AMD A10-5800K & A8-5600K Review: Trinity on the Desktop, Part 2
by Anand Lal Shimpi on October 2, 2012 1:45 AM EST
General Performance
SYSMark 2012
Although not the best indication of overall system performance, the SYSMark 2012 suite does give us a good idea of lighter workloads than we're used to testing.
AMD does surprisingly well here in SYSMark 2012. The Core i3 3220 manages a 12% advantage over the 5800K, but that's not as much as we'd normally expect given the significant single threaded performance deficit we pointed out earlier. Once again, whether or not Trinity makes sense for you depends on how much you value processor graphics performance.
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ditroia - Tuesday, October 02, 2012 - link
Disappointing that you can't crossfire with a & series Discrete 7 series GPU, as I think that would have made a cheap but powerful Gaming system.Thanks Reply
mikato - Wednesday, October 03, 2012 - link
Yeah I was really hoping to see a Crossfire with a lower end card as part of this review. ReplyJamahl - Tuesday, October 02, 2012 - link
Llano vs the 2105 last year -http://www.anandtech.com/show/4476/amd-a83850-revi...
"Look at our single-threaded Cinebench scores below and you'll see a 50% performance advantage."
"CPU bound gaming performance is also an area where the A8 falls behind the i3. Here you're looking at a 25 - 50% advantage for the i3-2100/2105"
This is partly due to Ivy Bridge being so underwhelming.
The only problem I see is with load power which has gone backwards. Reply
JKnows - Tuesday, October 02, 2012 - link
Video Drivers: AMD Catalyst 12.3 ???Are you kidding? That driver cannot even use Trinity architecture... Reply
aislanluiz - Tuesday, October 02, 2012 - link
We’re power users, after all. We know how to cope with heat and noise; we can deal with a 100 W chip, even in an HTPC. But there’s no way to make the Core i3 look better unless you spring for an add-in card. AMD’s emphasis on balance makes the A10-5800K a better platform for more people than Intel’s closest competition. Replyfrozentundra123456 - Tuesday, October 02, 2012 - link
Trinity may be attractive for HTPC, but I cannot imagine a "power user" who does not have a discrete card in a desktop, at least if you are at all into gaming. The igpus are pathetic for gaming and you get better performance with intel plus discrete card. Replyericore - Tuesday, October 02, 2012 - link
I don't think Anand has a single benchmark that uses an App from AMD appStore. Even Tom's hardware was considerate enough to use Adobe CS6 products. I'm sorry but this benchmark makes Intel look better than it does. The benchmark is fully Intel optimized, System Max is Intel Optimized, no a single benchmark is AMD optimized. Disappointed Anand.The following review is much more fair:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/a10-5800k-a8-5... Reply
Beenthere - Tuesday, October 02, 2012 - link
The haters won't be happy but it's great that AMD has delivered as promised with Trinity desktop in addition to laptop. Trinity desktop delivers performance and value for those looking for an all-in-one solution at an extremely affordable price - which is a growing segment of the market as people discover the huge cost savings compared to a discrete CPU/GPU set-up. BTW, no one would ever consider Intel 2500 graphics as being usable, so the Trinity desktop APUs are literally in a class of their own for now.It's also worth noting that single thread performance is not the holy grail. Most people running modern software will be perfectly happy with Trinity desktop performance even if you crunch numbers now and then. Price and performance wise AMD has delivered a winning solution when you look at performance vs. cost. This will force Intel to discount it's i3/i5 products, which is good for all.
Obviously Trinity desktop is NOT intended as a replacement for a highend discrete CPU/GPU system. That will come in a few more years but for now AMD continues to offer excellent performance and value, which is what mainstream consumers desire. Reply
jamyryals - Tuesday, October 02, 2012 - link
On the whole, mainstream consumers do not use desktop PCs. They use laptops. ReplyBeenthere - Tuesday, October 02, 2012 - link
Sorry but your beliefs on laptop vs. desktop usage is incorrect. While a lot of young people, sales people etc. use laptops, the split is almost 50/50 according to a recent survey, meaning that ~50% of PC users still use desktops.That being said, Trinity laptop is by far the best choice for mainstream consumers who prefer a laptop over a desktop.
Either way it's a win for AMD and consumers on the desktop or for a laptop. Servers will be next as the AMD APUs have shown excellent results for servers even though they were never intended for same. Reply