Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in
AMD Desktop Trinity Update: Now With Core i3 And A8-3870K
By ,
1. Following Up With More Test Data

This story, an update to our AMD Trinity-based A10, A8, and A6 family preview, was originally published on July 2, 2012. It was not condoned, supported, or sponsored in any way by AMD. The piece appears here, unchanged, with the same information presented nearly three months ago.

AMD Trinity Desktop Update: Now With More A8 And Core i3

Shortly after wrapping up our first look at AMD’s Trinity-based desktop APUs, I ordered an A8-3870K and Core i3-2100 from Newegg. Each chip was $120 bucks at the time, and promised to add much needed comparison data to our Trinity-based desktop APU preview.

The A8 is important because it’s AMD’s flagship APU built on the Llano design. Although it only operates 100 MHz faster than the A8-3850 originally used for testing, an unlocked multiplier ratio commands a bit of a price premium. Expect the unlocked Trinity-based parts to cost extra, too.

Intel’s Core i3 is, by far, a more interesting comparison point. Its two Hyper-Threaded cores employ the Sandy Bridge architecture, which we know to be very efficient. But can it stand up to AMD’s twin Piledriver modules in the Trinity-based A10 and A8? Really, that was the question we wanted to answer most.

Core i3-2100 is armed with HD Graphics 2000, so we knew it’d get slaughtered by AMD’s forthcoming APUs. However, the i3-2105 employs HD Graphics 3000—a more capable implementation with two times the number of execution units (12, rather than six). Operating at the same 3.1 GHz core clock rate as the i3-2100, the only reason to buy -2105 over -2100 is built-in graphics. And for that, you’ll pay $135.

How do our results look after adding the A8-3870K and Core i3-2100 to our x86-based tests, along with the Core i3-2105 to our gaming tests?

2. Test Setup And Benchmarks
Test Hardware
Processors
AMD A10-5800K (Trinity) 3.8 GHz (19 * 200 MHz), Four Cores, Socket FM2, 4 MB Total L2 Cache, Turbo Core enabled, Power-savings enabled

AMD A8-5600K (Trinity) 3.6 GHz (18 * 200 MHz), Four Cores, Socket FM2, 4 MB Total L2 Cache, Turbo Core enabled, Power-savings enabled

AMD A6-5400K (Trinity) 3.6 GHz (18 * 200 MHz), Two Cores, Socket FM2, 1 MB Total L2 Cache, Turbo Core enabled, Power-savings enabled

AMD A8-3850 (Llano) 2.9 GHz (14.5 * 200 MHz), Four Cores, Socket FM1, 4 MB Total L2 Cache, Power-savings enabled

AMD A8-3870K (Llano) 3.0 GHz (15 * 200 MHz), Four Cores, Socket FM1, 4 MB Total L2 Cache, Power-savings enabled

AMD A8-3850 (Llano) 2.9 GHz (14.5 * 200 MHz), Four Cores, Socket FM1, 4 MB Total L2 Cache, Power-savings enabled

Intel Core i3-2105 (Sandy Bridge) 3.1 GHz (31 * 100 MHz), Two Cores, LGA 1155, 3 MB Shared L3 Cache, Hyper-Threading enabled, Power-savings enabled

Intel Core i3-2100 (Sandy Bridge) 3.1 GHz (31 * 100 MHz), Two Cores, LGA 1155, 3 MB Shared L3 Cache, Hyper-Threading enabled, Power-savings enabled
Thermal Paste
Zalman ZM-STG1
Motherboard
ASRock FM2A75 Pro4 (Socket FM2) AMD A75 FCH, Beta BIOS

ASRock A75 Extreme6 (Socket FM1) AMD A75 FCH, BIOS v.2.00
Memory
G.Skill 16 GB (4 x 4 GB) DDR3-1600, F3-12800CL9Q2-32GBZL @ 9-9-9-24 and 1.5 V

Kingston 4 GB (2 x 2 GB) DDR3-2800, KHX2800OCC12D3T1K2/4GX @ 1.5 V
Hard Drive
Intel SSD 510 250 GB, SATA 6 Gb/s for gaming tests

