Advice on APU's

[willava]

First of all, sorry if this is posted in the wrong place. Its hard to put apu's into 1 category.
So going to build my first pc soon, and i am pretty certain what CPU and Graphics Card (APU) im going to get.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-327-AM
(£100)
However i wondered if there is anything better for the money, or for a little more there is a better apu.
I am happy with the CPU side of it, but the graphics part is only a HD 7660D.

Hope this all makes sense and any other details you need, let me know!

Thanks in advance!

 

[Brett928S2]

Hi

IF you are a GAMER...you NEED a graphics CARD as well...(think around £250 for it)

All the best Brett

 

[willava]

Thought as much aha,
I am a gamer i guess, just not a serious one
However the apu can play BF3 on ultra
Thanks!

 

[nekulturny]

Techinally yes, the APU can play BF3 on Ultra, but there are other considerations in the matter. Firstly, if you turn up the anti-aliasing, the 7660D will crumble under the pressure. Secondly, the resolution. This is another place that the 7660D will take a beating, in higher res. Thirdly, with BF3 single player and multiplayer are 2 different worlds as far as your system is concerned. Multiplayer is notoriously system intensive, and will really give a workout to even higher end GPUs (I'm talking GTX 580s here which were $500ish when BF3 was released). The integrated graphics cannot even hope to run ultra on a 64 man air map @ ultra settings in 1080p.

 

[willava]

Thanks for the info!

 

[jaguarskx]

The integrated Radeon HD 7660D is more or less equivalent to a desktop Radeon HD 5570. You can google for reviews of the HD 5570 to see just how low the performance is, and that was when it was new.

 

[willava]

I have heard different.... but ok

 

[willava]

but just to make sure, i can upgrade the graphics card at anytime..
Well not the integrated, but add another to the motherboard?

 

[nekulturny]

You can crossfire certain video cards with the APU's 7660D graphics, but a stand alone single graphics card with a comprabale CPU is almost always the better option for a gaming machine. If you're on a tight budget, you could even pick up a Phenom II 965 from Newegg for $85 bucks currently, you'd have your quad core, which is something that BF3 multiplayer will prefer. And get a video card like a 7850 or 560 TI, something along those lines would make a decent mid-level gaming rig.

 

[nekulturny]

Or, since you're in the UK as I just realized...

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-253-AM

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-306-SP

 

[tomjgum1]

APU's are gonna always be slower because they use onborad ram which is around 1600MHz, ram on graphics cards can be clocked at 4000MHz and more performance

 

[nekulturny]

Well, yes, thats part of the reason. Another part of it is, for all intents and purposes a video card consists of a processor (separate from your main CPU) with its own RAM. Not only does the system RAM typically run at a lower clock rate than a video card's RAM, you have to think, that the APU is doing both the work of the the system CPU and the graphics processing. So, the APU has to share it's die space with 2 processors, one for the system, and one for the graphics. Theres an inherent limitation to its capabilities due to space, heat generation, etc.


You can see how its designed here:

http://www.custompcreview.com/news/amd-officially-releases-trinity-second-generation-apus/9318/

 

[willava]

Thanks i did actually lok at that exact option you gave me
and being on a very very tight budge, i think its probably wiser to save up a little more, to get those parts.
So do you think that would be the best option?
Thanks!

 

[willava]

Ohh and also jsut so you know... that apu is quad core

 

[Flightsimluke]

I'd go with nekulturny's suggestion, go for the individual parts if you want to enjoy your gaming experience. Good luck!

 

[willava]

Best answer selected by willava.