AMD A8-3850 Review: Llano Rocks Entry-Level Desktops

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Earlier this month we previewed AMD's Llano architecture in a notebook environment. Now we have the desktop version with a 100 W TDP. How much additional performance can the company procure with a loftier thermal ceiling and higher clocks?

Benchmark Results: World Of Warcraft: Cataclysm (DirectX 9 And 11)

WoW players, rejoice. This game typifies what the Llano design is intended to enable. It doesn’t get much more mainstream than the World of Warcraft, and even at 1680x1050, it’s possible to get fluid frame rates, so long as you’re willing to dial down the graphics quality to Good and leave AA disabled. Where Core i3-2105 and 890GX fall flat on their respective faces, A8-3850 handles business.

AMD has a double-advantage in this specific title. Not only does it show up to this gunfight with the largest-caliber weapon, but the A8-3850 is also the only DirectX 11-capable part in the bunch. As it happens, the most recent 4.1 patch adds official DirectX 11 support to the game (it was experimental before). And whereas DirectX 11 can improve graphics quality, it’s all about improving performance in the Cataclysm expansion. We saw the effects of turning it on in World Of Warcraft: Cataclysm--Tom's Performance Guide.

As a result, both the Intel Core i3 and AMD 890GX have to be tested using the slower DirectX 9 code path, while the Llano APU handily outperforms the competition via DX 11.

Chris Angelini
Chris Angelini
Chris Angelini is an Editor Emeritus at Tom's Hardware US. He edits hardware reviews and covers high-profile CPU and GPU launches.
148 Comments Comment from the forums
  • whatisupthere
    Great review! Thanks Toms
    Reply
  • Tamz_msc
    Another win for AMD!
    Reply
  • SteelCity1981
    So then what's the point of getting the Turbo Core versions when they are going to be Turbo Clocked slower then the none Turbo Clocked versions...
    Reply
  • cangelini
    SteelCity1981So then what's the point of getting the Turbo Core versions when they are going to be Turbo Clocked slower then the none Turbo Clocked versions...
    They don't want you to see better performance from a cheaper APU in single-threaded apps by pushing Turbo Core further ;-)
    Reply
  • Known2Bone
    i really wanted see some amazing gains in the content creation department what with all that gpu power on chip... oh well games are fun too!
    Reply
  • ivan_chess
    I think this would be good for a young kid's PC. It would be enough to run educational software and a web browser. When he grows up to be a gamer it would be time to replace the whole machine anyway.
    Reply
  • DjEaZy
    ... it's may be not the greatest APU for desktop... but it will be a powerful thingy in a laptop... the review was nice... but in the gaming department... would be nice to see a standard 15,x'' laptop resolution tests @ 1366x768... or something like that...
    Reply
  • Mathos
    Actually if you want good DDR3 1600 with aggressive timings, the Ripjaws X series memory that I have does DDR3 1600 at 7-8-7-24 at 1.5v, not all that expensive when it comes down to it either.
    Reply
  • Stardude82
    This makes little sense. An Athlon II X3 445 ($75) and a HD 5570 ($60, on a good day you can get a 5670 for the same price) would provide better performance for the same price ($135) and not have to worry about the RAM you use.

    So is AM3+ going to be retired in favor of FM1 in the near future? Why are there chipset at all? Why isn't everything SOC by now?

    Otherwise this is a very good CPU. If AMD has used 1 MB level 2 caches in their quads when they came out with the Deneb Propus die, they would be much more competitive.
    Reply
  • crisan_tiberiu
    stardude82This makes little sense. An Athlon II X3 445 ($75) and a HD 5570 ($60, on a good day you can get a 5670 for the same price) would provide better performance for the same price ($135) and not have to worry about the RAM you use. what about power consumption?
    Reply