I was pretty eager to get a newer AMD system up and running in my house, so when I was asked to do this review, I did not hesitate, and I'm glad I took AMD's latest APU for a spin. The AMD A10-7860K does exactly as advertised, without fail. It draws very little power and is truly silent if combined with the new cooler AMD has on offer. I spend most of the day in front of my desk in my living room, doing the various things I do everyday, and I had to constantly look over to the test system set up behind me to make sure it was still running. My kids have used it a few times to play their games and are more than happy with the performance it offers, which clearly points out that AMD still has a place in today's market. If you factor in the low cost, AMD's APU makes for a good option for those in need of an entry level system to give to their kids or other family members. There are definitely times where it stomps all over an Intel i7-6700K and its integrated GPU, and that i7-6700K costs about three times as much.

I've said it before in past APU reviews I have done: they are a product that should not be ignored if you're not after the highest performance, but want the option to be able to expand on a system as needs to do so arise. The ability to toss in a low-power VGA to add to the graphical power is a great feature as well since you can build a decent low-power system on a small budget to add in a bit more grunt for playing some games if need be. AMD's recent releases really do drop the power used while also offering a near-silent cooling solution that leaves your case fans as the loudest component so long as you use a "standard" fan profile, which nearly any FM2+ board's BIOS offers. In those things, the A10-7860K excels for sure.

As a tech enthusiast, seeing AMD make the most of the 28 nm node is awesome. Sure, Intel offers more performance, but does so at a higher price. Intel chips are also currently on the 14 nm node, using transistors that are half the size of those on the AMD A10-7860K 28 nm APU. That's one thing to keep in mind; here we have a chip built on a rather old process, and in 3D, it still beats Intel's offerings in nearly every instance. Yet there can be no question that Intel's solutions are clearly the choice for CPU-focused tasks or when high performance is required. Be that as it may, the AMD A10-7860K still does offer significant value for the money. Feel free to mention your own thoughts by commenting in the forums!