Tuesday, October 2nd 2012
AMD Announces Retail Availability of A-Series "Trinity" Desktop APUs
AMD today announced retail and distribution channel availability of its second generation AMD A-Series Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) for desktop, small form-factor and home theater PCs. These new APUs target do-it-yourself (DIY) PC builders, mainstream gamers and value-added resellers who want to upgrade their PC infrastructure with affordable performance, discrete-level graphics, multiple cores and fast processing for outstanding responsiveness.
The second generation desktop AMD A-Series APU is available at prices ranging from $53 to $122 USD. Compared to similarly priced competitive offerings, the new APUs offer more cores, more speed, best-in-class entertainment experiences and an easy upgrade path based on a stable socket infrastructure. AMD APU users also gain access to the AMD AppZone and a comprehensive list of accelerated applications that leverage the full compute power of the APU. With hardware-accelerated support for DirectX 11 on AMD Radeon graphics and AMD Eyefinity technology delivering a more immersive experience, the AMD A-Series APUs are the ideal solution for systems running the highly-anticipated Microsoft Windows 8 and today's Microsoft Windows 7 operating systems.
"The new AMD A-Series APU is ideal for anyone looking for a new desktop or home theater PC with leading performance for the dollar," said Leslie Sobon, corporate vice president, Desktop and Component Products, AMD. "The combination of processing speed, multiple compute cores and discrete-level graphic capabilities on the second generation AMD A-Series APU make it an excellent platform for the gamer and PC enthusiast alike."
More Cores, More Speed and More Value
The second generation AMD A-Series APU provides higher performance and capabilities over the first generation:
Better Video and Gaming with AMD Radeon Graphics
The second generation AMD A-Series APUs include AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series graphics, providing high-performance discrete-class graphics. These APUs extend AMD's legacy of gaming leadership with a significant increase in both CPU and GPU performance5 over the previous generation and support for:
The second generation desktop AMD A-Series APUs combine AMD's next-generation "Piledriver" CPU architecture with AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series graphics on the new FM2 motherboard infrastructure to deliver a host of new features and a brilliant visual experience, all on a platform with future upgrade capability.
Three different chipset options are available on motherboards with the FM2 socket, each with a different feature set: AMD A55, A75 and A85X. These chipsets support AMD Memory Profiles which enable graphics memory to run at 1866 MHz, with up to a 266 MHz boost for faster performance.
Industry Support
ASRock: "The new A-Series APUs are a perfect combination of performance and price for PC enthusiasts," said James Lee, ASRock vice president of Sales and Marketing. "The ASRock FM2 motherboards come with a complete product line supplying those enthusiasts to achieve the highest level of computing. Besides, with ASRock smart X-Boost Technology, overclocking the APU can become a one-button process.
ASUS: "Second generation AMD A-Series APUs are ideal for desktop PC builders and mainstream gamers," said Joe Hsieh, general manager of Asus' Motherboard Business Unit. "Our award-winning motherboards outfitted with these leading processors provide customers an immersive experience, easy upgrade path and affordable price."
ECS: "The performance, price and upgrade options of the second generation AMD A-Series APUs should make these products wildly popular with a wide range of PC enthusiasts who are building a new system or about to upgrade his or her system," said David Chien, vice president of ECS Channel Business Unit. "We look forward to supplying those enthusiasts with the stability and performance features of our special gold-plated A85F2-A Golden FM2 motherboard."
GIGABYTE: "With AMD's second generation APU platform, GIGABYTE is bringing several exclusive technologies to an AMD platform for the first time, including our new Ultra Durable 5 technology and Digital Power delivery," commented Henry Kao, vice president of GIGABYTE Motherboard Business Unit. "These technologies help ensure GIGABYTE FM2 series motherboards will get the absolute maximum graphics and processing performance from AMD's new and exciting A-Series APUs."
MSI: "Combining second generation AMD A-Series APUs with MSI's new FM2 mainboards creates a platform that offers an unprecedented level of flexibility and gaming performance, especially with easy-to-use features like MSI OC Genie," said Ted Hung, MSI vice president of Mainboard Department. "We are ready to impress the market with stable, high performance products that are a great home for AMD's new APUs."
