Reviews - AMD A10-7850K (28nm Kaveri)

[HEXUS]

AMD's best APU goes under the microscope.

Read more.

[sirtrouserpress]

'Best-ever APU'
But for how long? Can't wait to see what the future holds for the APU

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Thats a major power consumption reduction over the A10 6800K with only a half node shrink too.

Out of interest,will Hexus be testing the Gigabyte A88X mini-ITX motherboard at some point?

[HalloweenJack]

glad to see you didn't use the iris pro - its OEM only AND FCBGA.

[flufflogic]

Here's the problem for me - £130 currently is a 6-core 6300 and an R7 240, which I'm pretty sure when combined will give better performance.

[cjs150]

Let me summarise the position.

graphics are better than intel (not a surprise) so great graphics capability useless (compared to Intel) CPU.

[cheesyboy]

Here's the problem for me - £130 currently is a 6-core 6300 and an R7 240, which I'm pretty sure when combined will give better performance.

Maybe. IGP in the 7850k lays a beat-down on a R7 240, though.

[Biscuit]

Let me summarise the position.

graphics are better than intel (not a surprise) so great graphics capability useless (compared to Intel) CPU.

Its 'useless' is it? Or is it actually not as good in single core applications but equal/better in multicore applications with price comparative intel CPUs?

[Agent]

Let me summarise the position.

graphics are better than intel (not a surprise) so great graphics capability useless (compared to Intel) CPU.

Useless? Do you realise how much processing power even a 'low' end chip like this has? It's still staggering.

I'd say 90% of the office machines we have at work could run with such a chip, and almost every home user that I know that's not a PC gamer too.

With basic FM2+ mobos being very cheap, RAM slowly dropping again, power units not really being expensive....you can build a very capable basic gaming / media machine for a few hundred quid.

Don't sell it short because the bar on the graph is slightly smaller. It's far from being useless.

[scaryjim]

Translating for UK customers, the chip costs £135 ...

Or £126 if you shop around a little... making the 4670 £35 more...

[Willzzz]

Or £126 if you shop around a little... making the 4670 £35 more...

But nonetheless between the i3 and i5.
You can easily buy an i5 for under £130 too. If you can shop around for one chip you can shop around for the other.

[scaryjim]

... You can easily buy an i5 for under £130 too....

An i5 ... but not the 4670, which is what I *specifically* said. Hexus didn't test an i5 4440 so that's kind of moot. If they do test one it'll become relevant

You can get a Kaveri A10 for < £110. But that's not relevant either, because that's not what we're talking about.

[Willzzz]

I'm still not sure what your complaint is. The review never claimed that the 4670 cost the same as the A10-7850k.

While the i5 4440 wasn't tested in this review it is fairly easy to work out it's relative position.

[scaryjim]

I'm still not sure what your complaint is. The review never claimed that the 4670 cost the same as the A10-7850k.

It was that the first store I looked at had the A10 £10 cheaper than stated on the first page of the article. It's the first mention of the price of the chip, and gives a slightly misleading impression of the value proposition. At £126 it's cheaper than an i5 4440, at £135 it's more expensive. The article just says "the chips costs £135", which is plain wrong. It costs between £125 and £135, depending on where you buy from, so the 4670 could be as much as £35 more, and the value proposition changes. And like I said, that was just going to one site other than Scan and checking their price. As much as I love Hexus' reviews in general, I do occasionally despair at the lack of 2 minutes extra work that would make a much more rounded/balanced review.

As to the i5 4440, one assumes the picture doesn't change much, since it's pretty much the same as the 4670, just with lower core and (much lower) boost clocks. Would've been nice to see one in the review though, as it's *genuinely* price comparable. Only then you start getting into the lack of OC support, and who that's relevant to, so the waters aren't exactly clear...

[Willzzz]

But you know that Hexus always use Scan prices.

Surely it is better to be consistent?
They could use a different website, but potentially the same issue could arise.
They could use the cheapest price on Google, but often that is a very unreliable retailer.

[scaryjim]

But you know that Hexus always use Scan prices.

Surely it is better to be consistent?

Yes, if they were being. Scan's price for the A10 6800k is £106, not £110, though ("the previous-generation champion APU is readily available for £110"). And on the second page, in the methodology table, they list the relevant prices (7850k & 6800k) as £130 and £105. So it's not even consistent within the review. It's those little inconsistencies, against the usual high quality of the reviews, that jars.

So basically it's just me being picky and OCD about it.