Re: Clarification on AMD FM2+ CPUs and motherboards
On Fri, Jul 22, 2016 at 02:04:43PM -0400, rhkramer@gmail.com wrote:
> I'm considering buying a new motherboard and CPU, and I'm thinking about the
> AMD FM2+ combo. It seems they have a pretty good price / performance ratio,
> and slightly better than the AM3+ line. (BTW, I rarely buy Intel--I feel it
> has a higher (i.e., worse) price / performance ratio.)
It depends. For the last several years, AMD has supplied more
cores doing less work per core at the same price points as
Intel. If you absolutely need top per-core performance, Intel
is the way to go. If you want a nice low-cost chip, AMD does
pretty well.
> I've done a fair amount of googling, but I'm confused. IIUC, at least some of
> the FM2+ processors come with graphic processors built into the CPU, but,
> iiuc, not all FM2+ motherboards support that.
>
> Further, maybe some FM2+ motherboards provide graphics capability on the
> motherboard, but not utilizing the GPU built into the processor. I guess I
> would anticipate that the performance in this case is less.
No, if you see graphics capability on an FM2+ m/b, it is using
the GPU of the FM2+. There might be some weird exceptions, but
not many.
If you don't see graphics capability on an FM2+ m/b, it will
likely be advertising multiple PCIe x16 slots for graphics
cards.
> AMD A8-7600 Kaveri Quad-Core 3.1 GHz Socket FM2+ 65W AD7600YBJABOX Desktop
> Processor AMD Radeon R7
> Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113371
>
> Digression: While I'm asking questions, let me ask this, which has been on my
> mind for a while: Will a 4-core processor actually be utilized in the typical
> applications I use (which mostly include things like a mail client (kmail),
> web browsers (Firefox and Konqueror), and various editors (nedit, kate, and
> geany), or am I just as well off with a faster 2-core or single core processor?
> In other words, do those applications actually make use of more than 1-core?
Pretty much anybody can figure out ways to use two cores at once
efficiently. If you have interesting specific workloads (movie or music
editing, lots of background activity) a third and fourth core can be
useful. I rarely run into desktop users who use more than 4 cores at all.
> Motherboard 1: ECS A58F2P-M2 (V1.0) FM2+ AMD A58 review
> Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135396
>
> Specific question(s):
> * It sounds like I'd get video without a video card (which is what I want),
> but I'm not sure it will make use of the on-CPU GPU (which I also want it to
> do)?
It does.
> * In other words, it sounds like I don't need the on-CPU GPU to get video?
You do.
> * There is no clarification on why the commentor says the board is not
> compatible with the Kavari 860K or whether he is correct.
It's an older chip, not the one you are looking at. But in any
case, go to the motherboard mfg website and look at their
compatibility list. They will have it all laid out.
> Motherboard 2: ASUS A68HM-K FM2+ AMD A68H FCH (Bolton D2H) SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0
> * It sounds like this makes use of the on-CPU GPU, and, without one, would
> not provide video?
Correct.
> Motherboard 3: BIOSTAR Hi-Fi A70U3P FM2+ / FM2 AMD A70M SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0
>
> * It sounds (even more strongly than Motherboard 2) like this makes use of
> the on-CPU GPU, and, without one, would not provide video?
Still correct.
-dsr-
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