Details and Availability
Starting today, the following AMD A-Series APUs are available from AMD's channel partners and retailers worldwide:
The second generation desktop AMD A-Series APU is available at prices ranging from $53 to $122 USD. Compared to similarly priced competitive offerings, the new APUs offer more cores, more speed, best-in-class entertainment experiences and an easy upgrade path based on a stable socket infrastructure. AMD APU users also gain access to the AMD AppZone and a comprehensive list of accelerated applications that leverage the full compute power of the APU. With hardware-accelerated support for DirectX 11 on AMD Radeon graphics and AMD Eyefinity technology delivering a more immersive experience, the AMD A-Series APUs are the ideal solution for systems running the highly-anticipated Microsoft Windows 8 and today's Microsoft Windows 7 operating systems.
More Cores, More Speed and More Value
The second generation AMD A-Series APU provides higher performance and capabilities over the first generation:
- More than 700 GFLOPS of compute performance;
- Up to 4.2 GHz max frequency;
- Unlocked Central Processing Unit (CPU) with AMD OverDrive software for up to 6.5 GHz of extreme overclocking performance.
Better Video and Gaming with AMD Radeon Graphics
The second generation AMD A-Series APUs include AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series graphics, providing high-performance discrete-class graphics. These APUs extend AMD's legacy of gaming leadership with a significant increase in both CPU and GPU performance5 over the previous generation and support for:
- AMD Eyefinity Technology - The only multi-monitor technology that supports a single-surface Windows 8 experience across up to four monitors. For the first time, this immersive technology is available from an APU without the need for a discrete graphics card;
- Industry-leading, high-performance DirectX 11 graphics architecture capable of delivering full 1080p gaming for a life-like level of detail;
- AMD Radeon Dual Graphics support that delivers a performance boost of up to 75 percent when a discrete graphics card is added to the APU6. The AMD Radeon Dual Graphics option also offers support for DirectX 9 and 10 for older game titles, and uses new AMD CrossFire
- Application Profiles for easier updates.
The second generation desktop AMD A-Series APUs combine AMD's next-generation "Piledriver" CPU architecture with AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series graphics on the new FM2 motherboard infrastructure to deliver a host of new features and a brilliant visual experience, all on a platform with future upgrade capability.
Three different chipset options are available on motherboards with the FM2 socket, each with a different feature set: AMD A55, A75 and A85X. These chipsets support AMD Memory Profiles which enable graphics memory to run at 1866 MHz, with up to a 266 MHz boost for faster performance.
Industry Support
ASRock: "The new A-Series APUs are a perfect combination of performance and price for PC enthusiasts," said James Lee, ASRock vice president of Sales and Marketing. "The ASRock FM2 motherboards come with a complete product line supplying those enthusiasts to achieve the highest level of computing. Besides, with ASRock smart X-Boost Technology, overclocking the APU can become a one-button process.
ASUS: "Second generation AMD A-Series APUs are ideal for desktop PC builders and mainstream gamers," said Joe Hsieh, general manager of Asus' Motherboard Business Unit. "Our award-winning motherboards outfitted with these leading processors provide customers an immersive experience, easy upgrade path and affordable price."
ECS: "The performance, price and upgrade options of the second generation AMD A-Series APUs should make these products wildly popular with a wide range of PC enthusiasts who are building a new system or about to upgrade his or her system," said David Chien, vice president of ECS Channel Business Unit. "We look forward to supplying those enthusiasts with the stability and performance features of our special gold-plated A85F2-A Golden FM2 motherboard."
GIGABYTE: "With AMD's second generation APU platform, GIGABYTE is bringing several exclusive technologies to an AMD platform for the first time, including our new Ultra Durable 5 technology and Digital Power delivery," commented Henry Kao, vice president of GIGABYTE Motherboard Business Unit. "These technologies help ensure GIGABYTE FM2 series motherboards will get the absolute maximum graphics and processing performance from AMD's new and exciting A-Series APUs."
