AMD A10-7860K 65W APU

[hojnikb]

Irrevelant if you can't afford the $165 that it(an i3 CPU) goes for locally. AMD is all about providing low-cost options, even if that means slightly less performance. Not everyone needs the top performance they can get; some just want maximum savings, and that's where AMD is useful. You may not see it that way, but it is how it is.

If you want maximum saving, you pick a celeron and the cheapest 1150/1151 mobo. And >50$ cpus from intel are usually better than amds.
And whoever is selling entry level i3 for 165$ is ripping people hard.

If you look regular prices, that are not from 3rd world countries, you see that A10 apus are priced similarly than i3s.

 

[cadaveca]

If you want maximum saving, you pick a celeron and the cheapest 1150/1151 mobo. And >50$ cpus from intel are usually better than amds.
And whoever is selling entry level i3 for 165$ is ripping people hard.

If you look regular prices, that are not from 3rd world countries, you see that A10 apus are priced similarly than i3s.

Celeron and Pentium chips are dualcores. If you want a quadcore for the same price, AMD is the answer. I live in Canada, which is far from a 3rd world country, and I linked my local retailer that doesn't have stock of Intel CPUs to match AMD's offerings. I'm not defending AMD here; I'm merely stating facts. There's a $70 price gap between the available Pentium chip and the cheapest i3 CPU, and within that gap are the majority of AMD APU/CPU options for the FM2+ socket. Go a bit higher, in cost, and you get AMD's 8-core CPUs vs Intels i3 CPUs. You have 3x i3 Intel chips @ $165-$170, and then at $185 is the FX-8320E.

 

[hojnikb]

Why would you want quad core if you need your PC for basic use ? They you're better off buying atom/amd am1 cpus, because you get 4 cores for peanuts.

As far as pricing gap is concerned, you have G4500 with a much beefier iGPU, that sits between regular pentium and i3.

So intel has covered pretty much all pricepoints. But people tend to forged about those cheaper cpus, because they are sooo fixated on core count and frequency (even though for basic use less more powerful cores is almost always better).

And lets not forged about the fact, that amd still does not support HEVC/VP9 on their iGPUs, so those pcs will be useless in years to come.

 

[Disparia]

Cool. I have an A8-5500 and A88X setup for my home server. Enough oomph to watch Youtube/Netflix/HBONow while ripping, transcoding, and various other services (http, db, file shares) so I'm not itching to upgrade, but if the A10-7860K were to ever go on sale I could buy one for some mild benefits.

There were plenty of viable options for my needs, so it came down to a very minor reason - can get 8 native SATA ports with the A88X. I have no hate for the i3, simply APU won me over by a small margin at the time in this particular situation. The dollar and performance differences were not big enough to sweat over. Since then I've built myself an i5 and my next project will do very well with an i3 or an APU; will decide on it when I cross that bridge.

 

[Casecutter]

Let me first say not for gaming but a home use computer that multi tasks from video watching to perhaps light digital photo manipulation Corel PaintShop Pro or Gimp.

If you start from a i3-6100 today, I would think I'd need to go at least a H170 and can go DDR4, the H110 is just to budget to back a the i3 6100. So CPU/Mobo/2 x 4Gb DDR4-2133 would here in the USA be a $230 ballpark.

I'm finding this the AD786KYBJCSBX pricing out about $115, back with a decent GA-F2A78M-HD2 (rev. 3.0) as low as say $45 and 2 x 4gb Mushkin Stealth DDR3-2133 for $37 all that for $197.

When it comes to someone building a M-ATX box for the above use... IDK sure the i3 has mad single core, though weaker GPU proficiency. Would "seat of the pants" daily use really show there's either of such a build being noticeably snapper? I would say NO! That said $33 more for new DDR4 and a LGA1151 mobo has merit.

But then there's that nagging dilemma, your always feeling like you want to drop something close to $100 more for the likes of a GTX 750, just so there's not that feeling of being saddled with Intel HD 530 Craphics!

G4500 with a much beefier iGPU, that sits between regular pentium and i3.

The Pentium G4500 Skylake Dual-Core 3.5 GHz has the same Intel HD 530. A Dual Core to multi task the like of ripping, transcoding isn't it's shining.

 

[GoldenX]

And Intel GPU drivers aren't good at gaming, they are full of glitches. Whatever can be said about AMD drivers, they are far better in that aspect.
I miss Nvidia doing chipsets...

 

[hojnikb]

Let me first say not for gaming but a home use computer that multi tasks from video watching to perhaps light digital photo manipulation Corel PaintShop Pro or Gimp.

