APU vs CPU/GPU Combo

Very Interesting article that pits an AMD A8-3870K with its integrated HD 6550D with a Budget CPU and Add on HD 6670. Both are the same price. and similar in class. Really interesting benchmarks, concluding that the 6550D isn't gimped when in APU, and comes close to the 6670's performance. (Actually, they scale very well)

Battle At $140: Can An APU Beat An Intel CPU And Add-In Graphics? : Can AMD's APU Outperform A CPU And Discrete GPU?

 

The problem is if you want to scale to any faster than that. Memory bandwidth will rear it's head and eat you.

Even the 6670 (which should have GDDR5 btw and not DDR3) gets a boost from using GDDR5.

 

6670 comes in both DDR3 and GDDR5 variants. I agree that GDDR5 will make a significant improvement, but you can't deny the fact that the IGP can perform as good as an upper low end or low end mid range discrete GPU at 1366x768 or lower res. Where the discrete GPU's will do better is with higher resolutions, however.

 

I just built my uncle a budget PC where he can run dual monitors while keeping costs down and I went with an AMD A6 APU. Does the job well and was <$100 for a CPU/GPU combo

 

They don't put an OpenGL benchmark.

 

OpenGL is not used much at all any more, at least nothing that requires much GPU horsepower. Rage was the latest game, otherwise most other stuff is much older or low performance requirement.

 

it's a stretch to say it isn't used for anything at all when it dominates the non-gaming graphics industry, and is widely used in non-AAA game titles as well. It's only occasionally used in AAA windows games. That is true.

Obviously, games is a huge industry, but there are a LOT of people using OpenGL.

 

I didn't say it wasn't used at all, did I? This thread is in the gaming section so assuming the reference is to games, not other applications. As well as most of the benchmarks in that link were games. It is used in many indie titles, but performance isn't of importance there usually, since system requirements are typically quite meager.

Adobe apps along with many 3D modeling engines use it like Maya and Blender, but that isn't the topic.

 

And those people are typically using Quadro and FirePro GPUs, which aren't in the same league as what's being discussed here.

 

Yeah, I don't think you'd be using an integrated GPU for rendering Maya, lol.