AMD details second gen A-Series desktop APUs, coming next week

[Shawn Knight]

AMD has unveiled the launch lineup for their second generation A-Series APUs for desktops based on Trinity silicon. The chip designer launched mobile processors of the same variety earlier this year to take advantage of seasonal back-to-school sales while desktop components remained in development.

Desktop A-Series APUs will only work in Socket FM2 motherboads with A75 and A85 chipsets. APUs will consist of four (or two, depending on the model) x86-64 cores split across two Piledriver modules and will contain Radeon HD 7000 series graphics. Furthermore, AMD has integrated the northbridge and dual-channel DDR3-1866MHz memory controller onto the APU for what appears to be the complete package.

The high-end A10-5800K and -5700 both contain Radeon HD 7660D graphics with 384 VLIW4 stream processors, four CPU cores, 4MB of cache and Turbo Core 3.0 support. The 100W TDP –K part is unlocked for easier overclocking with a base clock of 3.8GHz. The slightly slower A10-5700 ships out at 3.4GHz with a 65W TDP.

Mid-range A8 components include the 5600K and the 5500. Both utilize an HD 7560D GPU with 256 stream processors, 760MHz GPU clock speed, four CPU cores and 4MB of cache. Again, the –K series chip is unlocked with a higher 100W TDP while the 5500 requires only 65W.

AMD’s budget processors are the A6-5400K and the A4-4300. Both are only dual-core components with 1MB of cache, Turbo Core 3.0 support and a 65W TDP. Expect less graphics processing power as well as the –K series has 192 stream processors while the 5300 only ships with 128.

These new desktop components are expected to hit retail sometime next week. Pricing should start around $70 on the low end and top out around $140.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/50325-amd-details-second-gen-a-series-desktop-apus-coming-next-week.html

 

[captainawesome]

Why did they not use GCN cores for the GPU?

 

[Blue Falcon]

That's coming with Kaveri in 2013.

 

[Khanonate]

I'm getting the A10-5800K(For my desktop), hope it can play most of the games I'm playing.

 

[Guest]

I wonder when AMD's APU can be crossfired with AMD radeon discrete GPU?

 

[Vrmithrax]

I wonder when AMD's APU can be crossfired with AMD radeon discrete GPU?

You can already use their hybrid Crossfire function (called "Dual Graphics" now), but there are limites to which discrete GPUs and chipsets work with it.. It's been around in one form or another since 2008, and definitely works with current (and new) APUs. Recently built up a computer for a friend with an A8-3850 and a 6xxx series GPU (6570 I think, don't remember off-hand) and enabling the hybrid mode boosted graphics moderately when compared to just the discrete GPU, squeezed out another 20% or so on fps, average.

You won't get a true Crossfire scaling, like you would with 2 GPUs, but you do get a bump. It just makes me miss the days when nVidia still made chipsets, though - I used to get nVidia motherboards with onboard GPU, add a discrete nVidia card, and set the integrated graphics to crunch the PhysX calculations. Worked great, easy and low-cost dedicated PhysX processor without the need to SLI.

 

[agissi]

Dangit I just got Llano 2.5 months ago. I looked into the rumors and after waiting around a year for Ivy Bridge and its less than expected performance I got the top of the line Llano chip for $105 after coupon codes on Newegg. Oh well.. I'll hookup the dirt bike radiators and stick them out my window in 10 degree temps all winter long (Im close to Canada its 10 on the regular) and see if I can make it perform close to Trinity. And I cant even slap a Trinity in my FM1.. boo hoo.

 

[agissi]

Ive got it humming along at 3.6GHz /w 959MHz graphics *stable* right now, the A8-3870 that is. With a $40 aftermarket 140mm cooler and mosfet heatsinks.

 

[oldikes]

Hey agissi, how is the graphics performance at that clock? just curious. can you test some higher end game?

 

[agissi]

Im surprised. Im playing Max Payne 3 at 1920x1200, no AA but it doesnt need it, high textures and high shadows. Its pretty well maxed out. The game plays a hair under 24fps, stays right around 21-24, which makes all the cinematics look a little slow mo but Im ok with that b/c it looks beautiful and I only paid $105 for a gfx card and a cpu. In MSI Kombuster I benchmarked it on Tessy Spheres on Plane v2 @ 1080p and @ 650MHz/3GHz the average was 9fps, at 959/3.6GHz the average was 13fps after a lot of memory tweaking. So it doesnt seem like the OCing helped all that much but in Max Payne 3 its right on the verge of fluid so that little bit counts I suppose. Movies run at 24.xx fps, its as fast as the human eye can see and it looks fluid.

 

[oldikes]

That IS impressive. maybe ill pick one up.

 

[agissi]

Mosfet heatsinks were the trick to getting the graphics clock up to 959MHz, along with a lot of voltage. Before the mosfet heatsinks I wasnt giving the gpu any extra volts and it maxed out at 830MHz stable. The CPU only gets .05v extra and it behaves just fine with nice temps, but the graphics core gets +.2175 volts. .1v-.2v extra is considered the happy zone, so its only just outside that. My Gigabyte UD-4H... mobo had only 1 heatsink on the mosfets/voltage regulators, and when I stuck my finger on the ones 90 degrees perpendicular around the socket without heatsinks they promptly burned my finger under load. So I cut the stock mosfet heatsink just slightly to make room for another spare one I had laying around to go on some hot chips next to it. Then I bought Arctic Alumina and some $12 copper heatsinks, took some emery cloth (ultra fine sandpaper) to the bottom of the heatsinks and top of the chips, cleaned it up with isopro. alcohol and off I went with the arctic alumina. I can tell the chip is still limited by heat, the CPU seems to bug out around 60*C, keep it maxing at 55*C and its happy, even though its Thermal max temp is 80*C per Core Temp 1.0 RC3. It idles around 10*C too, quite low even with turbo boost turned off running at 3.6GHz. Im showing Min 8*C and Max 45*C but I dont think that includes a Max Panye run on this boot.