If you start from a i3-6100 today, I would think I'd need to go at least a H170 and can go DDR4, the H110 is just to budget to back a the i3 6100. So CPU/Mobo/2 x 4Gb DDR4-2133 would here in the USA be a $230 ballpark.

I'm finding this the AD786KYBJCSBX pricing out about $115, back with a decent GA-F2A78M-HD2 (rev. 3.0) as low as say $45 and 2 x 4gb Mushkin Stealth DDR3-2133 for $37 all that for $197.

When it comes to someone building a M-ATX box for the above use... IDK sure the i3 has mad single core, though weaker GPU proficiency. Would "seat of the pants" daily use really show there's either of such a build being noticeably snapper? I would say NO! That said $33 more for new DDR4 and a LGA1151 mobo has merit.

But then there's that nagging dilemma, your always feeling like you want to drop something close to $100 more for the likes of a GTX 750, just so there's not that feeling of being saddled with Intel HD 530 Craphics!

The Pentium G4500 Skylake Dual-Core 3.5 GHz has the same Intel HD 530. A Dual Core to multi task the like of ripping, transcoding isn't it's shining.

G4400 contains HD510, while G4500 has 530, which is twice as fast.
As far as ripping and trascoding is concerned, you have quick sync, that can do that without any cpi load at all.

 

[yogurt_21]

what was the full test system cost?

 

[GoldenX]

Quick Sync, AMD VCE and Nvidia CUDA are horrible ways of transcoding. Sure, they are fast, but that's it, the quality is always bad. If you need to transcode, try to always use the CPU.

 

[petedread]

Well that was just about the most annoying conversation I have seen this year.

It is to easy to forget about the AMD route, glad I saw this review because A APU could be ideal for what I want to do. And the 4 cores will be better than the 2 core Celeron for what I have in mind. And super quiet for added bonus.

 

[Casecutter]

G4400 contains HD510, while G4500 has 530, which is twice as fast.

I was just indicating the i3-6100 and G4400 are the same iGPU

While don't keep up on iGPU's, my understanding was HD510 is a little more than the old top end of Integrated HD4000. Going from the 9500 GT DDR2 to GT 730 GDDR3 is not quantitatively faster to 2016 standards.

 

[Grings]

I like these chips, but decent a88x boards are never stocked anymore (in the uk at least)

 

[Farmer Boe]

Great review Dave. I've been using APU's since the first FM1 socket mobo's came out and couldn't be happier for the prices I paid. I use APU's in almost every system I build for people who are looking for a value based system and haven't heard any complaints yet. Just sucks our CDN dollar is so low right now so even the APU's are getting expensive compared to what we paid 1-2 years ago.

 

[cadaveca]

what was the full test system cost?

I wish I could accurately tell you that, but too many of the parts I used are not available for purchase any more. Spec out a 400W-500W PSU, board, the APU and 8 GB of 2133 MHz ram, you have your answer (minus OS and case, of course). I don't exactly use cheap PSUs or cases for testing in, so an exact list wouldn't be fair for anyone.

Well that was just about the most annoying conversation I have seen this year.

It is to easy to forget about the AMD route, glad I saw this review because A APU could be ideal for what I want to do. And the 4 cores will be better than the 2 core Celeron for what I have in mind. And super quiet for added bonus.

That's one added selling point that AMD didn't have before. This new cooler is pretty darn good for a stock cooler, never mind on a 65W chip.

 

[H82LUZ73]

The high end AM3+ Wraith cooler is pretty awesome too,I should see if it is also made by Cooler Master like the red fan wraith APU cooler.
Dave Awesome review ,AMD Fm2/ fm2+ chips i am looking at to upgrade my dads system,He only uses it for solitaire and Internet stuff,would save him some money on a gpu and he could always just use one of my old 6970`s .

 

[cadaveca]

The high end AM3+ Wraith cooler is pretty awesome too,I should see if it is also made by Cooler Master like the red fan wraith APU cooler.
Dave Awesome review ,AMD Fm2/ fm2+ chips i am looking at to upgrade my dads system,He only uses it for solitaire and Internet stuff,would save him some money on a gpu and he could always just use one of my old 6970`s .

Probably won't even need the 6970. These APUs aren't the quickest out there, but they are capable of doing most mundane tasks, as well as being able to do 3D, even if it's merely 30 FPS @ 1024x768... there's no rendering errors in what they provide. Unfortunately, there's still many things that just don't run on Intel chips at all, but if that wasn't the case, I wouldn't be able to say these chips are good value for the money.

