The AMD A8-7670K APU Review: Aiming for Rocket League
by Ian Cutress on November 18, 2015 8:00 AM ESTThe Testing
A number of factors about the A8-7670K processor suggest that this is "another release of the same sort of stuff," albeit with increased frequencies. Nevertheless, we put the processor through our regular tests, to see what would happen. Our bench suite this time had one omission and one addition. For whatever reason, Linux Bench refused to run, with Ubuntu 14.04 throwing a hissy fit and not willing to start. I’m not sure if this was a BIOS issue or something more fundamental with the software stack, but it was odd. The addition, as the title of the review alluded to, is a Rocket League benchmark. At this time, we haven’t run it on many systems, but the A8-7670K is the sort of APU that enables games like Rocket League. Rocket League is a good contender for our 2016 CPU/APU benchmark suite on the integrated graphics side of things, and this serves as a good tester in the wild.
All of our regular benchmark results can also be found in our benchmark engine, Bench. Rocket League will be added in the future with the 2016 updates.
Test Setup
| Test Setup | |
| Processor | AMD A8-7670K 2 Modules, 4 Threads 3.6 GHz (3.9 GHz Turbo) R7 Integrated Graphics 384 SPs at 756 MHz |
| Motherboards | MSI A88X-G45 Gaming |
| Cooling | Cooler Master Nepton 140XL |
| Power Supply | OCZ 1250W Gold ZX Series Corsair AX1200i Platinum PSU |
| Memory | G.Skill 2x8 GB DDR3-2133 1.5V |
| Memory Settings | JEDEC |
| Video Cards | ASUS GTX 980 Strix 4GB MSI GTX 770 Lightning 2GB (1150/1202 Boost) ASUS R7 240 2GB |
| Hard Drive | Crucial MX200 1TB |
| Optical Drive | LG GH22NS50 |
| Case | Open Test Bed |
| Operating System | Windows 7 64-bit SP1 |
Many thanks to...
We must thank the following companies for kindly providing hardware for our test bed:
Thank you to AMD for providing us with the R9 290X 4GB GPUs.
Thank you to ASUS for providing us with GTX 980 Strix GPUs and the R7 240 DDR3 GPU.
Thank you to ASRock and ASUS for providing us with some IO testing kit.
Thank you to Cooler Master for providing us with Nepton 140XL CLCs.
Thank you to Corsair for providing us with an AX1200i PSU.
Thank you to Crucial for providing us with MX200 SSDs.
Thank you to G.Skill and Corsair for providing us with memory.
Thank you to MSI for providing us with the GTX 770 Lightning GPUs.
Thank you to OCZ for providing us with PSUs.
Thank you to Rosewill for providing us with PSUs and RK-9100 keyboards.
Load Delta Power Consumption
Power consumption was tested on the system while in a single GTX 770 configuration with a wall meter connected to the OCZ 1250W power supply. This power supply is Gold rated, and as I am in the U.K. on a 230-240 V supply, that leads to ~75% efficiency at greater than 50W, and 90%+ efficiency at 250W, suitable for both idle and multi-GPU loading. This method of power reading allows us to compare the power management of the UEFI and the board to supply components with power under load, and includes typical PSU losses due to efficiency.
The TDP for the A8-7670K is up at 95W, similar to many other AMD processors. However, at load, ours drew only an additional 83W, giving some headroom.
AMD A8-7670K Overclocking
For this review, we even tried our hand at overclocking on the MSI A88X-G45 Gaming motherboard and managed to get 4.6 GHz stable.
Methodology
Our standard overclocking methodology is as follows. We select the automatic overclock options and test for stability with POV-Ray and OCCT to simulate high-end workloads. These stability tests aim to catch any immediate causes for memory or CPU errors.
For manual overclocks, based on the information gathered from previous testing, we start off at a nominal voltage and CPU multiplier, and the multiplier is increased until the stability tests are failed. The CPU voltage is increased gradually until the stability tests are passed, and the process is repeated until the motherboard reduces the multiplier automatically (due to safety protocol) or the CPU temperature reaches a stupidly high level (100º C+, or 212º F). Our test bed is not in a case, which should push overclocks higher with fresher (cooler) air.
Overclock Results
MSI’s motherboard doesn’t allow fixed voltages to be set but prefers to rely on an offset system only. There is a problem here that we are also fighting a DVFS implementation, which will automatically raise the voltage when an overclock is applied, with an end result of stacking the overclock voltage offset on top of the DVFS voltage boost. On our cooling system, the processor passed quite easily up to 4.6 GHz without much issue, but 4.7 GHz produced an instant blue screen when a rendering workload was applied. Hitting 4.6 GHz on a midrange AMD processor is quite good, indicating our sample is some nice silicon, but your mileage might vary.
