AMD’s A8-3850 APU vs. Intel’s Core i5 2300
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AMD’s A8-3850 APU vs. Intel’s Core i5 2300 

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Reviewers of the AMD A-3850 APU are drawing a clear contrast between the A-Series APUs’ strengths—like DirectX® Capability, native USB 3.0 compatibility, great performance per dollar, Dual Graphics1, low power draw—and Intel Sandy Bridge CPUs’ evermore apparent weaknesses.

Among their choice words:

  • “AMD clearly seems to have Intel beat this time around.” – Daily Tech2
  • “Intel must be scratching their heads right now as AMD has made a massive step forward today.” - Guru3D (Benelux – EMEA)3
  • “If you're building an entry level gaming PC and have to rely solely on integrated graphics, it's clear that Llano is the only solution on the market today.” AnandTech4

Benchmark testing confirms the prevailing opinion that the AMD A8-3850 APU has simply got Intel’s Core i5 2300 beat. In fact, AMD’s A8 APU-based PC delivers a better gaming experience—3X better—than Intel Sandy Bridge Core i5-Based PC.5

Benchmark/Test

AMD A8-3850 APU

CoreTM i5 2300

List Price

$135

$177

X86 Cores

4

4

GPU Cores

400 Radeon Cores

12 Intel Execution Units

DDR3 Memory

Up to 1866MHz

Up to 1333MHz

BEST GRAPHICS!

DirectX® Level

DirectX® 11

DirectX® 10.1

Dual Graphics Support1

✔ 

X

Monthly, Certified Driver Releases

✔ 

X

3DMark Vantage Performance6

3872 (3X BETTER!)

1060

16x9 Gaming Average FPS8

35 (3X BETTER!)

11

3DMark 11 Performance7

1031

X

BEST COMPUTE!

DirectCompute Support

 ✔

X

OpenGL

4.1

3.0

OpenCL™

CPU+GPU

CPU

BEST VIDEO!

VIDEO HARDWARE accelerated decode

H.264, VC-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 ASP/DivX

H.264, VC-1, MPEG-2

HD HQV Score9

192

182

BEST CONNECTIVITY!

Integrated USB 3.0

 ✔

X

Integrated SATA 6Gbps

6

Up to 2
  1. AMD Radeon™ Dual Graphics requires an AMD “A” series APU plus an AMD Radeon™ discrete graphics configuration and is available on Windows® 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows® 7 Home Premium, and/or Windows® 7 Home Basic OS. Linux OS supports manual switching which requires restart of X-Server to engage and/or disengage the discrete graphics processor for dual graphics capabilities. With AMD Radeon™ Dual Graphics, full enablement of all discrete graphics video and display features may not be supported on all systems and may depend on the master device to which the display is connected. Check with your component or system manufacturer for specific mode capabilities and supported technologies
  2. http://www.dailytech.com/Still+Winning+AMD+Llano+Delivers+Cheap+Desktop+Thats+Got+Game/article22042.htm
  3. http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-a8-3850-apu-review/22
  4. http://www.anandtech.com/show/4476/amd-a83850-review

  5. Testing done in AMD Performance Labs measuring frames per second (fps) while playing Left 4 Dead 2 using mainstream settings at a resolution of 1280x768. The AMD A8 APU-based PC reported 52 fps while the Intel Core i5 2500k CPU-based PC reported 14 fps. Scores report the average fps, rounded to the nearest whole frame, of the best of 3 runs.

    The AMD A8 APU-based PC is represented by the reference design codename "Armorhead", consisting of the AMD Quad-Core A8-3850 APU with AMD Radeon™ HD 6550D Discrete Level Graphics, 8GB DDR3-1600 PC memory, a Real SSD C300 hard drive (256G) and Microsoft Windows Ultimate 64-bit.

    The Intel Core i5-based PC consists of the Intel Core i5-2500k CPU (Sandy Bridge), Intel H67 Express Chipset, 8GB (4x2GB), DDR3-1333 PC memory, a Real SSD C300 hard drive (256G) and Microsoft Windows Ultimate 64-bit.

  6. AMD A8-3850 APU priced at $139.99 on www.newegg.com on 09/5/2011 
  7. Intel Core™ i5 2300 priced at $184.99 on www.newegg.com on 9/5/2011
  8. Test conducted in AMD Labs @ 1600x900. Average framerates based on Civilization 5 in DirectX® 9, low settings; DiRT2 @ medium settings, baja_iron benchmark; FarCry2 @2xAA low quality, ranch_small benchmark; Just Cause 2 @ 2xAA 8xAF, low settings, concrete_jungle benchmark; Left 4 Dead2 @ 4xAA 8xAF high quality; Lost Planet 2 @ low settings, test_b benchmark; Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X.m @ 2xAA, low quality, DirectX® 10; Wolfenstein MP @ 4xAA, medium quality.
  9. Test conducted in AMD Labs using HD HQV2.0 with Power DVD 10 (10.0.2325.51). HD HQV Benchmark version 2.0 provides visual feedback for scoring by the AMD reviewer. Scores may vary based on the skill and opinion of the reviewer.
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