AMD Carrizo Part 2: A Generational Deep Dive into the Athlon X4 845 at $70
by Ian Cutress on July 14, 2016 9:00 AM ESTGRID: Autosport at 3 GHz
No graphics tests are complete without some input from Codemasters and the EGO engine, which means for this round of testing we point towards GRID: Autosport, the next iteration in the GRID and racing genre. As with our previous racing testing, each update to the engine aims to add in effects, reflections, detail and realism, with Codemasters making ‘authenticity’ a main focal point for this version.
GRID’s benchmark mode is very flexible, and as a result we created a test race using a shortened version of the Red Bull Ring with twelve cars doing two laps. The car is focus starts last and is quite fast, but usually finishes second or third. Both the average and minimum frame rates are recorded.
For this test we used the following settings with our graphics cards:
| GRID: Autosport Settings | |||
| Resolution | Quality | ||
| Low GPU | Integrated Graphics | 1920x1080 | Medium |
| ASUS R7 240 1GB DDR3 | |||
| Medium GPU | MSI GTX 770 Lightning 2GB | 1920x1080 | Maximum |
| MSI R9 285 Gaming 2G | |||
| High GPU | ASUS GTX 980 Strix 4GB | 1920x1080 | Maximum |
| MSI R9 290X Gaming 4G | |||
The EGO engine typically shows off any small changes in hardware configuration, which can be a good thing, and similar to the other tests the average frame rates favor Kaveri.
![GRID: Autosport on ASUS R7 240 DDR3 2GB ($70) [Minimum FPS]](https://images.anandtech.com/graphs/graph10436/82555.png)
![GRID: Autosport on MSI R9 285 Gaming 2GB ($240) [Minimum FPS]](https://images.anandtech.com/graphs/graph10436/82563.png)
![GRID: Autosport on MSI GTX 770 Lightning 2GB ($245) [Minimum FPS]](https://images.anandtech.com/graphs/graph10436/82573.png)
![GRID: Autosport on MSI R9 290X Gaming LE 4GB ($380) [Minimum FPS]](https://images.anandtech.com/graphs/graph10436/82583.png)
![GRID: Autosport on ASUS GTX 980 Strix 4GB ($560) [Minimum FPS]](https://images.anandtech.com/graphs/graph10436/82593.png)
Minimum frame rates show a similar story. It's interesting to note that on our AMD cards, the R9 285 and R9 290X, both Carrizo and Kaveri push the minimum frame rates from below 30 to above 30, despite the fact that the AMD cards seem to have a poor showing for GRID (at least at 3 GHz).
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Meteor2 - Saturday, July 16, 2016 - link
Thanks. It's a little more complex than i3/5/7-nxxx, where n increments by one each generation...TheinsanegamerN - Monday, July 18, 2016 - link
cariizo cores use the excavator design. excavator is core design, carrizo is the product line.Mokona512 - Saturday, July 16, 2016 - link
Please do this test with the Phenom II series in order to understand the generational IPC changes, and also providing a better point of reference for the Zen CPUs. The Zen claims are based on IPC changes from a CPU series where there was a drop in IPC.Ian Cutress - Monday, July 18, 2016 - link
I recently redid a Phenom X6 in Bench, though that's absolute chip perf and not exactly what you're looking for, but it's there :)Elizabeth king - Sunday, July 17, 2016 - link
Love spell came out tremendously, I highly recommending robinson.buckler @ yahoo . com for whatever problems you are experiencing in your relationship. He is the real deal. his love spell is absolutely wonderful.lwatcdr - Sunday, July 17, 2016 - link
I find AMDs low cost offerings really interesting but this just doesn't work for me. The Carrizo on the desktop just seems too limiting. I wish that AMD would update the AM1 line. It is so inexpensive and can support a good number of PCIe lots. For things like a NAS, media pc, or even a Chrome box/low end pc they seem like a really good choice except that they have not been updated in years.silverblue - Monday, July 18, 2016 - link
Puma+ is kind of like what Atom did with their earlier Atoms, a more efficient version of Jaguar. I'm surprised that they didn't just lock the turbo and produce these in Jaguar's place, unless it's not cost-effective to do so.The cat cores are dead now, which is a shame as we never got to see how a dual channel memory interface would improve their performance.
Eris_Floralia - Monday, July 18, 2016 - link
Another great review. I've translated all articles about Bulldozer architecture into Chinese in order to let people know why it didn't success. I believe that an eight-core Steamroller or Excavator would be competitive, but that never comes out.TheinsanegamerN - Monday, July 18, 2016 - link
it wont be competitive, excavator is still far behind intel is performance and in TDP, and cant overclock at all. And it is still 28nm and cache limited.AMD really needs to kill the bulldozer line. It is AMD's netburst.
Eris_Floralia - Monday, July 18, 2016 - link
well, with some adjustments, steamroller can still reach high frequency. with additional L3 and larger L2, the problem with excavator may get solved. I mean that latest bulldozer architecture can do better than present piledriver, but the improvement obiviously doesnt worth a try.