APU users out there? Got a question for you guys

Hi there. I was looking into the AMD APU processors to build a budget gaming PC with the ability to upgrade. The thing I am concerned about is how you guys overclocked it and what RAM you guys, speed of the RAM and how your games run. I do not need benchmarks. I am just wondering the processor has served in its time, current or past. Also, wondering if you guys overclocked the embedded GPU, heard you can do that and was astounded. Thanks again. Feel free to type you build just for your response.

Thank you to all and have a wonderful day.

The only thing you're going to be able to upgrade with an APU is throwing in a dedicated GPU, it's unlikely that AMD are going to release any more CPUs for FM2+

But overall APUs are pretty nice for budgets around 300 dollars, you can even run 3 displays off a single APU, though I didn't know at the time I bought it that fast RAM was key.

What's your budget? and what games are you plyaing?

Only thing you really want in an APU build is 2400mhz RAM, even if the motherboard doesn't support it it'll handle 2133mhz better anyways

Hi when i brought my first PC about 2 years ago i got an a10-5800k. I used the APU's graphics for around 6 months before adding in a GPU as an upgrade. The APU wasn't great graphicaly but allowed me to play some classic PC games like Halflife and Oblivion and really get into gaming on the platform. The APU also performs well as a CPU as with a decent air cooler it runs at 4.4ghz and handles any game i try with my GPU a HD7850 2gb (R7 370) being the bottle neck.

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neck n neck with their 2 year older processor, 8350 only wins when multi core comes in to play

i have the 7850k, pretty snappy in my HTPC, plays indie games fine, not going to be running crysis or anything.

It could probably handle crysis at 720p with fast memory reasonably well

Well, I haven't figured out the budget, but let's take the average budget for the sake of simplicity. In my opinion, 600 U.S dollars should be sufficient. I guess I forgot to mention I am really just asking to see how you guys like and what sort of tricks you guys learned in order to squeeze the most out of the system, besides highspeed RAM. May I ask what case and power supply you are using?

I have a 450w power supply.

for 600 bucks, you can get an 860K with a 290, at that budget you don't need an APU unless you want things like a large SSD or some fancy cooling.

But otherwisers there's not much to do to gain more performance from an APU, they're made for really low budgets so you can game while you save up for a solid GPU, or for small office PCs, the A4 7300 is a pretty solid CPU for the average user and it's 50 bucks.

Unless that 600 dollars also needs to include a monitor and other accessories.

Well for accessories, maybe. I am just wondering how the users like it and whether if it is still a viable option. If 600 dollars is not considered for this, then may I ask what budget is it intended for? A 400 dollar budget?

300-400, said it earlier. So do you need a monitor and accessories?

did you have the money or were you going to save 600 dollars up for the PC?

if you're saving up, do that first, pc technology landscape changes too fast.

Well, save up till later. Sorry for not being clear. Yes, a monitor and accessories.

Get 2400 Mhz and get a good cooler, the A10 runs crazy hot.

A10-7870K and 8GB DDR3-2400 gets me about 30 FPS + medium settings in most newer games under Linux Mint.

You could get an 860k and a entry level gpu like the r7 265, it's very decent for gaming and productivity.
Also going this route you can use 1866Mhz ram keeping costs down.
I got this build so if you have any questions please ask me.

I boaught an A10 7850 for me and a 7870 for my daughter. They work great on CSGO and do great on Crysis 3 at 720. BF4 1080 medium 26 to 30 fps. For a system that was under 200 and allows me to use an old PSU. After playing Crysis 3 frankly the game is not worth a thousand dollar PC. A good PC game never lets the player go for more then 2 minutes without someone to kill or something to blow up.
The 7870k I don't want to OC cause it is a gift and the 7850 I just used AMD's autotune and it got to 4.5 b4 freezing. Since the MB is the MSI A68h-e33 that came free with the APU I keep it at stock. MSI upgraded this board for the 7870k, the new one is the A68h-e33 V2. Mine is the older one. Since it is not even rated for the 7870 I figure why push it. Once used r7 250's get to 30 bucks I my go dual graphics. There at 40+ now
Hope this helps

Cool guys thanks for the replies and input. And another thing, for people who do not currently have a GPU, how is it when you guys overclock the cpu/igpu and ram since they both are the two things that allowing you to play games and as well what was your final overclocked setting? again thanks for the responses.

I had an AMD APU based laptop with an E-450 (E for economy XD [it was a lenovo B575 if you're curious]) and with some work at some of the low-level stuff I managed to get it to game better in linux than in windows. Because of this league of legends, skyrim, Deus Ex 3, and a lot of other games handled VERY well.

Not every APU is going to be quite as workable and nothing is going to beat having a discrete GPU, but if you were looking into getting a Discrete GPU later look into getting an APU with an HD 77xx or 8xxx. You'll get decent performance.

I did not OC the APU but I bought the cheapest 2133 Ram I could find. something called EVGA overclocking DRAM. I figured it was just cheap 1866 that was binned and it did show up on the MB bios as 1600. Increased voltage to 1.6 since the packaging said 1.65 and set the speed to 2133. My MB wont go above that. Jayztwocents did three really great videos on the A 10: one a general review, one on memory speed affecting performance and one on building an A10 system for his daughter which was heartwarming.
Mem prices in the 2133/2400 range have dropped since then and I would not recommend this Ram now. At the time it was a great bargain but a risk since it was new, cheap, and not reviewed anywhere......so I figured I would try it out.
One thing I am curious about is the relationship between 2133/2400 ram on the MB and the 1600/1833 ram on an R7 250 in dual graphics mode. I have not seen this discussed anywhere nor benchmarked.

May I ask why would you not recommend the 2133 to 2400 ram now?

Oh I do recommend 2133/2400 ram. I don't recommend "EVGA overclocking dram" . For me it works fine but it does take 1.65 volts to run and ram from better named companies at 1.5 volts are available now for close to the same price.

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