AMD Phenom II X4 820 vs. AMD A8-5500

[Kevin523]

Hello,
Hello guys,
I am in need of some help.

I recently bought a new HP Pavilion - HP Pavilion p7-1235
It is equipped with an AMD A8-5500 processor APU which I believe is based on Trinity/Piledriver with base clock of 3.2ghz.
It comes with 8gb of RAM and ATI Radeon 7560D integrated graphics.

I have another PC that is also an HP Pavilion - HP Pavilion p6404y
It has an AMD Phenom II X4 820 which runs at 2.8ghz
It has an Nvidia Geforce 210 video card and 16gb of DDR3 RAM

Now I picked up the HP Pavilion p7-1235 at Staples for $489 total

I looked at the Windows Experience Index score and the processor in both of these PCs is a 7.2
Memory is basically the same with the older pc with 16gb of RAM having a .3 score better

The graphics in the HP Pavilion p7-1235 are rated at 6.7 - which beats the old PC which scored a 5.8 and 5.1

So I guess my question is - what is the performance difference between these two processors?

Everything I've read suggests that the A8 performs better than the Phenom II x4 - but now I have my doubts since the windows experience score rates them the same.

Part of the problem is the Trinty chip is so new that I can't find a lot of data on it.

If someone could give some advice I'd appreciate it as I'm so confused.

 

[esrever]

Thank you for this response - it has been very helpful. Your explanation gave clarification to my question and you discussed where the A8 would be better in certain cirumstances - which helped out a lot.

One last question - I found a buyer for my Phenom II X4 PC for $230 - I was going to use that money towards the new PC - leaving a balance of about $250 to pay - based on this - would this computer be a good upgrade from the Phenom II X4? I basically look at the new HP as a slight processor upgrade, a video card upgrade essentially, USB 3.0 ports upgrade. I was going to take the 16gb of RAM out of the old PC and install in the new PC as well.

Thanks for your input once again.

I'd say its worth it simply just due to having the graphics upgrade.The price looks quite good for what you get. Just don't expect a massive difference.

 

[Kevin523]

Would anyone happen to know why the AMD chips based on Bulldozer and Piledriver are reviewed so poorly? Are they honestly bad chips? Do they really not perform well? Or is it just that they didn't meet up to expectations and AMD's hype?

Would an A8-5500 @ 3.2ghz be more than capable for general PC use for at least two or three years?

I thought about upgrading my Phenom II X4 820 cpu to a Phenom II X4 955 @ 3.2ghz and 6mb L3 cache. would this be a good upgrade for 90? My problem is that I am legally blind and can't do this upgrade myself. My girlfriend said that she'd try to do it - she was going to watch a few videos on youtube to see how it's done. However if she's not comfortable doing the upgrade then I'll have to find someone to do it. Does Staples install processors? I realize it would cost more money to do so.

To be honest - the HP Pavilion p7-1235 with the AMD A8-5500 seems like the easiest upgrade route to go. I paid $449 plus tax for this machine. My neighbor would buy my old PC for $230 - so I'd essentially only pay about $250 out of pocket.

If I upgrade the processor in my old PC it would cost minimum 90 bucks - and if I need someone else to install the processor - it would cost extra. Plus a video card upgrade (nothing gamer level) plus possibly a SSD drive would cost more than the balance I'd have to pay on the p7-1235....

Any views on my thought process?

Thanks again for all your help!

 

[jacobdrj]

Bulldozer are not bad chips. They are priced badly. Unlike Phenom chips, Bulldozer chips do not have true independent cores. Bulldozer chips are designed to 'share' part of their cores with another core. So instead of 8 fully independent cores, you have 4 independent cores, each with 2 'processors' sharing 1 'integer core'.

They do well in multithreaded tasks. But what you describe as what you are using your computer for, you will see no benefit, if any.

Clock per clock, Bulldozer is slower than Phenom, and WAY slower than a comparable Intel chip at this price.

It sounds from your posts that you want a new computer regardless of weather it is the most cost effective path for you. And that is fine. I just fear you will be highly disappointed with the new rig. You would be better served by buying faster internet connection than this new computer, unless you game, and even then, you computer would likely handle a better video card like the 7750, and you would save yourself $100.

