Not enough GPU Horsepower

[tjjohn61]

Hi All, I just updgraded my son's machine from an AMD A6-5400 to an A10-6400k to improve his gaming experience. PC Specs: 8GB Ram, Windows. 8.1 64bit, MSI A55M-E33 mobo, HD 8670D APU (built into CPU). However, the improvement in gaming was negligible! I realise that it's just a mid-range machine, but he's not into Assasin's Creed or Call of Duty level games yet, more like Minecraft, Magicka2 and Dragon Ball, but these struggle at higher rez.

The motherboard is older, with only a generation 2 PCIe slot, and as far as I can tell, no apparent special connector for a discrete graphics card cooler. One card I was looking at was the Radeon 250X, but it's a generation 3 PCIe card, not gen 2. Would that work OK on this older mobo? Or would I lose out on speed installing it on a gen 2 PCIe slot? Also I wonder if it would physically fit, it's a micro form factor and looks tight. And special cooler connectors? Maybe I would need to buy a more recent FM2 board? I understand that FM2+ boards aren't compatible with the A10-6800k models.

Would this offer a significant improvement from the built in HD 8670D? Or could someone please recommend a better (within reasonable cost, 140 dollar range) option?

Finally, would I need to disable the APU in the A10-6800k? If so how?

Many thanks Everyone!

 

[Darkbreeze]

You could not have upgraded to an A10-6400K because there is no A10-6400k. You must have the model number confused. There is an A6-6400k, which is probably comparable to the A6-5400 you already had and wouldn't show much if any improvement. Your money would have been better spend buying a discrete card. Even a low end card would have had better performance than the integrated graphics on ANY of the A-series APUs.

That board has a gen2 PCIe x16 slot and can run any modern graphics card you'd care to install so long as you also have a power supply with both the necessary capacity and quality.

Any Gen 1-3 card will work in any gen 1-3 slot. They are all backwards and forwards compatible with the only caveat being that older cards in newer slots will still run at the older speed specs and newer cards in older slots will run at the speed of the slot, not the speed of the board. There's not much difference between a gen2 and 3 slot that will be noticeable to the average user or in the average configuration. Here's a good read on that:

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Impact-of-PCI-E-Speed-on-Gaming-Performance-518/


Your main concerns are going to be not getting a card that's too high end for your CPU, which is probably unlikely given the budget, not having a capable enough power supply (Please list your PSU model number) and whether or not the length of the card will fit your case. This is especially problematic on micro-ATX and small form factor OEM style cases. For the most part, but compare the specs to be sure on length supported by your case model, just about any sub-140 dollar GPU will work fine with that configuration.

This is probably your best bet if it fits the case and your power supply can handle it.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Video Card: XFX Radeon R7 265 2GB Video Card ($139.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $139.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-06 04:06 EDT-0400

 

[tjjohn61]

Hi Darkbreeze, many thanks for taking the time to answer. I did mix up the CPU model number, it's an A10-6800k, so it is quite a step up from the original A6-5400. The computer seems much quicker, except in graphics, the usual games bottleneck.

My power unit is a MAD.X 550 watts unit, I can't see the model number. I do see though that there is no PCI-E 6 pin Power Supply cable, which is a new problem. I believe it's possible to buy a 4 pin to PCI-E 6 pin converter cable though. The case is large enough, it's a standard PC case, the kind around for years, not the mini case. It looks like the card is a double decker, but the upper deck with the fans above the slot connector would need to be on the bottom on my machine - their is no room for the top level due to the Mobo sound input connectors taking up space. From what I recall a lot of cards look upside down when you install them. No harm in trying your suggestion though, most suppliers have a pretty good return policy. Finally, the monitor is VGA only, but I see some cards come with DVI to VGA adapters (feels like I'm living in the stone age with some of the components I have, but it works perfectly well).

Can you confirm that this won't clash with the A10's integrated GPU? Will the machine auto-detect the new graphics card and disable the built-in GPU? I didn't see an option in the bios for disabling on-board graphics.

Thanks again!

 

[Darkbreeze]

If the GPU card is installed and the display is connected to the GPU card, it should automatically default to the PCI card. Some BIOS have an option for discreet vs integrated, or simultaneous use of both, and some don't. Make sure you're looking at the advanced view in the bios, and not the basic or EZ view. That option to switch advanced/EZ is usually on the BIOS exit menu but it may be elsewhere.