[AT] AMD A8-7650K review

[monstercameron]

That game for 2015 is Grand Theft Auto V, which I was able to benchmark for this review. On its own, an APU can handle 720p at low settings with a reasonable frame rate, meaning that when the drivers are in place, An APU in dual graphics mode running at 60 FPS with decent quality shouldn't be too hard to achieve. For 2015 and 2016, that percentage of frames over 60 FPS metric for GTA should be a holy grail for integrated graphics.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9217/the-amd-a8-7650k-apu-review-also-new-testing-methodology

tonnes of data points.

 

[LTC8K6]

By that standard, GT4e will probably be great.

 

[Essence_of_War]

I'm so glad we've dropped 1280x1024, 1280x720 is a MUCH more useful benchmark number.

 

[LTC8K6]

Wrong thread...

 

[TheELF]

For our test we have scripted a version of the in-game benchmark, relying only on the final part which combines a flight scene along with an in-city drive-by followed by a tanker explosion.

Straight up vga/dc benchmark that has nothing to do with actual gameplay.

The G3258 can not be slower than the G1820.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK0_wOKv-rU

 

[Shivansps]

I found very very strange that GTAV is the only game in what the R7 240 was actually better than the IGP, that something that it should not happen.

 

[DrMrLordX]

According to the thread about AMD slashing APU prices, the 7850k is now lower than $140, no? Those prices in the AT article are dated.

Also, if you are paying $83 for an 860K, you're doing it wrong . . .

edit: are they kidding us? Their 7650k didn't OC past 4.1 ghz without cTDP throttling? Good grief. How in the heck do they keep having this problem in their reviews? Also, the load voltage for auto is absurd. 1.368v?!?!?

 

[AtenRa]

According to the thread about AMD slashing APU prices, the 7850k is now lower than $140, no? Those prices in the AT article are dated.

Also, if you are paying $83 for an 860K, you're doing it wrong . . .

edit: are they kidding us? Their 7650k didn't OC past 4.1 ghz without cTDP throttling? Good grief. How in the heck do they keep having this problem in their reviews? Also, the load voltage for auto is absurd. 1.368v?!?!?

They used Extream settings for the LLCs, they had to use High.

 

[DrMrLordX]

I only use 20% LLC, not sure what they were smoking.

 

[SPBHM]

I'm so glad we've dropped 1280x1024, 1280x720 is a MUCH more useful benchmark number.

1280x1024 have 5.7% on steam hardware survey, 720P 1%

but OK, if you have a 900P/1080P (most users) screen and your GPU can't handle, lowering it to 720P is the natural choice, but still, for people playing games with IGPs, using an old 1280x1024 monitor seems OK.

I think 1280x1024 is relevant for low end hardware testing.

as for the test, I thought AMD had dropped the prices a little, in any case, as expected good IGP performance, not so good CPU performance, with even Richland looking better in many cases... but for the money if you are going to play some games with the IGP it's not to bad (specially with the price drops if they are real)

OC was very poor, but I guess most users posting results don't test stability as thoroughly?

 

[DrMrLordX]

I still run 1280x1024 so you can place me in that 5.7%. Maybe someday I'll upgrade to 1600x1200!

Cutress' stability testing is not extensive, and he was reporting throttling at 4.2 ghz which is ridiculous. I suspect that he was giving the chip far more voltage than necessary. The load voltage readings were probably not accurate, or not accurate enough.

 

[CHADBOGA]

Is the A8-7650K a new APU?

If so, how does it differ from AMD's APU offerings from last year?

 

[JDG1980]

I say it's a rebrand, and I say to hell with it.

 

[monstercameron]

I say it's a rebrand, and I say to hell with it.

it is a new sku, this isnt a rebrand.

 

[Enigmoid]

it is a new sku, this isnt a rebrand.

Its basically the same as the a10-7700k except the base clock is 3.3 ghz instead of 3.4.

At best a refresh.

Other than a reduced price I can't really see what this brings to the lineup. Its the lowest clocked 95W chip so it brings nothing performance wise (its a regression). It really does nothing that dropping the price of the a10-7700k couldn't do.

IMO if I had to guess this may be perhaps AMD's sneaky way of very quickly reducing kaveri's prices in the market (how long the last round of price cuts took). Instead of trying to reduce market prices which retailers hate and don't like doing. Introduce a new sku at a dramatically lower price -> Force retailers to buy more chips as well. Though this would greatly clog up the channel.

 

[cbn]

I think 1280x1024 is relevant for low end hardware testing.

LOL, I have three of those monitors. (Poor Man's AMD Eyefinity/Nvidia Surround)

 

[frozentundra123456]

LOL, I have three of those monitors. (Poor Man's AMD Eyefinity/Nvidia Surround)

I still use some of them at work. They are OK for general use, but the aspect ratio makes them terrible for gaming. That is why I am glad Anand went away from them for their gaming benchmarks, although 720p low is really setting the bar low.

 

[LTC8K6]

it is a new sku, this isnt a rebrand.

It looks just like an A10-7700K that couldn't reach 3.4Ghz reliably, and was relabeled as a 3.3Ghz part.

It might not be.

