Battle At $140: Can An APU Beat An Intel CPU And Add-In Graphics?

[ezzep123]

All right, I apologize on calling Tom's Hardware and Cleeve sell-outs.

I guess the matter at hand is that everyone goes by benchmarks more than real-life use. Seriously, who among us needs 6 cores to look at facebook? I have a relative who just built a new 6 core i7 machine with SSD and 32gb of ram, and uses it for rendering/photoshop/drafting stuff. It looks really awesome, and he needs that much muscle to keep up with his work.
I guess I'm an old fart now...I don't see the need to build the latest and newest stuff that gets thrown at us. My a8 is going to do me fine until I say so..not when critics say it's good enough.

 

[army_ant7]

All right, I apologize on calling Tom's Hardware and Cleeve sell-outs.

I guess the matter at hand is that everyone goes by benchmarks more than real-life use. Seriously, who among us needs 6 cores to look at facebook? I have a relative who just built a new 6 core i7 machine with SSD and 32gb of ram, and uses it for rendering/photoshop/drafting stuff. It looks really awesome, and he needs that much muscle to keep up with his work.
I guess I'm an old fart now...I don't see the need to build the latest and newest stuff that gets thrown at us. My a8 is going to do me fine until I say so..not when critics say it's good enough.

Hey, benchmarks can be useful for anyone who can relate with them, i.e. use the same application as used in a specific benchmark.

You're right about your last part. No one can say something is not good enough for you. If they do tell you that your A8 isn't so, then you oughtta tell them who they think they are.
Though, when someone makes a recommendation, that isn't a bad thing. Also, when someone shares info about how certain parts setups may be better suited/superior for certain uses for prospective buyers, that isn't bad.

 

[Wisecracker]

I really hope you're right!

**The Stilt** over at XS has a Trinity utility that will adjust the iGPU between 100-1900MHz

May not want to test quite that high ... but let's hope the graphics engine on Trinity will take a nice boost.

 

[ezzep123]

I was able to get it to run stable at 800mhz. I tried clocking at 850, but it crashed everytime I played Skyrim for more than 5 minutes.

 

[cleeve]

you're telling me my seat-of-the-pants method is a failure then?

Absolutely. Any 'benchmarking' without objective measurement is useless. Human senses alone are far too fallible for reliable comparisons.

How about you guys run an article comparing the APU C series or E series vs. the Atom? That'd be a fair comparison. And I'm not just meaning netbook. How about the Atoms that have been built into the Google TVs, if they're still being made.

I've already compared the Atom with an Nvidia GPU to the C-series and Intel still got it's but kicked. The Atom is just too slow:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-e-350-atom-d525-nvidia-ion-2,2905-19.html

Not sure what testing google TVs would add.

My a8 is going to do me fine until I say so..not when critics say it's good enough.

I think you might be editing my copy in your head as you read it.

What I said was:

"If you're building a general-use desktop PC, the A8-3870K works really well as a low-cost jack-of-all-trades. It does everything fairly well right out of the box, but there's not much of an upgrade path. Rather, if you have aspirations of swapping out components in the future, LGA 1155 is the smarter buy for its ability to support much higher-end CPUs (including a refreshed architecture)."

Tell me how "does everything fairly well out of the box" equals "not good enough"?

It's an honest and balanced conclusion unless you can see a flaw there that I'm missing...

 

[army_ant7]

I was able to get it to run stable at 800mhz. I tried clocking at 850, but it crashed everytime I played Skyrim for more than 5 minutes.

You're referring to Llano right? Just checking since the last post before yours was referring to Trinity.

Maybe you could give this a try: http://eshop.lucidlogix.com/?q=dynamix1

It's supposed to work for mobile i5's with integrated graphics but I wonder what would happen on a Llano system...

 

[ezzep123]

You're referring to Llano right? Just checking since the last post before yours was referring to Trinity.

Maybe you could give this a try: http://eshop.lucidlogix.com/?q=dynamix1

It's supposed to work for mobile i5's with integrated graphics but I wonder what would happen on a Llano system...

Oh, the framerate is ok in most parts. Just when you're running outside in the weeds the fps jumps up and down. Trust me, the IGP on the Llano is worlds apart from Intel's "HD" series. More like Hardly HD. Of course, this is if you can handle it...

 

[ezzep123]

Can anyone tell me what the benchmark apps are coded in? And do they use Intel's compiler? Just wondering, not wanting to make any intel fans grouchy.

 

[army_ant7]

Oh, the framerate is ok in most parts. Just when you're running outside in the weeds the fps jumps up and down. Trust me, the IGP on the Llano is worlds apart from Intel's "HD" series. More like Hardly HD. Of course, this is if you can handle it...

IIRC, the thing with that Dynamix from LucidLogix is that it supposedly adjusts graphics settings on the fly to allow for smooth framerates even on a mobile i5 with HD 3000. It never left beta since I saw it though... I was wondering how it would affect systems like Llano. Maybe it only works with Intel's drivers. Well, anyway... It's good that you get to play Skyrim on Llano.

 

[ezzep123]

Well, I will say I'm not playing in HD. I have a 1600x900 monitor if that makes any difference, which I'm sure it would. But I'm ordering an Asus 6670 to compliment my system. First card I've bought in a long time. Geforce 7300 GT AGP card to be precise.

 

[army_ant7]

Hybrid CF eh? Feel free to post some performance numbers if ever you'd feel as kind to do so. I hope you enjoy that addition.

 

[army_ant7]

The A10-5800K (Trinity) is selling for $130 on both Newegg and TigerDirect! (Newegg has free shipping and a $5 card, trying to beat TigerDirect I guess.) The A8-5600K is $110. On Neweggg, they have FM2 mo-bo's starting at $55, just as I checked right now.

I and some others had higher expectations with price, so this is great (unless you still think it's too expensive. I'm guessing this may call for a remake of this article? (Though I'm just saying this without actually trying to compare the numbers from the 1920x1080 integrated graphics gaming article, but prices have fluctuated and stuff ever since this was made I bet. See how this compares to discrete graphics systems of the same price.)

 

[Wisecracker]

Well, I will say I'm not playing in HD. I have a 1600x900 monitor if that makes any difference, which I'm sure it would. But I'm ordering an Asus 6670 to compliment my system. First card I've bought in a long time. Geforce 7300 GT AGP card to be precise.

My understanding is the card of choice would be the HD6570 Turks Pro with DDR3.