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AMD Trinity APUs Stack Up Well To Intel's Core 3

Posted by timothy on from the those-ndas-must-have-weighed-a-ton! dept.

Barence writes "AMD's APUs combine processor and graphics core in the same chip. Its latest Trinity chips are more powerful than ever, thanks to current-generation Radeon graphics and the same processing cores as AMD's full-fat FX processors. They're designed to take down Intel's Core i3 chips, and the first application and gaming benchmarks are out. With a slight improvement in applications and much more so in games, they're a genuine alternative to the Core i3." MojoKid writes with Hot Hardware's review, which also says the new AMD systems "[look] solid in gaming and multimedia benchmarks, writing "the CPU cores clock in at 3.8GHz / 4.2GHz for the A10-5800K and 3.6GHz / 3.9GHz for A8-5600K, taking into account base and maximum turbo speeds, while the graphics cores scale up to 800MHz for the top A10 chip."

12 of 223 comments (clear)

  1. Wow by binarylarry · · Score: 4, Funny

    AMD is finally competitive with Intel's lowest end offerings again!

    Yay!

    --
    Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
    1. Re:Wow by h4rr4r · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You know you can just not use it right?
      Why bother looking for a chip without it?

      Heck, these days it is even usable and has good open drivers.

    2. Re:Wow by pushing-robot · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Or, more accurately, AMD's integrated video is better than Intel's integrated video (seriously, that's all they tested!).
      And these AMD chips still double the system power consumption over their Intel counterparts.

      So if you're part of the subset of gamers that morally object to dedicated video cards but still enjoy noisy fans and high electricity bills, AMD has a product just for you! Woo!

      --
      How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
    3. Re:Wow by Skarecrow77 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Ironic statement, since the main selling point of the chip being reviewed here is its integrated graphics.

      Which I find just silly really. These are fine chips to build a PC for your little cousin who surfs the web and maybe plays world of warcraft. for any real build, integrated graphics, for all their advancements, still read like:
      Intel: "Our new HD4000 graphics are nearly as fast as a mainstream card from 8 years ago!"
      AMD: "HAH, our new chip's graphics cores are as fast as a mainstream card from 6 years ago! we're two years of obsolecense better!"

      even a $100 modern dedicated card will whallop either of these chips solutions.

    4. Re:Wow by h4rr4r · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You are actually bitching about less power than a light bulb used to use?

      At worst case it looks like ~60 watts on the two higher end units. How low power is the monitor if that constitutes doubling the power? I am betting total system in this little test ignores the monitor.

      Oh noes tens of dollars more per year in electricity! The HORRORS! How ever will I afford such an extravagance that costs per year almost what two drinks at the bar costs.

      If they are within 100watts I would call it a wash and be far more interested in computing power per $ upfront cost. AMD has traditionally done very well in that test and only started failing it very recently.

    5. Re:Wow by characterZer0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I gave up on ATI's drivers too and bought a new laptop with an nVidia card. The state of the drivers is so pathetic that the laptop will not even boot nine times out of ten unless I disable the discrete card and use the integrated Intel GPU because otherwise the Optimus screws everything up. I will take occasionally buggy ATI over completely non-functional nVidia next time.

      --
      Go green: turn off your refrigerator.
    6. Re:Wow by TheLink · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Does it really degrade performance? I've had motherboards with intel graphics, and I just plug an ATI/NVidia video card into them, install the drivers and it seems to work. Then if the video card fails (which does happen) I have the intel graphics to fall back on - so I can still use the PC for normal desktop stuff even if I can't play games that require higher graphics performance.

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    7. Re:Wow by petermgreen · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Because its adding heat for a part you're not using

      Personally I doubt a graphics core that is turned off draws any significant power, particually compared to the massive gulf in performance per watt between intel and AMD at the moment. You could buy a xeon chip where the graphics core is lasered off rather than merely disabling it in software but I doubt it's worth the extra cost to do so.

      and sucking up die space?

      Meh, what does that matter to me as the user. Yes a slightly smaller die is perhaps a little cheaper to make but we all know price is only loosely tied to cost anyway and it's not like a smaller die means a smaller total area taken up by the processor. The package and heatsink already many times bigger than the die.

      --
      note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
  2. AMD has forbidden testers to write about cpuperfor by Laglorden · · Score: 5, Interesting

    AMD has apparently forbidden testers to write about cpuperformance.

    In their NDA-contract it's specified

    "In previewing x86 applications, without providing hard numbers until October [something], we are hoping that you will be able to convey what is most important to the end-user which is what the experience of using the system is like. As one of the foremost evaluators of technology, you are in a unique position to draw educated comparisons and conclusions based on real-world experience with the platform,"

    and

    "The topics which you must be held for the October [sometime], 2012 embargo lift are
            - Overclocking
            - Pricing
            - Non game benchmarks"

    So the reviews coming out are only from sources that has decided to go along with those "guidelines". In other words, not complete, I would say extremly biased.

  3. Unfair benchmark publishing from AMD by IYagami · · Score: 5, Informative

    AMD allowed websites to publish a preview of the benchmarks before the estimated date if they only focused on graphics performance. This is an unfair move by AMD.

    Read http://techreport.com/blog/23638/amd-attempts-to-shape-review-content-with-staged-release-of-info for more details

    (maybe in a couple of weeks you will find that AMD Trinity APUs have abysmal x86 performance compared to Intel CPUs)

    Disclaimer: I own a laptop with an AMD cpu inside

  4. But does it run Linux worth a damn? by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    But does it run linux worth a damn? Inquiring minds want to know. I got boned by buying an Athlon 64 L110/R690M machine for which proper Linux support was never forthcoming. Now I want to see power saving and the graphics driver work before I give AMD money for more empty promises about Linux support.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  5. Time to come out and confess... by sinij · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I admit, I am one of the last few ideologues in PC gaming. I would never consider AMD graphic card due to shitty drivers and I would never consider Intel CPU due to socket shenanigans. Yes, I am actually one of the rare few people who upgrades CPUs and cares about socket backwards comparability.

    My current gaming rig uses Zambezi 8-core AMD CPU, still adequate but it shows its age. I am disappointed AMD hasn't come up with an upgrade, but I can wait.

    My last gaming rig lasted me over 4 years and going. I started with Athlon X2 end ended with Phenom II X4. It is still in use as a media PC, and still capable of gaming.

    Maybe it is dumb luck, but every AMD chip I had was running cool, overclocked well and lasted. Every Intel chip I owned didn't overclock well and had problems staying cool.