Anybody familiar with AMD Radeon "Dual Graphics" Cards ?

[Sparxz]

I have a FM2 socket with an AMD APU A4-4000(3Ghz) and AMD Radeon R7 360.
12GB of RAM. Win7 64 on SSD.

AMD has always been very vauge about
their "Duel Graphics" feature.
http://www.amd.com/en-us/innovations/software-technologies/dual-graphics#

If I were to keep my Graphics card as is,
what would be the most cost effective way of getting at or above 4GHZ ?

I have been thinking about this for a while now,
as my APU lags my graphics card, in what seems to be bottleneck/mismatch.

If there is no solution I will start from scratch with new Motherboard etc.

Any input would be much appreciated..
Thanks.

 

[Corwin65]

Are you trying to play current games on this system?

 

[clarkjd]

According to this:
http://www.amd.com/en-us/innovations/software-technologies/dual-graphics#
Your A4-4000 is not capable of utilizing the "Dual Graphics" feature. You need at least an A6-6x00 APU.

 

[bigpinkdragon286]

So, you're asking about pairing your APU's graphics with a discreet graphics card? Don't. It's so underpowered it will likely drag down performance of the discreet card.

The only time AMD's hybrid graphics seem to be of any value is when faced with an extremely tight budget, and good performance is pretty much out of the question.

If your goal is to get performance gains you will be happy with, go with a better discreet graphics card.

The biggest hurdle you're going to face with your rig is that, no matter what you do, there is no FM2 based CPU that will not bottleneck a good graphics card, no matter how high it comes clocked from the factory, and no matter how high you overclock it.

I would highly suggest putting any money spent toward a new platform, whether it be based on a recent Intel or AMD Ryzen CPU.

 

[BFG-9000]

AMD has let you pair a discrete GPU with their IGP since at least 2004. Back then it was to allow triple-monitors and now it's for Crossfire. It's a useless "feature" just so they can advertise it on the box, and ATI was famous for such things (I had a Rage II where the box screamed "full-scene antialiasing" as a feature... which it could do at less than 1fps).

Crossfire with low-end cards has always worked terribly except in a very few, specific applications.

 

[Sparxz]

Are you trying to play current games on this system?

With what I have, I have to be realistic. Not looking to be 4K gaming,
but something modest.
Thanks.

 

[bigpinkdragon286]

The best, most useful upgrade you could make with your current system would be a better graphics card. If the card is good enough, you can carry it forward with you and continue using it if you end up getting a better platform later.

Getting a graphics card that can't be fully utilized now makes more sense than buying another entry level card. Entry level will always bottleneck your performance unless you shoot for the very lowest settings, and upgrading the platform around an entry level card to get better performance won't really do you a whole lot of good, as you won't get to enjoy most of the performance improvements with the graphics settings still on low.

I honestly wouldn't try and eek much more performance out of an FM2 based system by throwing down money on a new CPU. If you were on FM2+, you could make a case for stepping up to a 4 core CPU, but even running at 4 GHz or above, the architecture is just too underpowered to justify the cost to obtain the CPU at this point. The money would be better spent toward a faster graphics card or newer platform. If you're set on upgrading the CPU, I would start by looking at the local used market in your area to see if you can score a good deal.

 

[Sparxz]

So, you're asking about pairing your APU's graphics with a discreet graphics card? Don't. It's so underpowered it will likely drag down performance of the discreet card.

The only time AMD's hybrid graphics seem to be of any value is when faced with an extremely tight budget, and good performance is pretty much out of the question.

If your goal is to get performance gains you will be happy with, go with a better discreet graphics card.

The biggest hurdle you're going to face with your rig is that, no matter what you do, there is no FM2 based CPU that will not bottleneck a good graphics card, no matter how high it comes clocked from the factory, and no matter how high you overclock it.

I would highly suggest putting any money spent toward a new platform, whether it be based on a recent Intel or AMD Ryzen CPU.

Yes, I know. If one wants more, they have to buy more.
I have always built my own PCs. I though 'wrongly' that the R7 370 card would pull me out of it., and
it couldn't do as much as I hoped.
My 3GHz APU is driving me nuts with dropping clock speeds.

I think I am heading towards a Ryzen FM2+ system, but surprised the prices have not fallen more.

I went to AMD after getting stung with upgrade paths and CPUs, and will never buy again.
AMD with better upgrade path, has pushed more than a few gimics, eg "True Audio", "Duel Graphics" etc.

I am becoming a bit cynical of AMD now, after being a loyal customer last 3 builds. .After all "AMD" is an anagram of "MAD" !

 

[Sparxz]

According to this:
http://www.amd.com/en-us/innovations/software-technologies/dual-graphics#
Your A4-4000 is not capable of utilizing the "Dual Graphics" feature. You need at least an A6-6x00 APU.

Thanks for pointing this out. I saw it before but had missed the point.
AMD's much boasted "Duel Graphics" is very limited considering their feature hype.

When they first developed this few years back, I actually thought it was going to become standard !

 

[bigpinkdragon286]

As long as you make informed purchase decisions, based on reasonable expectations, I usually find that any camp is fine.

I wouldn't quite call TrueAudio or Dual Graphics gimmicks. They work perfectly fine and having support for either certainly doesn't make a product worse. Hybrid CrossFire works, but there's a very limited window in which it's practical. It's also not AMD's fault that there is little call for those technologies.

On the other hand, try using PhysX on an NVIDIA graphics card if your primary graphics card isn't also NVIDIA. NVIDIA forcibly disables PhysX in the driver, and even if you do manage to get it running in the driver, they further require detection and prevention of hardware PhysX support by games implementing current versions of PhysX.

Not trying to be an AMD apologist, but at least you are getting what you pay for, and they aren't forcing arbitrary restrictions down your throat to twist your arm and persuade your buying decision.

Also, Ryzen FM2+ system? Not sure what you mean by that. Consumer oriented Ryzen CPUs use an AM4 socket.