REVIEW: AMD a10 5800k + 7750 (MSI) in working DUAL GRAPHICS

the_neo

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Apr 18, 2013
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Well hello :) me and a couple of you are asking the same thing over and over again, and well no one has done a review or testing with it to confirm anything working so i hat enough of this crap and tested it out on my system to settle for all if it work's or if its just a name straped to a GPU that performs identical to a stock 7750.
The questions are :

Is DUAL GRAPHICS working with an AMD a10 5800k and a AMD 7750 graphics card?
Yes it works.

Will the setup of 7750 and a 7660 give any performance boost to a stock 7750/7660 ?
Yes it will.

How much is the performance increase?
Well that's why we are here to find out :) .

Software used:
Windows 8 Pro (stock installed, no updates)
AMD Catalyst 13.4 drivers used
3dMark 1.1 (downloaded from Guru3D)
CPU-z 1.64
GPU-z 0.7.1
AMD System Monitor 1.0.9
FRAPS 3.5.99
Battlefield 3 (patch2 applied)
Crysis 3 (1.3 patched)
Crysis 2 (1.9 patched)

The setup:
AMD a10 5800k with 7660D graphics build in
Gigabyte F2A85X-UP4
8gb (2x4gb) Kingston PredatorX 2400mhz RAM
Scythe MUGEN 3 rev.B with 2x Sythe Kaze Ultra (push pull)
MSI 7750 OC graphics card
Mushkin Chronos 60gb SSD (windows)
Toshiba(hitachi) 1TB for storage
400W chieftech power suplie

I had no interest in testing the APU in stock clocks and options, there are al lot of good review's doing exactly that, if is in your interest here is one: http://forums.vr-zone.com/hardware-depot/2616116-review-gigabyte-f2a85x-up4-amd-a10-5800k-apu-madness-review-complete.html

A couple of pictures of the setup without the 7750:

http://imageshack.us/a/img707/8884/cam00027n.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img834/2825/cam00028g.jpg

And here is the 7750 running in the setup:
http://imageshack.us/a/img841/6940/cam00031y.jpg


GPU-Z screanshot of working dual graphics:

http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/1073/7660a.gif


Testing method:
3dMark has been run in all combinations and there are 3 games tested, also the Battlefied 3, Crysis 3, Crysis 2, we will have 1 setting for Crysis 2 that was used on all the avaidable options, 2 settings on Crysis 3 (low and mixed very high) and 1 setting for Battlefield 3. The AMD System Monitor was running in the background to check the ussage of both setup's, and if the game really uses the power of dual graphics. ALL GAMES ARE TESTED IN 1920x1080 resolution.
Settings used:
Battlefield 3:
http://imageshack.us/a/img547/6109/bf32013052805572706.jpg

Crysis 2 :
http://imageshack.us/a/img19/8072/crysis22013053000245529.jpg
http://imageshack.us/a/img19/8994/crysis2sq.jpg

Crysis 3 (low settings):
http://imageshack.us/a/img822/316/crysis32013052805121188.jpg

Crysis 3 (mixed very high settings) identical as above but with :
http://imageshack.us/a/img22/9347/crysis32013052805114876.jpg

There are 2 options to connect the 7750 in dual graphics mode:
1. You plug in the monitor on the discrete 7750 in a VGA/DVI/HDMI port, this will result in a dual graphics configuration that will make the 7750 „primary“ and the 7660 „secondary“
You can know that this setting is acitve by going to GPU-z and as seen here :

the GPU is named Cape Verde (and that is the 7750 GPU)

2. You plug in the monitor on the onboard VGA/DVI/HDMI port, this will result in a dual graphics configuration that will make the 7660 „primary“ and the 7750 „secondary“
You can know that this setting is acitve by going to GPU-z and as seen here :

the GPU is named Devastator (and that is the 7660 GPU)


0a. testing only with the 7660D@GPU:1125mhz@RAM:1183, CPU@4.69 ghz

3dMark score's (all verified and legit) :
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/670406
Ice Storm : 77684
Cloud Gate : 7234
Fire Strike : 1340

No game tests with this setup, you have enough testing of the 7660D online.

