AMD APU anyone?

T

targetrasp

Has anyone here built using an apu? I've done all kinds of crazy builds but non ever for any specific budget so I've yet to delve into the apu market. With the emergence of htpc and for builds requiring a small footprint it seems an apu does a good job. I realize anything better than I3 will prolly smoke an apu but for moderate gaming or htpc it seems an apu is a great fit.

anyone have hads on experience and want to share?
 
I didn't realize but I've got a Pavilion Touch Smart laptop with an a8 apu. Its not great but the processor is the lower end of the a8s. I just ordered a 4 ghz a10 from newegg and a mAtx board and chassis, and 8 gb of ram for my daughter's christmas, all under 300 bucks. perfect opportunity to try it out and let everyone else know, plus if it sucks I'll build her a more proper gaming rig when tax time comes and have a htpc.
 
I just got everything shipped to me today for that build and the case is much bigger than I expected. It's a good bit bigger than an xbox but it looks to be able to fit a decent graphics card if the on processor graphics sucks... AND the board will support crossfire. I think this'll be a neat build and good on the power side.... i'll need under 200 watts unless I jam a big graphics card in there.
 
No personal experience but I've heard nothing but good things about AMD APU's. Sounds like a fun little rig!
 
So AMD just recently announced their new apu, titled Kaveri. It's supposed to be able to handle games at 1080p and a minimum of 30fps.

It's a "12" core apu, meaning 4 CPU cores and 8 GCN cores. This sounds like a nice entry gaming PC. I would definitely recommend this for someone who just wants to get their feet wet with PC gaming.

I'm personally thinking of getting this in order to build an HTPC. But for gaming, going to wait for the next chip.
 
yeah, about the whole apu thing, they're great for everything but gaming. i've got a 5000 series amd video card and paired with a 4 year old hex core still kicks the crap outta the a12's touting 7000 series amd graphics chip. I've also ran into a few direct x driver issues with a few games.


I've always been against integrated graphics for gaming and the apu has done nothing to change my mind.

In every other aspect the thing runs fine. eyefinity even works well. Great for htpc, low power consumption, even stock fans have a tolerable noise level at load, they just blow at moderate + gaming. I think windows experience index reports a 4.something for the video card.
 
How old is that a12 apu? I don't even see it on AMD's product page. Also, which 7xxx series card is it supposed to be equivalent too? Anything below a 7700 card is going to be no good.

I forgot to post a link but the new Kaveri chip is optimized for gaming. They're basically starting to take their console optimizations and porting them to full PCs. The catch is that it's not the greatest for power using software. You can still do video and web apps but photoshop and other cpu intensive programs will not be as great. It's like the opposite of the a12.

It's not for those who want to run every game at max settings. It's for those who want a low cost gaming solution. Here is a couple of links for more info -

ArsTechnica

PCPerspective


I'm also going to wait what Intel has in store for their HD series. HD4000 was quite a step up for integrated graphics, I want to see what HD5000 brings.
 
I screwed up, its an a10 not an a12.

its an A10 5800k black edition

its a 7660

really it's a pretty vanilla chip. it runs netflix, blue rays, indie games, internet, hulu, blah blah blah just fine but when you get anything better than sonic and sega all stars racing transformed it chugs.

They're neat in the sense you can go from parts to running pc in the time it takes windows to install plus the five minutes it takes to screw the motherboard down.

It'll run all the angry birds, sonic the hedgehog, dungeon land, spiral knights, kinda crap my 6 year old likes to play.

It'll crossfire with a hd 6670 or a 6570 - i may throw one in there to see what it does, if i what i've got will fit in the case.
 
more info on my reservations with the current apu - at least the a10's


The thing is better than I originally thought. Newer games wont play in full hd resolution at least not on eyefinity set up. Sonic and Sega All stars racing was running at 8 to 10 fps in hd but when I dropped the resolution the frame rate drastically increased.

I found a 6990 to add to the mix but tiny psu didn't have the umph to push it.

lesson learned - either build a green pc in a tiny case or go big - compromise sucks
 
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