[Techspot] BAD, BAD APU AMD A12-9800 Review: Infecting The AM4 Platform

[beginner99]

Does that make the entire Kaby Lake family a "scam" too? Same CPU cores, just a somewhat updated media encode / decode block. Same CPU performance.

Depends. For mobile no as decode block actually matters a lot and the increased turbos also helped a lot. For desktop the advantages are smaller but still relevant for the targeted buyers. Average user won't have a dGPU and won't overclock so higher turbo and better media help here as well.

BR offers less increase and being over 2 years later using and outdated CPU uArch.

 

[whm1974]

Does that make the entire Kaby Lake family a "scam" too? Same CPU cores, just a somewhat updated media encode / decode block. Same CPU performance.

From my point of view, yes we could.

 

[kwalkingcraze]

Is A8-5600K faster than A12-9800? Because A12 is a locked APU. Who wins?

 

[NTMBK]

Is A8-5600K faster than A12-9800? Because A12 is a locked APU. Who wins?

No, because the 5600K had a cut-down GPU and only supported up to DDR3-1866. The 9800 has a much more powerful GPU, almost 50% more memory bandwidth, and support for DX12.

 

[kwalkingcraze]

No, because the 5600K had a cut-down GPU and only supported up to DDR3-1866. The 9800 has a much more powerful GPU, almost 50% more memory bandwidth, and support for DX12.

But CAS latency increased from 9 to 15. Maybe a toss-up... 4.9GHZ A8-5600K vs. 4.2GHz max turbo A12-9800.

 

[NTMBK]

But CAS latency increased from 9 to 15. Maybe a toss-up... 4.9GHZ A8-5600K vs. 4.2GHz max turbo A12-9800.

CAS latency is counted in number of cycles. Each cycle became shorter (due to frequency going up), so latency in nanoseconds stayed roughly the same.

Besides, bandwidth is much more important than latency for graphics workloads. GPUs are fundamentally designed to deal with long latency memory reads.

EDIT: Also, 4.9GHz overclock? Are you mad? Reviewers weren't able to hit 4.5GHz and get a stable system, never mind 4.9GHz.

 

[ao_ika_red]

Yes, that got me interested in using DDR4 ECC UDIMMs on an AM4 board with it:

https://forums.anandtech.com/thread...dge-apu-to-work-with-ddr4-ecc-udimms.2518936/

A good question.

How much would (or could) relative lack of memory bandwidth be a concern with these programs?

It should be a nice little computing machine with its ECC and FP64 capability.
Based on my experience in running Einstein@home on R7 360 2GB (FP64=100 GFLOPS) , it utilises more than 60GB/s (calculated from GPU-Z memory controller load reading) on average (2 task per gpu).
There should be memory bandwidth issue with BR, but it will be diminished by its raw FP64 capability.

 

[PingSpike]

I was mildly interested in this back at the end of 2016 as a stop-gap CPU that allowed you to get onto the Ryzen platform early and let you get ahead of RAM price increases. Even that was a pretty niche case I wouldn't likely have actually bit on. But released now its pretty pointless. New RAM costs a fortune now, cheaper Ryzen cpus have been released and have way better performance. It actually stinks of duping people into thinking this is a Ryzen product to clear out old con core crap when what those people really wanted to buy was raven ridge APUs. I suppose on the bright side if you get duped you'll at least still be able to upgrade to a real raven ridge for the cost of a cpu later on.

I agree with OP. The whole thing makes about as much sense as Kabylake-X. I guess its still the cheapest way to get onto the new platform...but that isn't really saying much.

 

[NTMBK]

I don't buy this "people might think it's Zen" argument. All Zen consumer parts are clearly branded as Ryzen. This is branded as a continuation of the previous A8/10 series APUs. I don't see the issue.

 

[ao_ika_red]

I don't buy this "people might think it's Zen" argument. All Zen consumer parts are clearly branded as Ryzen. This is branded as a continuation of the previous A8/10 series APUs. I don't see the issue.

Well, I actually find those people on my local facebook group. They usually very green about computer tech and only want a cheap gaming platform. And its release schedule to DIY market (just after Ryzen 3) only adds to the confusion.

 

[scannall]

18 months ago, this would have been OK. Not great by any means, but a few uses here and there. I'm not sure why anyone expected great things out of it though. With Raven Ridge so close it really doesn't make any sense at all now.

 

[Ancalagon44]

18 months ago, this would have been OK. Not great by any means, but a few uses here and there. I'm not sure why anyone expected great things out of it though. With Raven Ridge so close it really doesn't make any sense at all now.

I suppose it is just a little surprising how badly they suck relative to Ryzen.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

I suppose it is just a little surprising how badly they suck relative to Ryzen.

Not really, no. The Athlon X4 845 has made that pretty clear from day one. Compared to that, even the most basic Ryzen 1200 has literally twice the performance in many cases. Which says something about how bad BD-derivatives are all by itself.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1684?vs=1928

 

[Rifter]

They should have waited out RR, this was a horrible idea.

