How come there's not much chatter about the amd a12?

[slackerinabox]

Curious that I see nothing written about this processor and only one laptop using it.

Benchmark seems pretty acceptable (i5 levels) and it seems like a genuinely competitive product compared to their otherwise anemic lineup. Yet I don't see it mentioned or used at all.

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+PRO+A12-8800B&id=2610

 

[therealnickdanger]

Curious that I see nothing written about this processor and only one laptop using it.

I think you just answered your own question. Carrizo was hyped up about a year ago... then nothing really happened... then it started to ship laptops late 2015... spring 2016... but I still haven't seen one in a B&M store.

When you can buy an i5 laptop for $350, there isn't a lot of room for something slower.

 

[sm625]

Because its iGPU is slower than a 950M, which can be found in notebooks on slickdeals for $500? And with the intel+nvdia combo, you know what you are getting. You dont have to wonder is this single or dual channel? Even some dual SODIMM Carrizo systems can be wired single channel.

 

[cbn]

When you can buy an i5 laptop for $350, there isn't a lot of room for something slower.

i5 + dGPU laptops start at $500 (on sale), and with the Carrizo/Bristol Ridge really sized for 35W I think it would be great to see more of the Silicon configured with that TDP.

Trouble is consumers equate light and thin with efficiency.....but 245mm on 28nm is too much silicon for such a low TDP of 15W (In the same way an i5 + dGPU with a combined TDP of 15W would be too low for the silicon).

 

[slackerinabox]

I think you just answered your own question. Carrizo was hyped up about a year ago... then nothing really happened... then it started to ship laptops late 2015... spring 2016... but I still haven't seen one in a B&M store.

When you can buy an i5 laptop for $350, there isn't a lot of room for something slower.

So is the chip prohibitively expensive? I see AMD doing quite well in the cheap desktop/laptop market with A8s everywhere so I'm curious why the actually competitive part isn't getting more support from manufacturers. Or is it a supply issue?

Just seems like it's AMD's chance to play catchup, unless battery life's atrocious or there's some other obvious deal breaker. I get that the iGpu isn't great, but it seems to outpace intel's igpu offering.

 

[Sweepr]

@ OP, despite A12 branding the specs are identical to A10-8800P. And the performance of actual notebooks based on this chip is very underwhelming:

www.anandtech.com/show/10000/who-controls-user-experience-amd-carrizo-thoroughly-tested

Trouble is consumers equate light and thin with efficiency.....but 245mm on 28nm is too much silicon for such a low TDP of 15W (In the same way an i5 + dGPU with a combined TDP of 15W would be too low for the silicon).

Agreed. Just look at Stoney Ridge, they completely failed to bring out a <10W TDP model, despite cutting Carrizo in half.

 

[LTC8K6]

Curious that I see nothing written about this processor and only one laptop using it.

Benchmark seems pretty acceptable (i5 levels) and it seems like a genuinely competitive product compared to their otherwise anemic lineup. Yet I don't see it mentioned or used at all.

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+PRO+A12-8800B&id=2610

Does the A12 CPU throttle with a heavy IGP load?

 

[cbn]

So is the chip prohibitively expensive? I see AMD doing quite well in the cheap desktop/laptop market with A8s everywhere so I'm curious why the actually competitive part isn't getting more support from manufacturers. Or is it a supply issue?

The general impression I have got just from browsing laptop offerings is that the chip is not expensive. Rather it does appear to be a supply issue that even encourages motherboard design sharing (at the OEM level) with the lower end single channel chips (which have a greater volume) to reduce laptop development costs.

In fact, Anandtech wrote an article describing that situation involving motherboard design sharing here.

And as example, we even saw one laptop manufacturer offering the flagship Carrizo in a notebook with only a single SO-DIMM slot:

https://www.asus.com/Notebooks/X555DG/specifications/

 

[cbn]

Does the A12 CPU throttle with a heavy IGP load?

Yes, it will.

All the APUs throttle, but the main thing is how much and how would that affect gameplay (or other usages)?

P.S. Stilt did some awesome testing that I reported here that showed the clock speed differences in GTA V between FX-8800P @15W/25W and FX-8800P @35W/42W. The difference is quite large and reinforces the idea that these big chips need more than 15W TDP to reach their full potential.