Intel SSD 520 240 GB, SATA 6 Gb/s for productivity/content creation tests
Graphics
AMD Radeon HD 7660D

AMD Radeon HD 7560D

AMD Radeon HD 7540D

AMD Radeon HD 6670
Power Supply
Cooler Master UCP-1000 W
System Software And Drivers
Operating System
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
DirectX
DirectX 11
Graphics DriverHD Graphics Driver For Windows 7 (15.26.8.64.2696)
Game Benchmarks And Settings
Batman: Arkham City
Game Settings: Lowest Quality Settings, Anti-Aliasing: Disabled, V-sync: Disabled, DirectX 11 Mode, 1280x720 / 1680x1050 / 1920x1080, Built-in Benchmark
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Game Settings: Medium Quality Settings, FXAA disabled, V-sync: Disabled, 1280x720 / 1680x1050 / 1920x1080, 25-second playback, Fraps
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
Game Settings: Good Quality Settings, Anti-Aliasing: 1x AA, V-sync: Disabled, 1280x720 / 1680x1050 / 1920x1080, Demo: Crushblow to The Krazzworks, DirectX 11, 64-bit Binary
Diablo III
Game Settings: Low Quality Settings, Anti-Aliasing: Disabled, V-sync: Disabled, 1280x720 / 1680x1050  / 1920x1080, The Siege Of Bastion's Keep, 120-second playback, Fraps
Audio Benchmarks and Settings
iTunesVersion: 10.4.10, 64-bit
Audio CD ("Terminator II" SE), 53 min., Convert to AAC audio format
Lame MP3Version 3.98.3
Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 min, convert WAV to MP3 audio format, Command: -b 160 --nores (160 Kb/s)
Video Benchmarks and Settings
HandBrake CLIVersion: 0.9.5
Video: Big Buck Bunny (720x480, 23.972 frames) 5 Minutes, Audio: Dolby Digital, 48 000 Hz, Six-Channel, English, to Video: AVC Audio: AC3 Audio2: AAC (High Profile)
MainConcept Reference v2.2
Version: 2.2.0.5440
MPEG-2 to H.264, MainConcept H.264/AVC Codec, 28 sec HDTV 1920x1080 (MPEG-2), Audio:
MPEG-2 (44.1 kHz, 2 Channel, 16-Bit, 224 Kb/s), Codec: H.264 Pro, Mode: PAL 50i (25 FPS), Profile: H.264 BD HDMV
Application Benchmarks and Settings
WinRARVersion: 4.11
RAR, Syntax "winrar a -r -m3", Benchmark: 2010-THG-Workload
WinZip 16.5Version: 16.5
WinZip GUI, Benchmark: 2010-THG-Workload
7-Zip
Version 9.22 beta
LZMA2, Syntax "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=5", Benchmark: 2010-THG-Workload
Adobe Premiere Pro CS 5.5
Paladin Sequence to H.264 Blu-ray
Output 1920x1080, Maximum Quality, Mercury Playback Engine: Software Mode
Adobe After Effects CS 6
Version: CS5.5
Tom's Hardware Workload, SD project with three picture-in-picture frames, source video at 720p, Render Multiple Frames Simultaneously
Adobe Photoshop CS 6 (64-Bit)Version: 11
Filtering a 16 MB TIF (15 000x7266), Filters:, Radial Blur (Amount: 10, Method: zoom, Quality: good) Shape Blur (Radius: 46 px; custom shape: Trademark sysmbol) Median (Radius: 1px) Polar Coordinates (Rectangular to Polar)
ABBYY FineReaderVersion: 10 Professional Build (10.0.102.82)
Read PDF save to Doc, Source: Political Economy (J. Broadhurst 1842) 111 Pages
3ds Max 2012
Version: 10 x64
Rendering Space Flyby Mentalray (SPECapc_3dsmax9), Frame: 248, Resolution: 1440 x 1080
Adobe Acrobat X Professional
PDF Document Creation (Print) from Microsoft PowerPoint 2010
SolidWorks 2010
PhotoView 360
Render 01-Lighter Explode.SLDASM (SolidMuse.com)
Image Output Resolution: 1920x1080, Render: Preview Quality “Good”, Final Render Quality “Best”
Visual Studio 2010
Compile Chrome project (1/31/2012) with devenv.com /build Release
Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings
PCMark 7Version: 1.0.4
3DMark 11
Version 1.0.3
SiSoftware Sandra 2012 SP4a
CPU Test=CPU Arithmetic/Multimedia, Memory Test=Bandwidth Benchmark, Cryptography, Cache Latency
3. Benchmark Results: Sandra 2012

