AMD Launches Mobile Kaveri APUs
by Jarred Walton on June 4, 2014 12:01 AM ESTAMD Mobile Kaveri SKUs
The previous generation Trinity/Richland APUs came in four variants: at the top were the highest performance 35W TDP standard voltage (SV) parts, and then we dropped into the ultra-low voltage (ULV) range with several variations: 25W, 19W, and 17W TDPs were all available. With Kaveri, AMD is mostly consolidating their lineup into two classes: SV 35W TDP parts, and ULV 19W TDP parts. AMD did mention at one point that the 19W parts can be configured to target different TDPs, however, allowing the laptop OEM to target anywhere from 15W to 25W if desired. There's also at least one 17W TDP part, which we'll get to in a moment.
One other item that AMD emphasized was their new idea of "Compute Cores", which is a way for them to compare performance potential of CPU and GPU cores. GPUs typically have hundreds of cores that are good for very specific tasks whereas CPUs have a few cores that are general purpose, but the GPU functionality is becoming increasingly complex so AMD wanted a way to compare them. For the purposes of Kaveri (and GCN graphics cards), AMD has defined a Compute Core as being "any core capable of running at least one process in its own context and virtual memory space, independently from other cores." What that means is each GCN Compute Unit counts as a Compute Core, and each CPU thread (two per Steamroller module) counts as a Compute Core.
AMD 35W Standard Voltage Mobile APUs
|
||||||
Trinity
|
Richland
|
Kaveri
|
||||
Model | A10-4600M | A8-5557M | A10-5757M | A8-7200P | A10-7400P | FX-7600P |
Core Name | Trinity | Richland | Richland | Kaveri | Kaveri | Kaveri |
Microarch | Piledriver | Piledriver | Piledriver | Steamroller | Steamroller | Steamroller |
Modules/Cores | 2/4 | 2/4 | 2/4 | 2/4 | 2/4 | 2/4 |
CPU Base Freq | 2300 | 2100 | 2500 | 2400 | 2500 | 2700 |
Max Turbo | 3200 | 3100 | 3500 | 3300 | 3400 | 3600 |
TDP | 35W | 35W | 35W | 35W | 35W | 35W |
L1 Cache |
128KB I$ 64 KB D$ |
128KB I$ 64 KB D$ |
128KB I$ 64 KB D$ |
192 KB I$ 64 KB D$ |
192 KB I$ 64 KB D$ |
192 KB I$ 64 KB D$ |
L2 Cache | 2x2MB | 2x2MB | 2x2MB | 2x2MB | 2x2MB | 2x2MB |
Graphics | HD 7660G | HD 8550G | HD 8650G | R5 | R6 | R7 |
GPU Cores | 384 | 256 | 384 | 256 | 384 | 512 |
GPU Clock | 685 | 720 | 720 | 626 | 654 | 686 |
Max DDR3 | 1600 | 1600 | 1600 | 1866 | 1866 | 2133 |
Starting at the top with the 35W APUs, these will be the highest performance mobile parts. At launch there will be three 35W APUs: the "entry" A8-7200P, "mainstream" A10-7400P, and "enthusiast" FX-7600P. All three APUs use the P suffix to indicate that they’re 35W parts. And right away, we see some interesting changes from the Trinity/Richland lineup.
First, you're sure to notice the use of the FX branding. Make no mistake: this is the same APU as the other Kaveri parts and it has no relation to the desktop FX processors; AMD marketing simply feels the FX brand has a good reputation among enthusiasts and consumers and they wanted to carry that over into the mobile world. Of course this also solves the question of what to call the new highest-end APU; Llano had A4/A6/A8 while Trinity used A6/A8/A10; Kaveri will use A6/A8/A10/FX (so no A12 for now; sorry).