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BurntMyBacon - Thursday, November 19, 2015 - link
@Ian Cutress: "It's never an issue of lack of interest or subversion, just procurement (and ensuring we can communicate with the manufacturer at the point of testing)."[sarcasm]I thought Intel and all other computer hardware manufacturers were required by LAW to send their products to Anandtech for prelaunch approval where Supreme Tech Justice Cutress and his colleagues pronounce life or death on potential products. ;' ) [/sarcasm]
Seriously though, I'd say you are doing fine despite the real world procurement and scheduling issues getting in the way.
flabber - Wednesday, November 18, 2015 - link
I can't agree any more with the point that power consumption is the least of my concerns. While there is a significant difference between a 250W TDP CPU and a 50W TDP CPU, where one would have to factor in the cost of cooling and a PSU, 100W is quite manageable. A 500W PSU is more that adequate for just about any current system. However, I am aware that decreased power consumption is an objective in all consumer products and will be seeing in upcoming computer components. (Ironically for mobile components, my 2009 Blackberry with a 1150mAh battery can still run for a couple days before I need charge it.)My rig is equipped with a A10-5800k (2012) and a year old R9-290X (2013). Everyday tasks, such as using a spreadsheet, word processor, citation management or occasional image editing, can't be improved in any noticeably way. With regard to gaming, I can't be bothered to upgrade the motherboard and CPU to a superior Intel alternative. A few more frames per second won't make a game with poor storyline any better, nor will an enjoyable game become any better.
Pissedoffyouth - Thursday, November 19, 2015 - link
If you have 5800 you should look at getting a kaveri for better performance and lower power consumptionGadgety - Thursday, November 19, 2015 - link
"AMD's first talking point is, of course, price. AMD considers their processors very price-competitive"No kidding, I got the A8-7600 for my kid and it's integrated graphics is comparable to the i7 Iris Pro, where the i7 is 5x more expensive. So for 20% of the price we get to enjoy graphics galore. Put it on Asrock's A88X M-ITX motherboard and it outputs 4K cinema. No graphics card means it's compact so we use a tiny chassis, perfect HTPC, and useable for the type of light gaming the kids do.
Gadgety - Thursday, November 19, 2015 - link
@Ian Cutress The performance parity, and sometimes superiority, of the A8-7670k compared to the A10-7850k, and also to the A10-7870k, I guess could be attributable to driver improvements. Did you use the same drivers, or updated versions? If it's improved drivers, this would likely also improve across the APU-range.Ian Cutress - Thursday, November 19, 2015 - link
Same drivers for each. I lock a set of drivers down every test-bed refresh, so in this case it would be 15.4 beta, which is getting a bit old now. Kaveri Refresh does have some minor internal improvements as well I imagine, internal bus frequencies perhaps. There's always a small amount of volatility in the benchmark, depending on what heat density or board issue you might have. Looking back, we haven't always used the same motherboard on the APUs just due to timing (but all A88X), and even though we do some overriding on power profiles it can be difficult to compensate for motherboard manufacturer non-user exposed firmware optimisations on the memory buses.Come the next year test-bed refresh (with DX12 relevant titles hopefully), I'll be going back and redoing them all. That should clear out the cobwebs on the latest drivers and updates, providing a new base.
milli - Thursday, November 19, 2015 - link
Ian Cutress, how is the review of your grandparents laptop coming along? :)I'm waiting for that Carrizo review.
zlandar - Thursday, November 19, 2015 - link
I don't see the point of being so cheap that you are unwilling to spend more for a superior i3-5 and discrete video card. Why would you chain yourself to a dead-end cpu/gpu integrated combo and motherboard that isn't very good to start with?Plenty of people have pointed out how well Intel's cpu have held up since Sandy Bridge. I'm still using a 2600k and have upgraded my video card 3 times. If you are on a tight gaming budget it makes alot more sense to buy 2nd-3rd tier last gen video cards coupled with a good cpu you don't need to upgrade.
BurntMyBacon - Thursday, November 19, 2015 - link
@zlandar "Why would you chain yourself to a dead-end cpu/gpu integrated combo and motherboard that isn't very good to start with?"Aren't just about all laptops deadend with respect to CPU/GPU? (Particularly in the Carrizo price range)
Ton's of laptops are sold without discrete GPUs and no option to upgrade. Why should this matter to a Carrizo review (clearly laptop in this request)?
Ian Cutress - Thursday, November 19, 2015 - link
Something special in the works. After SC15 finishes, I'll be digesting the mountain of data I have. :)