AMD desktop APU's: any advantages for gaming

[magellan]

I've read a little bit about the AMD Accelerated Processing Units and, according to wikipedia the steamroller architecture will feature:

Kaveri A-series APU

Desktop budget and mainstream markets (FM2+): The Trinity / Richland APU line is scheduled to be replaced on 14 January 2014 by the Kaveri APU line, as the third generation of A10, A8, A6 and A4 series for the desktop market. Currently known new model is a quad-core A10-7850K APU, with a 3.7 GHz core frequency and 4 MB L2 cache, incorporating a 720 MHz GPU with 512 stream processors and 856 GFLOPS of total processing power.[9]

The new APUs will have two to four enhanced Steamroller B cores, and a GCN 1.1 Volcanic Islands GPU.[10] Reports have also claimed that the new APU will contain both DDR3 and GDDR5 integrated memory controllers, although it appears that using both memory types at the same time will not be possible.[11] Kaveri APUs will utilize the new FM2+ socket, and they will not be backwards compatible with the previous generation of FM2 motherboards.[12]

What do these APU's do for gaming though? Can they work in conjuction w/a discrete video card?

 

[ShrimpBrime]

What do these APU's do for gaming though? Can they work in conjuction w/a discrete video card?

They game fine assuming you DO use a discrete video card of proper proportions .

 

[ATMINSIDE]

You can make one heck of a budget build by using an APU and running Hybrid Crossfire (might be Dual Graphics now) with a lower-end dedicated GPU.

 

[BlackJack10]

A10-6800k with a 7750 would do the trick.

 

[magellan]

You can make one heck of a budget build by using an APU and running Hybrid Crossfire (might be Dual Graphics now) with a lower-end dedicated GPU.

Cool stuff. Can it be done w/any AMD video card? Or does it have to be same generation as the APU? Has anyone ever done this? Would the system memory provide the video memory for the APU?

 

[SupaMonkey]

How far away are we from modular computing? Instead of having an apu and a discreet gpu, why can't we just use a dual socket motherboard and put in 2 apus? I would guess that we would get better scalability (is that even a word ).

 

[RGone]

Cool stuff. Can it be done w/any AMD video card? Or does it have to be same generation as the APU? Has anyone ever done this? Would the system memory provide the video memory for the APU?

AMD specs a list of video cards that will do Hybrid Crossfire with each APU. Last I looked there was no spec'd list of cards that are going to work with Kaveri yet.

 

[magellan]

Has anyone ever bench marked systems using Hybrid Crossfire setups?

If the APU is forced to use system memory as video memory I imagine that would really inhibit performance. First, because PC system memory is, relative to video card memory, very slow and secondly, because then the CPU would have to compete w/the APU for access to this relatively slow memory.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Ask and ye shall receive!

 

[magellan]

Thanks ATMINSIDE. The results of that article are disappointing. It seems like the Hybrid Crossfire only makes a FPS difference w/low end GPU's and almost no FPS difference w/a mid-range GPU like a 7750 while increasing frame time variance when it does make a difference. It almost makes me wonder if the die area wasted on the APU could've better been used for something else (maybe more cache), at least for the non-casual gamer.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Thanks ATMINSIDE. The results of that article are disappointing. It seems like the Hybrid Crossfire only makes a FPS difference w/low end GPU's and almost no FPS difference w/a mid-range GPU like a 7750 while increasing frame time variance when it does make a difference. It almost makes me wonder if the die area wasted on the APU could've better been used for something else (maybe more cache), at least for the non-casual gamer.

The original design for the APU is meant to be dedicated-esque GPU performance without the extra power draw/space taken.

Things like laptops, office computers, etc really thrive with an APU.

Edit: This test shows the 6800k APU against the new Haswell iGPU.

 

[magellan]

ATMINSIDE, have you noticed that in both the articles you cited, AA was off for all the tests? I wonder if AA just destroys the performance of the AMD APU hybrid crossfire, because it would only serve to increase the amount of memory bandwidth used by the APU.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

ATMINSIDE, have you noticed that in both the articles you cited, AA was off for all the tests? I wonder if AA just destroys the performance of the AMD APU hybrid crossfire, because it would only serve to increase the amount of memory bandwidth used by the APU.

These systems aren't (currently) high-end GPU replacements. They're simply a good option for someone in an office or building on a tight budget.

By no means am I saying "Ditch a Titan and get an APU".

Someone looking for an entry level machine most likely won't be using AA anyway.

 

[RGone]

These systems aren't (currently) high-end GPU replacements. They're simply a good option for someone in an office or building on a tight budget.

By no means am I saying "Ditch a Titan and get an APU".

Someone looking for an entry level machine most likely won't be using AA anyway.

So freeken correct. Even today with more video power in the APU with stouter iGPUs in the APU.

AMD desktop APU's: any advantages for gaming was the thread title and the answer would have been NO if we had just answered what he actually asked. So APU does not give advantage to gaming over a powerful discrete video card. In fact the iGPU in the upcoming steamroller based APU is just about half the power of a discrete 7750 video card but will not have the advantage of the fast memory on the discrete 7750 video card.

So, AMD desktop APU's: any advantages for gaming is actually answered best with a NO. Cost to build an entry level system is the only redeeming value as I see it. For gaming video power is king and an APU does not have that type of video power yet.
RGone...

 

[caddi daddi]

it looks like apus are the amd future, for the office desktop or 99% of all desk tops they will be fine.
for me the take away is that I can ditch my am3+ boards for fm2+ and I'll be fine with my budget video cards as dual graphics really don't work.