AMD A8 APU vs Bulldozer + HD3850 512mb

[lanteau]

I'm looking at building a real budget machine here. I have a Radeon HD3850 512MB in my current build. I'm having trouble deciding, would I be better off to go for Bulldozer and use my HD3850 or go for the APU and use the 6550D? I've found it quite difficult to find benchmarks to help me decide. I don't plan on doing much gaming, I'm just asking which would offer more performance because either route would cost about the same. Thanks

 

[WR2]

I don't plan on doing much gaming

So, you're talking some gaming? Any more info for us?
How much of a budget are you working with?

And what parts are you going to carry forward?

 

[Pedrovsky]

your graphics card is pretty irrelevant as the one integrated in the APU is more powerfull and you can't use dual graphics with that GPU. It would work with the BD chip but still it would have no chance against the 6550d on the apu.
The build for fx would be more expensive and complete overkill for your card even with the lower end fx 4100. now if you plan on upgrading your graphics card in the future go for the am3+.

My opinion is dump the hd3850 and get the A8 3870k overclock it and you should be good to go.

 

[amuffin]

Budget?

 

[noob2222]

Other than dx 11 support, the 3850 is better than the 6650D.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html

6650 is 2 slots below the 3850.

 

[lanteau]

Alright, I guess budget would be about $270 for CPU + Motherboard + RAM. Like I said its a cheap build, mostly plan on using it for general productivity stuff. As far as gaming, yeah I might throw some Starcraft II on it, maybe play some Team Fortress or something along those lines.

If the 3850 is probably better, maybe I should go with the FX-6100, six core versus quad on the APU. Along the same lines in price as the A8-3870K, and I could put a faster discrete card in a few months in the future.

Based on my reading, it looks like the FX-6100 is a more robust processor than the APU.

 

[WR2]

I think the FX-6100 is the right way to go.
Unless you're interested in an Intel CPU?

 

[amuffin]

Go with the 4100 and OVERCLOCK!!