 

[Kevin523]

I must admit - I believe I got caught up in the 'new computer' hype. You know that excited feeling one gets? To be honest - I hooked up the old PC again last night with the Phenom II X4 820 - and it seems just as fast as the new computer I just bought. I've been considering what everyone has said - and my gut feeling - and I think I'm going to return the PC back to Staples. Thank you everyone for your help, suggestions and comments!

One last thought though - would upgrading to a Phenom II X4 955 be a worthy upgrade? It has 95 watt TDP and that's the wattage currently used in my Phenom II system. is 90 dollars a good price (it's on Newegg). If my girlfriend can't install the processor - can Staples or some other place do it?

Or am I better off sticking with the Phenom II X4 820 as there wouldn't be much gain in performance/speed upgrading to a 955?

Thank you for helping me with my decision - I'll be returning the PC to Staples.

 

[jacobdrj]

If you were a gamer, or a video transcoder, or an audio recorder, yeah, the upgrade might be worth it. If you just do basic office stuff, browse the web, and play the occasional facebook game, you will not see a tangible difference.

Spend some money on an awesome SSD. You will see tangible improvements, and will make you feel like you have the fastest supercomputer on the block...

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/B007RARHSO?tag=betteraddons-20

256 Gig Vertex 4. Add it to your existing hard drive (for storing photos, music and movies) and have the Vertex 4 as your boot drive where all your programs are installed. You will be thrilled at the difference! Your boot times will be cut by anywhere from as little as half to as much as an order of magnitude. The internet browser and office suites will open instantly. Everything will feel zippier...

 

[esrever]

Bulldozer are not bad chips. They are priced badly. Unlike Phenom chips, Bulldozer chips do not have true independent cores. Bulldozer chips are designed to 'share' part of their cores with another core. So instead of 8 fully independent cores, you have 4 independent cores, each with 2 'processors' sharing 1 'integer core'.

They do well in multithreaded tasks. But what you describe as what you are using your computer for, you will see no benefit, if any.

Clock per clock, Bulldozer is slower than Phenom, and WAY slower than a comparable Intel chip at this price.

It sounds from your posts that you want a new computer regardless of weather it is the most cost effective path for you. And that is fine. I just fear you will be highly disappointed with the new rig. You would be better served by buying faster internet connection than this new computer, unless you game, and even then, you computer would likely handle a better video card like the 7750, and you would save yourself $100.

Bulldozer modules do not have 4 Independence cores. They have pairs of cores which are symmetrical. They also don't share integer cores, they share a float point unit which is twice as wide as the ones in phenom and are thus much faster.

The CPU OP is looking at is a trinity Piledriver core and is 15% faster than bulldozer at the same clocks, it should match his old CPU at the same frequency in performance.

 

[esrever]

I must admit - I believe I got caught up in the 'new computer' hype. You know that excited feeling one gets? To be honest - I hooked up the old PC again last night with the Phenom II X4 820 - and it seems just as fast as the new computer I just bought. I've been considering what everyone has said - and my gut feeling - and I think I'm going to return the PC back to Staples. Thank you everyone for your help, suggestions and comments!

One last thought though - would upgrading to a Phenom II X4 955 be a worthy upgrade? It has 95 watt TDP and that's the wattage currently used in my Phenom II system. is 90 dollars a good price (it's on Newegg). If my girlfriend can't install the processor - can Staples or some other place do it?

Or am I better off sticking with the Phenom II X4 820 as there wouldn't be much gain in performance/speed upgrading to a 955?

Thank you for helping me with my decision - I'll be returning the PC to Staples.

It won't really be worth upgrading to a phenom II x4 955 unless you run games. The difference isn't much outside of gaming for that upgrade. The phenom II x4 955 also has 125 TPD, only the special editions of the 945 has 95w, depending on your motherboard you'd have to check if they support 125w cpus. The phenom II x 955 would be the fastest processor mentioned so far but not really significantly faster than the 840 or the A8-5500.