MSI: "Combining second generation AMD A-Series APUs with MSI's new FM2 mainboards creates a platform that offers an unprecedented level of flexibility and gaming performance, especially with easy-to-use features like MSI OC Genie," said Ted Hung, MSI vice president of Mainboard Department. "We are ready to impress the market with stable, high performance products that are a great home for AMD's new APUs."
Details and Availability
Starting today, the following AMD A-Series APUs are available from AMD's channel partners and retailers worldwide:
45 Comments on AMD Announces Retail Availability of A-Series "Trinity" Desktop APUs
We have been promised this digital dream world where it all just happens with ease and we have control of it, instead we find ourselves with powerful devices in their own rights, but step out of their niche and all of a sudden your $500 smart phone is useless. Your $900 PC can't do that. Consoles are to far behind the curve to do too much more, your tablet can do this, but can't finish the project you want, so then you need your laptop, and oh, you have a spouse AND kids? Make that times three or four.
So now we have 5 devices each all with multiple core CPU's, decent to powerful GPU's, TB of storage, fast internet access, yet they all fall short of one or two devices that work together seamlessly and have a common interface. As much as it pains me to say it, Apple is looking like they are going to get the interface done sooner than MS, or Android can. Windows 8 is still a failure at the connected dream. When my smart TV logs onto my PC from any room in my home, or through my phone, and allows me to integrate my videos and or pictures easier and edit them I will be impressed. With almost 9TB total of storage in my home, 24Ghz worth of CPU processing power, 15MBps of internet download speed I should be able to shoot a 1080 video with my phone, download it, have it compressed and uploaded so my parent's can watch their grandchildren without it taking 20 steps. But it does.
Pentium G6/8xx = Dual-Core w/o HTingHyper-Threading is very different from the Bulldozer Module design. Hyper-Threading just allows threads to be parked so they are run slightly faster, there are only 2 cores, they are just optimized nicely to run 4 threads better than 2 cores traditionally could. Modules are sets of cores that have their own hardware, but share components (schedulers mostly iirc). If you're going to say an i3 is a quad-core because it can run 4 threads then an i7 is an octo-core.
They are competitive when you compare the iGPU portion, and prioritize it. CPU intensive tasks still give a pretty sizable edge to Intel, but that was to be expected.
Not enough power to warrant a big board and not enough overclock benefit to justify a K with the higher TDP. Of course most don't pay enough attention to the reviews to note those points so I'm sure it'll sell well enough out of the gate.
ASUS F2A85-V Pro FM2 (Hudson D4) for $149.99
G-Skill Ripjaws X – 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 for $93.49
Total = $373.47
Intel Corei5-3450 Ivy Bridge Socket LGA 1155 for $194.99
ASUS P8Z77-V Plus LGA 1155 for $167.99
G-Skill Ripjaws X – 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 for $93.49
Total = $456.47
A $83 difference. Trinity wins this one easy. Take tha $83 and invest in a graphics card so you can XFire them together with the 5800K. No brainer.
5600k: 110
Asrock dgs 60
ram: 8gb DDR3-2400 70
6570 low-profile: 45 after mir
There would be no huge ram bottlenecks with 256sp even when oc'ed. ddr3-2400 is cheap and 8gb is plenty. Mobo is good-enough looking and should overclock fine. Gfx card is a worthy companion for 1080p gaming.
$300 freaking dollars. Nuts.
i3 2220 ivy bridge $130
ASUS P8Z77-V Plus $170
8gb DDR3-2400 $70
Amd 6670 $70
Total $440
Vs
AMD A10-5800K $130
ASUS F2A85-V Pro $150
8gb DDR3-2400 $100
Total = $380
I did just copy and past the parts from above pretty much. I think the you could spend a lot less on the motherboards for these systems too. I would also drop to a lower speed ram in the intel system because it does not gain as much from it.
I personally would take the intel build. If I didn't have the money, I would take the amd. If space or heat was a concern, I would take the amd.
Anyway... if you can get them in your country (I can't :(), I recommend the Samsung Green RAM thingy... their uber low price, low profile and uber overclockable/low voltage makes them perfect for an APU setup, and they have a freaking black PCB to top it off.
Still though, i3 2220 + 6670 > 5800k. The intel build does cost more though but not by much.