Question What old FM2+ AMD CPU to get?

[fwtong]

I'm thinking of seeing if I can do a relatively cheap CPU upgrade on my HTPC. I don't really want to do a full rebuild, because it works well enough right now because all I do on it is stream videos (youtube, crunchyroll, twitch, etc...), watch video files on Kodi and some blurays. Since it works well enough, I can't justify building a completely new machine, but a faster CPU would be a pretty good qualify of life upgrade. However, the problem is that I have no idea what are the good FM2+ AMD CPUs because I haven't really been keeping track of all the various cores over the past few years. So, when I checked the CPU list for my motherboard, nothing made sense to me. I think i would prefer to get a 65W cpu, just to save power on a machine that's on all the time.

So, here's my motherboard's CPU list: https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/FM2A68M-DG3+/#CPU

I'm looking for a few recommendations for what are the fast general purpose CPU on this list, so I can see what I can find on eBay. For reference, my current CPU is an AMD A4-7300, so pretty much anything will be a big improvement.

 

[VirtualLarry]

My memory's not so good these days, but they re-released the Carizzo AM4 chips as FM2+ packages, 74xx, look them up. They do require specific BIOS support, so older boards may never get support for them. I think that they also require the A68M chipset for some reason, something about the voltage planes available.

Day of the Dead: AMD Releases new Carrizo FM2+ APU, the A8-7680

www.anandtech.com

Good news! Your board does appear to support these FM2+ Carizzo CPUs! Just make sure to update to BIOS 5.10 (or newer).

Look on your linked CPU list for Codename "Carizzo". There's two of them.

 

[fwtong]

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll see if I can grab one of them.

 

[ao_ika_red]

Just be aware that Athon 845 (carrizo) is CPU only, not APU. If you still want to use integrated gpu, I recommend 7860k. Solid chip with 65w TDP.

 

[fwtong]

Thanks for the recommendation, but I should mentioned that I have an Nvidia 950GTX to handle my GPU needs.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Just be aware that Athon 845 (carrizo) is CPU only, not APU. If you still want to use integrated gpu, I recommend 7860k. Solid chip with 65w TDP.

If you're already buying a new 65W APU for FM2+, there is no reason not to get the new "Carrizo with IGP enabled" 7680/7480. For maximum CPU performance on the socket, I'd see if I could dig up a (used?) 880K/7890K.

 

[ao_ika_red]

Thanks for the recommendation, but I should mentioned that I have an Nvidia 950GTX to handle my GPU needs.

Then, you're good with Athlon CPUs.

If you're already buying a new 65W APU for FM2+, there is no reason not to get the new "Carrizo with IGP enabled" 7680/7480. For maximum CPU performance on the socket, I'd see if I could dig up a (used?) 880K/7890K.

How can I forget about 7680 APU? Silly me. That IGP is on the same gen. with Fury / 380X so it should be a little bit better than older igp found on 78xx APU.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

That IGP is on the same gen. with Fury / 380X so it should be a little bit better than older igp found on 78xx APU.

The main point in Carrizo's IGP isn't performance, or architecture. Sure 3rd gen GCN is a bit faster then 2nd gen, but it's still bandwidth limited with DDR3. The advantage is the newer UVD6 (Kaveri has 4.2) which is more power efficient, and has h.265 HW support. VP9 is still shader based unfortunately.

So, if video isn't a priority, it's completely negligible. But you still get the better Excavator-based CPU part with Carrizo of course.

Edit; Just looked things up.

Carrizo has a frequency advantage too. Even the "basic" 7680/7480 runs its IGP at 900MHz, which is higher then any comparable/384SP Kaveri model (and even the top 512SP tops out at 866MHz). This might give a performance advantage in some situations, even compared to the full 512SP Kaveri models.

 

[fwtong]

Thanks for all the help. I did get an A8-7680 and upgraded the bios on the mobo. So, hopefully when I get, I can just drop it in an everything works smoothly.

 

[ao_ika_red]

Thanks for all the help. I did get an A8-7680 and upgraded the bios on the mobo. So, hopefully when I get, I can just drop it in an everything works smoothly.

I'm looking forward to your review.

 

[fwtong]

Thanks for everyone's help. The A8-7680 took a while to arrive because I bought the it on ebay and it came from China. While I was waiting, I updated the drivers and bios to ensure compatibility. Admittedly, I was a little apprehensive about buying a used CPU, but it was only $50. When it did arrive, I dropped it in, slapped some Artic Cooling Ceramique 2 on it, and it booted right up. It does feel snappier, especially when I'm streaming something that uses flash (really wish Spectrum would move on from flash). Not quite as fast as my work machine, which is an i7, but not a bad upgrade for a minimal spend.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Glad that this worked out for you, and that I was able to be of some assistance.