inf64
Diamond Member
- Mar 11, 2011
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From the Conclusion part of the article :How about losing in every test against a i3-3225 /w 6670D, while consuming 40% more power with the same graphics card?
http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/cpu/46157-amd-a10-5800k-dual-graphics-evaluation/
Dat dual gpu scaling, either cpu bottleneck or AMD drivers take your pick.
As they correctly noted, "a smidge" better it really is. With discrete card and no dual graphics,the performance delta is practically non existent. So your "performs worse" is correct but only if you consider "better" to be margin of error better. Both CPUs run the games (with discrete GPU and no dual graphics on APU) practically the same in 720p.In 1080p with dual graphics 5800K was substantially better.Dual Graphics is a feature of AMD Trinity APU systems that enables users to add a circa -£50 discrete Radeon graphics card - HD 6600-series, preferably - and lash it alongside the similar HD 7660D graphics built into the chip. Going down this route facilitates CrossFire multi-GPU rendering, useful for potentially increasing gaming performance without any further financial outlay. It's important to understand this feature is not available if choosing a price-comparable Intel platform.
The usefulness of Dual Graphics as a means of providing more gaming performance is wholly dependent on how well the title scales through CrossFire software technology. The best-case scenarios, such as DiRT Showdown, show a 40 per cent frame-rate increase over using the discrete card alone, as you would do if installing it on, say, an Intel Core i3 machine. On the flipside, Batman: Arkham City is indifferent to the charms of Dual Graphics, to the extent that performance actually drops off.
Our examination also finds that an Intel Core i3-3225 platform performs a smidge better than an AMD A10-5800K when evaluated with a discrete HD 6670 in the PCIe slot. What's more, the Core i3's power consumption is better than AMD's. Swings and roundabouts, eh?
We believe that an AMD APU's Dual Graphics capability is a useful feature if you happen to have an add-in card that closely resembles the on-board graphics' architecture. There's a reasonable chance of gaining extra performance, as shown by our benchmarks, at no extra cost. Dual Graphics, then, makes most sense in fixed-specification A10-5800K-powered base units that ship with the necessary HD 6600-series supporting cards.
Readers who consider themselves proper gamers would still be best-advised at spending at least an APU-matching £100 on a mid-range graphics card, because a Radeon HD 7850 or GeForce GTX 660 assuredly knock the spots off anything a well-matched Dual Graphics configuration can offer.
Power draw delta exists and for power conscious people might be important. Under game load scenario it is around 43W according to the review. If 43W is important to someone than it's i3 all the way. If not 5800K is clearly a better chip ,supporting dual graphics and having better performance in modern game titles that support 4+ threads. Also it has better performance in ever so more threaded desktop workloads and full support for OpenCL accelerated GPGPU workloads.