Apex's Hexus-AMD A6-3670K APU Bundle Review Thingy Whatsamacallit

[Apex]

What exactly am I looking at here?

I am not finished so i will keep on adding stuff

[Apex]

Right it#s benchmark weekend; any ideas what i can by running on this to start off with ?

[Apex]

Part Two: Building [Skipped]

So instead

Part Three: Benchmarks [Otherwise known as make it scream !]

SSD Benchmarks

AS SSD





Crystal Disk Info



Cystal Disk Mark



ATTO

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CPU Benchmarks

CPU-Z Info



7Zip



CPU-Free



Sisoftsandra

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GPU Benchmarks

GPU-Z Info



Furmark

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Lux Mark V2

CPU Only



GPU Only



GPU & CPU

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3DMark scores can be seen at

3DMark06

3DMark Vantage

3DMark11

[Apex]

Part 3: Bench Marks Continued

HandBrake V 0.9.8 X64

HandBrake NotSet 10101
OS: Microsoft Windows NT 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1
CPU: AMD A6-3670 APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics
Ram: 3562 MB, Screen: 1920x1200

Tron           [11:58:17] work: average encoding speed for job is 39.757195 fps
Splice         [12:17:07] work: average encoding speed for job is 30.470346 fps
Big Buck Bunny [12:23:12] work: average encoding speed for job is 40.439152 fps

It seems HandBrake 0.9.6 produces massive increases in video encoding rate with the new 64 bit version. Hence a new thread is being started to replace the old one:

http://forums.hexus.net/pc-hardware/...ded-power.html

Make sure you are using HandBrake 0.9.6 64 bit in the this thread and not the older 0.9.5 version!! Run both High Profile and Normal.




Let see how various CPUs do at HandBrake video encoding!

HandBrake 0.9.6 needs to be used:

http://handbrake.fr/downloads.php

Videos to encode:

1.)Tron:Legacy 1080p trailer

http://www.chip.de/downloads/HD-Trai..._37505058.html

296.6MB MOV file

2.)Splice 1080p trailer

http://pdl.warnerbros.com/wbmovies/s...lr_1_1080P.wmv

336MB WMV file

3.)Big Buck Bunny 1080p

http://www.bigbuckbunny.org/index.php/download/

886MB MP4 file

Operating system: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7

Conditions: High Profile and Normal

Output file type: MKV

You will find average FPS during the encode in the encode log(activity windows). The total time for the encode can also be worked out too.

Also state what system specifications you are using and how many CPU threads are being used.

Make sure you set HandBreak priority to high in the Tools menu and shut down programmes like Steam,Word and Firefox.

[Apex]

Part 4: Thoughts and Conclusions

I sugest you read these two first:

http://forums.hexus.net/hexus-reader...le-review.html

http://forums.hexus.net/hexus-reader...ew-thread.html

I've some how got to sit down and write up my feelings on this. Now don't take that as a sign that things are bad, it's just getting my thoughts and feelings into words that make sense [it's the reason i have used pictures, they tend to tell you more then i could say a lot of the time] is a hard task for me to do.

[sygitius]

Really good review. Thanks.

[Apex]

So here i am a few weeks later with my thoughts and feelings.

If you had told me that intergrated gfx had come to the point where they would allow you to game at 1024*768 with decent detail settings i would have laughed at you but having been given the chance to try out this APU i am happy to report that it is more then able to handle that [and some 1280*1024 with some settings turnd down]. It's cheap too so if you are on a tight budegt i reckon you could build a decent base machine for 150/200 easy and upgrade from there. When i say cheap i am not meaning that the quailty is cheap i mean the price - it is in my opion stonking good value [or was at the time]

The CPU heatsink/fan imho is not fit for the job it's been asked to do - the fan while quiet when not doing anything spins upto a silly rpm but doesn't seem to cool the cpu down any better - there is also with the one i have a ticking noise at idle speeds - enough for me to notice it - esp when you turn all the other fans down

The Kingston SSD provided is not the fastest out there but i have had no issues with it - how the hell we managed with HDD's as boot devices etc i have no idea - i can not ever go back. Also don't bother with anything smaller then 256gb - they are not worth it imho.

The ram provided worked out the box with no issues, but i will say this if you are going to run one of the AMD APU's you need 2 sticks to make the most of the bandwidth that it can be provided with. Having only one stick will have cut the benchmark figures down so bare that in mind when looking at the figures.

The Asus mobo is a bit of a mixed bag. It has worked out the box and given me no trouble in so far as running stable but there are areas that bug me.

Lack of native USB3 support and only two USB3 ports and four USB2 on the back plate [lucky i have found a way round that by using the usb hub in my Dell Monitor]

Lack of SATA 6Gbps support [notice i didn't say SATA3 / SATAIII - theres no such thing] - Why have a 6Gbps SSD but only a mobo with 3Gbps port - if you look at the benchmarks for the SSD i am sure it's been limited by the 3Gbps port

Placement of the 4pin 12v socket - why or why do they still put this all the way away from the main 24pin ATX connector - it's just retarded.

Lack of a esata port - this is anoying because my backup system i had was to backup a image to a hdd connected via a esata port - i am now going to have to do something about that.

Lack of a firewire port - i have a number of audio bits n bobs that still use firewire - i know not a lot of people use it but i do and will continue to do for a while.

Placement of the fan headers - really you are that cheap you can not have one near the front of the board ????

Why the hell did they still include a VGA port in this day and age, that is wasted space far as i am concerned. I suspect it's becase they didn't want to put two HDMI ports / Display ports and provide the adapters due to cost......

Now the bigest bugbare, and this one has been picked up on by others; the placement of the cpu socket so close the ram sockets is silly - if they had shifted it 1/2 - 1" the other way i would not have had issues with fitment in this case with the cooler i now have; I can not for the life of me figure out why they shifted it so close to the ram slots.

Now after that you would think i don't like this, well you would be wrong. The system is stable, no lock ups, drop outs or hard resets needed and best of all it still feels nippy even after been given a hammering. Now would i recomend a APU to some one on a budget; the answer would be a easy YES, for 99% of the people out there this would do what they need from it. In terms of value for money this is hard to beat - the chips are cheap and ther support mobos are cheap - it's a no brainer.

Overall the AMD APU Bundle gets a big thumbs up from me - so much so i have replaced my Shuttle SX48P2e Q6600 8GB ram machine with this - it runs cooler, faster with a lot less noise and with the case i have more room to expand if i need to.

I have been a shuttle user since the days of the SN45 then the SN95 then the SN26 then the SX48 so to move away from them was a big step - i had built the way i use a computer around having a small cube like object to do it all and the choices i have made over the years have been based on getting items that dont need a lot of power or produce a lot of heat - now that i have moved away from them to a mATX form factor in a nice Silverstone case with a bit of room to grow i can not seem me going back - the bits i have should see me over the next 18months.

It just remains for me to say thank you HeXus and thank you AMD for giving me the chance to have a play; if i had not won i don't think i would have ever looked at the APU range; by winning i had the chance to play with and see what it could do and with that i can go tell others who are on a budget that there is a 2nd choice that offers more bang for the buck and that intergrated gfx have come a long long way from the early days.

Drew

Ps i would like to point out that the machine now has 16gb of DDRIII ram to play with, a 256gb Samsung 830 SSD + the two 2tb hdds and my Asus 1gb 6850HD in it now, makes a potent gaming machine