0b. Testing only with the discrete graphics MSI 7750@GPU:830@RAM:1125 , CPU@4.69 ghz

3dMark score's (all verdified and legit) :
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/688805
Ice Storm : 89888
Cloud Gate : 9197
Fire Strike : 2025

Battlefield 3:
Min, Max, Avg
25, 40, 31.783 (fps)

Crysis 3 (all low settings) :
Min, Max, Avg
21, 45, 34.383 (fps)

Crysis 3 (mixed very high settings) :
Min, Max, Avg
11, 27, 21.333 (fps)

No Crysis 2 for this setup  sorry.


1. the monitor is pluged in the descrete graphics DVI port ( 7750 „primary“ + 7660 „secondary“ dual graphics)
3dMark score's (all verified and legit) : (as you can see in the details portion of each test the 7660 was underclocked to match the 7750 gpu clock @830mhz, automaticly in bios it still was 1ghz+)
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/688631
Ice Storm : 83392
Cloud Gate : 9734
Fire Strike : 2273

Battlefield 3 :
Min, Max, Avg
33, 43, 38.300 (fps)

Crysis 2:
Min, Max, Avg
19, 34, 25.733 (fps)

Crysis 3 (all low settings) :
Min, Max, Avg
22, 47, 33.753 (fps)

Crysis 3 (mixed very high settings) :
Min, Max, Avg
15, 29, 24.200 (fps)


2. the monitor is pluged in the onboard DVI port (7660 „primary“ + 7750 „secondary“ dual graphics)
3dMark score's (all verified and legit) 7660@gpu@1169@2400ram + 7750stock:
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/688902
Ice Storm : 88902
Cloud Gate : 10652
Fire Strike : 2344

Edited* wrong link was here :) sorry

Battlefield 3 :
Min, Max, Avg
45, 57, 51.300 (fps)

Crysis 2 :
Min, Max, Avg
27, 40, 32.950 (fps)

Crysis 3 (all low settings) :
Min, Max, Avg
23, 46, 36.883 (fps)

Crysis 3 (mixed very high settings) :
Min, Max, Avg
13, 30, 24.733 (fps)


Verdict:

Yeah, dual graphics a10 5800k with 7750 works, how much performance will you get out of it ? About
10-30% over a stock 7750 , and why is that ? Monitoring the games played and tested i've noticed that the only time the real power and full load of bouth graphics cards was achieved in Battlefield 3 where both GPU's where at 99% load. Crysis 2 was loading the 7750 at 99% and the 7660 at about 40% at times. Crysis 3 just had a copule of jumps to 10% on the 7660, the 7750 was at 99%. The performance increase is noticable and nice, especialy if you own a 5800k you'r better off buying a 7750 and not a 6670, here these 2 cards vary only 5-10$ and thats nothing compared to the performance difference. I've not tested the 6670 but we can see how the 6670 factor becomes irelevant at this point.

Do i want to buy a 7750 and upgrade my existing a10 5800k setup with it ?
Yeah you want.



Greetings from Croatia :) Pozdrav s Hrvatske ;)

 

aibenq

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Dec 16, 2012
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wow... that's what we need... and if able, also try TOMB RAIDER with TressFX on (because that one of the reason I need dual graphic power). and as I said, wondered if my prediction is right, is HD7770 and HD7790 also works with dual graphic configuration??? if those two able to do dual graphic with A10-5800K, then all A10 user will be love this info...

and seems if we plug our monitor to HD7660D, the performance take more impact of it... and seems when we doing Dual Graphic, HD7660D isn't maxed out his utilization power... as I read, it's only use about 40% on crysis 2 of it's power, even only 10% on crysis 3, but 99% on battlefield. but my opinion, it's makes sense (just a little actually) that Dual-Graphic system is depend how we chose it's primary GPU. like few news that we able CrossFire HD7770 with HD7750 without/with bridge and it's works, but they concern that we must plug on higher class GPU as primary GPU.

but on these case, seems when we plug monitor on HD7750, the performance impact isn't really big from HD7750 only, but when we plug on HD7660D, the performance takes more impact, and my prediction that HD7660D is will takes the first load from CPU then loaded to HD7750 for the rest, but when we plug it on HD7750, the CPU seems load the data to HD7750 first then to HD7660D...

