AMD's 35W "Bristol Ridge" A-Series APUs Now Available at Retail
by Anton Shilov on September 6, 2017 10:00 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
- AMD
- APUs
- Bristol Ridge
- AM4
We have some good news for low-power AMD builders this morning: AMD has (finally) begun to sell the 35W versions of their "Bristol Ridge" desktop APUs. Overall the company has released 3 35W retail Bristol Ridge SKUs, the A12-9800E, A10-9700E, and A6-9500E, with these chips fleshing out the low-power segment of AMD's AM4 platform through the end of the year.
AMD originally released its Bristol Ridge A9000-series APUs to OEMs in mid-2016, targeting desktops and laptops. The SoCs integrate one or two Excavator v2 modules (two or four x86 cores in AMD’s nomenclature), a Radeon R5/R7 iGPU featuring AMD’s GCN 1.2 (3rd generation) architecture and up to 512 stream processors, a dual-channel DDR4 memory controller and so on. Earlier this year AMD finally decided to release a rather broad lineup of its 7th-generation A9000-series APUs on the retail market, enabling end-users to build their own inexpensive AM4 systems, essentially popularizing the AM4 ecosystem compatible with the company’s latest Ryzen processors in general.
| AMD Bristol Ridge APUs and CPUs | ||||||
| CPU | GPU | TDP | ||||
| Modules/ Threads |
Base/Turbo (MHz) |
Brand | Stream Processors |
Base/Turbo (MHz) |
||
| A12-9800 | 2M / 4T | 3800 / 4200 | Radeon R7 | 512 | 800 / 1108 | 65W |
| A12-9800E | 3100 / 3800 | 655 / 900 | 35W | |||
| A10-9700 | 3500 / 3800 | 384 | 720 / 1029 | 65W | ||
| A10-9700E | 3000 / 3500 | 600 / 847 | 35W | |||
| A8-9600 | 3100 / 3400 | 655 / 900 | 65W | |||
| A6-9550 | 1M / 2T | 3800 / 4000 | Radeon R5 | 576 / 800 | ||
| A6-9500 | 3500 / 3800 | 720 / 1029 | ||||
| A6-9500E | 3000 / 3400 | 256 | 576 / 800 | 35W | ||
| Athlon X4 970 | 2M / 4T | 3800 / 4000 | - | 65W | ||
| Athlon X4 950 | 3500 / 3800 | |||||
| Athlon X4 940 | 3200 / 3600 | |||||
The originally planned retail lineup for Bristol Ridge included 11 SKUs with a mix of 35 W and 65 W TDPs, but until now, only select 65 W SKUs were available. In the meantime, the interest towards inexpensive Mini-ITX systems is high these days. AMD spent a little over a month after the formal introduction of the family to bring the 35 W A12-9800E and A10-9700E APUs to store shelves. In the last days of August, the new chips hit store shelves across the world: they can be purchased in the U.S., Europe and in Japan, a clear indicator that they are indeed available broadly.
The AMD A10-9700E costs $85 – $91 in the U.S., whereas the more advanced AMD A12-9800E is available for $105 – $113, depending on the retailer. Meanwhile, the A6-9500E, the most basic 35 W Bristol Ridge APU, can be purchased for around $55 – $58. In Europe and Japan, prices are traditionally higher, see the table below for details. Overall, the 35 W APUs from AMD do not look very affordable, but it is typical for chipmakers to charge extra for energy-efficient parts.