 

[Triloby]

Still don't see why AMD bothered slapping Bristol Ridge on the AM4 platform. It's not as if having faster DDR4 memory clocks is going to significantly increase its performance in games, despite being an APU. To add insult to injury, you can't even OC the RAM beyond DDR4-2400 for the APU. Utterly pointless all around.

 

[EXCellR8]

getting up to 4.8GHz and at that rate it would still struggle to keep pace with the G4560 while consuming three times more power.

though this certainly wont happen with the Zen APU lineup, this is probably the most offending offering from AMD in quite some time.

 

[DrMrLordX]

A12-9800 is based on the dreaded Bulldozer cores but with major improvements, and it's the best AMD can do.

Right, because Zen never happened.

A10-7890K is a waste of time and money.

7890k is the fastest gaming APU ever released by AMD. But haven't we already had this discussion?

Obviously, nobody in their right mind is going to buy anything FM2 or FM2+ in 2017. The question is whether or not they should get AM4 + A12-9800, which they should not. Why you took the time to bash Kaveri/Godavari is anyone's guess. Nobody should be buying FM2 or FM2+ now, period. They should either be getting cheap Intel rigs or they should get R3-1200s + dGPUs.

Is A8-5600K faster than A12-9800? Because A12 is a locked APU. Who wins?

Nobody. Both products are essentially worthless in 2017. Do not buy!

I was mildly interested in this back at the end of 2016 as a stop-gap CPU that allowed you to get onto the Ryzen platform early and let you get ahead of RAM price increases.

That's why I wanted an A12-9800 on a B350 board. AMD wouldn't deliver.

18 months ago, this would have been OK. Not great by any means, but a few uses here and there. I'm not sure why anyone expected great things out of it though. With Raven Ridge so close it really doesn't make any sense at all now.

Exactly!

 

[Topweasel]

I would call BR APUs a scam because they are hardly any better then the APUs they replaced aside from maybe a better iGPU.

That would only apply if it was sold specifically so it would be a upgrade to Carrizo. It's not, it an introductory APU, to allow for a full pricing stack on AM4 to help with OEM adoption of AM4 and Ryzen. It was never about performance.

 

[EXCellR8]

the only reason I'm not updating my Godavari APU in my Ubuntu box is because I don't want to invest in more DDR4. well, that and because I only use the computer for browsing and occasional videos at my drafting table. I think the Ryzen 3 1200 is still in my Newegg cart from like over a week ago though lol

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Nobody. Both products are essentially worthless in 2017. Do not buy!

To be fair, BR makes a fair Celeron competitor, giving you 4T and a much better IGP. If AMD would drop prices across the board, I could see some value combined with BRs SoC capability (X300/B300 "chipset").

That would only apply if it was sold specifically so it would be a upgrade to Carrizo. It's not, it an introductory APU, to allow for a full pricing stack on AM4 to help with OEM adoption of AM4 and Ryzen. It was never about performance.

Agreed. As stated above, BR is good for bottom-of-the-product-stack, and not much else.

 

[whm1974]

That would only apply if it was sold specifically so it would be a upgrade to Carrizo. It's not, it an introductory APU, to allow for a full pricing stack on AM4 to help with OEM adoption of AM4 and Ryzen. It was never about performance.

Even so it is still a waste of resources AMD could put elsewhere. At least they could have done a die shrink on it.

 

[Topweasel]

Even so it is still a waste of resources AMD could put elsewhere. At least they could have done a die shrink on it.

It's not a waste of resources if it allows Dell to sell a $400 Dimension and allow that system to be configured up to a 1800x. By giving Dell the options on the low and making it enticing for them to offer AM4 computers it would be tons more profitable than all of the sales of ThreadRipper OEM and Retail combined.

 

[NTMBK]

Even so it is still a waste of resources AMD could put elsewhere. At least they could have done a die shrink on it.

It lets them reuse their existing Carrizo design on the cheap, and use up a bunch of 28nm wafers so that they don't get charged another WSA penalty by GloFo.

 

[kwalkingcraze]

EDIT: Also, 4.9GHz overclock? Are you mad? Reviewers weren't able to hit 4.5GHz and get a stable system, never mind 4.9GHz.

Oh yes, it's actually 4.7GHz base and 4.9GHz turbo with A6-5400K. It shows you clearly this $15 APU is all you need in life. This is a single-core APU with 2 threads, and the results are different with A8-5600K. I haven't tested the A8 yet because I'm debating whether to resell it, but I'm guessing it tops at 4.7GHz (200MHz lower) than A6-5400K due to more number of cores.

 

[krumme]

Its horrible products but they will unfortunately sell. The reason is aparently ryzen will not fill the entire stack down to what is now atom market. Good for that...
I cant imagine what the oem pay for this junk.