A10-6800K for HTPC duty - my findings

[Insert_Nickname]

I decided a while ago that I needed a new HTPC/Low-end gaming PC (mostly older or even ancient titles). After doing a good deal of digging I settled on a 6700 as being the sweet spot for my requirements. This is a really a case of YMMV, so please do not argue a why a different setup makes more sense. It of course ended up being changed to a 6800K, on a "what the heck its only $5 (equivalent in my local currency) more, and if its too power hungry I can always underclock a bit". I finally had time to put the system though its paces today. Was I in for surprise...

Components used:

6800K@stock 4.1/4.4GHz
Gigabyte F2A85XN-WIFI
4GB DDR3-1333@1.5V
Samsung SSD830 120GB
Corsair CX430
Pioneer BDR-208M

Idle power is an astonishing low 22W(!). This is actually LESS then what my older G465 based mini-HTPC used idle (~28W) and a bit less then what the same system re-equipped with the newer G1610 uses (idle ~25W with the same PSU). I'd have guessed in the mid-thirties. Watching a 1080p youtube is hovering around 28W. Bluray disc playback from the drive uses around 40W. Overall I'm quite surprised by this low power usage. Reading the various reviews for the 6800K around the web has everything from 35-70W idle. Maximum full load (CPU+GPU) power is 120W, where the review are everywhere from that and up to a 180W+.

I guess the bottom line is don't believe everything you read on the internet. AMD APUs can be quite frugal in power use...

 

[inf64]

Nice system there and very interesting power draw numbers. Have you tried undervolting at the same clocks? I wonder how low you can go with Vcore while keeping it "stable".

 

[AtenRa]

Mini-iTX boards have way lower power consumption than Full ATX or even Micro-ATX.

Im using the Asrock FM2A85X-ITX for a few months with various AMD APUs and its been my favorite toy. For an HTPC, office and light gaming the combination of mini-itx + Ritchland is outstanding. Loads of features, low power, low cost, small form factor, great performance.

 

[Arkaign]

Good deal! Do you also do light gaming with it? I'm wondering why you sprung for a 6800K when even an A4 can do HTPC duties very well?

 

[Kallogan]

Reviews usually come with discrete gpus hence the high power consumption numbers. I've built myself a lot of mini-itx rigs and power numbers are always far below than the ones on reviews. For example, my last one with a G2020 was idling at 16W and only consumes 36W with the cpu at full load. But it was with an external power block and dc board (picopsu like) which i think is around 90% efficiency, which beats any atx psu in that aspect.

 

[SPBHM]

it's a well known fact that APUs can have great idle power usage, but it also depends on MB and PSU...


please don't tell me you are using this $150 APU with 1333 single channel :biggrin:

 

[Gikaseixas]

4GB DDR3-1333@1.5V

Dump that, get DDR3 1866 or higher, oc the sucker, bench some games and report back please

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Good deal! Do you also do light gaming with it? I'm wondering why you sprung for a 6800K when even an A4 can do HTPC duties very well?

Yes, it gets used for casual/low requirement/older titles. I was actually debating weather the 5/6600K (I ended up settling for the 6700) was enough (most likely it is), but having the entire Richland IGP enabled doesn't hurt. $5 more then the 6700 bought an extra 400MHz, unlocked multiplier and a most likely very useful official 2133MHz memory support. Not that bad a deal I thought.

Nice system there and very interesting power draw numbers. Have you tried undervolting at the same clocks? I wonder how low you can go with Vcore while keeping it "stable".

Well, the memory is an older reused Kingston kit. This particular kit is not happy going below 1.5V. Haven't had time to try undervolting the CPU, and I have a suspicion that whatever gains will be lost in PSU efficiency. The CX430 is not that efficient at such low loads (~5% load).

please don't tell me you are using this $150 APU with 1333 single channel :biggrin:

Oh, yeah. Forgot to specify its a 2x2GB kit. Which leads to:

Dump that, get DDR3 1866 or higher, oc the sucker, bench some games and report back please

Don't worry. I plan to. Just waiting for a good deal on some 8GB(+) 2133/2400MHz kit...

Meanwhile this should wet your appetite. Notice that with 2133MHz memory the IGP is sometimes actually faster then 6800K+HD6670(DDR3).

 

[zir_blazer]

Don't worry. I plan to. Just waiting for a good deal on some 8GB(+) 2133/2400MHz kit...

After Hynix fab gone kaboom, its safe to say that the good deals are current prices.

 

[Erenhardt]

After Hynix fab gone kaboom, its safe to say that the good deals are current prices.

It was GDDR5 facility, and nothing really happened there.
But you never know how the market reacts...

 

[Ajay]

After Hynix fab gone kaboom, its safe to say that the good deals are current prices.

The fire was in Fab C2's air purifiers, so no damaged equipment in the FAB. The big question is if wafers in process were contaminated by smoke or not. If they were, then they all will have to be tossed and a new wafer run will have to be started at the purifiers are repaired making for a larger gap in the market and higher prices.

http://www.fudzilla.com/home/item/32400-hynix-fire-almost-stuffs-up-memory-market

 

[Ajay]

Oh, and this makes me more positive about Kaveri as and HTPC box - thanks for the info.

