AMD Elite A-Series A10-6800K APU (Socket FM2)

[cadaveca]

AMD Richland APUs have been talked about in enthusiast circles for weeks. Rumors have made their rounds and everyone is left wondering. I take a look at AMD's A10-6800K, put it through the paces, and see what's what in the world of Elite A-Series APUs.

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[dark2099]

In your table for power consumption, you have the GPU clocks listed with the volts, and the volts listed with the clocks.

 

[Skywalker12345]

In your table for power consumption, you have the GPU clocks listed with the volts, and the volts listed with the clocks.

funny i was justs bout to say the same.

 

[cadaveca]

Sorry guys. With the new AIDA64 and PCMark8 launching yesterday or the day before, I finished this late last night after I had redone my benchmarks. Then this morning I had to stay at my son's school to help with his kindergarten class going on a field trip to the Space and Science Center. I had a blast blowing bubbles with those kids, let me tell you.

 

[drdeathx]

I have a dog named bubbles.. LOL

 

[newtekie1]

On page 5:

I also managed to clock the core at slightly over 160 MHz for 1014 MHz

I think you mean GPU Core.

Great review!

I was hoping AMD would actually rework the GPU to use GCN.

 

[etayorius]

Finally! i was waiting for techpowerup review of the A10-6800k, i think it is a decent upgrade to start using an APU, if you plan to upgrade from a A10-5800k i think it`s not worth it... seriously improvements are very small.

Why Haswell is not the review?

 

[cadaveca]

Finally! i was waiting for techpowerup review of the A10-6800k, i think it is a decent upgrade to start using an APU, if you plan to upgrade from a A10-5800k i think it`s not worth it... seriously improvements are very small.

Why Haswell is not the review?

I only have the 4770K. Benching a $379 CPU vs a $145 APU is silly in my books, when the complete APU system costs as much as the Intel chip alone. We should all know by now that AMD is better for 3D, and Intel better for compute, if comparing such chips. If I had an equivalent Intel-based CPU I could have included numbers from, I would have.

Really, when it comes down to including content in reviews, for me, it's ALWAYS down to me not having the hardware.

 

[drdeathx]

Finally! i was waiting for techpowerup review of the A10-6800k, i think it is a decent upgrade to start using an APU, if you plan to upgrade from a A10-5800k i think it`s not worth it... seriously improvements are very small.

Why Haswell is not the review?

Agreed. All it is is an evolution, slightly better GPU and higher memory frequency. I think cause Haswell came out Saturday and a timing issue.

 

[Frick]

Needs Hybrid Crossfire reviews (in depth)!!1! And what settings/resolution did you bench the games in? I mean I realize that is sort of beside the point of this review, but still.

 

[rpsgc]

Do you have the 'Metro: Last Light' and 'Sniper Elite V2' charts switched?


90 fps in Metro would be impressive.

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

I only have the 4770K. Benching a $379 CPU vs a $145 APU is silly in my books, when the complete APU system costs as much as the Intel chip alone. We should all know by now that AMD is better for 3D, and Intel better for compute, if comparing such chips. If I had an equivalent Intel-based CPU I could have included numbers from, I would have.

Really, when it comes down to including content in reviews, for me, it's ALWAYS down to me not having the hardware.

What you described is exactly what happens all the time and for example semiacurate did just that today ie 6800k v 3770k wherein the four cored apu has half (ish) the performance of a 8logic cored cpu (most sites are just as biased *but not*tpu) , idiots.
I commend that you did not do that, nice work dave and good review.

 

[Suka]

Looks good to me considering i dont have an apu. Will be looking to get one soon though newegg have a killer A10 5800k bundle that may sway me to get that but either is good for me.
Thnx for the review was really waiting.

 

[Crap Daddy]

I only have the 4770K. Benching a $379 CPU vs a $145 APU is silly in my books, when the complete APU system costs as much as the Intel chip alone. We should all know by now that AMD is better for 3D, and Intel better for compute, if comparing such chips. If I had an equivalent Intel-based CPU I could have included numbers from, I would have.

Really, when it comes down to including content in reviews, for me, it's ALWAYS down to me not having the hardware.

Intel kind of has the i3s as a competition for these APUs and I don't think Haswell parts have been launched yet. Anyway, nothing new here from previous generation, for new builders might be a choice for cheap DOTA, Starcraft 2 or some browser games machine. As you said, it's great for kids to get into the PC experience although I'm not sure one can convince them with all this mobile brainwashing crap floating everywhere around us.

 

[cadaveca]

Do you have the 'Metro: Last Light' and 'Sniper Elite V2' charts switched?


90 fps in Metro would be impressive.

Metro:
lowest settings, 1200x800. Because it's a nastily optimized benchmark, I report maximum FPS. This allows things like memory performance increases to show. The benchmark results are slightly varied, of course but not by that much, surprisingly.

Sniper Elite V2
Automatic benchmark, no settings available. I do have to sit there and capture the screenshot manually, though:

And yes, I keep screenshots of all benchmark results posted. I don't even pay attention to results when collecting them..I watch benchmarks for rendering errors or other issues, not actual performance. If you'd like to see other results because you question them, please ask. I'd love to end such comments forever. I don't care about who wins in my reviews, and I value my integrity.

Needs Hybrid Crossfire reviews (in depth)!!1! And what settings/resolution did you bench the games in? I mean I realize that is sort of beside the point of this review, but still.