as we know the reason that AMD create AMD APU that to reduce latency between CPU and GPU, that's why the score when you use HD7660D primary makes more sense about performance impact for the dual graphic it self, and it's sound very good too... and again, for the utilization, seems older DX11 games, around 2012-2011, will takes more advantage on this dual graphic solution (as we seen on Battlefield 3 and Crysis 2). hope you able test it with HD7770 and HD7790 and if able to do dual graphic with those two.

but i wonder, that you need upgrade the bios of mainboard too when you testing these??? and I wondered when used on APU stock clock too...
 

the_neo

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Apr 18, 2013
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bios was stock, as is from the store :) i didnt upgrage, and the apu stock clock :D well ... its nonsense for me to use a black edition CPU/APU whitout overclocking it, ad at 4.4ghz what is i think the most comom one, its really just a little bit of difference in the fps.
 

aibenq

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oh, I see... I really wanna people will wondering about it... I wish I live near your house, and borrow your HD7750, and test it on TOMB RAIDER (because just download it)... but let's see if people will able use HD7770 or HD7790 too... if able to use it, I bet the performance will be higher... XD

but again, thanks for review this one!!! you should tell previous thread owner about your review...
 

the_neo

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Apr 18, 2013
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i dont think 7790 will work, its 7850 architecture, would not bet on it :) 7770 is just more shader cores than 7750 and more mhz , i dont have one , and dont know anyone to borrow and test it :/ ... any card will work with Lucid Virtu whatever it´s called, but i tested 7750+7660 with that and its worse then dual graphics... but better then 7750 alone... :) downloadin tomb rider now ;) will see how it works out
 

aibenq

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well as our guess, at least HD7770 will amkes more performance than HD7750 on dual graohics. but if you said that using Lucid is seem makes the perfomance less than dual graphic, maybe because lucd is more optimizd for intel based processor than APU...

oh, by the way I just finished download TOMB RAIDER with update pacth to 1.01.743.0... without dual graphics, on setting 1280x720, FXAA, AF 4x, V-Sync triple Buffred... on advance setting, is texture and detail set on high, but the rest (SSAO, Depth of Field, Hair Quality, Reflections, Shadow and Shadow resolution) is set on normal... and get around 32fps as average... but when TressFX enabled... I get 15-12fps...
 

the_neo

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tnx i just finished downloading and installed it , i'm working now but later i will try it out ;)

lucid i know it's more optimized for intel, will see how this performes on the settings that you described and with all maxed out or at least playable maxed out :)
 

the_neo

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Tomb Raider -
your settings : 1280x720 , FXAA, AF 4x , V-Sync tripple buffered , advanced: texture, detail : high, SSAO,Depth of Field, Hair Quality,Reflections , Shadow and Shadow resolution : normal , post procesing, high precision and tesselation you did not mention so this you get with on and off pretty much the same but when you disable v-sync its stays at around 60fps (double less then when v-sync is off)

Min, Max, Avg
41, 62, 53.950 (fps)

your settings, v-sync turned off (i dont know why you would enable it anyway) :

Min, Max, Avg
45, 128, 96.767 (fps)

your settings + Hair Quality : TressFx

Min, Max, Avg
28, 61, 45.567 (fps)


Min, Max, Avg
26, 47, 39.100 (fps) (this is with post processing etc on.)



EDIT*

all settings maxed out (also ultra, and 1920x1080 resolution) : (no tressfx and AA set to FXAA)

Min, Max, Avg
27, 44, 36.883 (fps)

with tressFX on :

Min, Max, Avg
11, 36, 25.183 (fps)

stressing the cards was 7750 at 99% , but 7660 max 50%





 

aibenq

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oh I forgot to tell you all the processing (screen effect and etc is on), and why I turn on the V-Syn, because I hate those tearing... but seeing the performance, even with V-Sync on, seems twice than mine, and tressFX enabled, seems also giving performance 2.5x than APU only... except on FullHD resolution.

it's seems we will get smoother gameplay with eye candy effect and looks on 1280x720... but still the performance is really great jump... anyway, thanks for these review anyway... now I really had confidencet to use HD7750 as dual graphic... XD
 


mmmm... i was looking at those pictures but the captions weren't clear. with the monitor plugged into the motherboard, what boost are you getting in dual graphics over just using the a10 gpu?

