advice?

As per motherboards, I was looking at http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/FM2A78M-ITX+/index.us.asp initially but I see it already has an integrated GPU (?!), so I'd rather go with https://www.overclockers.co.uk/gigabyte-f2a88xn-wifi-amd-a88x-socket-fm2-ddr3-mini-itx-motherboard-mb-482-gi.html instead (didn't check for other alternatives yet).

 

[amtseung]

Why are you worried about the AMD fanboys? There's never any unreasonable rage from either side, right?

Jokes aside, the AMD APU's are typically far better than what Intel has to offer for an all-in-one, package. The only pitfall is that the platform and socket are a dead end: that A10 is the best of what money can buy for the FM2+ platform. There is no future for it, and there is no replacement for it. Zen is going to be AM4, and iirc, AMD said they were axing the FM socket lineup a little while ago.

Your options currently are either to a.) find a GPU that fits within your space constraints and PSU's capabilities, or b.) replace your system with one that's dying and obsolete.

You can't upgrade to the i3 6300 with your current motherboard. Your current board is LGA1150, running a Haswell refresh CPU and DDR3 memory. the i3 6300 is a skylake CPU, and requires an LGA1151 motherboard and DDR4 memory. You'd have to replace almost all of your existing system to upgrade to skylake.

Edit cause I'm tired and totally forgot:
What's your budget?

 

[mrwolf33]

Why are you worried about the AMD fanboys? There's never any unreasonable rage from either side, right?

Eheh

Jokes aside, the AMD APU's are typically far better than what Intel has to offer for an all-in-one, package. The only pitfall is that the platform and socket are a dead end: that A10 is the best of what money can buy for the FM2+ platform. There is no future for it, and there is no replacement for it. Zen is going to be AM4, and iirc, AMD said they were axing the FM socket lineup a little while ago.

That's what I was thinking. Upgrading to a socket that is dead in the water already...at least LGA1151 seems better from that perspective

Your options currently are either to a.) find a GPU that fits within your space constraints and PSU's capabilities, or b.) replace your system with one that's dying and obsolete.

I tried (a), didn't go very well. There's really nothing fitting there and the PSU is a problem too. So I do not have option (a) and I do not like going option (b). My idea was:
c) upgrade to something decent, that can be upgraded again

You can't upgrade to the i3 6300 with your current motherboard. Your current board is LGA1150, running a Haswell refresh CPU and DDR3 memory. the i3 6300 is a skylake CPU, and requires an LGA1151 motherboard and DDR4 memory. You'd have to replace almost all of your existing system to upgrade to skylake.

I know that I can't use Skylake with my current motherboard, but for me it's implicit that changing CPU means changing motherboard anyway, that's why I was looking at the FM2+ mini-itx mobos.

If I go i3-6300 I can still use my DDR3 (see here: http://ark.intel.com/products/90731/Intel-Core-i3-6300-Processor-4M-Cache-3_80-GHz) for the time being.

So by this short discussion seems like going LGA1151 with i3-6300 seems better; as per budget, I do not want to spend too much money on this. My problem is that I do not want to do a full rebuild, just CPU+mobo upgrade and staying in that same mini-itx case for now. I am going to wait longer to completely rebuild this HTPC/light gaming box.

P.S. as expected, the GPU is not really integrated on the mobo for ASRock (I was thinking that it can't be): http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-1948164/asrock-fm2a88x-itx-onboard-graphics.html#12316345 just confusing wording they use in their specs

 

[amtseung]

Manufacturers stopped integrating graphics into their motherboards for many years now. I'd be shocked if there was one from the past 4-5 years.

Skylake does not support plain old DDR3. If you read carefully, it's DDR3L, which means low voltage DDR3. If you tried to run the standard 1.5V+ DDR3 through the internal memory controller of a skylake CPU, you'd fry it on the spot (I tried so you didn't have to). DDR3L is exceedingly rare and also prohibitively expensive, so DDR4 would be the logical option.

 

[mrwolf33]

Manufacturers stopped integrating graphics into their motherboards for many years now. I'd be shocked if there was one from the past 4-5 years.

It's been a while I don't build PCs

Skylake does not support plain old DDR3. If you read carefully, it's DDR3L, which means low voltage DDR3. If you tried to run the standard 1.5V+ DDR3 through the internal memory controller of a skylake CPU, you'd fry it on the spot (I tried so you didn't have to). DDR3L is exceedingly rare and also prohibitively expensive, so DDR4 would be the logical option.

I see. Thanks for the heads-up and sorry for the mishap you experienced.

Well that means I have to take in account also DDR4 as upgrade cost.

I am still unsure about going AMD A10-7870K or Intel I3-6300. The GPU on the latter seems good enough, although not on par with AMD's apparently.

 

[mrwolf33]

@amtseung I have reworded better my question here thanks to your insights:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-3196071/amd-a10-7870k-intel-6300.html

many thanks again!

 

[hang-the-9]

Hi there,

I have a nice mini-ITX build with an i3-4340 CPU and ASRock motherboard, I want however to upgrade this, mostly for the integrated GPU aspect.

By reading around (in particular http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/three-generations-intel-hd-graphics-tested/ and a few other sources) I came to the conclusion that the best pick if I stay with Intel is i3-6300 (see also the nice TDP there).

However AMD's A10-7870K seems like better suited if I am upgrading for integrated GPU reasons, and I shouldn't care that much about TDP honestly.

My only concern by going AMD is that I might regret it later as the technology seems a bit worse than Intel in general (no flames please, I was a big fan of AMD!).

What is your advice?

As per motherboards, I was looking at http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/FM2A78M-ITX+/index.us.asp initially but I see it already has an integrated GPU (?!), so I'd rather go with https://www.overclockers.co.uk/gigabyte-f2a88xn-wifi-amd-a88x-socket-fm2-ddr3-mini-itx-motherboard-mb-482-gi.html instead (didn't check for other alternatives yet).

Why exactly do you want to upgrade? You say "upgrading for integrated GPU reasons" but for why exactly? Gaming? HD video too slow? What is your current system, power supply brand and model, case size/brand/model.

You would be much better off spending the money on a video card instead of a CPU and motherboard. You will spend less and get more. Plus you don't have to re-install Windows.