In conjunction with the presentation on the market, XtremeHardware offers a preview of what are the performance and features of the new AMD Llano A6-3650, performances that will be analyzed in greater detail in the review that the editors are preparing for you.
Overview
Less than a month ago XtremeHardware proposed to its readers performance analysis and in-depth drafting of the architectural solutions for the new AMD Fusion; we talk about the new processors with Llano architecture, with integrated IGP and a respectable price performance ratio.
The first tests were carried out on the family's flagship product, the AMD A8-3850, APU with four cores operating at a frequency of 2.9GHz and an integrated AMD Radeon HD 6550D.
Today, the editorial offers an anticipation of what are the characteristics and performance of another solution, part of the Llano family; the model A6-3650.
This product, which will be discussed in more detail in the review that the editors are preparing for you, is available to the public at a price of around € 100.00.
Specifications
We begin our preview analyzing what are the specifications of the new AMD A6-3650.
We start CPU-Z, known software that can provide us with information regarding the architecture of the product, the frequency, the number of cores, the available cache as well as details on the model of the motherboard used, settings and type of RAM and video card type.
In the first window we can get information about the CPU architecture as well as the frequency and number of cores/threads. This processor part of the K12 family is based on the Llano architecture produced with 32nm technology. As with all other Llano solutions also this APU is installed on a FM1 Socket with 905 pins.
Note that the processor has four cores operating at a frequency of 2.6 GHz (26 x 100 MHz bus). The default voltage is set to 1.008V up and the maximum heat footprint is equal to 111W.
The new AMD A6-3650 has no L3 cache, as the other Llano solutions, but has 64Kb of L1 data cache per core and as many Kbytes of the first-level instructions cache.
The second-level cache amounts to a total of 4MB, 1024 Kbytes per core. In conclusion, the A6 does not differ much from the A8 except for a slightly lower frequency.
Through the sixth screen of CPU-Z or by using the well-known GPU-Z software, capable of providing insights on the graphics, we can obtain information on the integrated IGP.
The solution chosen by the Sunnyvale company is an AMD Radeon HD 6530D. The IGP is made through the 32nm production process and is equipped with 1450 million transistors located in just 228mmq, the size of the Die. The card supports DirectX 11 and is equipped with DDR3 shared memory; this memory can operate at a frequency of 1866MHz memory since the APU supports memories operating at that frequency.
Unlike the older sister AMD HD 6550D included in the AMD A8-3850, the AMD HD Radeon 6530D is equipped with 320 Radeon Cores, compared with 400 of the bigger solution, with 16 Texture Units, against 20, and operates at a frequency of 443MHz , compared to the 600MHz of the 6550D HD. The graphics unit is what mostly differentiates the A6 solutions from the A8 solutions.
Test system and tests
Here are the tables containing the technical specifications of the system used to perform the processor tests.
The tests were conducted on both the processor and on the GPU, using, for the latter, the RAM set both at 1333 MHz and at 1866 MHz, to detect any benefits from the maximum frequency supported by the processor and in this case also by motherboard. The CPU has been left to the standard frequency of 2600 MHz and compared with other AMD products and from competing solutions from Intel. In this case, the RAM has been set at a frequency of 1600 MHz CL8.
Below is the description of the tests that will be reported and described in this preview, pending the review that will provide a wide range of test and in depth study of the performance of this solution produced by AMD.
The editors decided to publish a preview of a test on CPU performance and a test on the integrated IGP:
- Cinebench 11.5: Software product from Maxon that allow, through the development of three-dimensional images and content, to test the CPU performance. This release allow to test the CPU using a single core, or all the cores inside the processor.
- 3DMark Vantage: Synthetic Benchmarks developed by Futuremark, necessarily requires the presence in the system of a video card with support for DirectX 10 API and a Windows Vista or 7 operating system. The benchmark consists of 6 separate tests: 4 focused on the GPU and 2 on the CPU. The tests are performed in up to 4 presets configured by Futuremark, characterized by a different level of workload in order to better reproduce the typical scenario of use of your system depending on the hardware configuration in use. The software allows you to set the Entry, Performance, High and Extreme configuration. The tests were done only in Entry and performance mode.
The tests
CINEBENCH 11.5
We begin with the description of the tests using Cinebench 11.5, able to test the performance of a CPU by handling and processing images.
The score recorded is equal to 3.1 using all available processors; this result is in line with expectations and slightly below the trend reported by AMD A8-3850.
This solution is positioned just above at Intel i3-2100, and is not a great distance compared to other AMD quad-core solutions with higher frequencies and third-level cache.
3D Mark Vantage
The HD 6530D solution integrated in the A6-3650 shows a very respectable score positioning itself directly below the HD 6550D sister and beating all the integrated solutions offered by Intel with Sandy Bridge architecture, including Core i7.
Preview conclusions
As a preview we try not to jump to conclusions, it must be said, however, that from what little we have seen this CPU reserves good surprises and performance, especially considering the market price.
With just 100 Euros, in fact, we could bring home a respectable processor with very interesting performance especially for those who need to spend less and consume little, not disdaining playing some video games every now and then.
With this, we refer to reading the more in-depth review to be soon published and that, as usual, will be full of tests and considerations, able to advise you, or not, the purchase of the new AMD A6-3650.
We thank AMD for the sample supplied to us.
Angelo Ciardiello
XtremeHardware Staff
Translated by Marco Comerci