A10 7860k + r7 250 - Fallout 4 Performance?

[smallgovguyMN]

My question is with the system specs below, I'm looking at adding the R7-250 GPU to boost the system. Right now it's running less than 30fps on low settings without the GPU. The monitor is a bit out of standard, something like a 1280x1024 - would that eat up frame-rates? I'd like to know if I add this card if it will make FO4 playable. Am I better off ditching the APU crossfire setup and buying a card that would run on it's own? In that case my budget would be less than $200. Could I beat the Crossfire setup with a card for less than $200? Any suggestions?

System
MB- A88M-ITX/ac
APU- A10-7860k
RAM - Ballistix DDR3-1600 16GB Ram (2x8)
PSU - EVGA Gold 600W PSU
Samsung Evo 850 - 250GB

 

[The Techmeister]

DON'T get a R7 250. You're gonna regret it. Go for a GTX 1050 Ti. You'll get a better performance boost than a old-gen R7 250.

 

[dontlistentome]

At 1280x1024 you have a lot of options. First, yes you will be much better off just choosing a separate videocard. That Crossfire idea is just AMD trying to make the integrated graphics seem more relevant to gaming. A GTX 750 ti will do well at your resolution, that's the least expensive card I'd look at these days. If you think you might soon be upgrading to a higher resolution then you'll want something better. Some games require more than 2gb vram to enable 'ultra' settings, if those kinds of games interest you maybe a 4gb AMD RX 460 or Nvidia GTX 1050ti would be better.

 

[smallgovguyMN]

At 1280x1024 you have a lot of options. First, yes you will be much better off just choosing a separate videocard. That Crossfire idea is just AMD trying to make the integrated graphics seem more relevant to gaming. A GTX 750 ti will do well at your resolution, that's the least expensive card I'd look at these days. If you think you might soon be upgrading to a higher resolution then you'll want something better. Some games require more than 2gb vram to enable 'ultra' settings, if those kinds of games interest you maybe a 4gb AMD RX 460 or Nvidia GTX 1050ti would be better.

Follow up: I know this was last year almost and I appreciate the feedback. Here's what I found out a year later. I went with the XFX AMD RX 460 4gb and it worked well with Fallout 4. However the graphics engine on there is similar (or identical) to Skyrim which is a game that game out in 2011 I believe. Anything from 2016 or later has a lot of trouble with this setup. I sold the Rx460 and got the ASUS STrix GTX 1050ti OC4gb and saw a significant difference however not ideal. More modern games have trouble playing medium settings with 1920x1080p and even when the resolution is brought down the CPU is really a problem here. I overclocked it up to 4.2 GHz but something else is holding it back, perhaps the low 4MB of cache memory. I'm not too sure. It still has stuttering issues and frame drops on games like BF1 and PUBG. I'm looking at a new motherboard and CPU at this point and I'm probably going back to Intel. It's been fun AMD, but I'm spoiled by Intel now.

 

[smallgovguyMN]

DON'T get a R7 250. You're gonna regret it. Go for a GTX 1050 Ti. You'll get a better performance boost than a old-gen R7 250.

Follow up: I know this was last year almost and I appreciate the feedback. Here's what I found out a year later. I went with the XFX AMD RX 460 4gb and it worked well with Fallout 4. However the graphics engine on there is similar (or identical) to Skyrim which is a game that game out in 2011 I believe. Anything from 2016 or later has a lot of trouble with this setup. I sold the Rx460 and got the ASUS STrix GTX 1050ti OC4gb and saw a significant difference however not ideal. More modern games have trouble playing medium settings with 1920x1080p and even when the resolution is brought down the CPU is really a problem here. I overclocked it up to 4.2 GHz but something else is holding it back, perhaps the low 4MB of cache memory. I'm not too sure. It still has stuttering issues and frame drops on games like BF1 and PUBG. I'm looking at a new motherboard and CPU at this point and I'm probably going back to Intel. It's been fun AMD, but I'm spoiled by Intel now.

 

[dontlistentome]

That problem is due to the fact that 'CPU' you have is not really a CPU, it's an APU. These were not meant for intensive tasks like modern gaming. The idea is the APU is for people who want a basic computer for the lowest cost possible. By including the GPU with the CPU, the customer does not need to buy a videocard, saving money.

When you attempt to use an APU as if it were a regular CPU, such as by adding a videocard, you will not get the full performance possible from that upgrade. Overclocking might increase performance a bit but it will not fix the underlying problem- that's just not a gaming CPU. Modern games need as much CPU as you can give them. Games like Battlefield 1 and PUBG fall in this category.