AMD Shipping 7th Generation 'Bristol Ridge' APUs Ahead Of Schedule

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AMD revealed that it is shipping its 7th generation AMD A-Series processors (codenamed “Bristol Ridge”) to OEM customers earlier than anticipated, with HP leading the charge by featuring the new APUs in its updated Envy x360 2-in-1 laptop.

We don’t have detailed specifications just yet (AMD plans to showcase the new processors at Computex), but we do know that HP is receiving dual- and quad-core variants of the 7th generation APUs that will be offered in the redesigned Envy x360. We know that the iGPU attached to these chips will be Radeon R7 or R5 graphics, and it will feature AMD FreeSync and 4K video support.

We also know (thanks to a little help from HP) that one of AMD’s 7th generation quad-core APUs will be the AMD FX-9800P, which features a clock rate of 2.7 GHz (3.6 GHz turbo), a 2 MB L2 cache, Radeon R7 graphics and a 15-watt TDP.

AMD claims its 7th generation A-Series FX processors show up to a 50 percent improvement in total compute performance than the previous version of the mobile APU from 2014 (Kaveri). Until the company fully reveals the new A-Series APUs in full, we’ll have to take AMD at its word on that. We'll look forward to learning more around Computex time this summer.

Derek Forrest is an Associate Contributing Writer for Tom’s Hardware and Tom’s IT Pro. Follow Derek Forrest on Twitter. Follow us on Facebook, Google+, RSS, Twitter and YouTube.

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Derek Forrest
Derek Forrest
Derek Forrest is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He writes hardware news and reviews gaming desktops and laptops.
20 Comments Comment from the forums
  • artk2219
    If the specs for the 9800P are correct, it would definitely give the I3 and I5 U's a good run for their money. At least it would if any of the OEM's wanted to actually build something around it that isn't a 15 to 17" laptop with a crappy screen thats an ugly brick.
    Reply
  • harrkev
    I am certain that the HP offering will only offer single-channel memory and a mechanical hard drive.
    Reply
  • IceMyth
    I know for sure: 1
    - HP will sucks so bad as I had an A10 AMD HP laptop and after 1.5years the fan needed a replacement.
    2- My next laptop will be MSI with AMD CPU but for sure not A series as I don't trust them nor their performance or the cooling system for them (laptop)
    But for sure next laptop will have the latest available MSI AMD CPU.
    Reply
  • lordmogul
    I read about the Athlon X4 845 which is based on Carrizo and has around 20% performance improvement over Piledriver.
    Those claimed "50% improvement over Kaveri" are not exaggerated.
    Reply
  • blazorthon
    Yes, the few benchmarks I've seen on the Athlon X4 845 were impressive enough to imply that what's coming is a huge leap ahead of AMD's other stuff that's been sitting around for several years. I just wish we saw some of the tech sites actually reviewing it, I have yet to see a single review from a major site to back up claims in the forums.
    Reply
  • Wisecracker
    I read about the Athlon X4 845 which is based on Carrizo and has around 20% performance improvement over Piledriver.
    Those claimed "50% improvement over Kaveri" are not exaggerated.
    And, that's with the 'gimped' 2x1MB L2 on the X4 845.

    Hopefully, the desktop 'Big Cat Bristol Ridge' APUs will carry 2x2MB L2, and HP will put some decent mobile 'builds' at a right price in the new 2-in-1s.

    Reply
  • w0by
    I've owned two Spectre's now, they're really nice notebook computers, the best in the business in my opinion.
    Reply
  • w0by
    Actually Spectre's have always used SSD, at least the past 3 generations.

    I am certain that the HP offering will only offer single-channel memory and a mechanical hard drive.
    Reply
  • logainofhades
    What I am interested in is how well the IGP performs, using DDR4. IIRC, Bristol Ridge and Zen are both to be DDR4 platforms.
    Reply
  • lip008
    I am certain that the HP offering will only offer single-channel memory and a mechanical hard drive.

    Yep. I agree with that. I almost bought a HP A10 laptop from Best Buy when it was on sale until I found a review that stated how poor the GPU performance was with the single-channel memory.
    Reply