Updated: AMD 785G: The Venerable 780G, Evolved

By Don Woligroski
published

GPGPU Benchmark

It's ATI Stream versus Nvidia's CUDA in this GPGPU-on-IGP shootout. We benchmarked the Cyberlink Espresso video converter, which is conveniently optimized to take advantage of both CUDA and ATI Stream and seems to be an ideal test.

Maybe not so ideal after all, as these results look somewhat strange.

We had a few odd occurrences of note during testing. First of all, when Espresso was run on the Nvidia 9300 chipset, the program gave us the option to turn hardware acceleration on or off, presumably to enable/disable the CUDA optimizations. The strange thing is that when optimizations were enabled, the video encoding took longer, which is the opposite of what we expected. We asked Nvidia about this phenomenon, and they claim that their testing shows even a 3 GHz Core 2 Duo E6850 should demonstrate a performance increase with CUDA enhancements enabled.

Nvidia also pointed out that these results are misleading unless the resulting encoded video is bit-for-bit identical, and they claim that their encoding is of a higher quality than the video resulting from the ATI Stream optimizations. They were also concerned that the version of Cyberlink Espresso AMD had provided was not a publically available build. We were actually working with both companies (and Cyberlink) on an image quality comparison, even before 785G showed up, so you can expect more detailed coverage there as soon as that project comes together.

Don Woligroski
60 Comments Comment from the forums
  • macer1
    the real question is how would this perform if mated to an Atom processor in an nettop.
    Reply
  • mcnuggetofdeath
    "refined architecture" ? To my knowledge, and please correct me if im wrong, all that was changed between the original phenom and the phenom 2 was the addition of more L3 cache allowing it to do more simultaneously and a die shrink allowing for higher clocks. That does not a refined architecture make. When AMD added an on die memory controller to their processors years ago they had made a huge advancement in architecture. Im sad to see them fall away from the performance crown. Here's hoping their new Bull Dozer architecture brings something genuinely intriguing to the table.
    Reply
  • mcnuggetofdeath
    ^^^ and support for DDR3. Although thats a change to the board, not the CPU.
    Reply
  • anamaniac
    Very interesting.
    A integrated GPU that can game. =D

    Makes my lil Pentium D with a 4670 seem puny...
    3.3GB/s memory bandwidth (single channel DDR2 533... though 2 sticks, it runs in single channel... damn prebuilts) also seems sad on my rig...

    macer1the real question is how would this perform if mated to an Atom processor in an nettop.
    Good question. A dual core Atom with a 4200 integrated would be nice.
    We all know Intel makes shitty mothebroards and AMD makes kickass motherboards anyways.
    Reply
  • SpadeM
    mcnuggetofdeath^^^ and support for DDR3. Although thats a change to the board, not the CPU.
    Not correct, the P2 has a built in memory controller so the switch to ddr3 affected that controller
    Reply
  • apache_lives
    anamaniacVery interesting.A integrated GPU that can game. =DMakes my lil Pentium D with a 4670 seem puny...3.3GB/s memory bandwidth (single channel DDR2 533... though 2 sticks, it runs in single channel... damn prebuilts) also seems sad on my rig...Good question. A dual core Atom with a 4200 integrated would be nice.We all know Intel makes shitty mothebroards and AMD makes kickass motherboards anyways.

    Native ram for a pentium d is PC4200 which has a max of 4.2gb/s per channel etc and the FSB has the max of 6.4gb/s

    The Intel atom would most likely underpower any video card out there, and Intel does actually make a good reliable business platform where video performance is not required etc
    Reply
  • I'm sorry, is this an Intel benchmark site? All other reviews put SYSTEM power consumption for Athlon II 250 well below Intel E7200.
    Reply
  • aproldcuk
    This article raised a lot of questions for me. What about Hybrid Crossfire for example? What kind of cards can be used together with this new IGP? Is the discrete graphics card on standby if no performance is required? If no then how much extra outlet wattage is expected? And how much extra if actively in use? I'm interested in using the 785G solution in the 24/7 HTPC setup with the possibility to do occasional gaming as well. My current setup with 690G chipset and Athlon 64 X2 BE-2350 CPU draws around 50 watts most of the time and up to 90 watts under heavy load. Is it too much to expect similar levels from 785G and Phenom II X3 705e combo for example?
    Reply
  • wh3resmycar
    when can we see the mobile version of this? this is most certainly a welcome update compared to the 780g-hd3200 chipset. and beats any nvidia igp hands down. id love to see this on an $700-$800 laptop. good thing im still holding back on buying a new notebook.
    Reply
  • Pei-chen
    Good timimg, I was wondering if 785G is better than 790GX or not yesterday. Thanks.
    Reply