Thursday, December 15th 2011
26 December Launch Date for AMD A8-3870K and A6-3670K Black Edition Unlocked APUs
December thru January looks to be a busy time for AMD. Along with a few new graphics products, AMD will launch new CPUs and APUs. The company has chosen December 26 to launch its A8-3870K and A6-3670K Black Edition "Llano" accelerated processing units (APUs) in the FM1 package, which feature unlocked base clock multipliers for the processor component, making overclocking a breeze. In two of its presentation slides to distributors, it unveiled the swanky new box art of these unlocked APUs.
These chips pack four x86-64 cores based on the "Stars" K10.5 architecture with 1 MB dedicated L2 cache per core, dual-channel DDR3-1866 MHz integrated memory controller, PCI-Express 2.0 root complex, and a "discrete-class" graphics processor that packs 400 VLIW5 stream processors, DirectX 11 support, and the ability to pair with similarly specc'd discrete GPUs. The A8-3870K Black Edition features x86 core clock speed of 3.00 GHz, and Radeon HD 6550D graphics that features all 400 of those stream processors, with 600 MHz GPU clock speed. The A6-3670K Black Edition, on the other hand, has its x86 component clocked at 2.70 GHz, it features Radeon HD 6530D graphics that has 320 out of the 400 stream processors enabled, and a GPU clock of 433 MHz.
AMD presented results of its own tests, where it pitted the two chips against a similarly priced Intel Core i3-2120 dual-core processor. In CPU-centric tests, the dual-core (2 cores, 4 threads) i3-2120 performed more or less on par with the A6-3670K, with only the A8-3870K having a notable lead. It's with GPU-intensive tests where the Radeon-powered APUs stormed past Intel HD Graphics-powered Core i3. Go figure. The A8-3870K Black Edition is expected to be priced at US $135, while the A6-3670K Black Edition is expected to go for $115.
Source:
DonanimHaber
These chips pack four x86-64 cores based on the "Stars" K10.5 architecture with 1 MB dedicated L2 cache per core, dual-channel DDR3-1866 MHz integrated memory controller, PCI-Express 2.0 root complex, and a "discrete-class" graphics processor that packs 400 VLIW5 stream processors, DirectX 11 support, and the ability to pair with similarly specc'd discrete GPUs. The A8-3870K Black Edition features x86 core clock speed of 3.00 GHz, and Radeon HD 6550D graphics that features all 400 of those stream processors, with 600 MHz GPU clock speed. The A6-3670K Black Edition, on the other hand, has its x86 component clocked at 2.70 GHz, it features Radeon HD 6530D graphics that has 320 out of the 400 stream processors enabled, and a GPU clock of 433 MHz.
12 Comments on 26 December Launch Date for AMD A8-3870K and A6-3670K Black Edition Unlocked APUs
But unless they're aggressively priced there's not a reason to get on FM1 board bandwagon now or someone with a Llano set-up to upgrade. However, such APU's and mobo for $180 have a ton of merit as HTPC or acceptable for a those who see the need for above barely tolerable Craphics, without the need of adding a discrete card for extra $35. When you take into account an i3 ($130) and somewhat comparable H67 mobo ($80) considering such a Llano can be surprising effectual.
It's a letter man! :laugh:
Benchmarks are my usual study but actually sitting down with one of these will have you reaching for your wallet.