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AMD's Kaveri APU Debuts With GCN-based Radeon Graphics

Posted by Soulskill on from the onward-and-upward dept.

crookedvulture writes "AMD's next-generation Kaveri APU is now available, and the first reviews have hit the web. The chip combines updated Steamroller CPU cores with integrated graphics based on the latest Radeon graphics cards. It's also infused with a dedicated TrueAudio DSP, a faster memory interface, and several features that fall under AMD's Heterogeneous System Architecture for mixed-mode computing. As expected, the APU's graphics performance is excellent; even the entry level, $119 A8-6700 is capable of playing Battlefield 4 at 1080p with medium detail settings. But the powerful GPU doesn't always translate to superior performance in OpenCL-accelerated applications, where comparable Intel chips are very competitive. Intel still has an advantage in power efficiency and raw CPU performance, too. Kaveri's CPU cores are certainly an improvement over the previous generation of Richland chips, but they can't match the per-thread throughput of Intel's rival Haswell CPU. In the end, Kaveri's appeal largely rests on whether the integrated graphics are fast enough for your needs. Serious gamers are better off with discrete GPUs, but more casual players can benefit from the extra Radeon horsepower. Eventually, HSA-enabled applications may benefit, as well."

3 of 123 comments (clear)

  1. The COST difference should be mentioned. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's 1:2 AMD:Intel, at the kindest level.

    It's 2:3 with radeons:nvidia.

  2. Re:Capable of Playing - worthless statement by Baloroth · · Score: 4, Informative

    Most people, when they say "capable of playing", mean that it can actually be played on those settings, i.e. that the frame rate is high enough for the game to be considered playable. Generally, this means an average frame rate of ~30 and minimums of 20 or more (although that depends a bit on the reviewer, some people consider a frame rate of 30 totally unplayable, personally anything above 20 can still be played).

    --
    "None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
  3. Re:Looked into it for a friend's build by theGreater · · Score: 3, Informative

    And they have spoken a bit of using both the integrated GPU and a discrete graphics card in tandem, similar to using two GPUs in Crossfire, but they haven't released the drivers for it, nor listed which cards will work, and the card they chose to demo it with was their bottom-end graphics card.

    That's not very truthy:
    http://www.amd.com/us/products/technologies/dual-graphics/pages/dual-graphics.aspx#3