AMD’s strategy regarding APUs is to update the range with small boosts on a regular basis. The new flagship A10-7890K features an increased frequency of 4.1GHz compared to 3.9GHz on the previous model. AMD’s lower-end chip, the A8-7690K will reportedly be at least 100MHz faster than the current A8 APU. According to CPU-World, it’s uncertain if the revised APUs will receive any kind of improvement in terms of GPU frequency. Technically, the latest A8 and A10 products contains four “Steamroller” cores, DirectX 12 functionality, GCN 1.1 architecture, a second-generation video encoding engine (VCE) and fourth-generation unified video decoder (VCE). This allows for smooth, high-quality playback across a number of widely used codecs.
Both APUs employ the latest “Kaveri” design instead of the older “Godavari” process. As a result, the circuitry is improved and allows for a higher and more efficient power delivery. AMD hopes this will entice overclockers, and provide the headroom required to push the frequency even further.
While there’s no official release date, early predictions indicate a release within the next 3-4 months. Performance wise, APUs don’t really interest me as someone opting for extreme-grade hardware. Although, they are very useful for HTPCs and machines without huge gaming demands.
Do you currently use an APU?
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