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Processors: AMD A8 versus Intel I5
Theocritus
Member LegendaryPosts: 9,751
in Hardware
Which do you guys like best for overall computing (not just gaming but vids, music, office, etc)? Also how does the accelerated processor work? The A8 says it goes from 1.9 to 3.1G but is that just occasionally or all the time?
Comments
You are still better off with an Intel prcessor. Only go with an AMD A8 if you can't afford a graphics card.
The AMD vishera chips ain't bad though, however there will be the odd game that doesn't play ball with them.
On most games the fx6300 gives simmilar performance to a i5 2500k, so for the price is a good deal imo.
But........
You will need to upgrade your bios to use it.
There will be the occasional game that's heavily optimised for Intel and you won't get what you expect from the fx6300.
The main selling points of the a8 and its family Is the integrated graphics. They are decent laptop chips, for playing casual games on (or even stuff like wow). They are not high end gaming chips though.
I5 3570k if you've got a big budget
I5 2500k if you don't mind being on obsolete motherboard
Fx6300 if your on a budget
The very high end i3 (forget its number) and the fx8350 are worth looking at too.
An A8 with a base clock speed of 1.9 GHz is a laptop part, not a desktop part. And there isn't any A8 chip with a base clock speed of 1.9 GHz and turbo core up to 3.1 GHz, so you're also looking at a non-existent part.
Anyway, if you're looking at laptops, then a Core i5 is a dual core, not a quad core. And if you're looking at laptops, then you're probably also looking at using integrated graphics, in which case, Intel graphics are dismal.
Let's back up. What are you looking to buy, what are you going to do with it, and what is your budget?
Sic semper tyrannis "Democracy broke down, not when the Union
ceased to be agreeable to all its constituent States, but when it was upheld, like any other Empire, by force of arms."
Really depends on your budget. When it comes to processor tasks, the ivy-bridge architecture is better per core then the Piledriver architecture. So in most tasks that don't involve the GPU, the Intel will be better. Only exception is 3D modeling and rendering in which piledriver is actually better at this instance.
If you will not get a discrete video card, then you want an AMD processor hands down even if you don't plan on playing games much. The concessions you make just to have an intel chip without a GPU is too great in my opinion. I think at this point even Intel realizes there is not much that requires a strong CPU anymore which is why Intel is moving its processors into smaller form factors and power envelopes. Most users don't care that they compress a .zip in 1.37 minutes or 1.54 minutes. Most consumer programs don't require more then a 12 year old processor. The only exception in the consumer market are games.
In the professional market it really depends on what the computer is used for. Meeting the minimum computational power for the lowest cost and smallest power envelope is the ideal. In this case its low end core-i3 or low end AMD processors that are a good pick. Then there are the only real computational heavy industries like servers, rendering farms, and super computers. In servers Intel competes with non-x86 CPUs that have more cores with a lower power envelope. In Rendering farms, AMD just has a better processor right now for it. In super computers, alot is pushed off into the GPGPU. Here many cores matters more, and the software can be written to take full advantage of the hardware instead of the other way around.
1. Laptop
2. general computing...some gaming, some movies, some office, music
3. about 750 dollars
Under those restraints, you want a laptop with an A10-4600M in it. They cost around $600-$700. Under $750, you can't get an Intel System without a discrete graphics chip. With only an Intel with HD4000 graphics chip, you will not be able to play a few games. With the chip on an A10-4600M you should be able to play any game with settings adjustments.
When it comes to your workload you are not getting into anything that requires the computational power of an Intel Chipset.
The problem right now is most of the good Trinity APU laptops went out of stock. So pretty much what is left are all the scraps. Also ASUS and MSI decided to pair theirs with a discrete card.
Here are a couple in stock that you should not need to mess with to go faster.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834215663
http://shop.amd.com/us/All/Detail/Notebook/ecx-Wal-US-21634595?SearchFacets=category%3ANotebook#Details
http://shop.amd.com/us/All/Detail/Notebook/3260DZU?SearchFacets=category%3ANotebook#Details
http://shop.amd.com/us/All/Detail/Notebook/C2N70UA!23ABA?SearchFacets=category%3ANotebook#Reviews
There is no such thing as "general computing". There is only specific uses for a computer, and different people who one might think of as "typical" have wildly different needs--and should get wildly different hardware as a result. That's why I want to know what you personally are going to do with it.
So let's try some more detailed questions. Where are you going to use it? If it's going to sit in your house all day and get treated like a desktop, then a laptop makes no sense whatsoever. If you need to take it to school or work and then home every day, then yeah, you need a laptop.
Do you care about battery life? A laptop that gets carried around a lot, but is always plugged into a wall when in use, doesn't need long battery life. If you're going to sit and use it for several hours at a time without an electrical socket in sight, then you need longer battery life.
How high of gaming performance do you need? Are you the sort of person who insists on turning graphical settings up as far as possible while leaving a game somewhat playable, or do you not mind low graphical settings so long as the games you want to play run smoothly?
There are trade-offs between performance and portability. You can get functional enough performance pretty easily at in a 15" form factor that weighs 6 pounds. If you want something smaller than that or under 5 pounds, then there are a lot of options, but gaming performance is going to be dismal unless you increase your budget substantially (about $900 for a Clevo P110ER). How big of a form factor do you want?
Best Regards, ...
Best Regards, ...
Best Regards, ...
You're doing it wrong. A10 Trinity chips keep the entire GPU active, while A8 disables 1/3 of it. That makes a big difference in performance, and if you're going to use the integrated graphics in a desktop, you want an A10-5800K together with with 1866 MHz DDR3 memory. The reason not to get that is if you either don't care much about graphics performance or are on a very severe budget--in which case, adding a video card isn't an option.
That's too late now. But if you are going to upgrade later, you want a big enough upgrade to justify the cost. A Radeon HD 6670 is barely faster than Radeon HD 7660D integrated graphics done properly as paired above, and maybe 50% faster than what you have now. It's rarely worth upgrading a video card unless you can at least double your previous performance. For that, you'd want a Radeon HD 7750 or better.
1. will mainly be home based but Im pressed for room and will travel with it occasionally.
2. Battery life isnt crucial....Wont be running it for several hours on end...most likely 1-2 hours at a time tops
3. Gaming- Wont be playing any high end games (ie crysis etc) on the laptop...I have a desktop for gaming but you never know so its nice to have some flexibility but not a high priority....ALso Im content on lower settings to get better performance
4. Looking more for performance than portability, also need a 17" screen if that is any factor.
Why are you going to use the laptop at home if you have a desktop there?
Pretty much any laptop will have at least 2 hours of battery life at idle, so that's not a factor for you.
This should work:
http://www.samsclub.com/sams/hp-dv7-7227-notebook-17-3-amd-a10/prod7910126.ip?dblclick=true&pid=_DoubleClick_Affiliates#BVRRWidgetID
That's integrated graphics, but it's the fastest laptop integrated graphics ever made. On your budget, you're not going to get something much faster even if you insist on a discrete video card.
The laptop does have a 5400 RPM hard drive, which is very slow. If you're willing to replace that yourself and don't need much capacity, there's room in your budget to get an SSD instead. You'd have to move the OS over, though, which can be a pain.