[MrKay]

That's my point. For anyone really wanting to do serious gaming the A8 or even A6 is just not a good option. It is sold as an ideal gaming machine when really it is not.

We really should caution people that for limited gaming the iGPUs or APU should be considered but really are not options at this point for more than a casual older game.

I have to agree with you on this. If u want to game on max settings etc. Then go with intel and add a graphics card that's the best way to go. I will try some new games out soon and see how it is. I normally game on my ps3 tho

[jaochoo]

a G620 (or i3 CPU which you can often find now for $99) plus a discrete gaming card is a much better option

2 questions:

1) Would an i3-3225 be enough for:
- Ripping/Encoding DVDs and BDs (does not have to be at the same time XBMC is playing a 1080p movie),
- Basic Office tasks (MS Office, webbrowsing, etc.),
- Downloading (Usenet, BitTorrent),
- Adobe Photoshop,
or should I go for an i5-3570K (which would be more expensive but I don't need to wait for it)?

2) What discrete (low profile) gaming card do you recommend? I saw on your website that you use the GTX560ti quite often.

[assassin]

a G620 (or i3 CPU which you can often find now for $99) plus a discrete gaming card is a much better option

2 questions:

1) Would an i3-3225 be enough for:
- Ripping/Encoding DVDs and BDs (does not have to be at the same time XBMC is playing a 1080p movie),
- Basic Office tasks (MS Office, webbrowsing, etc.),
- Downloading (Usenet, BitTorrent),
- Adobe Photoshop,
or should I go for an i5-3570K (which would be more expensive but I don't need to wait for it)?

2) What discrete (low profile) gaming card do you recommend? I saw on your website that you use the GTX560ti quite often.

1. Yes to all of the above. The i3 Ivy/Sandy is as powerful as the first generation i5. Its a very powerful CPU. I am actually debating whether I will choose an i3 or i5 in my upcoming desktop rebuild but admittedly have no real reason to choose the i5. Also, a straight rip (no re-encoding, compressing, etc) is largely based on the optical drive speed.
2. That all depends on your budget and what you prefer --- ATI or NVidia. There are a ton of choices and most of them are excellent (I am not a gamer personally).

[Arkitket]

FWIW, I am now planning on waiting for the i3-3225. HD 4000 is a big improvement on HD 3000(and as a result HD 2000) according to the reviews on existing CPU's with that iGPU.

If you are planning on getting a discrete GPU, I would go for the i3-3220 instead.

[jaochoo]

1. Yes to all of the above. The i3 Ivy/Sandy is as powerful as the first generation i5. Its a very powerful CPU. I am actually debating whether I will choose an i3 or i5 in my upcoming desktop rebuild but admittedly have no real reason to choose the i5. Also, a straight rip (no re-encoding, compressing, etc) is largely based on the optical drive speed.

Great, thanks, that helps me a lot in my decision-making process. Even though it's quite tempting to just buy the i5 now rather than having to wait another few weeks while I have all the other parts lying around here already waiting to be build together

2. That all depends on your budget and what you prefer --- ATI or NVidia. There are a ton of choices and most of them are excellent (I am not a gamer personally).

I am not a gamer either It's something I am thinking of adding on later, because, not being a gamer at the moment, I always enjoyed playing at friend's places, and I imagine I could get tempted to turn my HTPC into a fully-fledged entertainment box once I have it there and hooked up to the TV.. Budget is not a constraint, but I don't want to overpay either. I think I would be looking for something that is the best fit between low noise/heat and performance (playing modern games at high settings) and hopefully can improve that framerate issue. I would also probably want to give that Lucid Virtu solution a shot that you recommended in the other thread.

[Jetster]

Bang for buck the A8 A6 is hard to beat for a HTPC. But if your going to do any gaming at all go Intel with discrete GPU. But it cost. I just dont think we are at the point yet for an "all around PC" that does both well

[Dougie Fresh]

I am not sure that if you're getting a discrete GPU you even need to wait for the Ivy Bridge i3. A SandyBridge i3-2120 with a discrete GPU would be quite the system.

I am getting tired of waiting for the i3-3225 and A10-5700

On a budget, I've read the G620 + AMD HD6670 is a great HTPC/gaming combination and compares favorably to the A8-3870K. Here's the article: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/pent...,3140.html.

"What conclusions can be drawn from this data, then? Clearly, the A8-3870K is a better platform for general productivity, particularly when you run threaded applications (or do a lot of multi-tasking) able to leverage four physical cores. The Pentium G620 and discrete Radeon card combine to form a superior gaming system. We used a $140 budget to create as fair of a comparison as possible, but enthusiasts with a little more money to spend on graphics can get even better performance by dedicating additional funds to that subsystem. Meanwhile, the A8-3870K is already AMD's fastest APU, so there's not much room to scale up."

[funkhouser]

Who said anything about the HD3000?

Well when not adding a discrete card you have to compare the Radeon & the 3000.

NVidia can create custom refresh rates and resolutions which ATI cannot. And you are mistaken if you think ANY particular card gets your perfect 23.976 automatically each and every time.

No I didn't say I would get perfect but the reviews I've seen for the A8 apparently see it run closer than the nVidia even with its' custom refresh.