Maybe this goes to the old adage of "no bad products, just bad pricing". The A10-7850K actually looks interesting at this price compared to an i3-4330.
Although the price cut helps a bit, the main issue is still that a $60 Pentium + $80 r7 260 will perform better at that price in games. APUs are still very much for saving space (HTPC, LAN box) rather than performance/price gaming machines.
You don't need anything more than 2gb at the resolutions and settings you'll be playing at. Having more than enough RAM doesn't help your frames. Not to mention the cheaper RAM you'll buy for the CPU makes the discrete card an even better deal.
Indeed, which is why I have some Sandy Bridge G550 Celerons + Radeon 7850s in HTPCs at home. But that doesn't really change my point. At the new price, some of these SKUs are actually relatively competitive from a performance/price standpoint on the CPU side which has been sorely lacking from AMD. If I was going to drop $140 on an i3-4330, it would be worth my time to really consider the A10-7850K. I'd never even think twice about it previously when it was priced closer to an i5-4430 which would stomp all over the A10 cpu perf wise.
I skipped considering the AMD APUs because I would be interested in the higher end models and they were priced against the i5s, which was just a non-decision. This makes much more sense and should have been done earlier. At least it is now a consideration instead of straight to Intel choice.
I really like the A8-7600. I think AMD should still go lower, but this is the right direction. This needs to be done with their CPU lineup.
It's a shame the Athlon X4 860K, or a lower-clocked version of it, wasn't discounted to more closely match, say, the Pentium G3258. Although it's on sale at Newegg for $78 after promo, so maybe it's heading that way.
I was thinking replacing one of my AM3 systems with an FM2+. But I couldn't find A8-7600 anywhere. I waited for months and finally abandoned the idea. Now I might go for it.
can anybody tell me an available laptop of any screen size that has a A8-7600 or A10-7800? I can find laptops in the US with 7100 or 73000 APUs but nothing like the ones on this price list.
To be fair, AMD didn't announce price cuts on all of their desktop APUs either -- only certain models. As for mobile APUs, those are typically purchased by system integrators and OEMs at negotiated prices and so rarely do Intel or AMD announce price cuts on mobile parts. Thus, saying "price cuts" is synonymous with saying "desktop price cuts".
I bought a A10-7850K and had it in a SFF case. The performance was pretty weak for gaming, so I ended up buying a low profile GTX 750, runs very well now. Since I ended up doing this though I wish I had gone with a cheaper CPU.
I think as a general rule, if gaming is at all a priority then you should just assume you need a dedicated card and choose other components accordingly. Realistically I could get away with a 7850K in my HTPCs as I usually only play games with my son on those, and they aren't very demanding (e.g. Castle Crashers, Lego games, etc.). I'd love to use the Radeon 7850 in them to play some Borderlands The Pre Sequel in the media room, but life isn't going to give me time for that anytime soon...
Does AMD have any plans to release a tablet with their APUs? The same way Nvidia did with the Shield tablet. I would really like Windows 8 tablet with Tegra K1, but seeing as how that's not happening an AMD APU would be a great alternative.
I haven't seen any design wins yet for Mullins but they may be out there. I'm confused by the rest of your post though. Tegra is ARM, so it would have to be Windows RT, while the APUs are x86.
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24 Comments
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Bob Todd - Wednesday, October 22, 2014 - link
Maybe this goes to the old adage of "no bad products, just bad pricing". The A10-7850K actually looks interesting at this price compared to an i3-4330.Salvor - Thursday, October 23, 2014 - link
Although the price cut helps a bit, the main issue is still that a $60 Pentium + $80 r7 260 will perform better at that price in games. APUs are still very much for saving space (HTPC, LAN box) rather than performance/price gaming machines.przemo_li - Thursday, October 23, 2014 - link
Can that combo be loaded with 8GB (ok 4GB :P ) 2133 DDR3 RAM?Salvor - Thursday, October 23, 2014 - link
It doesn't need ot be since the discreet GPU has GDDR5 with a much higher clock.przemo_li - Saturday, October 25, 2014 - link
For that price? Will You find anything more than 2GB?While thats 4GB ram for You, right there (and another 4GB for CPU). And HUMAed too!
So its not so easy comparision.
However if somebody can't buy that 8GB of higher quality ram then ok, You prop have its merits.
