The Llano Desktop Preview: AMD A8-3850 CPU & GPU Performance
by Anand Lal Shimpi on June 14, 2011 12:00 AM ESTLlano vs. Sandy Bridge: Finally, Acceptable Processor Graphics
On average the A8-3850 is 58% faster than the Core i5 2500K. If we look at peak performance in games like Modern Warfare 2, Llano delivers over twice the frame rate of Sandy Bridge. This is what processor graphics should look like. While I believe Sandy Bridge was a good start for integrated GPU performance, Llano is my ideal for 2011. Update: We've added results from the latest 2372 driver for the 2500K. Most performance results remain unchanged however a few problematic areas for Sandy Bridge have been addressed as a result. Llano still maintains a significant performance in the majority of cases.
Games that are more CPU bound however do show Llano's weakness. Both Dragon Age and Starcraft II have Sandy Bridge either outperforming or coming very close to Llano in frame rates. Those are most definitely the exception rather than the rule however; for the most part AMD is able to deliver entry-level discrete GPU performance with Llano.
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mczak - Tuesday, June 14, 2011 - link
Oh and forgot to add could you please specify the exact specification of the HD5570? The article only says 400 cores at 750Mhz (seems very high for 5570) and misses the memory completely (there are 5570 on the market with pretty much anything ranging from ddr2 to gddr5...). Reference 5570 would be 650Mhz core clock and 900Mhz ddr3 memory.Tanclearas - Tuesday, June 14, 2011 - link
Seriously?! Have you even checked memory prices lately?DanNeely - Tuesday, June 14, 2011 - link
newegg typical basely prices for 2x2GB DDR3:1333: $40
1600: $44
1866: $70
2000: $60
anything above 1600 starts to show a binning penalty. (The 1866/2000 prices are not an error, DDR3-2000 is readily available for less than 1866.)
Tanclearas - Thursday, June 16, 2011 - link
Right. So $14 difference changes a $499 system into a $513 system. While I recognize the psychological difference between those numbers, I also know that manufacturers and marketing departments can find ways to trim that $14 from somewhere else and highlight the DDR3-2000 memory, even if they only advertise and run it as DDR3-1866.I would not typically encourage the use of high-speed memory because traditionally it has little to no impact on most real applications. However, Llano changes that when using the IGP.
Anand Lal Shimpi - Wednesday, June 15, 2011 - link
Here's some additional data to tide you over :)http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/cpu/amd/llano/...
Anand Lal Shimpi - Wednesday, June 15, 2011 - link
Hmm a shortened link, looks like our comment system needs a tweak :)http://bit.ly/kYGkvk
mczak - Wednesday, June 15, 2011 - link
very nice scaling results. This platform REALLY wants at least ddr3-1600. AMD should have only officially supported ddr3-1600 and faster to force the OEMs to not skimp on the memory :-).duploxxx - Wednesday, June 15, 2011 - link
major improvement seen from this increase of RAM speed, can you pls reload ALL benches with this new DRAM?It was clearly mentioned in the AMD slides that memory bandwidth was very important, this might also influence the CF setup a lot.
mczak - Wednesday, June 15, 2011 - link
The cpu benches shouldn't change really, just like older Phenom II you could just as well use ddr2 I bet.It should probably help for CF indeed as it will make the setup more symmetric, but given it barely worked at all I don't think there's much point retrying that without a newer driver version anyway.
plonk420 - Tuesday, June 14, 2011 - link
will the final review have 1333 vs 1866 ram?