At least on paper, Intel’s Core i3-2100 would seem to have an advantage in instruction per second throughput and floating-point operations per second. Whether Sandra’s synthetic measurements translate into real-world performance remains to be seen.

AMD demonstrates exceptional integer performance in the multi-media test, which we’d expect given its four physical integer cores. Floating-point performance suffers, though, due to the Piledriver architecture's shared resources, and Intel’s Core i3-2100 takes a first-place finish.

We didn’t point this out last time, but the twin Piledriver modules in A8 and A10 manage to deliver better FP performance than the four physical cores in both Llano-based contenders.

As part of its product differentiation strategy, Intel pulls AES-NI support from the Core i3s. Thus, you see its -2100 drag along at the bottom of our chart as all three Trinity-based APUs achieve respectable AES256 bandwidth.

No surprise—Intel’s dual-channel memory controller dramatically outperforms AMD’s best effort.

It is strange, though, that both Llano-based APUs push higher throughput than the three Trinity-based parts.

Core i3 takes the same L1 data cache hit as Trinity (compared to Llano), but its L2 latency is almost half of AMD’s upcoming APU. Llano’s L1D and L2 both appear to suffer less latency than Trinity, too.

4. Benchmark Results: Adobe CS5 And 6

It almost seems a waste to have spent money on the A8-3870K—it’s barely any faster than the -3850.

But whereas Core i3 edges out both Llano-based APUs, our two dual-module examples of Trinity cruise right on by.

Although we only included the Core i3-2105 in our gaming tests, it’d lose by the same margin to the new A8 and A10, suggesting AMD’s upcoming APUs might end up costing a fair bit more than the existing Llano line-up.

The Sandy Bridge architecture gets the best of Trinity in Premiere Pro, though we’d suggest a CUDA-based card in this application anyway (and a more powerful processor, if you’re truly an aspiring video editor).

Our After Effects results fall much closer to each other, and the A10 manages to out-perform Intel’s Core i3-2100.

5. Benchmark Results: Content Creation

Both AMD and Intel would likely agree with us that these CPUs aren’t intended for workstation-oriented applications like 3ds Max. In the event that you do end up on a more mainstream machine rendering an image, though, the older Llano-based parts perform best, followed by Trinity. Core i3-2100 finishes second-to-last, ahead of the single-module A6-5400K.

The same conclusions apply in SolidWorks, though there’s very little separating AMD’s APUs and the Intel Core i3.

6. Benchmark Results: Productivity

Trinity dominates in our OCR-oriented workload, followed by Llano. The Sandy Bridge-based i3 takes second-to-last yet again.

From our preview of the Trinity-based desktop APUs:

“Our audience likes to see Fritz included in our suite, but unlike some of our more applicable benchmarks, a loss in Fritz isn’t particularly concerning for us, given its fairly synthetic outcome.”

Our analysis from Visual Studio applies here as well:

“In contrast, compiling Google Chrome in Visual Studio 2010 is the very definition of real-world. And while we can fairly easily dismiss the results from Fritz, the fact that the second-fastest Llano-based APU outmaneuvers the soon-to-be flagship A10 isn’t something you can argue away using references to heterogeneous computing. If you already own Llano, it's going to be hard to compel an upgrade based on results like these.”

The difference is that Intel’s Core i3 lands right between the Llano-based parts and Trinity. These aren’t the right CPUs to buy for someone who compiles a lot of code, though.

Excellent single-threaded performance grants Core i3 the win when we print a PowerPoint document to PDF, though the A10 isn’t far behind.

The better news is that Trinity completely outclasses Llano in this metric.