Salvor - Saturday, October 25, 2014 - link
You don't need anything more than 2gb at the resolutions and settings you'll be playing at. Having more than enough RAM doesn't help your frames. Not to mention the cheaper RAM you'll buy for the CPU makes the discrete card an even better deal.Bob Todd - Thursday, October 23, 2014 - link
Indeed, which is why I have some Sandy Bridge G550 Celerons + Radeon 7850s in HTPCs at home. But that doesn't really change my point. At the new price, some of these SKUs are actually relatively competitive from a performance/price standpoint on the CPU side which has been sorely lacking from AMD. If I was going to drop $140 on an i3-4330, it would be worth my time to really consider the A10-7850K. I'd never even think twice about it previously when it was priced closer to an i5-4430 which would stomp all over the A10 cpu perf wise.eanazag - Wednesday, October 22, 2014 - link
I skipped considering the AMD APUs because I would be interested in the higher end models and they were priced against the i5s, which was just a non-decision. This makes much more sense and should have been done earlier. At least it is now a consideration instead of straight to Intel choice.I really like the A8-7600. I think AMD should still go lower, but this is the right direction. This needs to be done with their CPU lineup.
meacupla - Wednesday, October 22, 2014 - link
it would have been nice if they did this at around the launch of 20th anni. pentium. Then I might have considered an A8 or A10.Ken_g6 - Wednesday, October 22, 2014 - link
It's a shame the Athlon X4 860K, or a lower-clocked version of it, wasn't discounted to more closely match, say, the Pentium G3258. Although it's on sale at Newegg for $78 after promo, so maybe it's heading that way.yannigr2 - Thursday, October 23, 2014 - link
I was thinking replacing one of my AM3 systems with an FM2+. But I couldn't find A8-7600 anywhere. I waited for months and finally abandoned the idea. Now I might go for it.dhanson8652 - Thursday, October 23, 2014 - link
can anybody tell me an available laptop of any screen size that has a A8-7600 or A10-7800? I can find laptops in the US with 7100 or 73000 APUs but nothing like the ones on this price list.Novaguy - Thursday, October 23, 2014 - link
None. A8-7600 and A10-7800 are desktop processors.dhanson8652 - Thursday, October 23, 2014 - link
then it would be nice to amend the title of the article to AMD Desktop APU price cuts.Bob Todd - Thursday, October 23, 2014 - link
I think it is assumed that they are desktop processors since consumers aren't exactly accustomed to buying boxed mobile chips directly from retailers.meacupla - Thursday, October 23, 2014 - link
The mobile linup have different model numbers, so I don't think it's easy at all to confuse the two.A10-7400P, A10-7300, A8-7200P, A8-7100, A8-6410
And this is standard practice at intel as well, so I hope you learned something new.
dhanson8652 - Thursday, October 23, 2014 - link
@meaculpa, I've been in the IT industry for decades, no I didn't learn anything new. I was just asking for the article to be reader friendly.JarredWalton - Friday, October 24, 2014 - link
To be fair, AMD didn't announce price cuts on all of their desktop APUs either -- only certain models. As for mobile APUs, those are typically purchased by system integrators and OEMs at negotiated prices and so rarely do Intel or AMD announce price cuts on mobile parts. Thus, saying "price cuts" is synonymous with saying "desktop price cuts".cashnmillions - Thursday, October 23, 2014 - link
I bought a A10-7850K and had it in a SFF case. The performance was pretty weak for gaming, so I ended up buying a low profile GTX 750, runs very well now. Since I ended up doing this though I wish I had gone with a cheaper CPU.Bob Todd - Thursday, October 23, 2014 - link
I think as a general rule, if gaming is at all a priority then you should just assume you need a dedicated card and choose other components accordingly. Realistically I could get away with a 7850K in my HTPCs as I usually only play games with my son on those, and they aren't very demanding (e.g. Castle Crashers, Lego games, etc.). I'd love to use the Radeon 7850 in them to play some Borderlands The Pre Sequel in the media room, but life isn't going to give me time for that anytime soon...sonicmerlin - Friday, October 24, 2014 - link
Does AMD have any plans to release a tablet with their APUs? The same way Nvidia did with the Shield tablet. I would really like Windows 8 tablet with Tegra K1, but seeing as how that's not happening an AMD APU would be a great alternative.Bob Todd - Friday, October 24, 2014 - link
I haven't seen any design wins yet for Mullins but they may be out there. I'm confused by the rest of your post though. Tegra is ARM, so it would have to be Windows RT, while the APUs are x86.sonicmerlin - Friday, October 24, 2014 - link
That's why I said it's not going to happen. I want the K1 GPU and an x86 CPU.SeanJ76 - Monday, November 24, 2014 - link
More AMD garbage going on sale.......