| Availability of AMD's Bristol Ridge APUs and CPUs | |||||
| Amazon | Newegg | Amazon UK | Caseking.DE | Japan* | |
| A12-9800 | $112.96 | $109.99 | £107.5 ($139) | €104.9 ($125) | - |
| A12-9800E | $112.95 | $104.99 | £140 ($181) | €99.9 ($119) | ¥13,993 ($127.9) |
| A10-9700 | $91.37 | $89.99 | £91.8 ($119) | €82.9 ($98.5) | - |
| A10-9700E | $91.37 | $84.99 | £122 ($158) | €79.9 ($95) | ¥11,664 ($106) |
| A8-9600 | $69.13 | $69.99 | £68.1 ($88) | €61.9 ($73.5) | available |
| A6-9550 | - | - | - | - | - |
| A6-9500 | available | - | £82.4 ($106) | €47.9 ($57) | - |
| A6-9500E | $58.19 | $54.99 | - | €49.9 ($59) | - |
| Athlon X4 970 | - | - | - | - | - |
| Athlon X4 950 | $66.27 | $66.26 | £77.6 ($100) | €51.9 ($62) | - |
| Athlon X4 940 | - | - | - | - | - |
| *Lowest price according to Hikaku.com, or according to AKIBA PC Hotline. | |||||
From AMD’s standpoint, the main purpose of Bristol Ridge CPUs and APUs is to fill the gap in the AM4 lineup before the company releases Raven Ridge APUs and cheap CPUs based on the Ryzen microarchitecture later on.
Related Reading:
- AMD Releases Bristol Ridge to Retail: AM4 Gets APUs
- AMD 7th Gen Bristol Ridge and AM4 Analysis: Up to A12-9800, B350/A320 Chipset, OEMs first, PIBs Later
Sources: Amazon, Amazon UK, Caseking, Newegg, AKIBA PC Hotline, Hikaku.com.
Image Source: AKIBA PC Hotline.
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muamamu1 - Saturday, September 9, 2017 - link
I have been checking Anandtech for ages now, but this is the first time I'm posting something. I usually don't feel like posting cause there's so much to learn from all of you, guys, and I know I am not on the same level. However, this time around I feel like I don't understand what you mean. The G4560 is certainly a nice entry level gaming CPU, BUT its built in GPU sucks, as it has already been established. You say that it makes much more sense to pair it with a cheap dGPU, but here's my question - how come? The G4560 is ±$99. Putting in a decent GPU (better than the one that is already built in modern i-series and AMD APU) would mean going for something that is AT LEAST $150. Isn't that so? Which makes the G4560 much, much more expensive (considering the price bracket we're discussing here), so I just don't get what you mean? Maybe you meant an entry level GPU like the 730 and such, which are cheaper, but I would never, ever invest in such a GPU. That's pure waste of money, considering that the 730 is about as powerful as the Intel HD 620.Naris17 - Saturday, September 9, 2017 - link
This is exactly how I feel. And, as a system builder that sometimes builds computers for regular folk, these APU are nice. Low power and quiet, runs Windows, Office, Skype, and random eSports titles well; plus room for upgrade if their kids grow and want a serious gaming rig.Wolfpup - Thursday, September 7, 2017 - link
Certainly not a bad CPU or GPU, but kind of hard to get excited about for most of us.hallstein - Sunday, September 10, 2017 - link
Well, I may be unusual, but for me this is the most exciting segment of the market.Reason why is simple — I'm not interested in have a large box with a powerful cooling solution, and I don't want to spend an arm & a leg. Basically I like playing some PC games, and the box has to sit unobtrusively under the TV.
These APU parts and my needs are a match made in heaven. I've built a tiny box around a mini-ITX FM2+ board, currently with an A10-7800 that handles 1080p/low-medium settings on the games I'm interested for about £200 all in. (I started out with the 7850k, but swapped it for a 7800 as it was more power efficient/cooler.)
Frankly, to me, that's kind of magic. Packing in 512 SPs & 4 cores (2 'modules') in a 35W-65W envelope, all in a little box 8 cm high — it's like living in the future!
devBunny - Tuesday, September 12, 2017 - link
Excellent. I love the enthusiasm. :-DTarantella - Wednesday, September 13, 2017 - link
Quite right!Not everyone wants or needs to be at the edge. A sensible test of the 35 watt chips and say the AMD 5350 o/c would be welcome as would the introduction of itx AM4 motherboards with a dc socket like the Asrock AM1H-ITX for the AM1 platform.
someonesomewherelse - Saturday, October 14, 2017 - link
Where are the Ryzen based APUs?