The AMD A8-7650K APU Review, Also New Testing Methodology
by Ian Cutress on May 12, 2015 10:00 AM ESTOffice Performance
The dynamics of CPU Turbo modes, both Intel and AMD, can cause concern during environments with a variable threaded workload. There is also an added issue of the motherboard remaining consistent, depending on how the motherboard manufacturer wants to add in their own boosting technologies over the ones that Intel would prefer they used. In order to remain consistent, we implement an OS-level unique high performance mode on all the CPUs we test which should override any motherboard manufacturer performance mode.
All of our benchmark results can also be found in our benchmark engine, Bench.
Dolphin Benchmark: link
Many emulators are often bound by single thread CPU performance, and general reports tended to suggest that Haswell provided a significant boost to emulator performance. This benchmark runs a Wii program that raytraces a complex 3D scene inside the Dolphin Wii emulator. Performance on this benchmark is a good proxy of the speed of Dolphin CPU emulation, which is an intensive single core task using most aspects of a CPU. Results are given in minutes, where the Wii itself scores 17.53 minutes.
Dolphin likes high IPC and clock frequency, which indicates that the highest clocked APUs perform the best out of AMD here. Because the benchmark is single threaded, even a dual core Intel wins though.
WinRAR 5.0.1: link
Our WinRAR test from 2013 is updated to the latest version of WinRAR at the start of 2014. We compress a set of 2867 files across 320 folders totaling 1.52 GB in size – 95% of these files are small typical website files, and the rest (90% of the size) are small 30 second 720p videos.
The varied-thread workload of WinRAR seems to vary between the dual core Intels and the dual module AMD chips, showing that threads matter.
3D Particle Movement
3DPM is a self-penned benchmark, taking basic 3D movement algorithms used in Brownian Motion simulations and testing them for speed. High floating point performance, MHz and IPC wins in the single thread version, whereas the multithread version has to handle the threads and loves more cores.
In this nieve benchmark, the compiler prefers x87 style commands which AMD's Bulldozer based architectures isn't too fond of. This benchmark is meant to be a representation of crude scientific code, similar to that used in a research lab. Ultimately, Bulldozer architectures such as Kaveri prefer specific commands, especially when dealing with basic math.
FastStone Image Viewer 4.9
FastStone is the program I use to perform quick or bulk actions on images, such as resizing, adjusting for color and cropping. In our test we take a series of 170 images in various sizes and formats and convert them all into 640x480 .gif files, maintaining the aspect ratio. FastStone does not use multithreading for this test, and results are given in seconds.
Web Benchmarks
On the lower end processors, general usability is a big factor of experience, especially as we move into the HTML5 era of web browsing. For our web benchmarks, we take four well known tests with Chrome 35 as a consistent browser.
Sunspider 1.0.2
Mozilla Kraken 1.1
WebXPRT
Google Octane v2
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V900 - Friday, May 15, 2015 - link
Nah, you can get a really nice gaming PC for even just 500$... Sure it won't be a octo core CPU, probably not even a quad core, but the performance and graphics will be hard to tell apart from a PS4. Especially once DX12 games become common.Yeah, you might get a few more FPS or a few more details in some games on a ps4.
But just set aside the 10-30$ you save every time you buy a game for a PC vs. a PS4 and you should be able to upgrade your computer in a year or less.
V900 - Friday, May 15, 2015 - link
For those on a very tight budget, wish for PC games* AND who already have a motherboard that uses the same socket as these APUs, I would add.Zen is going to require a new socket, so you're kinda stuck in regards to upgrades from this.
And if you have to go out and get a new motherboard as well, than it really only makes sense to go for Intel. Yup,
Skylake is also going to need a new socket, but if you go the Intel route, at least there's a possibility to upgrade to a Haswell i3/i5/i7 from a Pentium down the road, so you have the possibility of a lot more performance.
ES_Revenge - Saturday, May 16, 2015 - link
I don't really get the point of this CPU at all. It comes out, now, in May 2015? And it's really nothing new yet AT bothered to review it? It's a few bucks more than an A8-7600 but it has higher TDP and is otherwise nearly exactly the same. Sure it's unlocked but it doesn't overclock well anyway. Might as well just save the few bucks and the 30W power consumption and get the 7600. OTOH if you want something with better, you'd just go for the $135-140 A10 CPUs w/512 SPs. The 7650K seems to be totally pointless, especially at this point in 2015 where Skylake is around the corner.The Dual Graphics scores look pretty decent (other than GTAV which is clearly not working with it), but there's no mention at all in this review about frametime? I mean have all the frametime issues been solved now (particularly with Dual Graphics which IIRC was the worst for stuttering) that we don't need to even mention it anymore? That's great if that's the case, but the review doesn't even seem to touch on it?
1920.1080p.1280.720p - Sunday, May 17, 2015 - link
For the love of everything, test APUs with casual games. Someone who wants to play something like GTA V is likely going to have a better system. Meanwhile, games like LoL, Dota 2, Sims 4, etc have tons of players who don't have great systems and wouldn't like to spend much on them either. Test games that these products are actually geared towards. I appreciate the inclusion of what the system could become with the addition of differing levels of gpu horsepower, but you are still missing the mark here a bit. Everyone seems to be with APUs and it drives me nuts.johnxxx - Monday, May 18, 2015 - link
hello , what's the best solution for you ?(internet , mail, office , game , listen music and see a movie )
apu + r7 for dual graphics
apu + nvidia card
apu only (oc with a big fan )
x4 860k + r7
x4 860k + nvidia card
or pentium g3xxx + r7
pentium g3xxx + nvidia card
or i3 4150 + r7
i3+nvidia
thank you very much
ES_Revenge - Saturday, May 30, 2015 - link
A little late but it mainly depends on what R7 you're talking about. If you're talking about an R7 240, then yeah it's better to do dual-graphics, 'cause a 240 on its own is not going to do much for gaming. If you're talking about a single R7 260X or 265 then that's a different story (and a much better idea).For gaming, a quad-core CPU really helps for modern games BUT dual-core with HT (like an i3) is quite good too. Dual-core only isn't the greatest of ideas for gaming, TBH. So, ditch the Pentiums and dual-core APUs.
Out of your choices I'd probably go with the i3 4150 and an R7 260X, R7 265/HD 7850, or GTX 750 Ti. Unless you already have some parts (like the motherboard), this will be the best of your choices for gaming (everything else you listed is no problem for any of those CPUs).
The i3 4150 is benefits from newer features in Haswell and has HT. Compared to the X4 860K It may still lose out in some [limited] things which really make use of four physical cores, but not very much and probably not anything you'll be doing anyway. The Haswell i3 also uses very little power so it's good in a small/compact build where you want less heat/noise and can't use a large air cooler easily (or just don't want to spend a lot on a cooler).
If you're talking about an R7 240 though, then go with an A8-7600 and run Dual Graphics. It might be cheaper but it won't be better than the i3 and higher-end R7 card.
CVZalez - Wednesday, May 11, 2016 - link
It's time for this so called benchmarks make the scripts and data processed available to the public, for example, is the AgiSoft PhotoScan OpenCL activated in the preferences, if it's not, only the CPU will be used, and it makes an huge difference, we all know what AMD is good at with those APUs, not in the CPU but in the GPU and multithread, I find it hard to believe that Intel i3 had such better results.