I'm actually happy enough with this APU that I'm going to ask for more AMD CPUs for review, and some boards, too.

 

[yogurt_21]

I wish I could accurately tell you that, but too many of the parts I used are not available for purchase any more. Spec out a 400W-500W PSU, board, the APU and 8 GB of 2133 MHz ram, you have your answer (minus OS and case, of course). I don't exactly use cheap PSUs or cases for testing in, so an exact list wouldn't be fair for anyone.

Looks like ~500$ including windows likely 650ish if you need keyboard mouse monitor, etc.

considering a decent zbox is ~700$ not including hard disk, memory, windows, or keyboard mouse or monitor that's not bad at all. I still miss the old athlon xp days where a 500$ complete gaming system was possible.

 

[Casecutter]

I'm really considering a new home machine if AMD offer a Desktop “Carrizo” architecture, with GCN 4 "Polaris GPU on a AM4 motherboard. With the AM4 upgrade path will have a great boon

I think that a Zen with GCN 4 could be the real awakening for people. Actual 1080p better-than “entry” gaming from an APU with a >65W TDP would be a huge boost!

Looks like ~500$ ... considering a decent zbox is ~700$

What's a zbox for $700? There's the Zotac Mini PC, but those aren't but like 150'ish. For $500 you should make this APU box and get a SSD & HDD, Win10 OS included.

 

[Grings]

And Intel GPU drivers aren't good at gaming, they are full of glitches. Whatever can be said about AMD drivers, they are far better in that aspect.
I miss Nvidia doing chipsets...

I miss Nvidia's AMD chipsets, their Intel ones can go to hell...

 

[GoldenX]

I miss Nvidia's AMD chipsets, their Intel ones can go to hell...

True.
I still work with Geforce 7025 chipsets (Nforce 630? I don't remember), they were very popular here. If the owner has kids, I overclock the IGP to try and help a little
Funny how those old bricks have a Windows 10 capable driver, and an AMD HD4200 (DX10.1) doesn't.

My brother's Celeron G1820 is great as the cheapest Vulkan CPU/GPU/APU/whatever (in Linux only for now), the A6-7400k is a bit more expensive here, and the AM1s are too slow for games and emulation. But anything higher than that and an APU is a better option to a Pentium or Core i3 (at least with our prices).

 

[D.Crepit]

Can someone explain me the purpose of those chips ?
They have no upgrade path, single core performance still sux and while you have to use fast dual channel ram, it's iGPU performance is still limited by ram bandwidth quite a bit.

So not really good for gaming on a budget, cpu isn't the best.. Why would someone pick this over something like i3 6100 ? or even g4400/4500 for that matter.

In essence, because its like comparing a
Jeep to a Ferrarri. Both will get you
to the corner store in nearly the same
time, and both will get you as many
tickets as you like.

I've built what I consider to be a basic
general purpose desktop with only this
chip ( no separate GPU ). It performs
essentially like AMD says it will. And
really, in most instances, against my
i7- 6 core and a dual Nvidia GPU,
you won't see much of a difference.
Now if you want to get into really serious
gaming and other stuff, "Obviously"
AMD is a none starter.

 

[Casecutter]

A quick look on PC PartPicker and with the APU/Mobo/Memory I discussed above I can add; a Silicon Power S60 120Gb SSD, a Seagate Barracuda 1TB HDD. Then go with a Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower, with a Corsair CX 430W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular I get a to $348.71 after discounts, Rebates and shipping

 

[xorbe]

The only comparison that I could draw is that it is 43.3% (at 1/2 the watts) as fast in Cinebench as the 8350 introduced 4 years ago. (4/8)*(3.6/4.5) indicates about an 8% improvement in throughput since then.

 

[cadaveca]

The only comparison that I could draw is that it is 43.3% (at 1/2 the watts) as fast in Cinebench as the 8350 introduced 4 years ago. (4/8)*(3.6/4.5) indicates about an 8% improvement in throughput since then.

one thing to keep in mind that L3 cache, which is present on the 8320, does allow faster processing as well (since there is more data available, faster). So with an APU not having any L3 and L2 only, the actual difference in core performance is limited a bit, and the difference in a CPU with Steamroller cores should be a bit more than that.

But I could be wrong... need to get one and test it to find out!

 

[GoldenX]

In the Phenom II (vs Athlon II x4), the 6MB of L3 added from 7 to 15% more performance.