AMD Kaveri Review: A8-7600 and A10-7850K Tested
by Ian Cutress & Rahul Garg on January 14, 2014 8:00 AM ESTLlano, Trinity and Kaveri Die: Compared
AMD sent along a high res shot of Kaveri's die. Armed with the same from the previous two generations, we can get a decent idea of the progression of AMD's APUs:
Llano, K10 Quad Core
Trinity and Richland Die, with two Piledriver modules and processor graphics
Kaveri, two modules and processor graphics
Moving from Llano to Trinity, we have the reduction from a fully-fledged quad core system to the dual module layout AMD is keeping with its APU range. Moving from Richland to Kaveri is actually a bigger step than one might imagine:
| AMD APU Details | ||||
| Core Name | Llano | Trinity | Richland | Kaveri |
| Microarch | K10 | Piledriver | Piledriver | Steamroller |
| CPU Example | A8-3850 | A10-5800K | A10-6800K | A10-7850K |
| Threads | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Cores | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| GPU | HD 6550 | HD 7660D | HD 8670D | R7 |
| GPU Arch | VLIW5 | VLIW4 | VLIW4 | GCN 1.1 |
| GPU Cores | 400 | 384 | 384 | 512 |
| Die size / mm2 | 228 | 246 | 246 | 245 |
| Transistors | 1.178 B | 1.303 B | 1.303 B | 2.41 B |
| Power | 100W | 100W | 100W | 95W |
| CPU MHz | 2900 | 3800 | 4100 | 3700 |
| CPU Turbo | N/A | 4200 | 4400 | 4000 |
| L1 Cache |
256KB C$ 256KB D$ |
128KB C$ 64KB D$ |
128KB C$ 64KB D$ |
192KB C$ 64KB D$ |
| L2 Cache | 4 x 1MB | 2 x 2 MB | 2 x 2 MB | 2 x 2 MB |
| Node | 32nm SOI | 32nm SOI | 32nm SOI | 28nm SHP |
| Memory | DDR-1866 | DDR-1866 | DDR-2133 | DDR-2133 |
Looking back at Llano and Trinity/Richland, it's very clear that AMD's APUs on GF's 32nm SOI process had a real issue with transistor density. The table below attempts to put everything in perspective but keep in mind that, outside of Intel, no one does a good job of documenting how they are counting (estimating) transistors. My only hope is AMD's transistor counting methods are consistent across CPU and GPU, although that alone may be wishful thinking:
| Transistor Density Comparison | ||||||||
| Manufacturing Process | Transistor Count | Die Size | Transistors per mm2 | |||||
| AMD Kaveri | GF 28nm SHP | 2.41B | 245 mm2 | 9.837M | ||||
| AMD Richland | GF 32nm SOI | 1.30B | 246 mm2 | 5.285M | ||||
| AMD Llano | GF 32nm SOI | 1.178B | 228 mm2 | 5.166M | ||||
| AMD Bonaire (R7 260X) | TSMC 28nm | 2.08B | 160 mm2 | 13.000M | ||||
| AMD Pitcairn (R7 270/270X) | TSMC 28nm | 2.80B | 212 mm2 | 13.209M | ||||
| AMD Vishera (FX-8350) | GF 32nm SOI | 1.2B | 315 mm2 | 3.810M | ||||
| Intel Haswell 4C (GT2) | Intel 22nm | 1.40B | 177 mm2 | 7.910M | ||||
| NVIDIA GK106 (GTX 660) | TSMC 28nm | 2.54B | 214 mm2 | 11.869M | ||||
If AMD is indeed counting the same way across APUs/GPUs, the move to Kaveri doesn't look all that extreme but rather a good point in between previous APUs and other AMD GCN GPUs. Compared to standalone CPU architectures from AMD, it's clear that the APUs are far more dense thanks to big portions of their die being occupied by a GPU.
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keveazy - Wednesday, January 15, 2014 - link
Compete to do heavy software and GAMING. My motherboard only costs $60. Of course I "checked". Intel is not stupid. Their 4600 is not meant for gaming and they Don't boast about it. I use a dedicated GPU to run games.AMD keeps on advertising their igpu that it can run today's games like battlefield 4 on 1080p. Yeah, on Low settings...... Even the PS4's gpu is better than that.
YuLeven - Thursday, January 16, 2014 - link
If general tasks and gaming is on stake here, I say buy a cheap Pentium G for US$65 and a HD 7770GE for US$110 (today's price at newegg). The SSD too, of course. Voilá, you have fast general tasks and a GPU that makes the A10-7850K's GPU look like a toy.just4U - Thursday, January 16, 2014 - link
Your I5 costs $200ish.. sales might get that down to 185 if your lucky.. I rarely see it though.keveazy - Saturday, January 18, 2014 - link
I bought my I5 4440 for $175 dude. you serious?Laststop311 - Wednesday, January 15, 2014 - link
the 45 watt one oe 65 watt once would make an awesome htpc loaded withh all the old school emulators and so,e mew games with controllers.JDG1980 - Wednesday, January 15, 2014 - link
Old-school emulators will work fine on almost any modern system, including one with Intel's integrated graphics.fox1986 - Wednesday, January 15, 2014 - link
Would it be possible to make a fm2 motherboard with 6 display outputs?fteoath64 - Sunday, January 19, 2014 - link
"with 6 display outputs?". Buy a Netfinity 6 port Gpu card and stick it on the PCIe X16 slot and you are set. There was one Netfinity card that had 5 miniDP ports and a DVI connector, if I am not mistaken.figus77 - Wednesday, January 15, 2014 - link
"It is interesting to note that at the lower resolutions the Iris Pro wins on most benchmarks, but when the resolution and complexity is turned up, especially in Sleeping Dogs, the Kaveri APUs are in the lead."It's simple... al low resolution and detail the raw power of the i5 crush the A10 when there is not GPU bottleneck...
duploxxx - Wednesday, January 15, 2014 - link
that could be tested inserting an equal discrete GPU on to both systems....