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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jaydee - Tuesday, January 14, 2014 - link
I just don't "get" adding three $300 Intel CPU's to a review of 3 sub $200 AMD CPU's. We all know, or can find out how i7 SB, IB, Haswell compare to each other. I can see adding one of these CPUs to show a baseline of how AMDs top-of-the-line compares against Intels (albiet at very different price points), but having all three of them gives the impression that you want to make sure everyone knows who's boss...Is there going to be an update on power draw? I'm really curious to see what the 45W Kaveri draws (idle and full power) considering it is so competitive with the 95W Kaveri.
jaydee - Tuesday, January 14, 2014 - link
I stand corrected, four $300+ Intel i7 CPUs in this comparison, not three. And two Intel CPU's that are actually in the price range of the AMDs. It feels as if to do this review, AT just cobbled together whatever was laying around instead of being intentional about putting together the best test bench possible to compare the review product against its real competitors.It's really a shame, because the commentary, the in-depth look at the architecture and the conclusions are outstanding; no website out there has tech writers as good and do as thorough of a job as Anandtech. The fact that the test benches are just after-thoughts in some of these reviews are really disappointing.
UtilityMax - Tuesday, January 14, 2014 - link
I think this was mentioned somewhere in the beginning of the review. Intel likes to have the i7 reviewed instead of other parts, so the send the i7 CPUs to everyone. This is kind of like what the car makers do. Most people just buy a reasonably priced, mid-spec car model. However, the journos always get to review these ridiculously over-optioned cars, that hardly sell, like the $35 Ford Fusions, even though the base car sells for 10 grand less.jaydee - Tuesday, January 14, 2014 - link
I am well aware that when having the choice, Intel would rather you review a $340 Intel CPU against a $179 AMD CPU. But is there not any way, given the ad revenue of Anandtech, to obtain a $190-200 mid-range Intel i5 CPU (such as the i5-4440) in order to have a relevant test bench for an eagerly anticipated AMD mid-range CPU launch?srkelley - Tuesday, January 14, 2014 - link
"...do any AnandTech readers have an interest in an even higher end APU with substantially more graphics horsepower?"Yes, oh yes! I'm letting the APU be the core of my system build in a few months and plan to upgrade as needed. I'd like a simple solution like an APU instead of having to go with a discrete card right away. If it lets me spend more on ram and other things, keep the psu and power draw low I'm happy. The most demanding game that I play right now is the Witcher 2. Eventually I will have to go discrete for Star Citizen and the Witcher 3 but if I can get solid enough results with a high powered apu then I'll simply jump to that instead.
Conduit - Tuesday, January 14, 2014 - link
This has been a long time coming thanks to Always Major Delays (AMD). Even know they can't get their sh!t together.nissangtr786 - Tuesday, January 14, 2014 - link
http://techreport.com/review/25908/amd-a8-7600-kav...The fpu still not improved miles still behind intel.
http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/326781
http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/321256
A5 - Tuesday, January 14, 2014 - link
"do any AnandTech readers have an interest in an even higher end APU with substantially more graphics horsepower? "Maybe in the context of a Steam Machine? But for my main gaming PC, no way. Maybe something they can try out after the next die shrink if SteamOS really takes off.
Xajel - Tuesday, January 14, 2014 - link
I believe the main reason for AMD to not have a new FX is SOI process.. it was okay in it's glory days, but it can't keep it up with bulk silicon...They want to increase the clock at least but they're trapped with 32nm SOI, and why not moving toward 28nm or lower SOI because I think that AMD is already working to convert it's entire CPU's to Bulk Silicon, so it's not logical to make a new design for still not ready yet 28nm or lower SOI while they are already designing the new core for bulk silicon.. knowing that both SOI and bulk require a complete redesign of the silicon just to convert from one to another... so it's not even logical to convert Pilediver or maybe even Steamroller to bulk silicon for only one year while they're working on the next architecture which will be Bulk Silicon...
jimjamjamie - Thursday, January 16, 2014 - link
That makes sense, I was very confused as to why AMD were not going to refresh the FX line - even if HSA is the future for AMD, I presumed new FX sales throughout this year would have helped things along.Perhaps it wasn't worth the cost, but at the same time AMD could really do with keeping the fanboys on side.