Thursday, January 24th 2013
AMD "Richland" Desktop APU Lineup Detailed
AMD's A-series "Trinity" line of APUs may have helped make the APU outsell CPUs in 2013, but it won't be long before they're replaced by the new "Richland" A-series APUs for desktops and mainstream notebooks. "Richland" is a tweaked version of "Trinity" which sees AMD stick to the 32 nm process, and retain the "Piledriver" CPU micro-architecture, but increase CPU clock speeds, add a faster DDR3-2133 MHz dual-channel IMC, and integrate a Radeon HD 8000 series Graphics CoreNext iGPU into the silicon. Desktop APU models will take up with A##-6000 series numbering scheme.
The series will be led by AMD A10-6800K, which features every component on the "Richland" silicon unlocked, which includes two "Piledriver" CPU modules amounting to four x86-64 cores, and all stream processors on the iGPU unlocked, with the highest CPU and iGPU clock speeds enabled in the lineup. The iGPU model for this chip is Radeon HD 8670D. The A10-6800K features unlocked multipliers, making overclocking a breeze. Trailing it is the A10-6700, which features all physical components unlocked, but with slightly lower clock speeds, and locked BClk multipler. It features the same iGPU as its bigger sibling, the HD 8670D.
The AMD A8-6000 series consists of the A8-6600K and A8-6500, both of which feature four CPU cores, but slightly toned down iGPU cores, labeled Radeon HD 8570D. The A8-6600K features unlocked BClk multiplier. The next APU in the lineup is the A6-6400K, which is dual-core, features a further scaled down iGPU, bearing the model number Radeon HD 8470D, and unlocked BClk multiplier. Lastly, there's the A4-6300, an entry-level dual-core APU with Radeon HD 8370D graphics. All models with -K extension feature rated TDP of 100W, others 65W.
Moving on to the platform itself, it's known that "Richland" APUs will be built in the same packages as "Trinity," and as such existing A55, A75, and A85X chipset-based motherboards should be able to run them with BIOS updates, yet AMD plans to launch a trio of new FCH chipsets. Leading the pack is the A88X (eight SATA 6 Gb/s ports), followed by A78 (six SATA 6 Gb/s ports), and A68 (probably four SATA 6 Gb/s ports, entry-level).
The series will be led by AMD A10-6800K, which features every component on the "Richland" silicon unlocked, which includes two "Piledriver" CPU modules amounting to four x86-64 cores, and all stream processors on the iGPU unlocked, with the highest CPU and iGPU clock speeds enabled in the lineup. The iGPU model for this chip is Radeon HD 8670D. The A10-6800K features unlocked multipliers, making overclocking a breeze. Trailing it is the A10-6700, which features all physical components unlocked, but with slightly lower clock speeds, and locked BClk multipler. It features the same iGPU as its bigger sibling, the HD 8670D.
The AMD A8-6000 series consists of the A8-6600K and A8-6500, both of which feature four CPU cores, but slightly toned down iGPU cores, labeled Radeon HD 8570D. The A8-6600K features unlocked BClk multiplier. The next APU in the lineup is the A6-6400K, which is dual-core, features a further scaled down iGPU, bearing the model number Radeon HD 8470D, and unlocked BClk multiplier. Lastly, there's the A4-6300, an entry-level dual-core APU with Radeon HD 8370D graphics. All models with -K extension feature rated TDP of 100W, others 65W.
Moving on to the platform itself, it's known that "Richland" APUs will be built in the same packages as "Trinity," and as such existing A55, A75, and A85X chipset-based motherboards should be able to run them with BIOS updates, yet AMD plans to launch a trio of new FCH chipsets. Leading the pack is the A88X (eight SATA 6 Gb/s ports), followed by A78 (six SATA 6 Gb/s ports), and A68 (probably four SATA 6 Gb/s ports, entry-level).