Tom's Hardware : Assessment amd a8-3850 llano
Earlier this month we previewed AMD's Llano architecture in a very notebook setting. Now we've the desktop model which has a 100 W TDP. Just how much additional overall performance can the company procure having a loftier thermal ceiling and increased clocks?
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A8-3850 Helps make Its Desktop Debut
Don Woligroski did an totally killer task on our 1st examine AMD’s Llano architecture. If you haven’t however read that tale so you desire to know much more regarding the plumbing inside the company’s initial mainstream APU, you actually owe it to by yourself to check out The AMD A8-3500M APU Review: Llano Is Unleashed just before diving into this piece.
Because Don coated the underlying architecture so well, I’m likely to use our very first experiences with AMD’s Llano-based desktop platform, code-named Lynx, to dive deeper into your things I realize you men enjoy: benchmark benefits and examination. What sort of efficiency are you able to count on from Twin Graphics? How does Sandy Bridge with discrete graphics assess? What result does memory overall performance have on gaming body prices? How does integrated USB 3.0 support measure up to a few of the add-on controllers we’ve seen? I’ll reply all of that.
But very first let’s go over the fundamentals of AMD’s 1st desktop-class Llano-based APUs.
Llano: The Recession-Friendly APU
Oh, Audi can be so proud (or maybe not, given the entry-level pedigree of such processors). AMD is making use of the identical A8 and A6 designators to distinguish amongst the perceived overall performance levels of its 4 launch SKUs.
There are two A8s and two A6s. The Llano-based flagship is A8-3850, a a hundred W aspect with Radeon High definition 6550D graphics, 4 execution cores with one MB L2 cache every, as well as a two.nine GHz clock rate. That portion doesn't provide Turbo Core support—the only strategy to get it running quicker than two.nine GHz is via overclocking. AMD says to assume pricing close to $135.
The A6-3650 is also rated at 100 W, although it’s armed with Radeon Hd 6530D graphics along with a much more conservative two.six GHz clock fee (again, Turbo Core isn’t obtainable). The -3650 boasts 4 cores too, includes precisely the same 4 MB of L2 cache, and support DDR3-1866 info premiums, just like the opposite 3 versions. That one particular is anticipated to run $115.
Model
GPU
TDP
Cores
Base CPU Clock
Max. Turbo
L2 Cache
Shaders
GPU Clock
Turbo Core
A8-3850
HD 6550D
100 W
4
2.9 GHz
-
4 MB
400
600 MHz
No
A8-3800
HD 6550D
65 W
4
2.four GHz
2.7 GHz
4 MB
400
600 MHz
Yes
A6-3650
HD 6530D
100 W
4
2.6 GHz
-
4 MB
320
443 MHz
No
A6-3600
HD 6530D
65 W
4
2.one GHz
2.4 GHz
4 MB
320
443 MHz
Yes
Interestingly, dipping down to the 65 W level does not seem to sacrifice considerably from the strategy for features. AMD’s A8-3800 contains the capable Radeon High definition 6550D engine, quad-core Stars architecture, and four MB L2 repository. However, Turbo Core helps compensate to get a fairly severe drop to 2.four GHz,
Charm Bracelet, kicking frequency up to 2.seven GHz in circumstances in which thermal headroom allows for it. Regrettably, AMD didn’t deliver more than any Turbo Core-equipped processors for testing,
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Finally, the A6-3600 can be a 65 W part. It scales way back again,
Tiffany And Co, although,
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What's the main difference, exactly, in between the Radeon Hd 6550D and Radeon Hd 6530D GPU engines? One particular SIMD engine, for the most component.
Graphics Processor Classification
Radeon Hd 6550D (A8-Series APUs)
Radeon High definition 6530D (A6-Series APUs)
Shader Cores
400
320
SIMDs
5
4
Texture Units
20
16
Render Back-Ends
2
2
Z/Stencil ROPs
32
32
Color ROPs
8
8
GPU Clock Rate
600 MHz
443 MHz
Peak Compute Power
480 GFLOPS
284 GFLOPS
When you look at a block diagram of the Llano's GPU part,
Tiffany Bracelet, it really is simple to see how AMD differentiates these two lineups. Every SIMD hosts 80 ALUs and is also associated with four texture models. Turning 1 SIMD off yields the 320 shaders and 16 texture models presented by Radeon Hd 6530D.
A Tiny Kick off Gets Smaller
With 4 SKUs in the first Llano-based desktop portfolio, a zero-hour revelation that the 65 W A8-3800 and A6-3600 will not be available until finally an undisclosed date narrows the household down to two models: A8-3850 and A6-3650, the two a hundred W areas. Because of this, it is not going to be possible to test Turbo Core performance on Llano till AMD addresses the availability of its lower-power offerings.