How good/bad are APUs for gaming?

[p1que]

I am a very low budget college student. I have a laptop for class and just taking notes and stuff, but i want to get a gaming computer. I have very little money to spend, but i already have a keyboard and mouse to go with so i don't need to spend money there. But I saw some build guides using AMD APUs that are really cheap. I was just wondering how good they work for gaming without a second graphics card and if it would be better to add a small dedicated card like a r7 250 or something to run with dual graphics. Thoughts? Thanks guys.

Mod Edit for Language

 

[DustinV]

Depends on the games you play, if you play MMos, mobas, or cs go for example. It's a great budget option, but if you want to play battlefield or gta v keep dreaming about a pc

Dual graphics is a waste of money as the r7 250 Is way overpriced

A gtx 750 ti will perform better

 

[PatrioticPickle]

APU's did seem like a good concept at first, but its been found to be much better to just get an i3 and something like a 750ti.

Because later on if you add a better discrete GPU to the APU it just performs terribly as the APU holds it back.

An i3 6100 is cheaper than a 7870k APU and will perform better when paired with a discrete GPU. And I'm pretty sure the 7870k is pretty much the best APU Amd offers.

 

[p1que]

An i3 6100 is the same price as a 7850k which is very close to the 7870k when its slightly overclocked so I don't see the point in spending an extra $100 to get a 750ti when i can run some games decent enough with the 7850k?

 

[PatrioticPickle]

An i3 6100 is the same price as a 7850k which is very close to the 7870k when its slightly overclocked so I don't see the point in spending an extra $100 to get a 750ti when i can run some games decent enough with the 7850k?

I understand what you are saying. A 7850K will beat out an i3 6100 on its own when it comes to games as the 7850k has the better graphics built in. But as soon as you throw a discreate graphics card in the mix the i3 6100 will be the far better choice. As the 6100 has greater single core performance then even a FX 8350 let alone a 7850k, which will allow for the best performance when paired with a graphics card.

APU's are only good if you are happy to run it by itself, or in crossfire with the low end GPU's that its compatable with (though these GPU's are expensive for how low end they are). But if you add a better GPU (like a 750ti) to the system, the Graphics part of the APU doesn't get used and then its just a basic 4 core processor (something like a FX 4300) which aren't very good (A FX 6300 is far better than a FX 4300 and a i3 6100 is better than a FX 6300 in gaming).

So you are far greater off by getting a i3 and a lower end GPU like a 750ti (when you can afford the GPU later on)

 

[DustinV]

You are better off using onboard graphics from an i3 until you can afford a gtx 750 ti, if you are on a budget you can buy one off ebay for $80 easily