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Incredible Performance from On Board APU.

In a word yes, I think Intel CPUs still have more "CPU power" but their integrated GPU doesn't compete with AMD's offerings.

As you said, in the case before, if you wanted more graphics then you'd simply spec a decent, capable card for your requirements. A bonus of the AMD setup is that if you buy say, a 6670 afterwards you can run Crossfire with the APU giving you a boost but I think it only works with certain graphics cards of the same family to the APU or something. Basically you couldn't whack in a 7950 and link it to the APU.

In a nut shell they are great for media PCs as you haven't got a power hungry graphics card and you do away with the extra heat and noise of having one makes. But on the other hand you may fancy the odd run of something when your mates pop over and it will be able to get decent frames.
 
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This looks awesome for media PCs and even cheap gaming based rigs, depending on the price point of course. The main point is that this could be a good step in the right direction for AMD to pose a threat to Intel again.
 
linktoinsanity said:
This looks awesome for media PCs and even cheap gaming based rigs, depending on the price point of course. The main point is that this could be a good step in the right direction for AMD to pose a threat to Intel again.
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When APU can handle 1920 res gaming then, and only then it would become a true threat to Intel. With that said, I still wouldn't take a AMD CPU for playing mmos.
 
Marine-RX179 said:
When APU can handle 1920 res gaming then, and only then it would become a true threat to Intel. With that said, I still wouldn't take a AMD CPU for playing mmos.
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This is why I said it would be a step in the right direction. Agreed it's a little way off yet, but at least AMD are actually doing something positive with this new chip.

Out of interest, why would you not use an AMD CPU for mmos?
 
Martini1991 said:
Poor IPC's.
MMO's are quite CPU intensive.
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That's why I think Intel is still in a better position. If you want a CPU for a media centre then Intel's integrated GPU offers enough umph to run 1080p videos with ease and as a plus point it's IPC is still quicker than AMD's offerings.

If you then wanted to play the odd game here or there then surely you'd buy a 2nd hand graphics card to do so?

Yes it may work out slightly more expensive but you'll end up with a system that is also.. more powerful too?

Like link says, I think until AMD get their IPC to match Intels, only then will the APU be the way to go.
 
JamesM said:
That's why I think Intel is still in a better position. If you want a CPU for a media centre then Intel's integrated GPU offers enough umph to run 1080p videos with ease and as a plus point it's IPC is still quicker than AMD's offerings.

If you then wanted to play the odd game here or there then surely you'd buy a 2nd hand graphics card to do so?
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I don't think it follows at all that if you want to play the odd game here or there that you would buy a second hand gfx (or one at all).

You can just as easily turn that round to 'amd cpu's offer enough umph for practically all common cpu tasks' (for the typical user). I think our enthusiast and/or gaming bias always prejudices us to a 'what if gaming at higher settings' scenario too strongly.


We already realise that they are ideal for a lot of laptop uses but forget that type of usage scenario also translates to the desktop formfactor, simply because of the expandability/upgradability of the form factor and hypothetical potential (hypothetical because it's often -realistically- never realised rather than it not being possible).
 
JamesM said:
That's why I think Intel is still in a better position. If you want a CPU for a media centre then Intel's integrated GPU offers enough umph to run 1080p videos with ease and as a plus point it's IPC is still quicker than AMD's offerings.

If you then wanted to play the odd game here or there then surely you'd buy a 2nd hand graphics card to do so?

Yes it may work out slightly more expensive but you'll end up with a system that is also.. more powerful too?

Like link says, I think until AMD get their IPC to match Intels, only then will the APU be the way to go.
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I think these apu will be a great buy for someone wanting to play the odd game with out the need for a additional gpu , if using 1680x1050 or below ,
as been stated these are targeted at more casual users not lets play bf3 all bells and whistles type users
 
For people using a media pc through they're TV and having occasional spells at gaming all that's required is that it can play 1920x1080 at reasonable framerates (anything over 50-60 fps is a waste because TV's won't refresh quick enough. If they want to turn the eyecandy up then a discrete graphics card is a low cost option with Trinity.

And for those on a budget looking for something that'll be fun to clock then Trinity looks like a chip that'll get some decent performance gains on both CPU and GPU when clocked with a half decent cooler. And it could be a boon for budget builders.
 
£96 for the top of the range APU? That's really aggressive pricing considering that at stock clocks the CPU performance is roughly the same as the £97 i3 2100! And if it overclocks like a beast as you guys were saying, that's not bad at all. Hell, if you were just interested in CPU performance the 5600k is only a tad slower but only £80

I really want to know what Vishera pricing is going to be now. It's been bugging me for a year because I need the threaded performance of an AMD quad core for my work but I want the gaming performance of an i3 for the same price.
 
JonSmith said:
£96 for the top of the range APU? That's really aggressive pricing considering that at stock clocks the CPU performance is roughly the same as the £97 i3 2100! And if it overclocks like a beast as you guys were saying, that's not bad at all. Hell, if you were just interested in CPU performance the 5600k is only a tad slower but only £80

I really want to know what Vishera pricing is going to be now. It's been bugging me for a year because I need the threaded performance of an AMD quad core for my work but I want the gaming performance of an i3 for the same price.
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OCUK have the i3 2120 for 90 though.

But the rest stands.
 
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