AMD A10-7800 Review: Testing the A10 65W Kaveri
by Ian Cutress on July 31, 2014 8:00 AM ESTConclusions
When AMD launched their 95W Kaveri APUs and we had the opportunity to test the top A10 model, it offered some of the best integrated graphics performance for a desktop we had seen. The fact that the die is partitioned such that more than 50% of it is for the graphics, along with expanding HSA and OpenCL support, means that for applications that can be computationally enhanced by integrated graphics, AMD has the edge for the single chip solution.
In our testing, because the A10-7800 shares the same processor graphics configuration and speed as the A10-7850K, results were fairly similar despite a +100 MHz advantage to the A10-7850K. This means that, at stock, AMD is offering a similar CPU for $18 less.
If we remove the price from the equation, the biggest contender for the title of ‘best processor graphics’ is Intel’s Iris Pro. The upside of AMD’s Kaveri at the minute is not only the price, but also the form factor – Iris Pro is only available as a soldered on (BGA) CPU at this point in time whereas Kaveri is in both soldered and socketed form. Also, Iris Pro relies on an extra L4 cache, which adds size to the CPU package as well as cost and power consumption. News from Intel might change that with Broadwell, as back in May an announcement regarding a socketed, overclockable Iris Pro CPU would be coming to market. We have not the slightest clue when AMD will have this competition, but it looks good for AMD given that recent reports suggest that Broadwell for the desktop may be delayed beyond the expected launch of 14nm Core-M in Q1 2015.
In that respect, it may give AMD some time to prepare for their new 64-bit x86 architecture, or give AMD another chance to leap forward in with their Carrizo APUs (still based on modules and GCN) if they are launched in 2015.
Back to the A10-7800 reviewed today, and as it stands it is the most cost effective processor graphics solution available. Here is all the speed of the A10-7850K for $18 cheaper, and more performance than the A8-7600. The 45W configurable TDP makes it even more enticing as a lower power consumption part.
The only issue users might come across is the speed and feel when running single threaded tasks that do not utilise OpenCL or HSA – our web benchmarks put the AMD APUs behind many of our 55W Intel samples for the last couple of generations. But for anything that uses OpenCL as an accelerant, such as the software on which PCMark8 is based or anything compute, AMD comes out on top.
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vision33r - Monday, August 4, 2014 - link
This APU seems like 6-7 yrs late. I don't think it's competitive at all and even Intel's newly released SOC meant for mobile will catch and beat AMD APU in less than 2 years. They need to get their chip design competitive fast or soon ARM SOCs will take over the low price desktop market. I think Chromebooks are already outselling AMD notebooks.rooh - Tuesday, August 5, 2014 - link
Good review. I'll buy a laptop with that APU or any with quad-core @2.5GHz or higherSince they play good 1280 * 1024 with lot of total pixels compared to 1366 * 768
They are way 2 good for games at 1366 * 768 resolution as most laptop with them are at that resolution.
2 months from now I will grab mine
Wowhw - Tuesday, August 5, 2014 - link
Most of You need to move to an area where electricity costs 0/per kWh.Seriously. Compaling over TDP was fun maybe a couple of years ago, now it's just old. Want low TDP? Get an ARM based laptop like the chromebook.
briansmccrary - Tuesday, August 5, 2014 - link
goodPhartindust - Wednesday, August 6, 2014 - link
Glad to see AMD working on getting TDP down, and it appears it didn't cost them much in performance to cut it by almost third. Perhaps there is something to be said for allowing a node/arch to mature instead racing to the next?Nepos480 - Saturday, August 9, 2014 - link
Lots of people here saying there is no sense behind the AMD solution and there is. Clearly. The only problem is that its really niche. My dilemma: I want a quiet HTPC. I need it to be cool running as well because it will be on most of the time as my file server. It needs to be cheap. It also needs to be flexible. My original solution was a celeron g530 (stock cooler), Radeon 5450 (passive), 4GB RAM, and a ton of HHDs. Case was roughly 3U. 2x 120mm fans intake/exhaust. To be honest it wasnt bad. And it was cheap. The whole damned thing. But I quickly lost flexibility. No issues with the CPU. At 2.4 ghz It felt just as snappy as my 2500k in XBMC. But the passive GPU idled at around 122 and coasted at 135. In turn it caused my chipset to heat up. I know these temps dont scare most but I like peace of mind. So I thought about adding a cheap discrete GPU but the smallish enclosure and cheap card would lead to too much fan noise. i could recycle my 260gtx (the T-34 of GPUs) but it killed airflow and barely fit. The final straw was when I decided to emulate PS2 games (gauntlet legends to make sure I head enough overhead) on the home theater. The CPU was ok. but the 5450 wasnt no matter what I tried. Plus is really started to cook. So I tried doing with the Intel HD graphics. The emulation literally played in slow motion to include the music. So I was stuck.So I bought an A4 4000 and a zalman copper cooler (CPNS 7000 I think). Now there is no fan noise. Period. My WD eco greens are louder. Everything runs cooler and airflow is awesome (still angry the copper HS isnt really copper though). The CPU @ 3.2ghz is about equal to the celeron @2.4 ghz (sad really) but the 7480d smokes all my other solutions. So now I have everything I wanted (cheap, cool, quiet).
These AMD CPUs expand possibilities. Not saying I am a fanboi either (i5 4670, i5 2500k, E8400, G530, i3 ULV in a notebook). But this one AMD APU saved my bacon. About $130 or so for APU, Mobo and Zalman cooler.
HiTechObsessed - Monday, August 11, 2014 - link
APUs are still nowhere near viable for their price/performance.For the same price as the A10-7800, you can buy a 750k Athlon or Pentium G3258 and pair it with a 7750 (or similar) for FAR superior gaming performance. The gap in price/performance only widens if you compare to the 7850k.
Tl;dr APUs are pointless still.