Hello everyone. I'm planning on slightly upgrading my co-worker's old computer. Since the sucker has an old NVidia GeForce 8800 GT already in it, it would be a shame throwing it away. (Or wouldn't it be? I'm not sure, to be honest. lol) I was thinking about getting an AMD A8-6600K as a processor. Now, would it be somehow possible to get it running in dual graphics mode? Or would getting a non-APU AMD make more sense? Maybe something like the FX-6300? Or even just getting rid of the graphics card and just get the A8? My co-worker only needs the PC for basic office tasks, plus maybe playing some Quake III when he's bored, haha
pls halp. (and excuse the possible mistakes I made. My English is far from perfect.)
Dual Graphics only works with AMD cards, and only specific cpu/card combos. In this case that would be a HD 8570D. Boxed APUs come with dual-graphics support information, printed on the side of the boxes. In my opinion it's only worth using the A10-7850k/R7 R7 250 2GB combo now that it's dropped so low in price. Also, your much better off upgrading the CPU (and posting the complete specs of the PC).
Ooooh I figure. I'll probably just end up getting an A10-6800K and a new motherboard. (The ASUS F2A85-M PRO, like Lord Logan suggested. lol) Plus, I'll be getting some decent memory for it, since APU's need all that delicious speed. I was thinking Corsair Vengeance Pro DDR3-2400. Good thing the Asus MoBo supports that much RAM overclocking. That should be plenty enough power for my co-worker. Thanks a lot.
Like I said, just some basic office tasks (Network designing software and MS Word/Excel), Internet browsing and occasionally, some games like Quake III and such. lol I think the A10-6800K with some decent memory (DDR3-2400) should be plenty enough for him.
I'd say that keeping in mind how old the graphics card is, it has the potential to fail at any moment, so going for the "proper" APU, even just as a backup, makes a decent amount of sense if the price difference isn't that high.