I'm torn between the following:
1. AMD A10-6800K
2. Intel I3-4150
The Intel is a better chip overall but would it be worth the effort to replace the motherboard to get the Intel??
TIA
Jeff
Never mind.. I'm going for the AMD.
Jeff
It may be worth the effort but not worth the money and you get better graphics too. If you want to throw some money anyway get more and/or faster RAM, faster RAM counts with APU.
Wise decision. I have an AMD A8 in a laptop. Works quite well. The i3 in the other laptop is no better. Note though that those are laptop CPUs not desktop versions.
@whs I just don't want to replace the motherboard unless I have to and the current motherboard is very good. So, just replacing the APU(which is supported by the motherboard) is the best way to go for me. Oh and I'm going to add a closed loop liquid cooler.Wise decision. I have an AMD A8 in a laptop. Works quite well. The i3 in the other laptop is no better. Note though that those are laptop CPUs not desktop versions.
Jeff
Planing to OC a lot ? Those APUs, specially GPU part can benefit of OC.@whs I just don't want to replace the motherboard unless I have to and the current motherboard is very good. So, just replacing the APU(which is supported by the motherboard) is the best way to go for me. Oh and I'm going to add a closed loop liquid cooler.
Jeff
With OC, a liquid cooler would be useful. But else I don't think it needs it - although AMDs have a tendency to run hot.
Actually, GPU part in them produces most of the heat. "K" counterparts use very little power and produce much less heat.With OC, a liquid cooler would be useful. But else I don't think it needs it - although AMDs have a tendency to run hot.
So far from my reading the A10-6800K does run hot and while I have the budget I'll get a liquid cooler. CORSAIR H55 Quiet CPU Coolers - Newegg.com Oh and the memory is 1,600MHz.. so it's fast enough.
Actually with a APU the fastest memory the motherboard can take will speed up the graphics processing so consider 16 or even 32 GB of ram DDR3 2133 if you can afford it. What holds back a lot of those litte APU chips is insufficient fast ram. That would be a bigger benefit than an 800mhz speed increase. I would not overclock with the board you have since there are no heatsinks on the mosfet vrm and it will go bang if you do. Go for a quad core and change your ram for DDR2133 16 or 32 gb and you will see a truly worthwhile upgrade.