7. Benchmark Results: Media Encoding

Armed with two Piledriver modules, the Trinity-based A10 and A8 place first and second, respectively. A pair of Llano-based APUs takes third and fourth place, while Core i3-2100 finishes in fifth.

Same story in HandBrake.

We really liked the per-core performance improvements seen moving from Llano to Trinity. With Core i3-2100 folded into the mix, though, we’re reminded that Sandy Bridge is very effective in single-threaded apps. Ivy Bridge is even faster. So, when i3s start trickling out based on that architecture, charts like this one will favor Intel more heavily.

8. Benchmark Results: File Compression

The Sandy Bridge design lands right between AMD’s new A10 and A8 chips in this latest version of WinZip, which is better-optimized for threading than any of its predecessors.

Although WinRAR is purportedly able to exploit many cores, the dual-core Sandy Bridge-based chip takes first place. Both dual-module APUs follow close behind, though.

In yet another reversal, 7-Zip, which has always been one of the most efficient archival utilities in our suite, favors all four quad-core AMD APUs before the Core i3 shows up.

9. Batman: Arkham City

Adding HD Graphics 2000 and 3000 to these charts does nothing to the top of the range. Even the low-end A6-5400K bests Intel’s best integrated effort at all three resolutions.

Despite AMD’s commanding win, though, it’s really only at 1280x720 where you get playable performance.

Let’s move onto World of Warcraft, which we’ve already seen enable a more enjoyable experience on our APUs.

10. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

As with Batman, it’s no surprise to see both of Intel’s previous-generation graphics engines bring up the rear in all three resolutions. More interesting is that the A10-5800K is playable at 1920x1080 using the Good quality preset, while Core i3-2105—a $135 chip—can’t muster an acceptable average at 1280x720.

11. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

We really probably should have dialed Skyrim down more than its Medium quality preset, but game looked so bad already that anything lower would have just been going through the motions. You can muster close-to-playable performance on the Trinity-based A10 and A8 at 1280x720, but 1680x1050 and 1920x1080 run too slowly.

Intel’s chips are lucky to break double-digit average frame rates, though, and are wholly unsuited to a mainstream title like this one.

12. Diablo III

You could argue that the Core i3-2105, at 1280x720 using Low quality settings, is somewhat playable in Diablo. The Core i3-2100 isn’t though, and neither Intel chip does very well at 1680x1050 or 1920x1080.

Meanwhile, both dual-module Trinity-based APUs do really well at 1280x720. They’re a little more marginal at 1680x1050. And only the A10 is really worth trying to play on at 1920x1080.

13. If Trinity Showed Up Today...

If you haven’t already read my preview of AMD’s next-gen APUs, the conclusion is at least worth checking out (I'd like to think the whole thing is a decent read, but the ending is probably most informative).

Beyond the impressions I came away with in that story, I can now add that Sandy Bridge-based Core i3s fare about as well as I expected them to. The Core i3-2100 does well in single-threaded x86 metrics, where its efficient architecture simply muscles past AMD’s best effort with the Piledriver design. There aren't many, though, and I imagine they'll only get more rare and less meaningful over time.

A majority of our threaded tests—particularly the ones that emphasize integer-heavy code—go in AMD’s favor. It’ll take more than a dual-core 3.1 GHz chip to get Intel ahead in those benchmarks. Maybe the $125 Core i3-2120 is a better choice, or the $150 Core i3-2130.

Whichever Core i3-2xx0 CPU you pick, you’re stuck with HD Graphics 2000, and that’s a real bummer. Sandy Bridge’s low-end graphics engine can hardly be recommended for any low-resolution, low-quality gaming environment. And any time you want to step up to HD Graphics 3000, it’s an extra $25 or $35 dollars. Even then, you’re not getting a phenomenal upgrade.

Ivy Bridge-based Core i3s will help Intel’s case with regard to x86 performance. However, it’s not yet clear if any of them will include HD Graphics 4000. Should the company choose to keep its higher-end implementation a differentiating feature for Core i7 CPUs, you’ll see the more entry-level parts limited to HD Graphics 2500. That’d just be bad news for Intel.

We’ll see what happens, though. Every indication still points to channel availability of desktop-oriented Trinity-based APUs late this year, and a lot can happen between now and then.