AMD Readies Two Unlocked A-Series APUs

[MikeMurphy]

I thought APU's performance scales really badly when overclocked, so wouldn't these be pointless.

Your thought is wrong

 

[JrRacinFan]

Your thought is wrong

Please back this up with benchmarks and/or source. I already know they respond eh so-so to a small overclock.

 

[Thefumigator]

Please back this up with benchmarks and/or source. I already know they respond eh so-so to a small overclock.

Don't usually trust anything from anybody but this one makes sense (I don't particulary consider 26% a "small" overclock, but yeah if you could take an unlocked part it may be interesting)

from xbit labs llano review:

Judging by the results of typical processor tests we can conclude that Llano overclocking makes a lot of sense and you shouldn’t neglect it if the opportunity presents itself. 26% increase in the processor frequency from the nominal 2.9 GHz to 3.66 GHz allowed to boost the performance almost proportionally: by 25% on average. At the same time, when you overclock by raising the BCLK frequency and at the same time reducing the processor clock multiplier delivers a guaranteed better result, even though the memory doesn’t work at its maximum speed at 141 MHz BCLK. Overall, memory frequency doesn’t affect the purely processor tests that much at all. The performance difference will be on average 2.5% when you change the DDR3 frequency multiplier by 1 step.​

 

[BUCK NASTY]

Looking forward to picking up one of these when available. Almost jumped on A8-3850, but poor FSB overclocking discouraged me. I have enjoyed my E-350 and I am eagerly awaiting the rest of forthcoming AMD line up.

 

[MikeMurphy]

I don't consider a 33% overclock on both CPU and GPU "poor" overclocking but things like USB3, AHCI may be forfeited in pursuit of the max overclock. Perhaps we are otherwise spoiled by prospects of 4.8ghz SB-K overclocks.

With locked overclocking the most important aspect is the motherboard. With a bad board you won't get far.

This is probably the best article out there:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mainboards/display/gigabyte-ga-a75-ud4h.html

^ read it. Hopefully it helps someone reading this forum.

I'm a performance nut at heart and love spending gobs of time figuring out max overclocks. FM1 + A8-3850 was for me since:

1- Simple flat board allows me to take it overseas without too much trouble
2- One good cooler does the trick for both CPU and GPU. I don't have to worry about GPU noise or GPU failures.
3- 6550D is sufficient for gaming etc, and O/C is icing on the cake
4- I love speed, but honestly, the K10.5 arch at 3.5ghz in quad core config is plenty of power for anything
5- AMD worked wonders on power gating etc and revamped power consumption pre-O/C
6- Fully featured A75M-UD2H motherboard was only $100!
7- CPU price was very attractive

Overall i'm thrilled with it but haven't spent too much time on it, yet. Wish I could have grabbed a K-series but alas, not yet available. Back to old school overclocking we go!

 

[lashton]

hmmm

Who cares if they both use K for unlocked CPU's, now the APU gets interesting, see how these things do unlocked, and can you somehow enable any disabled cores?

 

[cheesy999]

Who cares if they both use K for unlocked CPU's, now the APU gets interesting, see how these things do unlocked, and can you somehow enable any disabled cores?

hopefully they'll have an unlocked gpu clock that you can edit from the bios

 

[JrRacinFan]

hopefully they'll have an unlocked gpu clock that you can edit from the bios

What would there be to unlock? not quite understanding what you mean.

 

[BUCK NASTY]

What would there be to unlock? not quite understanding what you mean.

I think he means unlock able GPU cores as in the same silicon used for 6530d and 6550d??

 

[[H]@RD5TUFF]

The problem with Llano, you have to raise bclk to get it to overclock, which from what I've read can cause issues (on this particular platform). This eliminates that factor. If the overclock does help, will need to see that first hand with a review once they hit shelves.

Well it will be interesting for sure to see what it does.

 

[TheLaughingMan]

Too much here for a multi-quote. The APU scales just fine when overclocked. I got an A6-3650 up to 3.64 GHz stable. That is a full 1 GHz overclock (38.5% OC). I got the A8-3850 to 3.53 GHz stable using a GIGABYTE UD2H. Dave got a A8-3850 up to 3.7 GHz I think using the UD4H. For how this affects performance: http://www.futurelooks.com/amd-llano-apu-review-entry-level-pc-king/ and http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/A75-UD4H/12.html

The GPU doesn't need to be unlocked as you can change it anywhere from 200 MHz to 2 GHz core. It is pointless to go over 600 MHz if your RAM is 1866 MHz or below as the RAM will limit performance long before the additional core speed will.

And the bclk change only limits overclock on boards with no automatic dividers like Biostar and ECS. The GIGABYTE boards seem to have a huge advantage in overclocking locked APUs. These "K" APUs will level the playing field in this regard.

 

[Thefumigator]

Llano is just a very good product. Now unlocked it earns the "interesting" factor too.

 

[breakfromyou]

Now i've got my eyes out for these guys, maybe for an HTPC. Thanks for the advice about motherboards TheLaughingMan. I'll have to pick up a Gigabyte, maybe an MSI (if they're similar with BIOS options, and i'm assuming they are)

 

[cheesy999]

I think he means unlock able GPU cores as in the same silicon used for 6530d and 6550d??

yeah, i kind of mixed up what i was saying

i want to be able to unlock graphics cores from the bios like you would with CPU cores

but, i would also like to have clock control of the gpu from the bios, so that you don't have to have afterburner etc, running all the time, not too important, but they did it with some integrated graphics cards so they must be able to do it here

 

[[H]@RD5TUFF]

Anyone else find it funny yesterday xbit was an unreliable source ( for some trolls), then today when it comes to questioning APU OC scaling it suddenly is a good source. . . :shadedshu

 

[Thefumigator]

Anyone else find it funny yesterday xbit was an unreliable source ( for some trolls), then today when it comes to questioning APU OC scaling it suddenly is a good source. . . :shadedshu

well it depends, I think xbit is reliable. so I don't think and I didn't say it was unrealiable yesterday... not sure who did...

 

[JrRacinFan]

Xbit is unreliable? Never thought of them to pass on FUD.

 

[Frick]

Anyone else find it funny yesterday xbit was an unreliable source ( for some trolls), then today when it comes to questioning APU OC scaling it suddenly is a good source. . . :shadedshu

Well if people don't want things to be true they will not believe stuff even if it would come from Jesus H Christ himself.

 

[Steven B]

this is pretty cool!

EVEN is APU sucks in performance overall, you can just OC against other APUs its theo nly fun new thing to OC, you get FSB! OC is the funnest, and now we get multiplier and FSB, its what SandyBridge shodul have been IMO. ALso I am more of an Intel Fan, but you know.