Day of the Dead: AMD Releases new Carrizo FM2+ APU, the A8-7680
by Ian Cutress on October 29, 2018 8:00 AM EST
Reports of a new Carrizo APU have been floating around for the past couple of weeks as several ASRock FM2+ recently had BIOS updates stating ‘now supporting new Carrizo APU’. Of course, this sounds preposterous: why would a new Carrizo APU, on an old platform, on an old 28nm process, be launched? When we spoke to our contacts at ASRock, even they did not know. It looks like AMD has let the cat out of the bag, albeit without an official announcement.
In AMD’s own Master Product List, which lists every SKU that AMD makes / has stock of, several new listings have shown up which correspond to the naming conventions of a Carrizo APU.
In this listing, we see the AD767KXBJCWOF, which is the A8-7670K, a known product. Then we have several listings that start AD7680, for the new A8-7680 processor, followed by the A8-7690K, another known unit.
AD7680ACABBOX will be the code for the boxed processor, and AD7680ACABCBX is likely for the tray units sold to OEMs to put into their systems. Currently, out of all the FM2+ boards in the market, only a few A68 boards have it listed as compatible:
- ASRock FM2A68M-HD+
- ASRock FM2A68M-DG3+
- ASUS A68HM-K
- ASUS A68HM-Plus
- GIGABYTE F2A68HM-DS2
- GIGABYTE F2A65HM-H
- GIGABYTE F2A68HM-S1
- MSI A68HM-E33-v2
It would appear that all of these boards (and some by Biostar, which don’t list the CPU), have processed an AGESA Carrizo PI-1.3.0.0 update for the chipset in order to accept the new processor. This means that most of these boards currently on the shelves will need to be flashed to the latest update.
Specifications for the processor are still a little unknown. Given the name, the A8-7680, it is expected to fall somewhere between the A8-7690K and the A8-7670K, which means it should be a dual module processor with four threads (remember AMD’s ‘one module, two threads’ hardware? No, we don’t want to either), a base clock of 3.5 or 3.6 GHz, a turbo clock of 3.8 GHz, a Radeon R7 integrated graphics with 757 MHz base frequency, two channels of DDR3-2133 support, and a TDP of 65W.
The processor seems to be listed at two shops in Europe already, however both are listed as out of stock: LambdaTek for £51.67 ($55) and CentralPoint in the Netherlands for 52 EUR + tax ($59)
Our only guess for this new processor is that AMD has a particular customer who needs a refresh processor custom to their needs. Normally this would fly under the radar and be an OEM only part (and probably be part of the 8000 series), but for whatever reason (they made too many?) it seems to perhaps be coming to retail.
At around the $55-$59 mark, AMD also offers the Athlon 200GE with Ryzen cores and Vega graphics, although that system requires DDR4. This new Carrizo part is DDR3, but I doubt that the price difference in the memory would really make up for the difference in performance. If we happen to pick up a sample, we’ll let you know if the dead have truly risen, or if it’s just for a single night/SKU only.
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Colin1497 - Monday, October 29, 2018 - link
Ha, I have a system with an 860k that overclocks to 880k territory without voltage adjustment, and was always a little disappointed that nothing comparable ever came out of Carrizo. They can get 4.2GHz boost out of it at 65W in APU form (see the A12-8870) but never came out with an Athlon part. I always figured they'd release an 890k or something and it never happened.Alexvrb - Monday, October 29, 2018 - link
All the Excavator designs released were tuned for efficiency, rather than high clocks. That includes all Carrizo and Bristol Ridge models. They DID have a Carrizo Athlon, the locked 845. But even if they had an unlocked model, it wouldn't overclock well. Generally if you had an FM2+ platform and wanted a chip that could overclock decent, you'd aim for a soldered unlocked Godavari.Colin1497 - Sunday, November 4, 2018 - link
Oh, I get it and am aware of the 845. It's not worth it to buy the Godavari for the upgrade on that machine, but that's clearly what's available. The Carrizo A12-8870 clocks close to my 860k but at lower power, so if they released it as an 855k or something it would also probably wouldn't be worth it either.That said, I still thought it might happen due to the existence said A12-8870. Also I just looked and the Bristol Ridge review here mentioned a 4.8GHz overclock.
Anyway, not a huge deal, just kind of one of those weird little corners of history.
IGTrading - Monday, October 29, 2018 - link
It is very nice of AMD to provide an upgrade path with all the benefits of a mature manufacturing process.Goes to show again that choosing AMD always have long lasting and sometimes surprise benefits.
If the parts are anyway in stock for AMD, this will be a perfect upgrade path for all the A6-7400 and other users with low-end chips.
vkristof - Monday, October 29, 2018 - link
I am typing my comment on an A6-7400K based system now. The relatively high price of two sticks of DDR4 has held me back from upgrading to a 2200G.And this system has some flavor ASrock uATX motherboard...
Alexvrb - Wednesday, October 31, 2018 - link
DDR4 did get insane there for a while. It's dropping back down to reasonable levels. If you don't tax the IGP or you're getting a dGPU, the single CCX config would be served just fine with a $115-120 16GB kit. The IF speed isn't as vital as it is with dual-CCX models in those scenarios. If you want better IGP performance, plan on upgrading the CPU later (but not the RAM), etc you can get a 3200 kit for around $135. That's not counting the occasional sale, either.CajunArson - Monday, October 29, 2018 - link
Holy Sh%t the shill-force is out defending AMD at all costs today.But I'm sure when Ice Lake launches you'll call it a rebrand that adds nothing new too, while simultaneously vomiting copy-n-pasted praise on AMD for relabeling their dumpster products.
Manch - Tuesday, October 30, 2018 - link
Need to throw IGTrading and HStewart in a ring and let them shill to the death. SHILL SHILL SHILL SHILL!!!!philehidiot - Tuesday, October 30, 2018 - link
The vomiting is making me want to vomit.I never understand why people get so enthusiastic over one manufacturer. You're merely limiting yourself and the obsession with shilling means everyone else takes your opinion less seriously.
bigboxes - Tuesday, October 30, 2018 - link
You're just as bad.