Extech - Budget Laptop Gaming With AMD/Intel Discrete GPU Offerings

[artivix]

In laptops, the situation is markedly different. Below $600, Intel laptops with discrete GPUs are either nonexistent or use the very bottom of Nvidia or AMD’s product stacks — solutions so weak, in other words, that Intel’s own integrated chip might actually be an improvement, or at least on equal footing.

HP’s AMD-equipped systems, in contrast, start fielding discrete GPUs below the $600 mark. The 17-inch HP Pavilion 17z Touch is based on the A8-6410 (Beema) with a maximum turbo clock of 2.4GHz and a modest R7 M260 (384 GPU cores) for $569. There’s also a Pavilion 15z with an A10-5745M and the same R7 M260 at $569.

http://www.extremetech.com/computin...gpu-and-what-budget-gamers-should-do-about-it

There was question about performance of small core AMD A8-6410 / A6-6310 with R7 M260, but new video from user shows HP Pavilion 17z in action.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0UzB1VjGnY#t=97

(Youtube start 1:37 after unboxing and look over, then system specs, GPU-Z after 8:17)

Gaming at 1600 x 900, BF4 med settings prove A8-6410 R7 M260 combo have good performance!

More choices show online under $449 starting from Acer, Dell, HP, Samsung, Toshiba --

Acer E5-521G-60BX 15.6-Inch with quad core AMD A6-6310 and Radeon R5 M240 (up to eight hour battery life).

http://www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-E5...s=acer+a6-6310

Under euro 299

Lenovo G50-45 15.6-Inch with quad core AMD E2-6110 and Radeon R5 M230.

http://www.amazon.de/Lenovo-G50-45-...e=UTF8&qid=1407174001&sr=8-1&keywords=e2-6110

 

[Insert_Nickname]

You may want to have a look at this article too:

http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Genera...rm-and-Athlon-5350-GTX-750-Ti-1080p-under-450

Those Kabini/Beema chips do perform very well for what they are. Of course they're not going to give you i3-level performance, but in a pinch they're surprisingly good. One forum member has also managed to overclock one past 2.5GHz...

One limitation of the Kabini platform is that they only have a PCIe 2.0 x4 link to the GPU.

 

[TrulyUncouth]

There was question about performance of small core AMD A8-6410 / A6-6310 with R7 M260, but new video from user shows HP Pavilion 17z in action.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0UzB1VjGnY#t=97

(Youtube start 1:37 after unboxing and look over, then system specs, GPU-Z after 8:17)

Gaming at 1600 x 900, BF4 med settings prove A8-6410 R7 M260 combo have good performance!

More choices show online under $449 starting from Acer, Dell, HP, Samsung, Toshiba --

Acer E5-521G-60BX 15.6-Inch with quad core AMD A6-6310 and Radeon R5 M240 (up to eight hour battery life).

http://www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-E5...s=acer+a6-6310

Under euro 299

Lenovo G50-45 15.6-Inch with quad core AMD E2-6110 and Radeon R5 M230.

http://www.amazon.de/Lenovo-G50-45-...e=UTF8&qid=1407174001&sr=8-1&keywords=e2-6110

Can someone explain to me the difference between the 6310 and 6410. Ive looked through notebook check and googled a bit but can't seem to find a solid answer on the difference.

 

[AtenRa]

The only difference is on the base frequency, 6310 has 1.8GHz when 6410 is at 2.0GHz.
Rest are the same.

 

[TrulyUncouth]

The only difference is on the base frequency, 6310 has 1.8GHz when 6410 is at 2.0GHz.
Rest are the same.

Ah, then notebookcheck has them wrong. They show both as 2000-2400. Thanks for clearing it up.

 

[TeknoBug]

Those are turbo frequencies, so they should reach 2GHz-2.4GHz when turbo kicks in.

 

[TrulyUncouth]

Typically they show the frequency as Base-Turbomax. I am pretty sure every other page I have seen shows like that because I did a ton of research before buying a laptop last year. Other websites might do it differently, but I am pretty sure notebookcheck just has it wrong if the 6310 is 1.8ghz base.

 

[AtenRa]

Both AMD and CPU-world have the A6-6310 at 1.8GHz base with 2.4GHz Turbo.

 

[rainy]

Can someone explain to me the difference between the 6310 and 6410. Ive looked through notebook check and googled a bit but can't seem to find a solid answer on the difference.

You know what is interesting: from official AMD info loooks like that A8-6410 have indeed a stronger GPU (256 SP instead of 128) than other Beema/Kabini models.
http://www.amd.com/en-us/products/processors/notebook-tablet/apus#

 

[artivix]

You know what is interesting: from official AMD info loooks like that A8-6410 have indeed a stronger GPU (256 SP instead of 128) than other Beema/Kabini models.
http://www.amd.com/en-us/products/processors/notebook-tablet/apus#

Thanks for finding specs matrix table, looks like Mullins/Beema A8-6410 support dual graphics along with Kaveri A10 and FX.

First listings of Lenovo AMD FX-7500 with m255 are showing in Europe and now Toshiba is showing their Kaveri system seen in Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am30H5xuUlM Toshiba AMD FX-7500 laptop Eyefinity demo

AMD now have Mullins/Beema laptops with m230/m240/m260 start at $299 then to $599. Now looks like AMD Kaveri laptops with m255/m260 will start at around $500-$599.

 

[Shivansps]

I wonder why no one puts a Celeron/Pentium M with a dgpu...

 

[Zodiark1593]

One limitation of the Kabini platform is that they only have a PCIe 2.0 x4 link to the GPU.

I wouldn't worry about that too much. The CPU or the GPU itself (I don't see any Kabini system getting a M280 anytime soon) will probably bottleneck long before PCIe bandwidth actually matters.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

I wouldn't worry about that too much. The CPU or the GPU itself (I don't see any Kabini system getting a M280 anytime soon) will probably bottleneck long before PCIe bandwidth actually matters.

You're right. Its not a practical limitation, but it is something to keep in mind. If only Kabini had supported PCIe 3.0, it would have been a non-issue.

 

[artivix]

Lenovo offers the Z50-75 stylish gaming notebook with powerful performance for entertainment. The 15.6-inch notebook comes with a quad-core AMD FX processor and R7 M260DX 2GB graphics.

The revolutionary graphics API to make games and other applications smarter use of the CPU and GPU so performance up to 60% improvement. In addition, the notebook Z50-75 16GB DDR3 memory and expanded storage capabilities up to 1TB HDD or 1TB SSHD.

Moreover, consumers in the purchase of the two Z50-75 videogames gift that they can download with a unique code. Consumers can choose from great AAA titles like Thief and Darksiders. This offer is valid until March 31, 2015.

http://dutchitchannel.nl/516015/lenovo-introduceert-nieuwe-tablet-en-gaming-pca-s.html

This is first Kaveri FX laptop in Euro 400-550 range with Radeon 260DX graphics using GDDR5 memory --

Lenovo Z50-75 80EC

FX 7500 / 2.1 GHz - Windows 8.1 - 8 GB RAM - 1 TB HDD - graveur de DVD - 15.6" 1920 x 1080 ( Full HD ) - AMD Radeon R7 260DX - noir

http://www.pc21.fr/fiche/80ec003kfr-z50-75-amd-fx-7500-1tb-8gb-15-6in-dvdrw-w8-1-fr-i565864.html

This Lenovo gaming/media Kaveri FX-7500 laptop also adding to HP, Toshiba A10/FX laptops.