 

[zir_blazer]

The fire was in Fab C2's air purifiers, so no damaged equipment in the FAB. The big question is if wafers in process were contaminated by smoke or not. If they were, then they all will have to be tossed and a new wafer run will have to be started at the purifiers are repaired making for a larger gap in the market and higher prices.

http://www.fudzilla.com/home/item/32400-hynix-fire-almost-stuffs-up-memory-market

Speculation will raise the prices more than any actual fab damage. RAM was already on the rise and this would only help it to rise even more.
I don't recall that when WD lost the infamous fab during the flood three years ago there was any sort of shortage, yet prices were 2-3 times higher.

 

[Torn Mind]

The Trinity/Richland platform actually has been documented to idle well. It was in the review of the 5800K on Anandtech, I believe.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6347/amd-a10-5800k-a8-5600k-review-trinity-on-the-desktop-part-2/8

Beat out the i3-3220 that probably had Speedstep enabled.

 

[monstercameron]

i wanna see igp and memory overclocking...also would NB ocing help increase bandwidth?

 

[Insert_Nickname]

The Trinity/Richland platform actually has been documented to idle well. It was in the review of the 5800K on Anandtech, I believe.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6347/amd-a10-5800k-a8-5600k-review-trinity-on-the-desktop-part-2/8

Beat out the i3-3220 that probably had Speedstep enabled.

One thing I noticed reading reviews is that most reviews of Trinity/Richland use humongous 750W+ PSUs. While I can respect that for consistency in benchmarks, an alternative with a good quality 350-450W would be very nice. Doing like Xbitlabs and testing a stripped down Spartan Z77 board (ASUS P8Z77-V LX) vs. a full featured A85X mainboard (F2A85-V PRO), is inexcusable. If it had been the P8Z77-V PRO/Deluxe it had been fair. You really have to pay attention what's actually being tested... :sneaky:

Edit; Anandtech has done it too, in the F2A85XN-WIFI review the only power consumption numbers are with a HD7950. Who would pair a 6800K with such a card? Its simply not the target market...

 

[Ajay]

Speculation will raise the prices more than any actual fab damage. RAM was already on the rise and this would only help it to rise even more.
I don't recall that when WD lost the infamous fab during the flood three years ago there was any sort of shortage, yet prices were 2-3 times higher.

True. Commodity markets are not exactly skewed to favor the consumer

 

[bgt]

I"ll get a 6800K tomorrow. It will replace a 5700. Curious to know how well it works.

 

[AtenRa]

I"ll get a 6800K tomorrow. It will replace a 5700. Curious to know how well it works.

Are you going to OC ?? if not i wouldn't recommend it, you will not feel the difference in every day jobs unless you will like to Play games at 1080p using 2133MHz+ memory.

 

[crashtech]

I was considering the 6700 for a VESA mountable sff build, but given this new info, the 6800K might be just fine. Thanks for the info!

BTW, do you have any full load data for proper brick sizing?

 

[spdfreak]

So, is the difference between the A10 and the A8 just clock speed?

 

[AtenRa]

A8 has less Radeon cores.

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/pages/consumer-desktops.aspx#7

 

[bgt]

Are you going to OC ?? if not i wouldn't recommend it, you will not feel the difference in every day jobs unless you will like to Play games at 1080p using 2133MHz+ memory.

Well, curious to see how much power at what use the chip will produce and how cool it will stay with 7 security camera's attached in the system and the constant monitoring of the 7 camera's. Up till now all the pc's used got very hot at monitoring the 7 AVtech AVN363V security camera's(1.2Mpixel each). So now I'll try the APU to see if it works cooler. There is only 1 netbook in the system which always stays cool at monitoring the cams. That's a Lenovo netbook with an E350. Forgot what model the netbook is. Using a normal PC with a separate graphic card did not work out yet(has a 6450 now).Temps always go to 60C when monitoring.
This client had an AMD 965 and got a FX8320 PC delivered now.(standard dealer PC=no homebrew). He gets very nervous about high temps. He always thinks it will blow up. He tried an Intel system also but he became very nervous about the temps fluctuating so much. Its a mindset. If I tell him it does not matter he flips.

PS I will try TR@1080p with 2133mhz memory.

 

[AtenRa]

Well, curious to see how much power at what use the chip will produce and how cool it will stay with 7 security camera's attached in the system and the constant monitoring of the 7 camera's. Up till now all the pc's used got very hot at monitoring the 7 AVtech AVM363 security camera's(1.2Mpixel each). So now I'll try the APU to see if it works cooler. There is only 1 netbook in the system which always stays cool at monitoring the cams. That's a Lenovo netbook with an E350. Forgot what model the netbook is. Using a normal PC with a separate graphic card did not work out yet(has a 6450 now).Temps always go to 60C when monitoring.
This client had an AMD 965 and got a FX8320 PC delivered now.(standard dealer PC=no homebrew). He gets very nervous about high temps. He always thinks it will blow up. He tried an Intel system also but he became very nervous about the temps fluctuating so much. Its a mindset. If I tell him it does not matter he flips.

PS I will try TR@1080p with 2133mhz memory.

Interesting, i will really like to know how the 6800K will operate under those conditions.

 

[bgt]

Interesting, i will really like to know how the 6800K will operate under those conditions.

Yes, me too. And I just ordered the 6800K because it has nice reviews everywhere. And I think it will stay cooler. I wanted a 4770K but I'll wait for the second stepping. First batches are never optimal. I am very curious if they improved the 4600 on image quality. That was always a letdown by Intel. Intel CPU's are nice but IGP's...........not there yet, well anyway the 4000 was an improvement over the 3000 but the 4600 I don't know yet.