Debating A8/A10 APU…

[sexyhyde]

a) *complying with server rules regarding competition*
b) so you say
c) it may be a limitation but if its never intended its no real loss
d) cpu upgrade path is dead granted, but if your not going to upgrade again for 3-5 years you'll be better off getting the tech of the day then.

 

[Emlyn_Dewar]

The 3870k can be found under £80 now, to throw some fuel into the price fire...

Wouldn't bother with Llano now though, I'd wait for Trinity (and even then you'll probaly be disappointed with high prices). It'd also be good to know what speed the "spare DDR3" is, AMD APU and slower DDR3? No thanks...

 

[Marine-RX179]

The 3870k can be found under £80 now, to throw some fuel into the price fire...

Doesn't matter though. OP's expected budget is around £130 for CPU, board and graphic (don't need ram) and ask for more input on alternative, and the Pentium+H61 board+6670 can fit that requirement.

They seem to be stupidly cheap as well, with my specced upgrade on the A8 coming in at about £130, I can't find anything close to it at that price.

Anyone got any input?

 

[Marine-RX179]

Also have a look at this:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/399?vs=406

Since they don't have 3870K, would use the 3850 is as it is close enough (3.00GHz vs 2.90GHz). To compensation for the 100MHz slower, for Intel side would use a G620 (200MHz slower) instead of a G840 (2.60GHz vs 2.80GHz).

WOW average frame rate:
3850: 68.8fps
G620: 83fps

So you can pretty much bet on the minimum frame rate that the Llano would be somewhere around 10fps lower than the Pentium, which is make or break on the difference between 20fps and 30fps~. 20fps is by far rougher than 30fps in terms of smoothness for eyes preception.

Too many but this but that, but people fail to give good reasoning why the 3870K is better for OP's, except it can be...well *may be* £10 cheaper...despite the Pentium+6670 combo would do better on what the OP use it for and within his expected budget?

And seriously...people that dismiss future upgrade as pointless shouldn't be giving people advise at all. Who are they to dictate people not to upgrade their PC? Can probably pick up a 2nd hand Sandy/Ivy i5 for £50-£60 is couple years time, whereas getting a shiny new platform upgrade would cost around £300.

 

[Davedree]

Also have a look at this:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/399?vs=406

Since they don't have 3870K, would use the 3850 is as it is close enough (3.00GHz vs 2.90GHz). To compensation for the 100MHz slower, for Intel side would use a G620 (200MHz slower) instead of a G840 (2.60GHz vs 2.80GHz).

WOW average frame rate:
3850: 68.8fps
G620: 83fps

So you can pretty much bet on the minimum frame rate that the Llano would be somewhere around 10fps lower than the Pentium, which is make or break on the difference between 20fps and 30fps~. 20fps is by far rougher than 30fps in terms of smoothness for eyes preception.

Too many but this but that, but people fail to give good reasoning why the 3870K is better for OP's, except it can be...well *may be* £10 cheaper...despite the Pentium+6670 combo would do better on what the OP use it for and within his expected budget?

And seriously...people that dismiss future upgrade as pointless shouldn't be giving people advise at all. Who are they to dictate people not to upgrade their PC? Can probably pick up a 2nd hand Sandy/Ivy i5 for £50-£60 is couple years time, whereas getting a shiny new platform upgrade would cost around £300.

For gaming I agree yes 1155 would help out in most situations with an upgrade path in the future but relying on quad i5 reducing in price + reliant on 2nd hand retail value. When that time comes though something better could be available anyway. Either way the amd or intel igps aren't powerful enough over 1366x768, a 6670 is about doable at 1680x1050.
For current tech and prices amd have always offered great quad core performance/price. The Athlon 620 x4 was what made me give up my 4ghz
E8400. as whilst I play games my pc is used for work more than gaming.

Don't forget that opencl provides boosts in performance for real work loads.. Fusion is young and software is still slow to progress. But we are now starting to see gains in apps that use cpu-gpu compute.

Handbrake and an a8 absolutely annihilates any intel dual core, and still beats an i3 2120. Single threaded apps vs parallel .

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-llano-opencl,3284-7.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-llano-opencl,3284.html
The article.

Anything from a pentium 4 is going to be a massive upgrade. My viewpoint isn't based just on gaming hence I see more to it than just fps of games.

 

[Marine-RX179]

For gaming I agree yes 1155 would help out in most situations with an upgrade path in the future but relying on quad i5 reducing in price + reliant on 2nd hand retail value. When that time comes though something better could be available anyway. Either way the amd or intel igps aren't powerful enough over 1366x768, a 6670 is about doable at 1680x1050.
For current tech and prices amd have always offered great quad core performance/price. The Athlon 620 x4 was what made me give up my 4ghz
E8400. as whilst I play games my pc is used for work more than gaming.

Don't forget that opencl provides boosts in performance for real work loads.. Fusion is young and software is still slow to progress. But we are now starting to see gains in apps that use cpu-gpu compute.

Handbrake and an a8 absolutely annihilates any intel dual core, and still beats an i3 2120. Single threaded apps vs parallel .

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-llano-opencl,3284-7.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-llano-opencl,3284.html
The article.

Anything from a pentium 4 is going to be a massive upgrade. My viewpoint isn't based just on gaming hence I see more to it than just fps of games.

But the thing is this thread ISN'T about what showing which one of us is greekier on CPU knowledge, but instead it is about helping the OP to decide on what to get...he asked for advice and opinion, so obviously he is more interesting in getting the best for this money, rather some that cost the same, but do better on things that doesn't concern him (i.e. encoding) and do worse what he stated he will be using it for (which is HTPC+ playing WOW and Sims which was clearly stated in his 1st post).

 

[Davedree]

my last reply was due to the wording you used of ''Too many but this but that, but people fail to give good reasoning why the 3870K is better for OP's, except it can be...well *may be* £10 cheaper...despite the Pentium+6670 combo would do better on what the OP use it for and within his expected budget?

I agree the thread overun its course in direction. Whilst you went on the angle of gaming, I wanted to state that I could provide other reasons why a 3870k could be better than intel g5/6/8 , whether or not its relevant to the ops needs is matter of opinion.

Also I doubt Wow, and sims are the only games that are ever going to be played on it.

 

[Marine-RX179]

I agree the thread overun its course in direction. Whilst you went on the angle of gaming, I wanted to state that I could provide other reasons why a 3870k could be better than intel g5/6/8 , whether or not its relevant to the ops needs is matter of opinion.

Also I doubt Wow, and sims are the only games that are ever going to be played on it.

The thing is I myself has also pointed out that IF OP was to use the PC for encoding as well, then the 3870K would probably be a more sensible choice. But

And while WOW and Sim3 might not be the only game that OP play in the future, I have already shown evidence that even in other more demanding games, the Pentium G630 (nevermind the faster G840) was STILL faster than or at least equal to the overclocked 3870K. It was ONLY in Just Cause 2 that the overclocked 3870K was doing better than even the Pentiums G630...Starcraft 2, Skyrim, the G630 beat the overclocked 3870K.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-fx-pentium-apu-benchmark,3120-9.html