The Mobile Kaveri Test Platform
As with the benchmarks we ran on AMD's Mullins APU last month, the company provided us with a prototype platform for evaluation. Also similar to last time, we were given a few short hours to squeeze as much comparative data out of the system as possible. Consequently, we don't have as many results as we'd like, though we did come away with some meaningful results.
The early sample was equipped with AMD's FX-7600P APU and outfitted with 8 GB of memory in a dual-channel configuration. CPU-Z reported it as 1890 MT/s, though we're inclined to believe that could have been a detection error.
With AMD's marketing message honed in on 19 watts, we were a little surprised to test the 35 W APU. Then again, in a story about performance, it makes sense to put the best foot forward.
While AMD appears confident in the ULV Kaveri's ability to compete against Core i7-4500U, the higher TDP meant we needed to find an Intel-based platform with a comparable thermal ceiling. I tapped the 37 W Core i7-4702MQ within Acer's Aspire V3. Although it includes a discrete GeForce GPU, I was able to disable that component using Nvidia's Optimus technology, verifying that it was off before running our tests. Special thanks to Jared and our friends at iTech Computers in Winnipeg, who were kind enough to facilitate our testing. Surprisingly, it was difficult to find a mobile Haswell-based processor rated at 35 W.
