[howtheflip]

Hello all, recently I've been looking into a desktop to build for about 500 dollars. After research, I've come across an interesting choice related to GPUs and CPUs. Mainly, I've been looking into the AMD a10-5800k APU and the Intel i3-3225. Since I already have a radeon 6570 graphics card, I was wondering if the APU with dual graphics or the i3 with the dual graphics would run games better? The i3 is only about 20 bucks more, so please let me know if this is worth the cost based on difference in performance.

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http://www.tomshardw...iency,3315.html

That is a bit of info on comparing the two cpus you are considering. The a10-5800k kicked the snot out of the 13-3225 in all but single threaded applications and even then the i3 did not beat it by much. A couple notes to keep in mind though the first being that both were using their igp and neither were tested using another gpu or by crossfiring the a10-5800k. So while not complete it should give you a rough idea as to the differences especially if you keep that in mind while comparing them. Also the i3 is a dual core and the a10-5800k is a quad core. I have to say i am impressed with the a10-5800k though.

[Zolton33]

http://www.tomshardw...iency,3315.html

That is a bit of info on comparing the two cpus you are considering. The a10-5800k kicked the snot out of the 13-3225 in all but single threaded applications and even then the i3 did not beat it by much. A couple notes to keep in mind though the first being that both were using their igp and neither were tested using another gpu or by crossfiring the a10-5800k. So while not complete it should give you a rough idea as to the differences especially if you keep that in mind while comparing them. Also the i3 is a dual core and the a10-5800k is a quad core. I have to say i am impressed with the a10-5800k though.

[howtheflip]

Thankyou for your response and research. I've tried to do some research myself, but almost all of the web is filled with intel fanboys that don't even want to give amd any consideration, making unbiased results difficult to find. Because of this, I've found results where the a10 performed much better, and then other results where the i3 shined. One interesting page I found was actually the decrease in performance when crossfiring the a10 for some games, and only 1fps increase in others. To me, something sounds wrong in that situation. Any other opinions out there though? Is this a good idea for a 500 dollar pc? And when it comes time to upgrade, will it be more difficult to upgrade an amd processor/motherboard or an intel processor/motherboard?

EDIT: And none of those tests really compare the performance in relation to games. I'd be willing to make small speed sacrifices in all aspects if it means that it is the best priced processor for gaming.

Edited by howtheflip, 05 October 2012 - 08:02 AM.

[Zolton33]

The a10 chips are fm2 amd's newest socket so you can expect they will push that socket with new cpu's for it. Intel seems to be done with the 1155 with the release of the ivy bridge as their newest cpu set to release haswell uses a whole new socket. I think most of those where the fps drops is due to one thing. Being they are trying to crossfire using the igp with a newer gpu then its built in HD 7660D and it will clock down to the HD 7660D. I have yet to see benchmarks where they crossfire without using the igp (seeing how it is less then a week old its no wonder) and where they use a 7660d gpu. I love amd as they try to make building pc's simple and cheap. If intel cared as much as amd in saving you some cash it be great but sadly that is not their business model.

With intel 1155 you can upgrade as far as their highest 1155 cpu (provided your mobo is compatible with the higher 1155 cpus). Now amd has not released a lot of info on the newer apu's they plan to offer. The a10 6800k is built around the pile driver cpu line. And if i am not mistaken the steamroller is the next cpu line then on to excavator. So they have at least 2 new cpu lines set to release. Whether or not both of these 2 cpu lines will use the fm2 socket is up for debate but seeing how they just released that socket its a pretty safe bet that they will release at least one of these if not both for the fm2 socket.

Most of the ones you saw that favored intel in benchmarks probably utilized more single threaded apps then multi threaded apps. In multi threaded apps amd shines a bit brighter then intel. But you also have to keep inmind that amd has no plans to compete with intel at the high end market. Meaning if you want the latest and biggest and baddest cpu will have to pay out your ear for it by buying intel. If having the max fps you can get then you are looking at intel. If you do not mind losing a bit of fps and costs is your main concern then amd is more then adequate. You could lose up to 20-30 fps by going amd but their cpus are still more then enough to play most games.

The amd and intel debate will never stop. And you will have fan boys/girls from both sides just like it use to be with sega and nintendo. Me i try to put it into cost and effectiveness. If an intel cpu happens to be cheaper and better meets my needs i go intel. If amd has better pricing and performance around my budget i go amd. The apu series has me intrigued for several reasons. The first is that the igp and cpu (so you get a great cpu and a great gpu combined into one low price) And the cheap way to crossfire utilizing the igp. Plus being able to oc the igp and the cpu. The cpu seems to not keep up any more? You can replace the cpu for a faster newer one with a better igp for the cost of what you would normally do with a single gpu upgrade. So this path is cheaper but at a loss of fps over buying an intel cpu and a discrete gpu. So it would come down to costs and what will meet your needs the best.

Another review that seems to show the 5800k as a better choice http://techreport.co...apus-reviewed/4

[Zolton33]

http://vr-zone.com/a...ce/17272-1.html Another that compares the 5800k to an i5 3470 with both running the same discrete gpu. So even without the igp this is one sweet cpu for sure. It seems the faster the memory the better this cpu performs for some odd reason. Which would explain why some reviews hold the a10-5800k high in regards to a great cpu and while others hold it low as they did not utilize higher faster ram in their setups to test this cpu it seems.

On a side note they also released a few new athlon x4 cpu to the fm2 line. If these cpus perform half as good as my athlon x2 64 4400+ i would be impressed. And all signs seem to point to yes although reviews on the 740 and the 750k are nonexistent right now. Especially with all the hype of the new apus these seem to of been forgotten. The 750k was listed as $81 bucks when the 5800k was to be listed as $122.

Edited by Zolton33, 05 October 2012 - 08:58 PM.

[howtheflip]

Thanks so much for the research guys. Now, I only have several remaining questions. How long do you think it's going to be for AMD to release it's next line of APUs? If the time is considerable, I may choose to just wait for one of those. And do you think that there is any possibility that these new cards could close the gap between i5s and possibly compete with i7s? I just don't want to invest 130ish bucks into a FM2 socket motherboard that quickly becomes obsolete once you start trying to build a more expensive rig.

[Zolton33]

The bulldozer line was released in 2011 and now pile driver 2012 steamroller i would wager will be next year (2013) followed in 2014 with excavator. Now to answer your question as to whether amd will close the gap or not? They do not plan to. They have clearly stated that they do not plan to compete with intel on the high end cpu market.

http://www.tomshardw...sors,15741.html

http://www.tomshardw...ra-3,14114.html

That is just 2 articles a few google searches will earn more. Seems they just do not want to wage intel in the high end any more. Which is why you did not see a big drop in prices for sandy bridge when intel released their ivy bridge cpus. Why would intel drop their prices when they know amd will not over take them? It is also the same thing intel was doing before amd jumped into the cpu ring with them. And it is why intel is in no real hurry to push their cpu power any more then they need to (on average 6% gains with ivy over sandy bridge). And it is why so many intel recommends for performance in gaming cpus.

It sucks to be a fan of amd in this time knowing that if you settle for their cpu you sacrifice performance when compared to intel cpus. Only great things coming from amd right now to compete are prices and their better igp on their apu cpus. Which hurts both sides really. But it is what it is sadly.