Value Award
AMD A10 5800K
RRP: $129.99 | Website: www.amd.com
Test Machine
GIGABYTE F2A85X-UP4
Patriot Extreme Masters
2133MHz CL11
Kingston HyperX 3K SSD
Cooler Master M2 Silent Pro
1500W PSU
Windows XP SP3/Windows 7
64-Bit SP1
W
e’ll cut the fat and get
right into it the meat.
We here like AMD’s
Trinity APUs. Well, actually
we’d like better performing
CPUs for the desktop infinitely
more, this is no wish list
however, but a review. AMD’s
second iteration of their APUs
has come and it’s looking a
lot better than their initial
attempt.
The real difference between
the first generation Llano
parts and these is primarily
the GPU that’s inside. Its
Radeon 7000 class graphics
and that alone should cause
us to take a second look. Will
this APU replace the need for
24 The OverClocker Issue 21 | 2012
entry level graphics cards?
Probably not as we’d have to
wait for another generation
before we can say that, but
as it stands or at least on
the 5800K, you can actually
play games on the APU at a
reasonable quality level.
There’s no need for us here
to tell you about the internals
of the APU, you can find that
anywhere else on the web
and quite frankly we doubt
if you care. What we do care
about is what this APU means
for AMD, its customers and
subsequently us the end users.
For competitive overclocking,
there’s nothing for you here.
Sure you can submit for
hardware points but that’s
about it. For casual gamers
and those building home
theatre PCs. That may not be
the case. See, in this price
bracket and usage scenario,
the only alternative to AMD’s
APUs are INTEL’s Core i3
CPUs. These are competent for
basic work but if you’ve ever
tried to load a game on any one
of these you’d soon realize how
futile the entire exercise was.
Plainly put, you do not want
to be gaming with the IGP on
any INTEL CPU right now. They
have improved immensely but
just aren’t where they need
to be when compared to what
AMD offered with Llano and
even more so presently with
Trinity.
On the CPU front, don’t
expect miracles, despite that
these APUs are based on
Piledriver. The host CPUs have
always been weak and this
has not changed. Once again
measuring these APUs as you
would CPUs is missing the
point entirely. Disappointing
for us the enthusiast
community probably, but
there’s some sense to what
AMD has been professing
about the need for CPU power
vs. graphics.
Overclocking the APU on
LN2 may be fun; in fact we
have witnessed some fairly
impressive overclocking
on the platform; however
it’s pretty much limited
to maximizing the GPU