AMD A10-6800K Pro Reviews

AMD did what they’ve always been doing for a while: catering to a certain niche with certain requirements that are not demand, but which ultimately makes it as a decent enough motherboard- processor combo at the end of the day. Along with the AMD A85X chipset, you’re getting a native USB 3.0 support. Pair it up with decent enough multi-media performance and certain gaming with low presets and resolution, it does the job. That’s it. Its just another refresh compared to the previous generation. Its not a bad thing, its just that those hanging with the previous generation aren’t missing anything. Overclocking it to 5 GHz with all the power saving features disabled to keep the clock speed static did its job. For those who need processing power to handle larger workload or hardcore gaming in higher resolutions and maximum settings or encoding on a regular basis or those who have a previous gen setup from AMD (and Intel) will give this a pass. All the more reasons that it makes a lot more sense to have a large number of mini-itx formfactor for such a processing unit. Suffice to say, this is something that motherboard manufacturers need to push. Gamers on a budget but who want to play in a 1080p would shortlist a Richland processor and a decent enough motherboard as a combo, pair it with 1600MHz kit and a decent enough mid end GPU.

AMD's minor under-the-hood improvements enables the A10-6800K to supercede the A10-5800K in both CPU and GPU performance, and it can therefore be recommended as a solid, competent all-round chip that's suitable for a wide range of budget systems.

At those prices, AMD’s latest Richland Elite A-Series APUs are somewhat more expensive than their Trinity-based counterparts, which currently top out at about $129, but they’re priced very competitively with Intel’s offerings. The Core i3-3225, for example, is currently selling for $139; the couple of extra bucks for the A10-6800K will get you a better-performing CPU (in multi-threaded workloads, at least) with a much higher-performing GPU. However, Intel still has the edge in single-thread performance and power efficiency. These new APUs are also drop-in upgrades for existing platforms. Looking back at the numbers, we doubt anyone with a high-end Trinty-based APU will feel the need to upgrade, but if you’ve currently got a low-end socket FM2 APU and want to breathe some new life into the system, a Richland Elite A-Series APU is the easiest way to do it and it won't break the bank.

The real test to AMD's new APUs will come later this year, when Intel refreshes its Core i3 and Core i5 chips with its latest Haswell architecture. If an i3 in the $150 price range can bring along the much-improved graphics Intel is claiming, while also improving power efficiency, AMD might face some stiff competition in this space. Then again, the new Core i7-4770K actually managed to have a higher TDP than its predecessor, the 3770K. So if the new low-end Core processors don't get more efficient this year, that may give AMD a chance to catch up.

This is the ideal processor for a budget PC build

Calling Richland a stopgap between Trinity and the next-gen Kaveri would be just about right. From what we hear, Kaveri should still land sometime late this year. So, although Intel took a big step in catching up to AMD with its HD Graphics 4600 engine, the integration of GCN should help AMD widen that gap again. Steamroller-derived x86 should help as well, as should the implementation of hUMA (heterogeneous unified memory architecture). Unfortunately, Kaveri requires a new socket interface, so it won't be an upgrade path for anything with Trinity or considering Richland.

The AMD Richland APUs offer small improvements over the previous version, but continue to excel in GPU workloads and are available at a compelling price.

I thoroughly enjoyed playing with the new A10-6800K. Those looking for anything other than clock speed boosts are going to be disappointed a bit, but that doesn't bother me at all because these chips seem to clock really well. The chip does its job really well as a cheap toy to play with during the summer, or as the base of an entry-level PC for your kids or your wife, as it can be used to play some current games with low details at decent framerates. I'm not sure what to think about the whole Dual Graphics side of things, since you might as well play the game on a console at such a level of performance to avoid the headache that comes with a PC interface. Apps like Valve's Big Picture go a long way towards alleviating the interface problem, but consoles still provide greater ease-of-use to most consumers that might buy an entry-level PC. The expanded overclocking capabilities make the A10-6800K a great choice for a weekend of overclocking that is really easy on the wallet, but not everyone is into that either. As the father of four, there's definite room in my house for AMD's APU-based systems. Two of my kids now exclusively use AMD APUs and are quite happy with them, but they aren't experienced enough in PC-use to know the difference. That says something, however, as the market my kids fall into is the one AMD is directly targeting with their new Elite A-Series APUs, and these APUs do a great job at meeting the needs of those consumers. Enthusiasts, on the other hand, might not be impressed, but rumor has it that AMD might have a completely different chip for them...

AMD's Richland APUs boost clock speeds and refine power consumption. In particular, the AMD A10-6800K is a decent, low-cost alternative to Intel's Core i3/i5 products.

AMD has said from the inception that the idea behind the APU was to be "more than the sum of its parts." While that can be used as a meme for the lowering of expectations, AMD has has once again demonstrated that the "more than the sum of its parts" translates to just that. Power, versatility, and value in a single package.

