Reviews - AMD A10-5700

[scaryjim]

What the F is the point of using an APU with a discrete GPU?!? (besides the hybrid crossfire stuff ofcourse)

Because APUs are pretty much AMDs only presence in the CPU market sub-£100, and it is relevant to show the effect of the CPU in your subsystem on gaming performance - i.e. if you want to get the most out of your gaming rig you really need to spend more than £100 on your CPU. Just because most people won't put a dGPU in an AMD APU based system doesn't mean testing that combination is worthless.

[Terbinator]

Can you imagine if these had the FX cache as well Absolutely sew the low end up.

[scaryjim]

Problem with that is L3 cache == more silicon area == higher cost dies == no longer low end chip! Perhaps on 28nm we'll get enough space for a shared CPU/GPU cache as well?

[malfunction]

Anyone seen any undervolting / underclocking on these chips yet?

The only thing I can find is on Tom's (and the idiots don't even state what the default voltage of the chip is, presume 1.4V):

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/a10-58...w-32536-2.html

The FM1s seem to undervolt quite nicely though:

http://www.silenthardware.de/2011/07...s-ist-moglich/
http://www.hardware.fr/focus/48/amd-...ervolting.html

(taken from here: http://forums.hexus.net/cpus/222321-...therboard.html)

And I'm sure I read a review or two that shows similar gains for piledriver / vishera, though I can only find this one at the mo:

http://www.hardcoreware.net/amd-pile...shera-8350/11/

[Dottorrent]

This CPU (or APU) is the best value of the A-series. It provides the high power of the FX-4170 while at the same time providing highly powered DirectX 11.1 graphics and at only £90, it's the same price of the equivalent Sandy Bridge Core i3-2120 processor. Unfortunately, it uses the completely different FM2 architecture. Would of been nice if the architecture was the same like what Intel did for Ivy bridge by keeping the architecture of Sandy bridge.

[MustardCutter]

"snips in-use power-draw by one-third - to 65W from 100W"

Sorry but this is a bit misleading as the 65W and 100W values are TDP (thermal design power), it is not the same thing as power draw. It's more about how much heat the chip produces which you notice by your system being quieter with the 65W chip, i.e. less fan speed required to remove heat.

This CPU (or APU) is the best value of the A-series. It provides the high power of the FX-4170 while at the same time providing highly powered DirectX 11.1 graphics and at only £90, it's the same price of the equivalent Sandy Bridge Core i3-2120 processor. Unfortunately, it uses the completely different FM2 architecture. Would of been nice if the architecture was the same like what Intel did for Ivy bridge by keeping the architecture of Sandy bridge.

I wouldn't call the FX-4170 'high power', nor say these APUs provide 'highly powered graphics', I would call it good enough and good value (I will be buying one when itx boards are available). The statement about intel and sockets is interesting as Intel are usually the bad guys in that respect, like when sandy bridge came out there was no real need for a new socket for it.

[GazP172]

Not read the review fully but would have been nice to see some temperatures.

[Jimbo75]

AMD's temperature sensors are completely whacked on their recent chips - they show about 20C lower than they actually are. This has been the case since Thuban and possibly before then, and it's nigh on impossible to get an accurate reading of temperature.

[GazP172]

Some details on the heatsink and fan would be usefull too, mainly dimensions (after a bit of research apparently its the exact same cooler thats supplied with the Lano). I feel AMD should have supplied it with a low profile quiet cooler as the customer who will go for this over the A10 5800k will be more than likely either a) fitting to a HTPC or b)fitting to a mini/sff PC.

Going off on one I feel AMD should aim their new APU's at 2 areas in the market

1 - 5800k/5600k for budget friendly capable tower/desktops - which they have done by great all round performance, great specs, basic cooler and ATX boards that seem to be available


2 - 5700/5500 for HTPC/SFF - Needs a low profile fan and ITX boards (pref with built in wifi) for icing on the cake.