I don't do GPU reviews. Had AMD supplied me with a VGA for testing Dual Graphics, as they should have given to all reviewers if they wanted it featured, I would have included those numbers. I did include those numbers in the last APU review, but I paid for that GPU out of my own pocket, and it cost me $100. Doing reviews should never cost ME money out of pocket. So I sold that GPU and no longer have it. They are lucky I used 2133 MHz memory, even.

What you described is exactly what happens all the time and for example semiacurate did just that today ie 6800k v 3770k wherein the four cored apu has half (ish) the performance of a 8logic cored cpu (most sites are just as biased *but not*tpu) , idiots.
I commend that you did not do that, nice work dave and good review.

Through other reviews available here on TPU, we do have numbers comparing everything, but sometimes you have to read all of the reviews to get the full picture. All of us reviewers cover different content, and different aspects of the same things, even, as with the Haswell launch, but the best information comes from all the stuff combined together.

Intel didn't send me a chip for this review, or for Haswell reviews. I did put in requests to them that went unanswered. I have sponsored retail chips for board and memory reviews.

Intel kind of has the i3s as a competition for these APUs and I don't think Haswell parts have been launched yet. Anyway, nothing new here from previous generation, for new builders might be a choice for cheap DOTA, Starcraft 2 or some browser games machine. As you said, it's great for kids to get into the PC experience although I'm not sure one can convince them with all this mobile brainwashing crap floating everywhere around us.

Ha! Yeah ,the mobile stuff definitely does add it's own twist to the market. I do have many ideas how that can be used to any company's advantage, but that's long-term thinking, not the short game. Really that's why I think most companies have no problem with things the way that they are now...they ARE playing the long game, after all.


I mean really...a 5 GHz APU, on AIO watercooling? You guys did catch that, right? I could have lowered CPU clocks, and pushed the GPU further, maybe, or vice versa...

 

[Jacez]

I like the price, but its IPC is about 1/3 that of Haswell. That's pretty depressing.

 

[cadaveca]

I like the price, but its IPC is about 1/3 that of Haswell. That's pretty depressing.

in encoding like Handbrake, that uses OpenCL acceleration, AMD Elite A-Series APUs perform pretty well.

A10-6800K encodes my custom rip of the movie "It Might Get Loud" at 386.7 FPS

i7 4770K encodes my custom rip of the movie "It Might Get Loud" at 595.7 FPS

That's a bit more than 1/3...I think your perspective it what makes it depressing. That's actually 2/3rds of the performance, for less than half the price.

For most common tasks, AMD's APUs actually do far better than most give them credit for. Benchmarks don't always tell the full picture.

 

[TheLaughingMan]

For most common tasks, AMD's APUs actually do far better than most give them credit for. Benchmarks don't always tell the full picture.

says the man who just crapped all of it for have "low" but adequate performance.

 

[Crap Daddy]

in encoding like Handbrake, that uses OpenCL acceleration, AMD Elite A-Series APUs perform pretty well.

A10-6800K encodes my custom rip of the movie "It Might Get Loud" at 386.7 FPS

i7 4770K encodes my custom rip of the movie "It Might Get Loud" at 595.7 FPS

That's a bit more than 1/3...I think your perspective it what makes it depressing.

Good documentary, by the way. The look on The Edge's and Jack's faces when Jimmy plays the openning riff to Whole Lotta Love is priceless.

 

[etayorius]

I only have the 4770K. Benching a $379 CPU vs a $145 APU is silly in my books, when the complete APU system costs as much as the Intel chip alone. We should all know by now that AMD is better for 3D, and Intel better for compute, if comparing such chips. If I had an equivalent Intel-based CPU I could have included numbers from, I would have.

Really, when it comes down to including content in reviews, for me, it's ALWAYS down to me not having the hardware.

Oh i understand, but i guess most people were expecting to see Haswell included in the reviews, since in the Haswell review Richland benchies were included.

I like the price, but its IPC is about 1/3 that of Haswell. That's pretty depressing.

Oh don`t worry too much about it, in the next couple years Single Thread performance will not be as important.

 

[Ronnyv1]

I was hoping to get an idea of real world snappiness of a typical system using win7/8 mostly for family members but no where seems to offer that kind of perspective.

 

[cadaveca]

Oh i understand, but i guess most people were expecting to see Richland included in the reviews, since in the Haswell review Richland benchies were included.

That was a GPU review done by W1zzard, who is on the other side of the planet. He asked AMD for the chip specifically for that review. I get where you are coming from, however. That was an "IGP" review, whereas I am looking at the APU as a platform, not just a GPU. We already know the Haswell platform's performance.

I haven't ever used Haswell's IGP yet, even. I turn THAT crap OFF!!!

I was hoping to get an idea of real world snappiness of a typical system using win7/8 mostly for family members but no where seems to offer that kind of perspective.

I commented on that, and someone commented about my comment, up above. Scroll up.

 

[hardcore_gamer]

Which is the comparable discrete GPU ?

 

[brandonwh64]

Great review dave!

 

[Frick]

I was hoping to get an idea of real world snappiness of a typical system using win7/8 mostly for family members but no where seems to offer that kind of perspective.

Isn't that subjective? Besides, if Win7 (im not terribly familiar with 8) is not snappy, as i use the term, on a cpu from 2007 and forward something's wrong. Not counting Atoms and suchlike.