AMD APU's for a moderate gamer?

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knightsilver

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AMD APU's for a moderate gamer? Wednesday, February 29, 2012 10:21 AM (permalink)
Opinions?

For a coworker, office and web.

Thx
<message edited by knightsilver on Wednesday, February 29, 2012 10:23 AM>

 
 
 
#1
    robhall86

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    Re:AMD APU's for a moderate gamer? Wednesday, February 29, 2012 10:35 AM (permalink)
    works for my laptop dv6-6135dx
    med/low settings haven't tried anything super demanding.
     
    also a little overclock doesn't hurt cause that kind of setup chokes a little more on processor power then graphics power.
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    #2
      VequalsITR

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      Re:AMD APU's for a moderate gamer? Wednesday, February 29, 2012 10:38 AM (permalink)
      the apu's are wonderful
       
      you can always pair it with a 6670  and get nearly twice the perfomance out.
       
      like their cpu's those theyre will fall behinde intel, but for gaming an Oced 3870K + 6670 will play medium setting on any game  with high fps
        

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      #3
        mlittrell

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        Re:AMD APU's for a moderate gamer? Wednesday, February 29, 2012 10:53 AM (permalink)
        APU? Auxiliary Power Unit?
         
        Was that a typo? What do you mean?
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        #4
          xanderf

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          Re:AMD APU's for a moderate gamer? Wednesday, February 29, 2012 10:54 AM (permalink)
          APU is AMD's newfangled term for their CPUs with integrated GPUs.  Intel is still calling their's a "CPU", but AMD thought they'd be clever and call it an 'advanced processing unit' to indicate the combination of CPU and GPU.
           
          FWIW, they are reasonable competent gaming platforms.  I was able to run Skyrim well on an integrated Intel HD 3000, and Anandtech found the AMD Llano parts to perform even better than that.

           
          #5
            mlittrell

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            Re:AMD APU's for a moderate gamer? Wednesday, February 29, 2012 12:07 PM (permalink)
            Bah... They can't do that! It's a CPU with integrated graphics core. That's not a GPU, and it's not an APU!
             
            They must respect the existing terminology! It wouldn't do for me to call my CPU a PSU, now would it?
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            #6
              lehpron

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              Re:AMD APU's for a moderate gamer? Wednesday, February 29, 2012 12:51 PM (permalink)
              Short answer: Yes.
               
              Long answer:  If whoever you are recommending doesn't have high hopes or budget for a dedicated card, you might as well do them a favor seeing how slow Intel's graphics are in comparison.  Especially for everyday apps, the performance loss of AMD versus Intel is negligible to most folks since they aren't enthusiasts, thus aren't usually picky about 30 second extra if they spend  3 minutes encoding media.
               
              By equivalency, the HD6550D in the A8-3850 and A8-3870K models have the performance between a G92 (8800GT) and G94 (9600GT). 
               
              That said, the rumor about the upcoming Trinity, successor to the current Llano part, is faster on both CPU and GPU:  Aside from any architectural improvements, the x86 frequency is set at 3.8GHz for A10-5800 series versus the 3.0GHz on A8-3800 series, while the integrated GPU is from the HD7600 series with a higher clock of 900MHz versus the 600MHz on HD6550D -- all put in the same 100W TDP bracket. 
               
              Unfortunately, it is projected to be available until this summer, I don't know what time constraints your recommending this to has for a new system. 
               
              As for me personally, I'm looking towards Trinity's successor in 2013 known as "Kaveri" which is said to have integrated GPU performance equivalent to an HD7700, or the equivalent of my GTX260, built-in as the CPU.  Unlike most enthusiasts, my needs haven't really changed over the years, so if I get equal performance of my X58 system with less components and less power, that would be my new everyday system.  I just don't have as much faith Intel Haswell generation graphics can match my GTX260.
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              For Intel processors, 0.123 x TDP = Continuous Amps at 12v [source].  This includes around 30% overhead, so it isn't minimum for operation.  TDP is not actual per CPU, it is a range for multiple processors to qualify for the same OEM cooler and power rating, and allows Intel to debut future processors in the same TDP.
               
              #7
                sinephase

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                Re:AMD APU's for a moderate gamer? Wednesday, February 29, 2012 3:35 PM (permalink)
                mlittrell


                Bah... They can't do that! It's a CPU with integrated graphics core. That's not a GPU, and it's not an APU!

                They must respect the existing terminology! It wouldn't do for me to call my CPU a PSU, now would it?

                 
                I think the thing is they share resources (CPU and GPU) differently than just having the GPU in the same chip, so they gave it a new designation.
                 
                as for the OP question: just check out benchmarks and look at FPS comparisons. If your friend wants to play anything similar to what games are being benchmarked, and they average over 30 fps at acceptable graphics settings (IMO if it only reaches 30 max on low settings, it's not worth it for gaming) then it's good.
                If memory serves though, from what I've read even for a low end system I'd personally go with something discreet for the few extra $.
                 
                #8
                  seronx

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                  Re:AMD APU's for a moderate gamer? Wednesday, February 29, 2012 3:40 PM (permalink)
                  xanderf

                  APU is AMD's newfangled term for their CPUs with integrated GPUs.  Intel is still calling their's a "CPU", but AMD thought they'd be clever and call it an 'advanced processing unit' to indicate the combination of CPU and GPU.
                  Accelerated processing unit...
                  As the GPU accelerates most processes today...
                  Decoding/Encoding/Graphics/HPC/etc.
                   
                  sinephase

                  I think the thing is they share resources (CPU and GPU) differently than just having the GPU in the same chip, so they gave it a new designation.
                  They don't actually share anything virtually.  Most of the stuff is physical stuff and you can tweak it.  For example, Lets say you got an A8-3870K in the BIOS you can set how much RAM the iGPU will use. (This works with all APUs).
                  <message edited by seronx on Wednesday, February 29, 2012 3:46 PM>
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                  #9
                    Darguss

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                    Re:AMD APU's for a moderate gamer? Wednesday, February 29, 2012 4:26 PM (permalink)
                    You may want to make the distinction between a desktop and the mobile counterpart. The mobile part for obvious reasons will lag behind the desktop part.
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                    #10

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