As a relatively minor update to the existing range of APUs, Richland does what it needs to. It provides a small but clear performance boost across the board and, considering this, is priced appropriately, at least against Trinity parts. The lowered power consumption is also welcome, and the chips appear to have good overclocking potential too, although less exotic cooling might yield less fruitful results. While the games we test with aren't the most demanding ones, they're enough to show the clear lead that Richland's onboard GPU has over that of Ivy Bridge in the same price range. However, Intel's offering is the clear victor in CPU bound performance, so if you're opting for any half decent discrete graphics card, a budget chip like the Core i3-3220 is the superior choice. If, on the other hand, your budget won't stretch to allow this, the Richland range is well priced for what it offers, which is adequate CPU performance and graphics hardware that should be more than capable of achieving playable frame rates on modern games (with the detail settings dialed down somewhat, of course), plus there the option to get double the performance by using Crossfire with a low-end discrete AMD graphics card. If you're willing to wait, it's relatively safe to assume that the upcoming lower end Haswell parts will also offer very attractive CPU performance, and while LGA1155 parts are now slowly on the way out, the LGA1150 socket will also provide you with a solid platform for upgrades. FM2, on the other hand, is now at its performance limit with the A10-6800K, and is set to be replaced sooner rather than later by the FM2+ socket when the Kaveri APUs arrive, so regular upgraders are also better off on the Intel path for now. With its all round improvements, Richland may be able to entice existing FM2 owners, especially those who opted for A8-series Trinity APUs. AMD may still have a lot of catching up to do with its high end processors, but Richland still makes for an attractive option for a new budget build too, as it achieves the best currently available balance between CPU and GPU performance for just over £100. Given their price parity, the A10-6700 should only be considered by those for whom low power consumption is a top priority, as otherwise the A10-6800K is the superior chip.

If you are currently using a dual-core FM2 system, upgrading to the A10-6800K is certainly not a bad upgrade to prolong the lifespan for a couple of more years for 100. Or if you are looking to upgrade three or four years old PC, the FM2 platform is certainly a very good alternative to the Intel Core i3 platform. Not only that you get a much more powerful system, the IO upgrade to SATA 6Gbps and USB 3.0 are certainly going to make world difference. The FM2 platform is also a great choice if you are building a media PC as well, especially the 65W A10-6700. Even for a budget system, the A10-6800K is certainly more than capable of playing games and the money saved can very well be put into a better graphic cards or an SSD which in term should offer a much greater performance improvements.

I can't fully get behind a recommendation at this point for the $142 A10-6800K Richland APU. It just doesn't provide the level of performance increase that would justify buying it over last generation's processors. I think there is a good chance that the price of the Richland APUs will drop relatively quickly. When it does, I'll get behind it. Until then, get a Trinity.

Where the A10-6800K falls flat on its backside is power consumption, however. The chip consumed 59% more power than the Core i5-3450 and that is only taking into account CPU consumption, not GPU. As for the lower end A4-4000, we found it to be a rather lack luster product. Clocked at just 3.0GHz with two cores and a 1MB L2 cache this thing leaves much to be desired. In every application and encoding test we ran it was put to death by the Celeron G1610. The latter was also much faster in games such as Far Cry 3 when using a discrete graphics card, and even when relying on the integrated GPU the A4-4000 wasn’t much faster at times. Once again, the final nail in the coffin was power consumption. Here the A4-4000 consumed just as much power as the Core i5-3450 under load, and 53% more than the Celeron G1610. Considering the chip is just $5 less than the Celeron G1610, AMD isn't offering much of a bargain here. Frankly, the A4-4000 is just too gutless and far too power hungry to even consider in our opinion. If you want to spend less than $50 on a CPU, the Celeron G1610 is a much faster and considerably more fuel efficient choice. The A10-6800K was another story. CPU performance is good enough, but GPU performance is excellent. Although power consumption was up there it's not exactly a deal breaker -- and certainly not as ridiculous as the A4-4000 in terms of watts vs. performance. The main downside is that it costs more than the A10-5800K it replaces. Had it come in at the same price we would have been a little intrigued, but right now it’s just not worth getting too excited about.

Overall Richland is a pretty big deal for AMD, and a fairly major refresh of their APU line. Better performance, better thermals, and better power usage have made this a worthwhile endeavor for AMD. They keep their name current and they have a new product to stack against Intel’s Haswell at much lower price points than the competition. They are still hanging their hats on the GPU technology and their ability to run GPGPU applications at a much higher speed than what Intel can do. There are still issues with Richland though. If a high end GPU is installed then the APU is only a slightly underpowered CPU at that price point. Only when the GPU is active does it really live up to its billing. It would be great if the GPU portion could be active and working when another high end GPU is installed, but we are not at that point in processor design (or software support) to have that happen. Perhaps when Kaveri rolls around we can have that particular functionality. As it is, Richland is a great standalone APU that should provide enough features and performance to keep it competitive with whatever Intel releases at that price point.