 

[therealnickdanger]

From what I've seen, AMD (and/or its partners) is trying to market it as some sort of "midrange premium" device, so it's showing up in laptops that are in the ~$700 range, where it gets trounced by the Intel+dGPU offerings. What makes it even more unfortunate is that - like cbn said - they are delivering laptops with slow, single-channel RAM, and generally poor cooling. So the APU is bandwidth starved and then throttles when pushed.

If you really want to know the why/what, then track down The Stilt.

 

[coffeemonster]

I think you just answered your own question. Carrizo was hyped up about a year ago... then nothing really happened... then it started to ship laptops late 2015... spring 2016... but I still haven't seen one in a B&M store.

you're not looking then. I've seen them at Best Buy, wal-mart, and target.

When you can buy an i5 laptop for $350, there isn't a lot of room for something slower.

yeah, Mom can really tell that $350 i5 is faster than the $350 carrizo...

 

[therealnickdanger]

i5 + dGPU laptops start at $500 (on sale), and with the Carrizo/Bristol Ridge really sized for 35W I think it would be great to see more of the Silicon configured with that TDP.

I didn't say i5+dGPU, I said i5. They start at $350, not on sale:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&IsNodeId=1&N=100006740 600003988 4814

you're not looking then. I've seen them at Best Buy, wal-mart, and target.

I am looking and I haven't seen them. I know it's crazy, but maybe our regions order different products.

yeah, Mom can really tell that $350 i5 is faster than the $350 carrizo...

It's not that mom can tell at all, but she knows that she wants Intel because that's what she saw on TV, what her kids said they wanted, and what the nice young man in the blue shirt told her is better. At each store I've checked the display models, when I can't find one I ask someone "Do you have any new AMD laptops?" and the response is usually some form of "No, but you'll want to get an Intel processor because it's better."

I can't hard enough.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Is there is desktop version?

 

[coffeemonster]

It's not that mom can tell at all, but she knows that she wants Intel because that's what she saw on TV, what her kids said they wanted, and what the nice young man in the blue shirt told her is better.

Well in my experience, none of my extended family in the young adult or older range know anything about processor brands. I have several co-workers(I work at an HP datacenter) who have no idea which CPU is in their laptop at home. One guy I work with only buys amd because Ghz is the only metric he looks at when determining performance.
When I was looking at the Carrizo laptops at Best Buy I was approached by a salesman who said "ah I see you're interested in the FX series" and proceeded to talk it up. He was rather clueless of the specifics but he never suggested I should look at the intels. I'm just saying I have not seen this "everybody knows and wants intel" mentality among laymans or salespeople steering people away from AMD.

 

[cbn]

When you can buy an i5 laptop for $350, there isn't a lot of room for something slower.

i5 + dGPU laptops start at $500 (on sale), and with the Carrizo/Bristol Ridge really sized for 35W I think it would be great to see more of the Silicon configured with that TDP.

I didn't say i5+dGPU, I said i5. They start at $350, not on sale:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&IsNodeId=1&N=100006740 600003988 4814

Oh yes, I definitely understood you meant Core i5 (without dGPU) for $350.

This is why I brought up the Core i5 with dGPU for $500. (re: With Bristol Ridge having such a large iGPU I believe it is a better comparison provided the 35W model was selected).

With that mentioned, I do wonder how many people would buy the 35W model when the 15W model has nearly the same advertised CPU specs:

And then I wonder how many people if dissatisfied with the 15W model (for gaming) would think the 35W model doesn't offer much improvement?

 

[dark zero]

I think you just answered your own question. Carrizo was hyped up about a year ago... then nothing really happened... then it started to ship laptops late 2015... spring 2016... but I still haven't seen one in a B&M store.

When you can buy an i5 laptop for $350, there isn't a lot of room for something slower.

I you reffer to the U tier trash, sorry but that is an insult against my intellect.

I see the U tier one or even 2 steps lower than the H tier which is the real mobile tier.
And a Core i5 H tier notebooks are at minimun 450 dollars.

 

[VirtualLarry]

none of my expended family

Whoa, auto-correct. :|

 

[Denithor]

Well in my experience, none of my extended family in the young adult or older range know anything about processor brands. I have several co-workers (I work at an HP datacenter) who have no idea which CPU is in their laptop at home. One guy I work with only buys amd because Ghz is the only metric he looks at when determining performance.

The IT guy where I work is exactly like this. He will only use FX "octocore" CPUs in his home computers because he can overclock to 5GHz and swears they're faster than anything Intel can make.

Whoa, auto-correct. :|

Maybe not a mistake? LOL