AMD Kaveri Review: A8-7600 and A10-7850K Tested
by Ian Cutress & Rahul Garg on January 14, 2014 8:00 AM ESTSocket: FM2+
The new Kaveri processors are built to use the sort-of new FM2+ socket based motherboards. These motherboards fit both FM2+ and FM2 APUs, and thus have been on the market for a good number of months already. However the boards currently on the market may require a BIOS update, and e-tailers shipping motherboards out today may still have the older not-updated revisions in stock, so it is worth confirming that the motherboard you order is updated.
AMD’s generational split on Kaveri is indicative of market pressure and AMD’s history – users like either the processor or the motherboard to be forwards or backwards compatible in terms of compliance. In this case the following table applies:
| Socket Compatibility Chart | ||
| Will Work in FM2 | Will Work in FM2+ | |
| Richland | Yes | Yes |
| Kaveri | No | Yes |
As Kaveri comes with two extra pins that are blocked off with older FM2 motherboards, they are not compatible.
For our testing today, we had sourced the ASRock FM2A88X Extreme6+ and FM2A88X-ITX+ motherboards, both of which will be the focus for review in due course.
Chipset/FCH: A55, A78, A88X
To add some confusion into the mix, AMD is using a mixture of old and new chipsets on FM2+. Kaveri will support the A55, A78 and A88X chipset based motherboards, but not the A75 chipset that was used for Llano/FM1 motherboards. Perhaps more confusing is that while the old Richland APUs will be able to be used on FM2+ with A88X, the older FM2 motherboards will not come with A88X. How about a table to make it clearer:
| Chipset Compatibility Chart | |||
|
Will Work with Llano APUs |
Will Work with Trinity & Richland APUs |
Will Work with Kaveri APUs |
|
| A55 + FM1 | Yes | No | No |
| A55 + FM2 | No | Yes | No |
| A55 + FM2+ | No | Yes | Yes |
| A75 + FM1 | Yes | No | No |
| A75 + FM2 | No | Yes | No |
| A78 + FM2+ | No | Yes | Yes |
| A85X + FM2 | No | Yes | No |
| A88X + FM2+ | No | Yes | Yes |
Though even a table doesn't make the compatibility matrix crystal-clear, it does help to make sense of what users can expect for chipset and sock compatibility. Basically, any A88X motherboard you buy will fit the Kaveri APU. For A78, we are currently under the impression that these will be FM2+ only as well, just do not get confused with older ‘AMD 780L’ Northbridge chipsets that were advertised with A78 in the motherboard name that used the AM3 socket. A55 is almost a free-for-all, with FM1 and FM2 motherboards using it.
As for the differences between the older A85X and A88X chipsets, there are only a few to speak of. Support for PCIe 3.0 is the big one, with any FM2+ and A88X motherboard and Kaveri APU taking full advantage of PCIe 3.0 in all its glory, either as an x16 slot or an x8/x8. A88X still has eight 6 Gbps ports and four USB 3.0 ports native, as well as supporting RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10. The other only upgrade to note is the move to XHCI 1.0.
| Chipset Comparison | |||||
| A55 | A75 | A78 | A85X | A88X | |
| Chipsets |
FM1 FM2 FM2+ |
FM1 FM2 |
FM2+ | FM2 | FM2+ |
| PCIe Generation | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 |
| PCIe Lane Allocation | 1x16 | 1x16 or 2x8 | 1x16 | 1x16 or 2x8 | 1x16 or 2x8 |
| SATA 6/3 Gbps | 0 + 6 | 6 + 0 | 6 + 0 (?) | 8 + 0 | 8 + 0 |
| USB Ports (3/2/1.1) | 0 + 14 + 2 | 4 + 10 + 2 | 4 + 10 + 2 (?) | 4 + 10 + 2 | 4 + 10 + 2 |
| RAID | 0, 1, 10 | 0. 1, 5, 10 | 0. 1, 5, 10 | 0. 1, 5, 10 | 0. 1, 5, 10 |
| TDP | 7.6 W | 7.8 W | 7.8 W ? | 7.8 W | 7.8 W ? |
Unusually for AMD, little information about chipset evolution was provided through the normal channels.
What about FX CPUs, or Server CPUs?
Leaked roadmaps have not been kind to AMD’s FX range. The ‘king’ of the Vishera family of FX CPUs, the quad-module eight-thread FX-9590, looks like it will be the king of the FX line for a little while longer, as shown in this roadmap:
As you might imagine, there is no public comment from AMD about the lack of new FX CPUs with Steamroller cores coming soon.
