AMD A10-5800K & A8-5600K Review: Trinity on the Desktop, Part 1
by Anand Lal Shimpi on September 27, 2012 12:00 AM ESTCrysis: Warhead
Our first graphics test is Crysis: Warhead, which in spite of its relatively high system requirements is the oldest game in our test suite. Crysis was the first game to really make use of DX10, and set a very high bar for modern games that still hasn't been completely cleared. And while its age means it's not heavily played these days, it's a great reference for how far GPU performance has come since 2008. For an iGPU to even run Crysis at a playable framerate is a significant accomplishment, and even more so if it can do so at better than performance (low) quality settings.
Crysis sets the tone for a lot of what we'll see in this performance review. The Radeon HD 7660D on AMD's A10-5800K boosts performance by around 15 - 26% over the top end Llano part. The smaller, Radeon HD 7560D GPU manages a small increase over the top-end Llano at worst, and at best pulls ahead by 18%.
Compared to Ivy Bridge, well, there's no comparison. Trinity is significantly faster than Intel's HD 4000, and compared to HD 2500 the advantage is tremendous.
Metro 2033
Our next graphics test is Metro 2033, another graphically challenging game. Like Crysis this is a game that is traditionally unplayable on many integrated GPUs, even in DX9 mode.
Metro 2033 shows us a 6 - 13% performance advantage for the top end Trinity part compared to Llano. The advantage over Intel's HD 4000 ranges from 20 - 40% depending on the resolution/quality settings. In general AMD is able to either deliver the same performance at much better quality or better performance at the same quality as Ivy Bridge.
The more important comparison is looking at the A8-5600K vs. Intel's HD 4000 and 2500. AMD is still able to hold onto a significant advantage there, even with its core-reduced GPU.
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coder543 - Thursday, September 27, 2012 - link
It's just a marketing strategy. The CPU performance is fine -- and look at the Starcraft 2 benchmarks in this very article if you want further confirmation of that. Anandtech was subtly hinting that the CPU performance is a step in the right direction.ganeshts - Thursday, September 27, 2012 - link
The HTPC oriented review is coming up at 11:00 AM ESTjwcalla - Thursday, September 27, 2012 - link
Hopefully there will be some commentary on Linux driver support for those of us who take an interest in XBMC as an HTPC platform. :)In particular, hardware-accelerated video decoding.
Taft12 - Thursday, September 27, 2012 - link
Linux driver support will be the same as it always has been for brand new platforms. Non-existant. Give it a few months.coder543 - Thursday, September 27, 2012 - link
that's simply not true. The proprietary graphics drivers for Linux use the same code that their Windows brethren do. Open source drivers? yeah, that's months away... but Linux does have support.coder543 - Thursday, September 27, 2012 - link
Check Phoronix -- they'll be posting some stuff soon.coder543 - Thursday, September 27, 2012 - link
I'm also with jwcalla -- can we see some Linux stuff?MrSpadge - Thursday, September 27, 2012 - link
Did you see the frame rates at low resolution and detail? Game performance will absolutely tank at 1080p, no need to test this. And other HTPC duties haven't been tested here anyway.JNo - Thursday, September 27, 2012 - link
+11080p benchmarks are essential for a desktop part.
Also, whilst you're at it, you may as well make quality a minimum of 'medium' for 1377 and poss also include medium for 1680.
juampavalverde - Thursday, September 27, 2012 - link
Well maybe im biased by the view of Scott, but read by yourself:http://techreport.com/blog/23638/amd-attempts-to-s...
AMD is telling what can be shown and what not... F off AMD, this aint a review, its a preview tailored by AMD Marketing, far of a whole fully product review, and the tailoring its exactly to offer a biased view of the product. Please make it clear Anand, the quality of your site is better than this AMD marketing bs.