Guild Wars 2

Is anyone using this APU without discrete graphics? I was wondering how it performs in GW2. I got one for free and was wondering if it’s worth building a system for it without the added expense of a discrete card.

I don’t have that but I do have a A8-3820 with an HD 6550D. I get 20-30fps in PvE at 1600×900 with most graphic options on high, roaming about the world. The HD 8570D is supposedly slightly faster. In AMD APUs using the fastest memory available for the CPU can significantly boost performance, but it’s still mediocre compared to a “real” gamer card, even a $100 one.

What are you using to play now ?

I wouldn’t do it, personally. I’d sell it and either upgrade what you have now or start over with what games you do play in mind. You CAN use it in a system, but without a dedicated GPU you’re going to get terrible performance.

I had a comparable card in my laptop which I used to open up GW2 to show friends once or twice and it was not enjoyable. Even with no one around the framerate on low everything was under 20fps (I remember getting like 15-16 just standing around in Rata Sum) and I did an event to show them and I believe I said, “I have no idea what’s going on right now” because it caused just the regular game to act like a giant WvWvW zerg with only name plates and everything stuttering around.

I have always recommended the A8s for a budget build where the user doesn’t want to play particularly intense games. But based on my experience with it I would not use one for GW2 by itself. I’m sure it would fare slightly better than the mobile one, but Googling for reviews it shows that it falls FAR below even the HD 7770 which is a cheap, “entry level” discrete GPU. It’s close to the cut off where the game will not even open to play.

So, yeah, not worth it without a GPU.