AMD Launches New Higher-End Kaveri APUs A10-7800 and A6-7400K 117
MojoKid (1002251) writes "AMD updated its family of Kaveri-based A-Series APUs for desktop systems recently, namely the A10-7800 and the A6-7400K. The A10-7800 has 12 total compute cores, 4 CPU and 8 GPU cores, with average and maximum turbo clock speeds of 3.5GHz and 3.9GHz, respectively. The A6-7400K arrives with 6 total cores (2CPU, 4 GPU) and with the same clock frequencies. ... The AMD A10-7800 APU's performance is somewhat mixed, though it is a decent performer overall. Its Steamroller-based CPU cores do not do much to make up ground versus Intel's processors, so in the more CPU-bound workloads, Intel's dual-core Core i3-4330 competes favorably to AMD's quad-cores. And in terms of IPC and single-thread performance Intel maintains a big lead. Factor graphics into the equation, however, and the tides turn completely. The GCN-based graphics engine in Kaveri is a major step-up over the previous-gen, and much more powerful than Intel's mainstream offerings. The A10-7800's power consumption characteristics are also more desirable versus the Richland-based A10-6800K."
GPUs need fast memory access (Score:5, Informative)
CPU workloads tend to be something that so long as you've a bit of fast cache, memory speed isn't that important. That cache buffer is enough to get you extremely high performance. Not the case with GPU workloads. They are very memory bound. If you look at high end GPUs they have stupid amounts of RAM bandwidth compared to CPUs.
Well, if you try and do both on one chip, you are gonna need fast RAM if you want it to work well.
Re:And unsurprisingly (Score:0, Informative)
FPS per Dollar Champ (Score:4, Informative)
Umm.. These benchmarking sites, and comment threads like this one constantly miss the point.
The AMD A-Series processors do NOT equal intel chips when you run synthetic CPU benchmarks.
The AMD A-Series absolutely KILLS IT when your goal is to throw together a dirt-cheap gaming rig on a budget.
If all you need is a new motherboard, CPU & RAM, and you intend to reuse your old case, hard drives, and peripherals - The AMD A10 chips and their integrated Radeon graphics offer outstanding FPS for the dollar when compared to the alternative of building an intel system w/discrete Nvidia GPU.
Did you really think people are sticking AMD APUs in cases with neon-accented cutout windows and holographic 3D skull case stickers to optimize their VBA performance in large Excel workbooks?
No, they want consistent 90 fps in Shooter DuJour, and they want it for only a few hundred bucks.
Re:GPUs need fast memory access (Score:5, Informative)
Almost - you also need to count memory channels, which on most desktops is two.
2 channels * 64 bits/channel * 2133MT/s / 8 bits/byte = 34128MB/s = 33.3GB/s
GPUs tend to use very wide, high-speed memory, because they need a lot more bandwidth than CPUs because graphics stuff doesn't cache as easily. Some data for comparison:
R7 240: 2 channels * 64 bits/channel * 4500MT/s = 70GB/s
R7 260X: 2 channels * 64 bits/channel * 6500MT/s = 102GB/s
R7 270X: 4 channels * 64 bits/channel * 5600MT/s = 175GB/s
R9 280X: 6 channels * 64 bits/channel * 6000MT/s = 281GB/s
R9 290X: 8 channels * 64 bits/channel * 5000MT/s = 312GB/s
Re:And unsurprisingly (Score:4, Informative)
Theres value to be had if you use advanced CPU features, because all AMD processors tend to have the high-end features (ECC support, etc). Intel charges you through the nose if you want that stuff-- think that Pentium has virtualization support or AES-NI? The AMD sure does.