APU vs Quad Core.

[Hdub00]

Decided to upgrade from my 2.4 AM2 Agena Phenom quad core. My budget is 300~ dollars. These are the two rigs I was wanting to go with.

_________________________APU__________________________________

MOBO
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128515

RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231356

APU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819106001


_________________________CPU__________________________________

MOBO
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128519

RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231311

CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819106009


I have a discrete Radeon HD 5770 that I'm gonna run for now. Was planning on running Crossfire with the APU.

I do a small amount of work on my home machine, but I mainly game on it. For 300$ i wanted a new MOBO, CPU and RAM.

I posted just for an opinion which is better for gaming (DIII, LoL, DOTA, WoW)

Thanks in advance!

 

[RGone]

GIGABYTE GA-A75-UD4H FM1 AMD A75 (Hudson D3) HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard = I do NOT think that mobo will run Hybrid Crossfire with a 5570 video card. Think it has to be a lesser video card. You need to check with mobo maker and AMD about that Hybrid Crossfire if it important to you.


GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard = That motherboard will not run REAL Crossfire. Since the second long PCI-e slot is only x4 transfer rate.

 

[Knufire]

Can't hybrid crossfire a 5770 with the APU, only 6xxx cards 6670 and below. If you already have a discrete card, the APU really isn't worth it.

 

[Hdub00]

Thanks for the help guys

 

[Mjolnir]

i3 2120
G Skill Ripjaw 8GB
Asrock Extreme 4-M Z77

I gotta do it. I just can't recommend Bulldozer.. .

$301.97 Total. (before shipping/anything else)

Asrock Pro 4-M Z77 For a slightly cheaper board...

 

[Cigarsmoker]

^^ Unless you are really hung up on AMD only, go with the above system. Besides being better now, there's more future upgrading options.

 

[Frakk]

Can't hybrid crossfire a 5770 with the APU, only 6xxx cards 6670 and below. If you already have a discrete card, the APU really isn't worth it.

This.

As for the CPU, we all have our own opinions about them, mine is the FX-4170 is the better option over the i3 as the i3 will not overclock, where as the FX will, get a cheap Hyper 212 EVO on that thing and your looking at some nice overclocks, not to mention at stock (4.2Ghz) the i3 is no faster per core while the FX also has more cores. seems pretty straight forward....

 

[Knufire]

The FX has more cores. Not modules. In FLOPS (which I believe is what more intensive programs use) it performs like a dual core. Only performs like a quad in integer calculations.

Plus higher power consumption, and no onboard graphics as a backup.

 

[Frakk]

The FX has more modules. Not cores. In FLOPS (which I believe is what more intensive programs use) it performs like a dual core. Only performs like a quad in integer calculations.

Plus higher power consumption, and no onboard graphics as a backup.

lol.... actually its the other way round, FX-4 is 2 modules and 4 cores, i3 is 2 modules and 2 cores, on the FX the cores sit inside the modules, 2 cores per module.

 

[Knufire]

lol.... actually its the other way round, FX-4 is 2 modules and 4 cores, i3 is 2 modules and 2 cores, on the FX the cores sit inside the modules, 2 cores per module.

Yeah, you're right, got them mixed up. :

Modules only exist on AMD Bulldozer though, it was an invention with them.

Don't forget though, the i3-2120 is Hyperthreaded, so it's a two core, four thread CPU, which IMO makes it very comparable to the FX-4170. Plus Sandy Bridge is just fundamentally so much faster than Bulldozer...it wins even though it can't overclock.

 

[Frakk]

Yeah, you're right, got them mixed up. :

Modules only exist on AMD Bulldozer though, it was an invention with them.

Don't forget though, the i3-2120 is Hyperthreaded, so it's a two core, four thread CPU, which IMO makes it very comparable to the FX-4170. Plus Sandy Bridge is just fundamentally so much faster than Bulldozer...it wins even though it can't overclock.

4 threads do not make 4 cores, its 1 core with 2 threads, its still 1 core.

The i3 is about ~30% per core over the the FX-4 at the same clocks, however the FX-4170 is clocked 30% higher and will overclock a fair chunk more.

 

[Knufire]

Likewise, a module isn't true two cores, which is why they're comparable. I'd still say a module is slightly better than Hyperthreading, but AMD goes and markets it as a quad core, where as Intel sells it as a dual core.

 

[Frakk]

Likewise, a module isn't true two cores, which is why they're comparable. I'd still say a module is slightly better than Hyperthreading, but AMD goes and markets it as a quad core, where as Intel sells it as a dual core.

That's because it has 4 cores, the marketing is correct, they are not going to call a 4 core CPU a duel core. to do so would be incorrect.

We have already been over this when i responded to your saying it only has 2 cores, it has 4. Period!

 

[EarthDog]

4 threads do not make 4 cores, its 1 core with 2 threads, its still 1 core.

The i3 is about ~30% per core over the the FX-4 at the same clocks, however the FX-4170 is clocked 30% higher and will overclock a fair chunk more.

http://ark.intel.com/products/53426/Intel-Core-i3-2120-Processor-(3M-Cache-3_30-GHz)

2c/2t. Its a dual core with HT...

 

[Knufire]

There's only one floating point scheduler per module. Given that more likely than not, games are going to use floating point calculations over integer, it's going to perform like a dual.

 

[bmwbaxter]

That's because it has 4 cores, the marketing is correct, they are not going to call a 4 core CPU a duel core. to do so would be incorrect.

We have already been over this when i responded to your saying it only has 2 cores, it has 4. Period!

This is going to be my only post on this subject in this thread.

The fx 4120 only has 2 FPU units so for most applications like gaming it will perform at the same level as a dual core.

Clock for clock the i3 is faster. Also what is this non sense about not being able to OC a non k intel CPU?

They can OC upto 2-4 bins above stock + bclk. Which depending on the chip and board can be a decent amount given the multi.


@ op

the APU, FX and i3 will perform nicely. So go with whatever brand and price you want. But as has been said no hybrid cfx with that card


Hope this inputs some useful info.

 

[Frakk]

There's only one floating point scheduler per module. Given that more likely than not, games are going to use floating point calculations over integer, it's going to perform like a dual.

Yes, in module related work it acts like it has 2 shared Cache, and in core related number crunching ect... it act like a 4 core, i never said anything different so why keep banging on at the same thing over and over again?
The FX-4170 will perform every bit as well in games as the i3, better once you start pushing that multiplier up.

@ ED, ok so the i3 has 2 threads not 4, thanks

 

[EarthDog]

Oops, my bad..... it has 4 threads total, 2c/4t. Typo on my end.

 

[Frakk]

Oops, my bad..... it has 4 threads total, 2c/4t. Typo on my end.

lol... Typo? you made a typo correcting my stating 2c and 4t to 2c and 4t?

I think rather you need your sight looking at

 

[EarthDog]

4 threads do not make 4 cores, its 1 core with 2 threads, its still 1 core.

Maybe you were missing a word there? "If"? That would explain things. The bottom line is the 2130 is 2c/4t.