After its introduction at CES 2014 in January, AMD’s most advanced 2014 AMD A-Series Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) to date, has finally hit Malaysia shores. The AMD A-Series APUs codenamed “Kaveri” pack AMD Radeon R7 graphics, delivering superior computational and gaming performance.
The launch at Plaza Low Yat was officiated by Ryan Sim, General Manager of AMD Far East Ltd (ASEAN Region).
“Kaveri” continues to lead the APU game
The highly impressive A-Series APUs include up to 12 Compute Cores (4 GPU and 8 GPU) spearheaded by the AMD A10-7850K with Radeon R7 graphics. The APU runs at 3.7Ghz (4.0Ghz Max Turbo Core).
The A10-7700K on the other hand features 10 compute cores (4 CPU and 6 GPU) with a clock speed of 3.4Ghz (3.8Ghz Max Turbo Core). Both the A10-7850K and A10-7700K are unlocked.
Occupying the mid-level, value range is the AMD A8-7600, also with Radeon R7 graphics with a core CPU speed of 3.3/3.1Ghz (3.8/3.3Ghz Max Turbo Core). The AMD A8-7600 packs 10 compute cores (4 CPU and 6 GPU).
A new intelligent architecture called Heterogeneous System Architecture (HSA), unlocks the full power of CPU and GPU.
The new APUs feature the award-winning Graphics Core Next (GCN) Architecture that works with the powerful AMD Radeon R7 Series graphics for stunning graphics, with support for DirectX 11.2.
The APUs also support the highly-acclaimed Mantle API that makes games optimization for developers and programmers, easy. A demonstration with two identical gaming rigs, one with Mantle-enabled, clearly showed the advantages in both visual quality and raw performance of Mantle versus Direct X.
32-channel surround audio comes by way of AMD TrueAudio Technology, delivering the best in audio realism and immersion.
The APUs support UltraHD (4K) resolutions and also new video post processing enhancements to make 1080p videos look even better when upscale on UltraHD monitors or TVs.
The new A-Series retains FM2+ socket compatibility.
The numbers don’t lie
If benchmarks are anything to go by, the new “Kaveri” APUs offer superior gains over older “Richland” APUs and Intel’s Core i5 equivalents. In overall system benchmarks (PCMark 8), the A10-7850K “Kaveri” is 10% faster than an A10-6800K “Richland” and 24% faster than an Intel Core i5-4670K “Haswell.”
In the graphics department, the “Kaveri” is 50% faster than “Richland” and over 80% faster than an i5 “Haswell.” Impressive indeed.
Pricing and availability
The A10-7850K and A10-7700K APUs are bundled with EA’s Battlefield 4. Both started shipping in Q4 2013 worldwide, and now available in Malaysia. Meanwhile, the AMD A8-7600 will be shipping soon.
Pricing are as follows:
- A10-7850K with Radeon R7: RM679
- A10-7770K with Radeon R7: RM589
- A8-7600 with Radeon R7: TBA
AMD also has the AMD Radeon R9 2400 Gamer Series memory that is tested and certified for AMD A10 APUs, with AMD Memory Profile technology (AMP), offering optimized speeds of up to 2400Mhz.
