The AMD A8-7650K APU Review, Also New Testing Methodology
by Ian Cutress on May 12, 2015 10:00 AM ESTProfessional Performance: Linux
Built around several freely available benchmarks for Linux, Linux-Bench is a project spearheaded by Patrick at ServeTheHome to streamline about a dozen of these tests in a single neat package run via a set of three commands using an Ubuntu 11.04 LiveCD. These tests include fluid dynamics used by NASA, ray-tracing, OpenSSL, molecular modeling, and a scalable data structure server for web deployments. We run Linux-Bench and have chosen to report a select few of the tests that rely on CPU and DRAM speed.
C-Ray: link
C-Ray is a simple ray-tracing program that focuses almost exclusively on processor performance rather than DRAM access. The test in Linux-Bench renders a heavy complex scene offering a large scalable scenario.
Being a scaling benchmark, C-Ray prefers threads and seems more designed for Intel.
NAMD, Scalable Molecular Dynamics: link
Developed by the Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, NAMD is a set of parallel molecular dynamics codes for extreme parallelization up to and beyond 200,000 cores. The reference paper detailing NAMD has over 4000 citations, and our testing runs a small simulation where the calculation steps per unit time is the output vector.
NAMD is similar to our office benchmarks, puttin the bulk of the APUs between the i3-4130T and the i3-4330.
NPB, Fluid Dynamics: link
Aside from LINPACK, there are many other ways to benchmark supercomputers in terms of how effective they are for various types of mathematical processes. The NAS Parallel Benchmarks (NPB) are a set of small programs originally designed for NASA to test their supercomputers in terms of fluid dynamics simulations, useful for airflow reactions and design.
Despite the rated memory on the APUs being faster, NPB seems to require more IPC than DRAM speed.
Redis: link
Many of the online applications rely on key-value caches and data structure servers to operate. Redis is an open-source, scalable web technology with a b developer base, but also relies heavily on memory bandwidth as well as CPU performance.
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Ian Cutress - Wednesday, May 13, 2015 - link
Would it be worth putting the gaming tests first? Perhaps for the mid range CPUs, it makes more sense.yannigr2 - Wednesday, May 13, 2015 - link
Much more expensive i7 and i5 in the charts and wrong higher-older prices on AMD APUs. Am I wrong?Please, I am NOT asking you to make AMD APUs look good, don't make it look like that, just do not make them look awful. You want to add a much more expensive i7, at least change the color of the line, do it black or something. Even the i5 is much more expensive than the APUs especially considering that AMD changed it's prices a few days ago, which means that the AMD prices on the charts are also wrong. 7850K's price that is the most expensive is $127 not $173.
From the five Intel processors you have in the charts only three of them are at the same price range as the APUs. Some Intel prices are the tray prices, not the box, and most of them are the prices on Intel's site. AMD prices on the other hand are the old much higher prices. Even in your article you give lower prices than those on the charts. AM I WRONG?
Accept the critic when it is fair, don't try to make the other guy look like a brainless fanboy who asks you to make AMD APUs look good by putting GPU test first.
akamateau - Tuesday, May 12, 2015 - link
What is being benchmarked are APU's; AMD's integrated graphics processors.akamateau - Tuesday, May 12, 2015 - link
I comment becasue they are JUNK. I read them hoping that Anand will write something useful.I am also settting the record straight and I am challenging ANANDTECH to write the truth.
superflex - Tuesday, May 12, 2015 - link
You sound like a paid shill with all your whining.Maybe AMD could hire shills with better English grammar.
eRacer1 - Tuesday, May 12, 2015 - link
That's an insult to paid shills. No one being paid to shill for a company would act that obnoxious and incoherent. Looks more like a volunteer effort, or someone who deliberately wants to make vocal AMD supporters look obnoxious and incoherent.akamateau - Tuesday, May 12, 2015 - link
I comment becasue they are JUNK. I read them hoping that Anand will write something useful.I am also settting the record straight and I am challenging ANANDTECH to write the truth.
Raiher - Tuesday, May 12, 2015 - link
Review says that it's 720p benchmark, but screenshot is 1080p. Normally I wouldn't care, but screenshot even shows number of FPS. What is wrong?Ian Cutress - Tuesday, May 12, 2015 - link
I use the same screenshot in all the games on the other pages where I am testing 1080p. It's just a generic screenshot of the game showing what happens in the benchmark.lilmoe - Tuesday, May 12, 2015 - link
Too painful to watch. I just hope things getter better in 2016-17