AMD Desktop Trinity Update: Now With Core i3 And A8-3870K

Features
By Chris Angelini
published

Benchmark Results: Adobe CS5 And 6

It almost seems a waste to have spent money on the A8-3870K—it’s barely any faster than the -3850.

But whereas Core i3 edges out both Llano-based APUs, our two dual-module examples of Trinity cruise right on by.

Although we only included the Core i3-2105 in our gaming tests, it’d lose by the same margin to the new A8 and A10, suggesting AMD’s upcoming APUs might end up costing a fair bit more than the existing Llano line-up.

The Sandy Bridge architecture gets the best of Trinity in Premiere Pro, though we’d suggest a CUDA-based card in this application anyway (and a more powerful processor, if you’re truly an aspiring video editor).

Our After Effects results fall much closer to each other, and the A10 manages to out-perform Intel’s Core i3-2100.

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.
141 Comments Comment from the forums
  • belardo
    OOOPS!!

    And it still doesn't make sense to only reserve the best graphics for the high-end chips. People who want such performance in a desktop or notebook may likely have a dedicated GPU anyway.

    The i3' should have HD graphics 3500/4000.
    Reply
  • mayankleoboy1
    where are the OpenCL benchmarks ? specially in winzip ?

    if Intel cant run those, then technically its a loss for intel and win for AMD, right?
    Reply
  • Onus
    This gives me real hope that Piledriver will be a worthwhile chip to put on my 990FX rather than scrapping it for Intel as software becomes more demanding.

    I made myself read the entire article. I consider myself a literate person, but I still cannot find words to properly (and respectfully) express just how physically Beautiful your announcer is.
    Reply
  • The video review girl is lovely, but being able to see her black brassier pushing her incredible breasts through that see-through shirt made me not pay attention at all to what she was talking about.
    Reply
  • ojas
    Hmmm...you think you could fix to them to the same clock rate and test one real-world productivity test? And perhaps one game with discrete graphics (maybe i've missed this particular test if you've already done it, if i have, sorry about that)...i mean with the i3 benchmarks for comparison.

    Apart from that, i think Trinity is clearly a win if AMD prices it the same as Llano.
    Reply
  • JackNSally
    So cheap gaming performance, AMD. Everything else Intel?
    Reply
  • caqde
    I saw a Trinity Desktop from HP on Walmarts shelves. I just wish the processors and motherboards would show up at places like newegg so I could build them for people.
    Reply
  • Reynod
    She did a good job getting the point across with the tech jargon.

    I'd like to see her doing some more short videos on various products.

    She has improved with each new video too.

    Good move Chris and team.

    :)
    Reply
  • de5_Roy
    trinity's igpu humiliates intel's sb igpu, like llano's did almost a year back. all three are 32 nm products, so i think the comparison's fair. :) if the igpu was well-scalable, intel should have built a 85/95w sb core i3 with 20-30 eus to be competitive with the apus, at least in terms of igpu performance. if intel once again slaps hd 2500 on core i3s and overprices the hd4k + core i3s, trinity will win in terms of price/performance.
    Reply
  • vmem
    REYNODShe did a good job getting the point across with the tech jargon.I'd like to see her doing some more short videos on various products.She has improved with each new video too.Good move Chris and team.Agreed, but she is also now completely covered up do to people "complaining". Would a low v-neck really be too much? She is overly covered compared to news anchors
    Reply