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FINAL THOUGHTS
Compared to Llano, or more specifically, the A8-3850,
the high-end Trinity offerings deliver a boost in performance but more on the
CPU side of the equation. The A8-5600K and A10-5800K were about 10% and 15%
faster respectively in our CPU tests, lifting them up to the level of the Phenom
II X4 955 and 965. In a typical usage scenario, the 5600K also had a modest
edge in power consumption of about 6% over the A8-3850 while the 5800K was slightly
worse, though if you factor in its overall performance, the newer APU comes
out ahead per Watt.
The 5800K's 7660D and 5600K's 7560D graphics chips are also a bit faster than
the A8-3850's 6550D, which makes them far more capable than any of the integrated
graphics in Intel CPUs. They're capable of running most games smoothly, albeit
with less than full eye candy and at lower than 1080p, but they're budget solutions
comparable to sub-US$50 discrete graphics cards. If you're on a strict
budget and desire a general purpose PC with some gaming capability, Trinity
is definitely the way to go rather than similarly priced dual core Intel machines
with their much weaker integrated HD graphics. It's also a splendid choice for
a home theater PC, though the quad core models are overkill unless video encoding/transcoding
is on the menu; the cheaper dual core A4 and A6 should suffice for most. We
hope to examine the 65W TDP chips in the near future, as they are more apropos
for HTPC applications.
If you prefer to use discrete graphics, Trinity presents a bit of a quandary.
For these users, purchasing an APU that allocates half of its hardware to graphics
may be a bit of a waste unless you're thinking of running a Dual Graphics configuration
with an HD
6570/6670. That leaves the Athlon X4 750K and 740 as your best value
for money, but neither offers the speed of the flagship 5800K; the 750K's unlocked
multiplier can help make up for the lower clock speeds through overclocking
though. Still, the processing power of the Piledriver CPU core is pretty competitive
with Phenom II X4 discrete chips, so a graduated upgrade path with the unlocked
5800K and 5600K to a mid-range or higher-end graphics card is not an unreasonable
plan for Trinity buyers with gaming interests. (KitGuru explored this idea seriously
in their examination of an
A10-5800K system with an AMD HD7970 discrete graphics card and reached positive
conclusions.)
One question is whether FM2 will offer much in the way of upgrades down the
line. For DIYers, you'll most likely pop in a CPU/APU and never take it out
again and only change peripherals through the rest of its lifetime, essentially
making it a one-and-done system. Enthusiasts are often wary of investing in
platforms that don't have a long shelf life. It doesn't sound like a PC many
enthusiasts would build for themselves but rather for a friend or family member
with general needs and a smaller budget. In any case, competitive pricing of
both the APUs and motherboards will definitely be a factor in how much penetration
Trinity achieves among DIYers.
For the value and office market, Trinity's much improved efficiency at idle
and low power modes combined with its improved overall performance makes it
competitive with Intel offerings. It's not hard to imagine lots of Trinity-based
value PCs being released by smaller system integrators, and by AMD's big brand
partners in the very near future. Let's face it, we all know that the big numbers
for PCs is in the value market well under $1,000. For DIYers, it works well
for HTPC and as a general purpose PC for less serious gamers. Trinity is a significant
evolutionary improvement on the Llano platform, and launch pricing is definitely
more attractive than FM1. AMD has raised the bar a rung or two for what
can be expected from an APU.
Our thanks to AMD
and ASUS for the A10-5800K,
A8-5600K, and F2A85-M Pro samples used in this review.
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Articles of Related Interest
Intel Core i7-3770 Ivy Bridge CPU
Intel Sandy Bridge Extreme: Core i7-3960X LGA2011 Processor
AMD FX-8150 8-Core Bulldozer Processor
AMD A8-3850 Quad Core Desktop APU (updated July 10)
Intel Core i3-2100T & Core i5-2400S Low Power CPUs
Core i5-2400, i5-2500K and i7-2600K CPUs
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