Need opinions/experience on choosing an AMD Fx or A8

[Saabovich]

I bought an ATI radeon HD6570, which has prompted me to build a space-heater for the winter (An AMD computer). I have narrowed down the processors to an A8-5500 and an AMD FX-770k.

My goal was to Dual Graphics the A8 with the HD6570, since that is AMD's recommended pairing, but the FX-770k is a faster CPU with the same TDP and can overclock(heat my house better). However, it doesn't have integrated graphics to utilize. But since I want dual graphics-the 6570 is nothing special on its own-I am split on the decision. Both processors are the same exact price. This is a budget build.

Would the A8 be a bottleneck in terms of gaming? (Keep in mind I won't be playing the newest/most CPU-intensive games because the 6570+dual graphics still isn't anything great and I already have a great intel/nvidia computer for that) What would you get? Thank You.

 

[Ecky]

Tom's did a review of hybrid crossfire a while back, and found that performance was actually performed worse than just using the discrete video card. Framerates went up, but frame consistency was so bad that visually, games looked worse. I recommend avoiding running crossfire with an APU.

 

[amtseung]

Dual graphics will degrade your performance. It was buggy to begin with, and AMD no longer officially supports this feature.

If you want an FM2/+ CPU, you're better off with the 860k or 880k with an A88X chipset motherboard. If you want to overclock these, you better be prepared with an overkill power supply, at least a 240mm AIO, and a rather expensive, high power phase count motherboard. I've been there, done that, and have stepped away from it having learned a lot.

If you're just toying around, get the CPU-only chip, since the dual graphics will just ruin everything anyway. 760k's used to be dirt cheap (I got mine for like $55 with $25 MIR) and pushed it all the way to 4825mhz on a 41 multiplier and 115bclk @1.56V, strapped to an H100i. I could have gone higher if I hadn't kept my memory at some absurdly high clock speed.

 

[Ecky]

For what it's worth, the integrated graphics in an i3 6100 is close to as fast as the HD6570.

 

[Saabovich]

Dang, that's really disappointing to hear. I've never had any AMD products, except for GPUs, Which is probably for the better. I just won the HD6570 for 10$ shipped and have nothing to do with it...

I've heard pretty good things about dual graphics so far, specifically the combo I've posted seems to work great for others. Maybe I won't build anything after all...I already have too many computers.

 

[Saabovich]

Upon further research, I'm not building anything. My i3/Gt720 secondary machine will do for now. Best answer chosen.

(Thanks for saving me the money and disappointment, guys)