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."
And unsurprisingly (Score:0, Interesting)
It gets bested by a cheaper Pentium G3xxx in most benches, and it uses more power too. Actually, a $58 Celeron G1620 has better single threaded performance than the A10-7800. It's about the same price as a i3 4330, but the i3 slaughters it (while using 10W less), even if it's just a dual core chip... Admittedly I haven't checked gaming benchmarks because business users don't give a shit, and true gamers don't either (oh, slightly less underpowered? yay?)
I really want competition, good prices, and a strong AMD. But their products in the last few years SUCK HARD. I don't want a power sucking CPU with 8 slow cores that will just sit idle. Give me 4 fast cores with a good price/performance ratio and I'll buy.
Fast RAM required (Score:4, Interesting)
It's a laptop chip... (Score:4, Interesting)
What most people don't realize is that the desktop version is basically an afterthought. The chip has been optimized for laptops, where it does make some sense (adding a discrete GPU is not an option after purchase and laptops with discrete GPUs are quite more expensive, so the comparative advantage is more important). AMD knows they can't win on the desktop, which is why they didn't bother with extreme caches, 4-module (8-core) versions and cherry-picked chips with crazy TDPs. Personally, I'm much more excited with the laptop version of Kaveri, such as the 7350B in the HP EliteBook 745 G2.
Anyway, for the price it makes a really great casual gaming PC, especially for people who are price sensitive and can't afford a +$100 discrete GPU (in some places this is a decent chunk of a month's salary...).