Some answers about the FM1 please ?

[FatRakoon]

Ok well, recently, I bought my mum a cheap PC. I got her an FM based CPU to have a play. I have done some dirty deeds and I have now ended up with it, but in my defense, I have given her an E8500 based PC with 8GB so she is more than chuffed.

Anyway, onto this thing... Its semi horrid but it has a charm that I am sort of liking.

The Motherboard is an MSI ( Good, I like MSI ) A55M-P33 and its kind of, well, it has stuff Im not too shuffed about such as an inability to boot half the time unless I have the BIOS set to anything other than stock, and the Windows 8 option is a waste of time on it. I have other boards that its not, but on this, it is.

Bloody hell, here I go waffling again.

Right, the CPU I am kind of liking. At least the onboard Graphics side of it I am.

Its an A4-3300 so quite low end I know, but the onboard is actually pretty decent ( bear with me please ) and for a kick, I bought myself an ATI to plop into it, just to play about with this crossfire stuff.

Im loving it... Sure its not any real gamer in any sense, but its a very useable setup never the less.

Now, I was looking at replacement CPUs for it and I find that the only options I have really, only go up to 3GHZ

Well, ok fine, but at least its a 2 to 4 Core jump, not only the 500Mhz so its still a useable extra.

But here are my options :-

A-Series A8-3870K ( AD3870WNZ43GX )
Athlon II X4 651 ( AD651KWNZ43GX )

Now, Am I right in saying that the X4 is simply the standard Athlon X4 and that the A-Series has the onboard built-in GPU... Hence APU

Right, but what is the CPU speed differences?

Is the APU worth it over the Athlon?

What are the Highs/Lows of each?

Thanks a million.

Free sweeties from my windowless van for any answers

 

[pastymuncher]

The Athlon is just a cpu with no inbuilt gpu so you will need a extra gpu for that. The 3870k has a beast (for onboard) of a inbuilt gpu. Strangely, even though it does'nt have a inbuilt gpu, the Athlon has the same 100w TDP as the 3870k.

I wouldn't be paying new prices for a cpu on a dead socket though. Especially as Richmond on FM2 is so much better.

 

[JonSmith]

If you want no GPU you're better off with a second hand Phenom II x4 on an AM3+ motherboard. Or a brand new FX 6300.

If you want an APU, FM2+ is the only way.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The FM1 A6 and A8 CPUs also have twice the L2 cache of the A4 dual cores.

Here is my review of the A6 3670K:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18434284

I can play Torchlight at maximum settings at 1600X900 using the IGP.

The FM1 A6 and A8 CPU should be well under £50 secondhand new,although the Trinity A8 and A10 CPUs for socket FM2 are better overall.