 

[DrMrLordX]

It's newer silicon, so far as I can tell. Probably from the same batches that gave us the more recent 860ks and an unknown number of 7850ks and 7800s. My 7700k from last November was dated 2013 on the IHS . . . it was a first-run Kaveri part. Overall I would expect slightly better results from the 7650k, and the few people I know of that have bought them in retail (they've been available since, what, March?) have had good results with them.

For the price, they are excellent compared to the rest of the Kaveri lineup, or at least they were as of March. The new price cuts put things into a slightly different perspective. I would still get one over a 7700k, no doubt, and it's hard to justify getting a 7600 unless saving a few bucks really means that much.

If you really want a Kaveri, this is the one to get for 384sp/6CU. The disadvantage of having 6CU vs 8CU is pretty situational, too. Many potential users wouldn't do any better with a 7850k.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

If you really want a Kaveri, this is the one to get for 384sp/6CU. The disadvantage of having 6CU vs 8CU is pretty situational, too. Many potential users wouldn't do any better with a 7850k.

Agreed. 7850k on mitx board = super small form factor goodness. Can a 95w be passively cooled?

 

[DrMrLordX]

Yes, just undervolt it. Most boards will overvolt on auto (auto = 1.3v on mine). My 7700k will do ~4.0 ghz at the vid of 1.2125v detected by the motherboard, so it should do 3.4 ghz at maybe 1.05-1.1v vcore. I haven't really tried. The 7650k can probably do 3.3ghz at around 1.05v-1.075v. With variations, of course.

edit: you might have to tweak pstates to keep turbo working at reasonably low voltages too, but there's no reason why you'd need 1.36v to do 3.7ghz turbo, 1.2v ought to do nicely.

 

[Shehriazad]

Yes, just undervolt it. Most boards will overvolt on auto (auto = 1.3v on mine). My 7700k will do ~4.0 ghz at the vid of 1.2125v detected by the motherboard, so it should do 3.4 ghz at maybe 1.05-1.1v vcore. I haven't really tried. The 7650k can probably do 3.3ghz at around 1.05v-1.075v. With variations, of course.

edit: you might have to tweak pstates to keep turbo working at reasonably low voltages too, but there's no reason why you'd need 1.36v to do 3.7ghz turbo, 1.2v ought to do nicely.

If you don't horribly lose the chip lottery you can push a 7850K to run stable @ 4Ghz with 1.2 and even bump up the NB to 2000(without having to mess with NB volt...but of course then there's iGPU OCing).

The lowest I've ever someone see that chip run stable @ 4 Ghz was 1.188V..which is insane considering some boards auto volt 4Ghz @ 1.41 Volt.

Kaveri is HORRIBLY overvolted...on the Athlon parts as well. My 860K happily accepts 4.1 Ghz @ 1.2 (wanted to see how far I can push 1.2 V stable)



Especially after the price drop...this chip just got super competitive again (I mean 127$...come on. Getting a CPU+dGPU match up vs that is NOT easy). And it got enough brawn to play games in 1080...of course not at sexy settings unless it's the more casual mainstream games like LoL (which it easily maxes out with AA)

 

[Lonyo]

I kind of want to make a small PC I don't need for low-demand games. The CPU is somewhat reasonably priced for the GPU performance in a single package, but there are no cheap ITX motherboards... the cheapest FM2+ ITX is £70. The cheapest 1150 H81 is £50... and there's a random Z87 available for £50 as well.

£150 in AMD land gets you an ITX motherboard with this APU.
£150 in Intel land gets you an ITX motherboard with Pentium G3258 and R7 240 (or equivalent price NV GPU, but the R7 240 performance is equivalent or slightly higher than the APU so it's the obvious comparison).

 

[Shehriazad]

I kind of want to make a small PC I don't need for low-demand games. The CPU is somewhat reasonably priced for the GPU performance in a single package, but there are no cheap ITX motherboards... the cheapest FM2+ ITX is £70. The cheapest 1150 H81 is £50... and there's a random Z87 available for £50 as well.

£150 in AMD land gets you an ITX motherboard with this APU.
£150 in Intel land gets you an ITX motherboard with Pentium G3258 and R7 240 (or equivalent price NV GPU, but the R7 240 performance is equivalent or slightly higher than the APU so it's the obvious comparison).

Yea...ITX boards are the one problem. That said, MSI did announce they were going to release 8 new boards for FM2+ (just rehashes, really)...this could change a bit of the pricing there. The ITX boards for FM2+ really are a bit more expensive...that said...the Asrock one (The one I'm using) comes with an m.Sata slot...so I felt like the price was pretty alright. A88X chipset, m.Sata slot, 2400 Mhz ram support...I didn't really feel outright scammed ^^.

 

[coffeemonster]

If you don't horribly lose the chip lottery you can push a 7850K to run stable @ 4Ghz with 1.2 and even bump up the NB to 2000(without having to mess with NB volt...but of course then there's iGPU OCing).

The lowest I've ever someone see that chip run stable @ 4 Ghz was 1.188V..which is insane considering some boards auto volt 4Ghz @ 1.41 Volt.

Kaveri is HORRIBLY overvolted...on the Athlon parts as well. My 860K happily accepts 4.1 Ghz @ 1.2 (wanted to see how far I can push 1.2 V stable)

impressive. I'll have to play with undervolting some.