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Active: 1548 users

AMD A8-3850 and starcraft 2

Forum Index > Tech Support
Post a Reply
mds
Profile Joined September 2010
37 Posts
July 12 2011 07:00 GMT
#1
ok so i was searching new egg for a cheap cpu (because sc2 is cpu intensive so i hear) and I found this new cpu that combines the cpu and gpu. I was wondering if this was a good cpu to play sc2 on ultra (because amd has a big reputation for bugging out with sc2) or is intel the best way to play on ultra?
skyR
Profile Joined July 2009
Canada13817 Posts
July 12 2011 07:05 GMT
#2
The Llanos are just Athlons with a low-end Radeon combined. With FM1 boards being so expensive atm, it is a poor decision to purchase a Llano. You are better off with Intel's Sandybridge Pentium and a low-end discrete card.
Theshamwow
Profile Joined January 2011
United States4 Posts
July 12 2011 07:21 GMT
#3
Maybe but maybe not AMDs new apus can run in crossfire mode with their low end vidoe cards like the 6670(the 6670 is almost equivalent to the Gtx 450 in benchmarks) making it a pretty strong price for performance ratio. And Their new 4 core apu is way better than any pentium chip you could buy in terms of speed and performance. Id recommend the AMD A8-3850 Llano(2.9 ghz quad core) to any1 gaming on a budget and the FM1 boards come 89.00 and up about the same ud spend on a good intel board that wont fail in the first 2 weeks of use.
Boblhead
Profile Joined August 2010
United States2577 Posts
July 12 2011 07:27 GMT
#4
my friend wait til bulldozer, these APU's aren't gonna be half the performance of the new bulldozers. My personal opinion is that you won't get the performance in sc2 without a discrete gpu.

get a new 1155 socket cpu if you want to play sc2 now.
skyR
Profile Joined July 2009
Canada13817 Posts
July 12 2011 07:31 GMT
#5
On July 12 2011 16:21 Theshamwow wrote:
Maybe but maybe not AMDs new apus can run in crossfire mode with their low end vidoe cards like the 6670(the 6670 is almost equivalent to the Gtx 450 in benchmarks) making it a pretty strong price for performance ratio. And Their new 4 core apu is way better than any pentium chip you could buy in terms of speed and performance. Id recommend the AMD A8-3850 Llano(2.9 ghz quad core) to any1 gaming on a budget and the FM1 boards come 89.00 and up about the same ud spend on a good intel board that wont fail in the first 2 weeks of use.


You have no clue what you're saying do you? Athlons are arguably on par with the Sandybridge Pentiums. Why would you spend $140 on the APU and another $80 on a FM1 board when a Pentium or Athlon II X4, low-end Radeon, and a motherboard can be had for less and offer better performance? /facepalm I smell AMD fanboy.
zere
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
Germany1287 Posts
July 12 2011 08:19 GMT
#6
On July 12 2011 16:21 Theshamwow wrote:
Maybe but maybe not AMDs new apus can run in crossfire mode with their low end vidoe cards like the 6670(the 6670 is almost equivalent to the Gtx 450 in benchmarks) making it a pretty strong price for performance ratio. And Their new 4 core apu is way better than any pentium chip you could buy in terms of speed and performance. Id recommend the AMD A8-3850 Llano(2.9 ghz quad core) to any1 gaming on a budget and the FM1 boards come 89.00 and up about the same ud spend on a good intel board that wont fail in the first 2 weeks of use.


I don't get this, please don't say such things, even if you get paid by AMD for viral writing.
The APU's crossfire mode is under heavy fire from extensive microstutter.
You are speaking of 'Pentium', the last chip that was marketed as Pentium was the E6XXX, which actually is a Wolfdale from over 3 years ago. The last "real" Pentium D is from over 5 years ago. OF COURSE this APU is faster than these. The reality is that the A8-3850 can not keep up with the SB from Intel in the same price-range, not even with the i3-500 series. The SB-IGP might not be as good as the AMD one, but they both are not sufficient for most gaming. OP specifically asks for Ultra settings.
Your mainboard reference is without any substance.

@OP: What Boblhead said. It will run SC2, but, no, not on Ultra. Far from it. For that you would have to resort to an AMD with L3 cache or a semi-recent Intel (Core iX), in any case you need discrete graphics.
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Lmui
Profile Joined November 2010
Canada6223 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-07-12 08:44:08
July 12 2011 08:43 GMT
#7
Llano is not anywhere near playing sc2 on ultra except on super low resolutions like 800x600.

Your ability to play on ultra will vary depending on your chosen resolution and also if your CPU can handle it.

