Ryzen 3 Linux Gaming Benchmarks: NVIDIA vs. AMD Radeon

[OneBitUser]

How much people do component upgrades, pc hardware goes older fast anyway. I sell my old pcs as whole. Reliable Am4 350 mobos are over 20 euros more and cpus too.
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With 40 euros you can buy games and gaming controllers.

I also sell my used hardware but usually piece-by-piece, because that way it's easier to find buyers (at least that's true here in Hungary), but those extra 40€ will result in much better resale value, because the B350 configuration will offer an upgrade path with up-to-date technologies like DDR4 that are here to stay for quite some time.

I know that not a lot of people upgrade their computer parts, but I think that's mostly the result of Intel switching sockets arbitrarily in the past ~6 CPU generations (switches from LGA1156 to 1155 to 1150 were completely unnecessary). Kind of pulls the rug from under you if your only upgrade choices for n-gen CPUs are from the n+1 gen at best.

I agree. But if my budget was limited (or I was just feeling like being cheap) I would be inclined to trawl Ebay and Craigslist for good deals from someone else more focused on the new stuff and replacing their own AM3+/FM2 system. e.g. maybe http://www.ebay.com/itm/Custom-Built...0AAOSwgGdZl1uz (That's not an endorsement of that listing. Just something to look at. $175 plus shipping, and with Ebay's guarantee of purchases up to $500 if it turns out the biller lied you're out $0.)

That's one sweet deal!
I completely agree that AM3+ and FM2+ are still viable choices when buying used hardware. They might actually offer the best value for used parts/systems.
Also, if you cheap out, then cheap out hard! What I mean is that if you already go for a dead-end platform for cost-saving reasons, then you should at least try to get much better value with used hardware.
I built my first PC as a university student on a tight budget, almost completely out of used hardware (i5-3470, HD7870), so I do not discount "old" hardware as being obsolete.

To my understanding, Carrizo is Excavator, just with DDR4 compatibility. And that being said, Excavator is a hell of a lot better than Bulldozer. Even Steamroller (the previous generation) can compete with Sandy Bridge, which maybe isn't saying much but SB is still a good architecture by today's standards. The A12-9800 seems to compete with Skylake i3s in CPU performance while being similar in clock speed - price seems somewhat similar but it is a bit of a gray area since there aren't many stores you can buy a new one. The 9800 can also OC pretty high. Involve the IGP and it outperforms i7s. It's a surprisingly decent product, and worth getting if you need a placeholder APU.

Sorry, i got all the heavy machinery mixed up...
You are right, Carrizo uses Excavator cores, but you err in thinking that DDR4 support is universal among Carrizo APUs/CPUs. AMD did release some Carrizo-based products for the FM2+ socket, those only supported DDR3. The 9000-series APUs and 900-series CPUs for the AM4 socket do support DDR4.

I agree that Steamroller and Excavator are perfectly fine architectures, but I still would advise against buying a new AM3+ or FM2+ system. Bought from a store these are only good deals if they are heavily discounted. Buying them used on the other hand can land you some great deals like the one Michael_S linked.

By the way, you can have an A8-9600 for around 60€ here in Hungary, check that one out!
Compare the A8 to those damned i3s... it essentially has the same performance as that top-of-the-line APU you mentioned, and it still mops the floor with the i3s in terms of graphics.

Personally, if I had to build a gaming PC from new parts on a budget, I would go with an Athlon X4 950 and an RX 550 2GB which would cost about the same as an i3-6300 with even better GPU performance and a great upgrade path for both CPU and GPU.

[schmidtbag]

Sorry, i got all the heavy machinery mixed up...
You are right, Carrizo uses Excavator cores, but you err in thinking that DDR4 support is universal among Carrizo APUs/CPUs. AMD did release some Carrizo-based products for the FM2+ socket, those only supported DDR3. The 9000-series APUs and 900-series CPUs for the AM4 socket do support DDR4.

Yes, I realized after my post that I was confusing Carrizo (DDR3/FM2+) with Bristol Ridge (DDR4/AM4).

I agree that Steamroller and Excavator are perfectly fine architectures, but I still would advise against buying a new AM3+ or FM2+ system. Bought from a store these are only good deals if they are heavily discounted. Buying them used on the other hand can land you some great deals like the one Michael_S linked.

Depends on who you're buying for. For AM3+, yeah, I don't think there's any good reason to buy into that anymore unless you're into crypto mining - many compatible CPUs are dirt cheap, like the $17 Sempron 145. FM2+ may be out-of-date but they're still good enough for the average home user, with no intention on any major workloads or upgrades. FM2+ is really the only option right now if you want decent CPU and GPU performance in a low-profile chassis for a low price. I suspect it will remain that way unless Coffee Lake has a substantial GPU upgrade, or, until AMD releases their Zen-based APUs. I figure AMD is putting those APUs off last because their FM2+ products are still decent, and, because they probably want to sell as much of that stock as possible. Once AM4 APUs are released, they're going to kill FM2+ sales, and that's a lot of product that nobody wants to be stuck with.

Personally, if I had to build a gaming PC from new parts on a budget, I would go with an Athlon X4 950 and an RX 550 2GB which would cost about the same as an i3-6300 with even better GPU performance and a great upgrade path for both CPU and GPU.

Maybe, but I wonder if overclocking any of the high-end APUs (including the 9800) would end up being a slightly better value. Spend less on the CPU+GPU together, a little bit extra on the heatsink and RAM,