Holiday 2012 AMD Trinity Buyer's Guide
by Zach Throckmorton on November 29, 2012 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Guides
- Systems
- AMD
- Trinity
- Holiday 2012
Final Words
To be blunt, AMD has seen better days than today. Its higher-end CPUs (the FX series) have difficulty competing with Intel's Core i5 and Core i7 CPUs in many regards, though Piledriver has helped narrow the gap. Up until recently, AMD competed with Intel's lower end CPUs (Celerons and Pentium Dual Cores) with older, power-hungry processors (Athlon II X2s, X3, and X4s). This situation was especially untenable in the mobile market. If you've followed my guides over the last two years, you've seen fewer and fewer systems based on AMD processors.
But the first-generation Llano APUs and especially the current-gen Trinity APUs fare well against Intel's low- and mid-range CPUs. From a consumer standpoint, competition is always good, and I'm glad to see AMD competing well in the mainstream market segment. Most of the computers I build are mainstream systems, and it's great to be able to reduce power consumption, system complexity, and cost by simply cutting out the discrete GPU—while still allowing my computers' users to play new, popular video game titles. Trinity is especially well-suited to the small form factor, and I hope motherboard manufacturers start to make more models available!
While Black Friday and Cyber Monday have come and gone, holiday sales will continue to present compelling prices to potential parts buyers. If you're patient and do your homework, you'll be able to put together systems like the ones outlined in this guide for as little money as possible. AnandTech's own Hot Deals Forum is a great place to find and share what are often ephemeral, flaming prices on hardware. And of course, AnandTech's General Hardware Forum is a great place to ask any questions you might have and share your expertise with fellow enthusiasts.
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MadMan007 - Thursday, November 29, 2012 - link
I am looking forward to AMD keeping up with the progress they've made with APUs. It looks like they might be going 'tick-tock' style with alternating updates to the CPU and GPU architectures. Piledriver makes these competitive-ish for their price point on the CPU side, a GCN GPU which I expect to be the next update will make these good for older games even at higher resolutions. I don't play the newest, most demanding games, so if AMD can make an APU with something like HD 7750ish-class graphics that would be awesome. I know that's asking a lot for 28nm, but maybe they can do it with GloFo's 14nm/20nm process, that will give them a lot more silicon to use.MadMan007 - Thursday, November 29, 2012 - link
Oh, I also meant to say...do something like that and I might consider buying an AMD CPU for my main computer for the first time since Core 2 came out.just4U - Thursday, November 29, 2012 - link
As a laptop gaming setup Trinity is damn nice.. and a great deal at current pricing.. but for desktops.. most gamers playing todays games will still want/need a little bit more umph then what the gpu offers. Pairing it up with a $75-100 card will give a happy experience for most who are not looking to win benchmark awards. The same applies to the i3 (obviously) A Radeon 7750 or a Geforce 650 (if you prefer Nvidia..) fits the bill nicely. Alternatively a 6670 which will take advantage of the hybrid crossfire.just4U - Thursday, November 29, 2012 - link
As a forinstance Guildwars2 needed to be turned down a fair ammount (going to 1440x900 for good playability.. Frames were good then but most eyecandy was off.. The GPU is great at lower resolutions and older games.. but it can't quite handle the good stuff at 1680/1050. Playable? yes. Enjoyable? not so much.AMD is really really close but not quite there.
frozentundra123456 - Thursday, November 29, 2012 - link
Pretty much the problem still with Trinity for the desktop IMO. Almost but not quite good enough. The graphics is either more than the non-gamer needs or not quite good enough for gaming. Yes, you can play some games at moderate resolutions and settings. But if you are spending a few hundred dollars for a computer, not to mention buying games, why would you want to limit yourself so much.And if you are not interested in gaming, it still uses more power than a dual core intel without a descrete card.
I see a good place for Trinity in laptops if the price is right. But for the desktop, not so much.
just4U - Thursday, November 29, 2012 - link
For budget builds it's spot on.. an i3 or Trinity does the job nicely with a decent video card and won't break the bank. There is a place for it. If you need a everyday type computer with light gaming duties it also works well with the onboard gpu.. really well infact. Great for a office computer, or a set top box in the living room.But yeah.. not quite there sums it up nicely for gamers looking to play todays games. Most are at 1080P or 1680/1050 resolutions and it's just not enough.
tocket - Thursday, November 29, 2012 - link
I recently upgraded my HTPC from a Pentium G620 to A10-5800K and the most obvious difference is really the power consumption. With the stock cooler the A10 easily heats up to the point where the fan gets too noisy when you're watching a movie in XBMC. Even though the Intel cooler is smaller, this was never a problem with the Pentium. I would really recommend adding a good cooler to your A10 HTPC setup if you're sensitive to noise. Personally I decided to get a Big Shuriken, which I'm very happy with.cyrusfox - Thursday, November 29, 2012 - link
Do you regret the upgrade? Do you notice any performance advantage, from your comment it seems it was a bad upgrade. Whats your opinion?tocket - Thursday, November 29, 2012 - link
Oh, not at all. It was a good upgrade that I'm very happy with. The CPU is noticeably faster and the graphics are a huge improvement from the G620. I was just not fully prepared to deal with 100 W TDP in a mini-ITX system. With the upgraded cooler the system is nearly silent and the performance is great.just4U - Thursday, November 29, 2012 - link
I didn't bother with the included cooler so wasn't sure how temps were with it. With a $17 Zalman cooler it rarely goes to 40 in a 8 year old case with limited airflow. (older lian-li with 2 80mm fans in the front and 1 80mm in the back) What were the temperatures like in your itx case with the included cooler? Curious..