AMD A8 3850 Fusion APU - Good enough for WoW?

[Jake5467]

My mates computer just recently blew up and he wants me to build him a new one. I have looking into the new AMD APU's and am considering getting one for it. He just uses his computer for general internet browsing and low end games - mainly WoW. So how would the AMD APU go? Alone is it strong enough for WoW or should I consider this "dual-graphics" setup? Or just get an AMD quad-core + low end graphics card instead? Cheers!

[BicycleMafioso]

On the CPU-side it's strong enough, despite the lack of L3 cache it's around where the Phenom II's were.
The GPU is far and away easily the strongest integrated graphics-solution.

Yet, it's still an integrated graphics-solution and falls short. You'd want a discrete GPU still.

If you're on a budget, I recommend getting an i3-2100/i3-2105/i3-2120 and a HD5770, GT550Ti or a HD6850.

[Skelly]

Yeah I wouldn't suggest putting one in a desktop.. It could probably run WoW fine on low? I'm not too sure. There will be a niche for the APUs in low end laptops to conserve space/power.

[BicycleMafioso]

Yeah I wouldn't suggest putting one in a desktop.

For gaming? No, but that's not their forte either.
For non-gaming home use, an A8 is probably one of the best choices, really.

[Dazzy]

The graphics side of it is a radeon HD6550, that is so much overkill for wow, considering I can raid on my laptop with a celeron 1.8 singlecore, 2gbs ram and an x200 integrated video, lagfree.

It will work very well for wow's antiquated graphics system.

[Djinni]

The graphics side of it is a radeon HD6550, that is so much overkill for wow, considering I can raid on my laptop with a celeron 1.8 singlecore, 2gbs ram and an x200 integrated video, lagfree.

It will work very well for wow's antiquated graphics system.

When was the last time you played WoW and at what resolution?

[Deleted]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...o,2975-14.html

If your friend wants cheap ($400 to $600 for a whole PC), silent, as well as playing not on a big screen (up to 1680x Llano is great, but can run WoW just fine on 1920x, just would need to dial down few settings), then you can fully recommend it. Most motherboards have PCIe if he will want to upgrade graphics later.

[BicycleMafioso]

The graphics side of it is a radeon HD6550, that is so much overkill for wow, considering I can raid on my laptop with a celeron 1.8 singlecore, 2gbs ram and an x200 integrated video, lagfree.

It will work very well for wow's antiquated graphics system.

Yea, except, you don't. Unless you play in a 140x100 resolution.
To play in ultra (which I doubt you've heard of) and with more than 10 fps in a real resolution, you need more than a HD6550, which is horrible for gaming-use in general. The x6xx-series are low-lowend gaming cards. The x5xx-series are not.

Take your trolls elsewhere, please.

[Skelly]

http://www.anandtech.com/print/4476 is a good batch of benchmarks for the chip in question.

The graphics portion of the chip performs about the same as a GT 430, which is a 40 USD card.
The cpu portion performs much worse than the i3 2100, which is actually cheaper than the fusion chip.

[Asera]

It depends, if you plan on running a 720p screen with it, you would be fine. My HP DM1z netbook can handle 1366x768 fairly well, and that's a significantly worse CPU, and a somewhat worse IGP.

1080p, you would want to bump up to discrete cards.

[Jake5467]

Alright decided to swap to the i3 2100, what graphics card do you suggest to match with this? As always, cheaper the better but just looking for one in par with this. Also a 430w PSU able to power this? (I'm assuming it would as it's all low-end hardware) http://www.mwave.com.au/sku-34040743..._Certified_(CM

[BicycleMafioso]

Alright decided to swap to the i3 2100, what graphics card do you suggest to match with this? As always, cheaper the better but just looking for one in par with this. Also a 430w PSU able to power this? (I'm assuming it would as it's all low-end hardware) http://www.mwave.com.au/sku-34040743..._Certified_(CM

Depends on the resolution. HD5770 or HD6850 from the red side. Even the 5600-series might work depending on the resolution. 550 Ti, 460 1GiB/768MiB or such from the green side.

Yes, the PSU would definitely suffice. And then some.

[Skelly]

The lowest end I usually suggest for a gaming video card is a 5770. You can find one sub-$100 in Canada. You can always go lower or higher, but your experience will vary accordingly

[Asera]

Even something like a GTS250 is fine for WoW. I use one at work.

They ought to be dirt cheap now, especially second hand.