I noticed you were getting better performance plugged into the video card, which makes sense since the APU will use the gddr5 on the card instead of it's own dd3 ram set aside for it when you plug into the video card (some benches prove a 6670 with ddr5 will dual graphics almost 20-30% faster when the monitor is plugged into the gpu... when you plug the monitor into the mb, the system will downclock the gpu's ram to match system ram speed...)

I guess what i'm asking is... taking the ram out of the equation, are you getting an actual boost in performance over a base a10? What's the a10's score vs the a10+7750 when the monitor is plugged into the motherboard (for both tests)

 

yy885

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Jun 19, 2013
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Hi, I am planning to get the 5800k.

Just a quick question, as I am not going to oc it (I wont be getting the extra cooler any sooner) but I am planning to get the 7750 as well. So my question is if I am using the default 5800k + 7750 2GB ddr3...what kind of performance I can expect? thanks
 

neoson9999

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May 12, 2013
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Hi,

I'm planning to buy a 7750 and pair it with my a10-5800k. Do I have to worry about drivers or will AMD Catalyst take care of installing them?

Thanks
 


why spend 120 on a cpu that has a igpu, only to get a dedicated gpu?

If you're gonna drop 120 on a cpu get a FX6300 and match it to that 7750.

Also, don't get a ddr3 version of the hd7750... get the gddr5 version. 1gb memory is all you'll ever need for that gpu anyway.
 

neoson9999

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May 12, 2013
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Oh sorry, I think my post was a bit unclear. I already have an a10, bought it 2 months ago.
I wasn't really planning on buying a gpu for it until I found this thread. Adding a 7750 would give a huge gain on performance + dual graphics so maybe I can still put the a10's igpu to good use.

Gddr5? Alright, I'll keep it mind.
Thanks for the advice :)
 


you can't dual graphics with a 7750... only a 6670.
 

the_neo

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Apr 18, 2013
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still so freaking funny when someone posts that you cant dual graphics 5800+7750 IN THE THRED WHERE THE PROOF IS -.- ? and you if your are going for a 7750 get the ddr5....
 


nope. that person wasn't dual graphics the gpu... what he was doing was using the gddr5 on the 7750 to do his graphic ram for his APU; and when he plugged into the 7750, he was just using the base 7750. When you dual graphics an apu with a gpu, it will use the "fastest" ram available for graphic ram... the a10 was simply using the gddr5 for it's igpu. it's a cute trick but it's not dual graphics.

Look at those bench numbers, they "boost" over the 7750 in dual graphics is well within the margin of error. And the performance of the "dual graphics" in tomb raider bench is about in line with everyone else's 7750 benching in tombraider.
 

the_neo

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that person who did the review if you dont see was me. even more silly you didnt get that.

Oh and yeah : plugged in the iGPU , 7750 runs and 7660 runs too (you can see it in amd system manager the gpu usage of both cards) i tested it out not in all games couse of support and amd drivers but you cant say that 50fps in BF3 is what you geht with a 7660 using the ddr5 ram (15fps only iGPU) or that it is using only the 7750 (25-35 fps ony 7750) so read it again if you dont understand, if you dont belive try it out. still running the same setup right now from where i´m typing.

 


quite simply i don't believe you.

if it worked i'm sure someone else would have found this out by now. yet no matter where i look no one can confirm this. If someone else were to try this and post screenies in this thread proving it worked i'll believe you and apologize.

without confirmation i'm not buying it.
 

the_neo

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thx bro!

and you ingtar23 , i bougt thease components just to test it out couse i was frustrated by people saying it will not work, i did it just couse of 1 video i watched that i tought was worth trying it out, i needed a new pc so i chose to test it out in this situation , its your choise to belive or not to belive, you have links to 3dMark verified tests, if you still dont beive get the chard and the setup and test it out yourself... or come visit me :D

EDIT:
oh and yeah if you dindnt understand it in the review ore maybe someone other, i told at the end, i would recomend to buy a 7750 ddr5 for dual graphics IF YOU ALREADY HAVE A a10 5800k , if not buy a better GPU and not a CPU with intigreted graphics.