If you want something to play on ultra or high settings on as low of a budget as possible, you could do something like

phenom II x3 @3.1ghz, $75
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103652

Cheapo motherboard, $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157215

Radeon 6770(Same as a 5770, it was just cheaper) ~$120
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102941

Which for ~$245, a little more than what you'd pay for a Llano setup(CPU + Mobo = ~$220) will give you far superior gaming performance. Llano has its niche but it is not gaming on a budget.
JingleHell
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
United States11308 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-07-12 14:35:13
July 12 2011 14:29 GMT
#8
Better choice for GPU would be this Zotac 450 for $75 AMIR.

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/1033/pg10/palit-geforce-gts-450-sonic-platinum-sli-review-starcraft-2.html

SC2 performance.

And I'd actually say a Pentium G840 and cheap H61 board with it, just to not be stuck on a dead socket.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.686377
G840+Mobo, $140. $215 AMIR total. Throw in a cheap RAM kit, and you're still under $250.

More room for upgrades in socket, cheaper after rebates, and solid performance for budget gaming.
SirazTV
Profile Joined May 2010
United States209 Posts
July 12 2011 15:02 GMT
#9
If you are into overclocking that phenom II x3 processor BE is a great deal. L3cache + chance of 4th core for 75 is pretty much unrivaled for value. Plus even if you don't OC 3 cores is a pretty good sweet spot for SC2. Yeah people will be like "wah wah SC2 only uses 2 cores" however if you want to run anything else on your comp at the same time(music, webpage, w/e) it will take advantage of that 3rd core.
Madoga
Profile Joined January 2011
Netherlands471 Posts
July 12 2011 15:42 GMT
#10
On July 13 2011 00:02 SirazTV wrote:
If you are into overclocking that phenom II x3 processor BE is a great deal. L3cache + chance of 4th core for 75 is pretty much unrivaled for value. Plus even if you don't OC 3 cores is a pretty good sweet spot for SC2. Yeah people will be like "wah wah SC2 only uses 2 cores" however if you want to run anything else on your comp at the same time(music, webpage, w/e) it will take advantage of that 3rd core.


What is that suppose to mean?
skyR
Profile Joined July 2009
Canada13817 Posts
July 12 2011 15:49 GMT
#11
Most X3 processors is just a X4 processor with a core disabled so you can potentially unlock it.
Madoga
Profile Joined January 2011
Netherlands471 Posts
July 12 2011 16:07 GMT
#12
Isn't the whole point of the 3x processors that it used to be a 4x with one faulty core?
Myrmidon
Profile Blog Joined December 2004
United States9452 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-07-12 16:13:20
July 12 2011 16:10 GMT
#13
If you get a OEM CPU like that Phenom II X3 package, you need to buy your own CPU cooler for that, since it doesn't come with one. Particularly if you're hoping to unlock it to a Phenom II X4, you need a cooler that can deal with something in the range of 125W TDP processors, so that's not trivially cheap. You're looking in the range of $20 extra.

edit:
On July 13 2011 01:07 Madoga wrote:
Isn't the whole point of the 3x processors that it used to be a 4x with one faulty core?

As usual, some working X4 chips get sold as X3 (or X2) because of market demand for X3 processors, not that the chip is faulty. However, these definitely tend to be binned worse on average. Sometimes the fourth core is completely bad. Sometimes the fourth core needs increased voltage to be stable, even at stock speeds.
skyR
Profile Joined July 2009
Canada13817 Posts
July 12 2011 16:11 GMT
#14
Not all of them are faulty, most of them are perfect quad cores because AMD needs to disable a core to keep up the X3 supply with demand.
JingleHell
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
United States11308 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-07-12 16:23:17
July 12 2011 16:22 GMT
#15
On July 13 2011 00:02 SirazTV wrote:
If you are into overclocking that phenom II x3 processor BE is a great deal. L3cache + chance of 4th core for 75 is pretty much unrivaled for value. Plus even if you don't OC 3 cores is a pretty good sweet spot for SC2. Yeah people will be like "wah wah SC2 only uses 2 cores" however if you want to run anything else on your comp at the same time(music, webpage, w/e) it will take advantage of that 3rd core.


Are you aware how little CPU the things you're listing actually take running in the background? And don't say dual monitors, one of the first things to vanish on a tight budget for a rational person would be a second display. So scratch flash videos and streams off the list. Just having web sites in memory and an mp3 playing isn't going to require nearly enough CPU power to cause noticeable frame drops in SC2.

And of course, as was pointed out, you need a better HSF to OC, and generally you don't want the cheapest mobo on the market for it either.

People always try to make OCing out to be "free" performance, but it's really anything but, if you do it right.
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