AMD completed its 2013 APU lineup with the release of
the Elite A-Series Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) for
desktops, codenamed "Richland".
"The combination of high-performance, third-generation
desktop APUs with our existing portfolio of low-power,
mobile APUs gives us our strongest-ever lineup of
products for our customers and our technology partners,"
said Bernd Lienhard, corporate vice president and
general manager, Client Products Division at AMD.
The new AMD A-Series APUs combine AMD "Piledriver" CPU
architecture with AMD Radeon HD 8000 Series graphics on
the FM2 motherboard infrastructure. The ability to
support existing A85X, A75 and A55 platforms as well as
forward compatibility with FM2+ motherboards provides
users the ability to buy now with the flexibility to
upgrade as new platforms come to market. In addition,
these APUs feature maximum clock speeds over 4 GHz for
next generation compute workloads.
Utilizing the latest AMD Radeon HD 8000 Series graphics,
the Elite A-Series combines the CPU and up to 384 Radeon
parallel processing cores to offer up to 15 percent
increased graphics performance over its predecessor, the
AMD Second Generation APU (formerly codenamed Trinity).
The Elite A-Series APU for desktops supports new AMD
Radeon Memory Gamer Series at 2133 MHz. When paired with
an A-Series APU, the DDR3-2133 MHz Radeon Memory Gamer
Series will give up to a 13 percent performance increase
over DDR3-1866 MHz memory.
AMD Elite A-Series "Richland" Desktop APUs |
Model |
A10-6800K |
A10-6700 |
A8-6600K |
A8-6500 |
A6-6400K |
A4-4000 |
Modules/Cores |
2/4 |
2/4 |
2/4 |
2/4 |
1/2 |
1/2 |
CPU Base Freq |
4.1 |
3.7 |
3.9 |
3.5 |
3.9 |
3.0 |
Max Turbo |
4.4 |
4.3 |
4.2 |
4.1 |
4.1 |
3.2 |
TDP |
100W |
65W |
100W |
65W |
65W |
65W |
Graphics |
HD 8670D |
HD 8670D |
HD 8570D |
HD 8570D |
HD 8470D |
? |
GPU Cores |
384 |
384 |
256 |
256 |
192 |
128 |
GPU Clock |
844 |
844 |
844 |
800 |
800 |
724 |
L2 Cache |
2x2MB |
2x2MB |
2x2MB |
2x2MB |
1MB |
1MB |
Max DDR3 |
2133 |
1866 |
1866 |
1866 |
|
|
Price (MSRP) |
$150 |
$149 |
$120 |
$119 |
$80 |
$46 |
Compared to the previous generation "Trinity" APUS, all the CPU and GPU clocks of the new "Richland" APUs have been increased - with the exception with the A4-4000. Maximum Turbo Core speeds across the lineup range from 200MHz faster (A10-6800K) to as much as 400MHz faster (A8-6500); the base CPU clocks have also been increased 100-300MHz, with the 300MHz increase coming on the highest performance models. Regarding their GPU, the Richland APUs are clocked 5-11% higher.
Compared to Intel's Haswell chips, the fastest AMD A10-6800K costs $40 less than the least expensive Core i5 Haswell CPU, and it's still $30-$40 less than Core i5 Ivy Bridge. Intel competes against the A10-6800K with their Core i3 CPUs.
Performance-wise, Intel's HD Graphics 4200/4400/4600 should offer the same graphics performance with the HD 8670D, but the GT3e Iris Pro 5200 may prove more potent.
At COMPUTEX, AMD also demonstrated for the first time
the upcoming "Kaveri" APU that will introduce
Heterogeneous System Architecture.
Also demonstrated at COMPUTEX was technology from
cloud-gaming ISV Splashtop that gives users access to
enhanced 'personal-cloud' software. Users now have the
ability to stream some of the most popular game titles
such as "SimCity" on other nearby mobile devices and,
with AMD Elite A-Series APUs for desktops, experience
responsive performance.
Following the recent launch of three new mobility APUs ?
including the 28nm, quad-core x86 SoC APU (formerly
codenamed "Temash") and the quad-core SoC APU for
entry-level and small-form factor touch notebooks
(formerly codenamed "Kabini") -- AMD also showcased new
OEM designs. The new APUs are designed to effectively
balance the needs of a wide range of new and traditional
mobile PC users and are available beginning today from
the computer manufacturers, including new systems from
Acer and HP, with many others expected throughout the
year.
AMD also demonstrated its two recently announced
graphics products: AMD Radeon HD 7990, and AMD Radeon HD
8970M. To showcase the features, performance and power
of AMD Radeon GPUs, AMD revealed a new "Ruby" technology
demo at COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2013, designed from the ground
up to demonstrate Graphics Core Next (GCN)
architecture. Ten years after the release of the first
"Ruby" demo, the new version illustrates the magic game
developers can create today with GCN, allowing users to
experience new levels of detail and features such as AMD
TressFX hair and AMD Eyefinity technology. The new
"Ruby" technology demo was developed in collaboration
with IIIFonic, using the Crytek CryEngine3.
In cloud gaming, AMD is working with CiiNow, G-Cluster,
OTOY and Ubitus to deploy gaming technology across the
cloud. AMD Radeon Sky Series graphics cards enable game
developers and service providers to allow flexible
streaming of games, without restricting users to a
single device.
AMD also works with game developers to optimize PC
games for AMD technology and to offer popular titles via
the "Never Settle: Reloaded" game bundle. One of AMD?s
key gaming partners is Nixxes, the developer behind
"Deus Ex: Human Revolution," "Hitman: Absolution" and
"Tomb Raider."