Better With Time? The A8-3870 And Pentium G630, One Year Later

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AMD's desktop APUs, which combine x86 cores and graphics resources, emerged more than a year ago. We take a Llano-based A8-3870 and compare its performance from 2011 to what you get today using new drivers, application versions, and OpenCL acceleration.

Test Setup And Benchmarks

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Test Setups And Software
Socket FM1 PlatformMSI A75MA-G55, Chipset: AMD A75, BIOS: 1.6b
Socket FM1 ProcessorAMD A8-3870K (32 nm, Llano, B0), 4C/4T, 3.0 GHz, 4 x 1 MB L2 Cache, w/ AMD Radeon HD 6550D, 100 W TDP
LGA 1155 PlatformGigabyte H67MA-UD2H, Chipset: H67, BIOS: F2
LGA 1155 ProcessorIntel Pentium G630 (32 nm, Sandy Bridge, D2), 2C/2T, 2.70 GHz, 2 x 256 KB L2 Cache, w/ Intel HD Graphics, 65 W TDP
DDR3 Memory2 x 4 GB DDR3-1600, Kingston KHX1600C9D3K2/8GX
Shared Platform Components
System DriveSamsung 470 Series SSD, 256 GB, SATA 3Gb/s
Power SupplySeasonic X-760, SS-760KM Active PFC
System Software & Drivers
Operating SystemWindows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1
Drivers and Settings
AMD Chipset DriversAMD Catalyst 12.6 Suite for Windows 7
AMD Catalyst Drivers 2011AMD Catalyst 11.7 Suite for Windows 7
AMD Catalyst Drivers 2012AMD Catalyst 12.6 Suite for Windows 7
Intel INF-Update-Utility 2011Version: 9.2.0.1030 (04/21/2011)
Intel INF-Update-Utility 2012Version: 9.3.0.1019 (11/27/2011)
Intel HD Graphics 2011Version: 15.22.50.64.2509 (09/03/2011)
Intel HD Graphics 2012Version: 15.22.54.64.2622 (01/21/2012)
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Video Benchmarks and Settings
BenchmarkDetails
HandBrake CLIVersion: 0.98, Video: Video from Canon EOS 7D (1920x1080, 25 frames) 1 Minutes 22 Seconds, Audio: PCM-S16, 48 000 Hz, Two-Channel, to Video: AVC1 Audio: AAC (High Profile)
MainConcept Reference v2Version: 2.0.0.1555, MPEG-2 to H.264, MainConcept H.264/AVC Codec, 28 sec HDTV 1920x1080 (MPEG-2), Audio: MPEG-2 (44.1 kHz, Two-Channel, 16-Bit, 224 Kb/s), Codec: H.264 Pro, Mode: PAL 50i (25 FPS), Profile: H.264 BD HDMV
Application Benchmarks and Settings
BenchmarkDetails
Autodesk 3ds Max 2010Version: 10 x64, Rendering Space Flyby Mentalray (SPECapc_3dsmax9), Frame: 248, Resolution: 1440 x 1080
Adobe Photoshop CS 5.1 and CS 6 (64-Bit) CPUVersion: 13, Filtering a 16 MB TIF (15 000x7266), Filters: Radial Blur (Amount: 10; Method: zoom; Quality: good), Shape Blur (Radius: 46 px; custom shape: Trademark symbol), Median (Radius: 1 px), Polar Coordinates (Rectangular to Polar)
Adobe Photoshop CS 6 (64-Bit) OpenCLVersion: 13, Filtering a 16 MB TIF (15 000x7266), Filters: Field Blur (Blur 15 px), Iris Blur (Blur 15 px), Tilt-Shift (Blur 15 px), Oil Paint (Stylization 4; Clealiness 2.3; Scale 0.8; Bristle 10; Angular Direction 300; Shine 1.3), Adaptive Wide Angle (Perspective, Focal Length 15 mm), Lighting Effect (Spotlight 1)
Adobe Acrobat X ProfessionalVersion: 10.0.0 Pro, == Printing Preferenced Menu ==, Default Settings: Standard, == Adobe PDF Security - Edit Menu ==, Encrypt all documents (128-bit RC4), Open Password: 123, Permissions Password: 321
Cinebench 11.5Version 11.5 Build CB25720DEMO, CPU Test: Single- and Multi-Threaded
Microsoft PowerPoint 2010Version: 14.0.4734.1000 (32-bit), PPT to PDF, PowerPoint Document (115 Pages), Adobe PDF-Printer
FritzFritz Chess Benchmark Version 4.3.2
MusemageVersion 1.9.1.4969, Convert 5 JPG Images to HDR
vRevealVersion 2.0 and 3.2.0.13029, Playback Rinderherde with "One-Click Fix"
PCMark 7V 1.04
7-ZipVersion 9.22 and 9.28, LZMA2, Syntax "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=5", Benchmark: THG-Workload-2012
WinRARVersion 4.1 and 4.2, RAR, Syntax "winrar a -r -m3", Benchmark: THG-Workload-2012
WinZipVersion 15.5 and 16.5 Pro, Best Method, ZIPX, Benchmark: THG Workload