Phenom 965 or A8-5500?

[phoop007]

Im not sure what to purchase for gaming   My friend has the A8-5500 and can run battlefield on ultra with his gtx 660 ( we both have it). But the phenom seems to have lots of l2 and l3 chache, etc.

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

According to benchmarks, the Phenom is slightly better than the APU. I emphasize only SLIGHTLY.

Source: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

AMD Phenom II X4 965 - 4306
AMD A8-5500 APU - 4141

What will really matter with gaming is the graphics card.

[Calum]

The A8 is much newer, uses much less power, has a half decent IGP and is on a newer socket, so if it was a choice between the two I would pick the APU over the Phenom 965.  However, performance is fairly similar, with the Phenom 965 having the edge.  In some scenarios, the difference is very small, in others it's quite pronounced.
That said, I find it quite difficult to recommend AMD CPUs for high-end gaming at the minute as the performance just isn't on par with the equivalent Intel CPUs.

[phoop007]

According to benchmarks, the Phenom is slightly better than the APU. I emphasize only SLIGHTLY.

Source: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

AMD Phenom II X4 965 - 4306
AMD A8-5500 APU - 4141

What will really matter with gaming is the graphics card.

I Just want to avoid getting bottlenecks with high end games like battlefield 3.

I am thinking  a bout the AMD Phenom II X6 1055T instead