AMD A8-3850 vs Phenom II X6 1100T With Radeon 6990 Linus Tech Tips

In this Linus Tech Tips video, Linus sets up a real-world CPU comparison between AMD's Phenom II X6 1100T and the newer A8-3850 APU, paired with Radeon 6990s to evaluate gaming performance while isolating the CPU from onboard GPU limitations. He outlines the testing platforms: the 1100T on the 890FX Crosshair 4 motherboard, and the APU on the newer A75 platform, with a goal of measuring CPU-driven differences across several modern titles. Linus emphasizes a practical approach by using a consistent testing bench and limiting variables, noting that the APU’s onboard graphics are disabled when paired with higher-end discrete GPUs. The testing suite covers Crisis 2 with DirectX 11, Witcher 2, Dirt 3, Fear 3, Battlefield Bad Company 2, and Civ 5, with careful attention to resolution and texture pack settings to ensure fair comparisons. He also mentions that Crisis 2 results are gathered with a specific driver setup and patch, and explains how data will be interpreted to reflect CPU-bound versus graphically bound scenarios. Throughout, the host frames the results as a balance of price-to-performance and platform maturity, highlighting the A75 platform’s potential to close the gap with the older Phenom II based on architectural improvements. By the end, viewers are invited to watch for broader APU content and to subscribe for more hardware testing, unboxings, and reviews. The video positions the 1100T as the cream of AMD’s multi-core offerings at the time, while showing that the A8 APU can deliver competitive performance in many titles when the CPU is the limiting factor, albeit with real-world limitations in certain CPU-bound scenarios.

Topics · technology · gaming · hardware · computer-hardware