Introduction

It has been some time since we last featured an AMD CPU or APU on these pages. During that hiatus, many things have changed at AMD, with new CPU core designs featured both in AMD CPUs and AMD APUs. In recent months, AMD has also released new coolers and APU SKUs with lower power consumption values, making it the perfect time to take a look at what AMD currently has on offer.

AMD sent me their A10-7860K APU to look at; an unlocked APU with a low 65W TDP bundled with AMD's new, silent coolers. The CPU portion of these APUs uses four "Steamroller" cores, AMD's latest CPU core design, which has the A10-7860K clock up to 4.0 GHz with Turbo. The APU portion uses eight GCN cores that clock in at 757 MHz. This isn't AMD's top-dog APU, that's for sure (that designation is reserved for the A10-7890K), but combining a 65W chip with a cooler reportedly able to handle 95W is a great mix of functionality, while potentially also very quiet. There is of course a bit of overhead in that cooler's potential.

AMD's APUs are a value-oriented proposition. They aren't the fastest things out there, but priced at just US$125, they do offer fairly good bang for your dollar. The question is whether these fancy new low-power Godavari APUs live up to their claims? Is AMD's new APU cooler truly silent? I took the chance to find out.

Specifications