The Kabini Deal: Can AMD Improve the Quality of Mainstream PCs with Its Latest APU?
by Anand Lal Shimpi on May 24, 2013 1:45 PM ESTGPU Performance
Looking at 3DMark’s Ice Storm test, the comparison between Intel’s 22nm HD Graphics in the Pentium 2020M and the Radeon HD 8830 in the A4-5000 is extremely close. In fact, across almost all of the 3DMark benchmarks we see the two perform very similarly. The lone exception being 3DMark 11 where the A4-5000 maintains a significant lead and even approaches Trinity in terms of performance (making it feel more like a fluke than the norm).
Turning to GFXBenchmark (formerly GL/DXBenchmark), we see performance tilt in favor of Kabini once again. The T-Rex HD test is extremely shader intensive. There’s about a 20% gap in raw shader performance between the 2-CU GCN implementation in Kabini and the 6 EU Gen7 graphics core in the Pentium 2020M, which maps almost perfectly to the performance delta we see in T-Rex HD. Now we see where the Pentium/Core i3 comparison comes from.
| GPU Performance | |||||||||||||||||
| 3DMark Ice Storm | 3DMark Cloud Gate | 3DMark Fire Strike | 3DMark 11 | 3DMark 06 | GFXBenchmark T-Rex HD | ||||||||||||
| AMD A4-5000 (Radeon HD 8330) | 23196 | 2159 | 310 | 580 | 3803 | 37 fps | |||||||||||
| Intel Pentium 2020M (HD Graphics) | 23135 | 2168 | 285 | 401 | 3542 | 30 fps | |||||||||||
All of this is fine if we’re looking at theoretical GPU benchmarks but what about actual games? In our Kabini review Jarred found the A4-5000 to be incapable of playing modern titles at reasonable frame rates, but what about titles from a few years ago? To find out, I dusted off Oblivion (with the Shivering Isles expansion) and threw it on my Kabini, Brazos and IVB Pentium systems.
I configured all three systems the same way: 1366 x 768, with medium graphics quality presets. I even used our old Oblivion SI benchmark from 2007. The results seemed to mirror what we saw in 3DMark:
| GPU Performance | ||||||||||||||||||
| Oblivion - 1366 x 768 Medium | Diablo III - 1366 x 768 Low | Oblivion - Power Consumption | ||||||||||||||||
| AMD E-350 (Radeon HD 6310) | 20.1 fps | 21.9 fps | ||||||||||||||||
| AMD A4-5000 (Radeon HD 8330) | 26.1 fps | 25.8 fps | 15.2W | |||||||||||||||
| Intel Pentium 2020M (HD Graphics) | 27.7 fps | 20.3 fps | 31.4W | |||||||||||||||
Kabini is about 30% faster than Brazos in GPU performance, and almost identical to the Pentium 2020M. Intel has a 6% performance advantage here, but I’m wondering if that’s from the CPU and not the GPU (Oblivion tends to hit both pretty hard). At lower quality settings (and/or resolution) you can definitely get Kabini above 30 fps, but even here I’d say it’s playable. More importantly, it’s performance competitive with Intel’s HD graphics.
I was also curious to see how Diablo III ran on Kabini so I fired up an early save and ran through the Cemetery of the Forsaken recording average frame rate. On a more modern title, both Kabini and Brazos actually hold a performance advantage over the Pentium 2020M.
As far as power goes, Kabini delivers relatively similar performance at roughly half the power of the Pentium 2020M.
With any of these integrated GPUs, the gaming experience even on previous generation high-end titles isn’t going to be a walk in the park.
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etre - Wednesday, May 29, 2013 - link
"Give me a reasonable Ultrabook-style chassis (or maybe a dockable tablet) with Kabini and a decent quality 1080p touchscreen and do it at the right price and there are plenty of people that will jump at the offer."I concur
PatriciaBau42 - Wednesday, May 29, 2013 - link
If you think Angela`s story is inconceivable,, a month-back my auntiez girl-friend basically also got a cheque for $8689 workin a sixteen hour week from home and there co-worker's mother`s neighbour has been doing this for 7-months and got a cheque for more than $8689 part-time on- line. applie the instructions available on this page, Bow6.comTAKE A LOOKredross - Thursday, May 30, 2013 - link
"There are two non-negotiables in building a PC these days: the cost of Intel silicon and the cost of the Windows license" this was a joke right? Intel has very nice CPU's so I'll agree with that, but MS? Linux helps You save those $ for better hardware :)redross - Thursday, May 30, 2013 - link
"There are two non-negotiables in building a PC these days: the cost of Intel silicon and the cost of the Windows license" You are joking right? Intel CPU's are great so OK with that, but Microsoft? Why is it a non-negotiable? I always choose more ram/better CPU and Linux instead of Windows. Unless You work with professional CAD software (< 0.1% of users) Windows is VERY negotiable.redross - Thursday, May 30, 2013 - link
oops double post. Seems strange that a new post appears at the top and after a refresh its gone to the bottom :)PCpowerman - Friday, May 31, 2013 - link
I am a bit disappointed that you guys call yourselves PC experts, yet you guys are comparing this architecture's power consumption as bad for performance vs. an Core i3. The issue is you guys ignored the fact that Kabini is A SYSTEM ON A CHIP. BIG DIFFERENCE!!! If you want to properly compare the Core i3 to Kabini, then you guys should also include the power consumption of the support chips that the Core i3 requires since it is just the CPU. You guys should know better!!! You are not the ignorant consumer that goes to Wal-Mart and believes the sales guy. At least I hope not!!random2 - Thursday, June 6, 2013 - link
"AMD will take less of the BoM,"Please if you are going to force us to read leet speak, please allow us less than high IQ types the benefit of a definition. Thank you. :)
ezjohny - Sunday, September 8, 2013 - link
This is good for mobile, but a desktop APU, AMD needs major improvements because so far Intel takes the cake in the desktop! I would like to see AMD make an APU with 1.56 single thread performance and take advantage of the latest 7000 series graphic cards with there APU for desktops!PC Perspective Podcast #267 - 09/05/2013, This pod cast AMD should listen to! I got an AMD Rig and I'm sick and tried of people bashing them!