Depending on which roadmap you look at, AMD’s server offerings are mixed. Some report that During 2014 we will see the launch of “Warsaw” CPUs featuring 12-16 Piledriver cores, and there is no current mention of high-end Steamroller based Opterons at all. The official roadmap from AMD from June shows this, including their ARM server discussion, but a recently leaked roadmap shows that Steamroller will appear in their 1P compute clusters, followed by Excavator in 2015, but Piledriver based 12-16 thread machines will stay at the top of the pile.
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SofS - Wednesday, January 22, 2014 - link
Following your links and looking around I found:http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-memory-sc...
It links to previous similar articles concerning the Phenon II and the i7 of the time (975). Seems that indeed the C2Q does not benefit much from memory improvements compared to the other two, but there is a difference. This and all of those three cases are relevant since all three models were very popular. Also, I remember choosing the on time smaller modules for my first kit whit this particular system since they were the only reasonable DDR3 modules at 1600 within reach, albeit I never managed to stabilize it at CL6. On the other hand the latter I upgraded with got CL6 from XMP since the beginning while being larger. Given that memory is very cheap compared to the whole system plus the cost of repurchasing non portable software then this (maybe also a new GPU) might just be the final push needed to wait for the next generation native DDR4 systems for many.
fokka - Tuesday, January 14, 2014 - link
i understand your sentiment, but then again, about every modern mainstream cpu should destroy a c2d and even quad in raw performance. and you even get relatively capable integrated graphics included in the package, so about everyone even moderately interested in computing performance and efficiency "should bite the bullet" if he's got a couple hundred bucks on the side.just4U - Wednesday, January 15, 2014 - link
and that's the problem.. their not. "It's good enough" Numbers are.. just that numbers. We hit a wall in 2008 (or there abouts..) and while performance kept increasing it's been in smaller increments. Over the span of several generations that really can add up but not the way it once did.It used to be you'd get on a old system and it would be like pulling teeth because the differences were very noticeable and in some cases they still are.. but for the most part? Not so much.. not for normal/casual usage. There is a ceiling .. Athlon X2s P4s? No.. you'll notice it.. Quad 8x Core2? hmmm.. How about a socket 1366 cpu or the 1156 stuff? Or the PIIs from AMD. Those people should upgrade? Certainly if their board dies and they can't replace.. but otherwise not so much.
just4U - Wednesday, January 15, 2014 - link
That should have read Quad 8x series Core2s.. anyway these days It seems like we do a lot more change out video, add in ssd, increase ram, rather then build systems from the ground up as systems can stick around longer and still be quite viable. Yes/no?tcube - Thursday, January 16, 2014 - link
Totaly agree. We're led to believe that we need to upgrade every 2 years or so... yet a great many are still using old cpu's even dual cores with new software and os without a care in the world. Because there is no noticeable improvement in cpu usage. Cpu power became irrelevant after C2Q nothing beyond that power is justifiable in normal home or office usage. Certainly certain professional users will want a cheap workstation and will buy into the highend pc market likewise extreme gamers or just for bragging rights. But thinking that for anything from browsing to medium photoshop usage or any moderate videoediting software use will REQUIRE anything past a quadcore like lowend i5's or this kaveri is plain false. You will however notice the lack of a powerful gpu when gaming or doing other gpu intensive tasks... so amd has a clear winner here.I do agree it's not suited for heavy x86 work... but honestly... most software stacks that previously relied heavily on cpu are moving to opencl to get a massive boost from the gpu... photoshop being just one of many... so yeah the powerful gpu on kaveri is a good incentive to buy, the x86 performance is better then richland which is sufficient for me(as i currently do use a richland cpu) so...
Syllabub - Friday, January 17, 2014 - link
I am not going to try and pick a winner but I follow your line of reasoning. I have a system with a e6750 C2D and Nvidia 9600 that still gets the job done just fine. It might be described as a single purpose type of system meaning I ask it to run one or possibly two programs at the same time. What I think is pretty wild is that when I put it together originally I probably sank something close to $250 into the CPU and GPU purchase while today I potentially get similar performance for under $130 or so. The hard part is buying today in a manner that preserves a level of performance equivalent to the old system; always feel the tug to bump up the performance ladder even if I don't really need it.Flunk - Thursday, January 16, 2014 - link
That doesn't really make sense unless you also include equivalently-priced current Intel processors. People may be moving on from Core 2s but they have the opportunity to buy anything on the market right now, not just AMD chips.PPB - Tuesday, January 14, 2014 - link
Adding a $350 CPU plus $50 GPU to a iGP gaming comparison = Anandtech keeping it classy.MrSpadge - Tuesday, January 14, 2014 - link
You do realize they're not recommending this in any way, just showing the full potential of a low-end discrete GPU which wouldn't be bottlenecked by any modern 3+ core CPU?Homeles - Tuesday, January 14, 2014 - link
PPB being an ignorant critic, as usual."For reference we also benchmarked the only mid-range GPU to hand - a HD 6750 while connected to the i7-4770K."