Looking at the core clocks, the base clocks haven't changed too much (2.4-2.7GHz with Kaveri compared to 2.1-2.5GHz on Richland), but Turbo Core clocks have gone up quite a bit. AMD noted that a lot of work went into tuning the mobile Kaveri APUs for power, with one of only four Corporate Fellows at AMD being in charge of that area. The result is that Kaveri should run closer to its Turbo clock in many situations, and the maximum clock speeds have increased from 3.0-3.5GHz on Trinity/Richland to 3.3-3.6GHz on Kaveri. That might not seem like a big deal at first, but keep in mind a couple of points. First, at the same clock speed the Steamroller cores in Kaveri should be about 15-20% faster than the Piledriver cores in Trinity/Richland, thanks to architectural improvements. Second, on the desktop Richland actually topped out at 4.1/4.4GHz while Kaveri only reaches 3.7/4.0GHz, so while Kaveri still enjoys architectural improvements it had to be clocked slower; we don’t see that with the mobile parts.
AMD's Joe Macri (Corp VP and Product CTO Global Business Unit) discussed some of the design decisions that went into Kaveri, noting that choosing the right type of transistor for an APU is different than building a pure CPU. At a high level, there are “V” shaped transistors frequently used with CPUs that can run at higher clock speeds, and “T” shaped transistors that tend to work better in the highly parallel design of GPU cores. From what I could gather, AMD used "V" transistors in Trinity/Richland but has switched to "T" transistors for Kaveri, which explains the drop in maximum clock speed. Joe also noted that 47% of the Kaveri core is dedicated to GPU, again highlighting the importance of the transistor choice.
Moving over to the GPU side of things, each of the 35W APUs comes with a different GPU configuration, using 256, 384, or 512 stream processors for the A8/A10/FX parts, respectively. GPU clock speeds top out at 686MHz with Kaveri compared to 720MHz with Richland, so this is another small step back but GCN’s architectural efficiency and increase in SPUs in the FX-7600P should more than compensate. That said, feeding these increasingly powerful GPUs becomes an increasingly difficult task, which is why maximum memory clock speeds are up to 1866MHz for the A8 and A10, and meanwhile the FX processor goes one further to 2133MHz. Given just how hard it is to feed a fully enabled APU like the FX-7600P – a problem we’ve already seen on the similarly configured desktop SKUs – the memory bandwidth increase is a welcome sight.
AMD 17W Ultra-Low Voltage Mobile APUs
|
||||
Trinity
|
Richland
|
Kaveri
|
||
Model | A4-4455M | A4-4145M | A6-5345M | A6-7000 |
Core Name | Trinity | Richland | Richland | Kaveri |
Microarch | Piledriver | Piledriver | Piledriver | Steamroller |
Modules/Cores | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1/2 |
CPU Base Freq | 2100 | 2000 | 2200 | 2200 |
Max Turbo | 2600 | 2600 | 2800 | 3000 |
TDP | 17W | 17W | 17W | 17W |
L1 Cache |
128KB I$ 64 KB D$ |
128KB I$ 64 KB D$ |
128 KB I$ 64 KB D$ |
192 KB I$ 64 KB D$ |
L2 Cache | 2MB | 1MB | 1MB | 1MB |
Graphics | HD 7500G | HD 8130G | HD 8410G | R4 |
GPU Cores | 256 | 128 | 192 | 192 |
GPU Clock | 424 | 554 | 600 | 553 |
Max DDR3 | 1333 | 1333 | 1333 | 1600 |
AMD 19W Ultra-Low Voltage Mobile APUs
|
|||||
Trinity
|
Richland
|
Kaveri
|
|||
Model | A8-4555M | A8-5545M | A8-7100 | A10-7300 | FX-7500 |
Core Name | Trinity | Richland | Kaveri | Kaveri | Kaveri |
Microarch | Piledriver | Piledriver | Steamroller | Steamroller | Steamroller |
Modules/Cores | 2/4 | 2/4 | 2/4 | 2/4 | 2/4 |
CPU Base Freq | 1600 | 1700 | 1800 | 1900 | 2100 |
Max Turbo | 2400 | 2700 | 3000 | 3200 | 3300 |
TDP | 19W | 19W | 19W | 19W | 19W |
L1 Cache |
128KB I$ 64 KB D$ |
128KB I$ 64 KB D$ |
192 KB I$ 64 KB D$ |
192 KB I$ 64 KB D$ |
192 KB I$ 64 KB D$ |
L2 Cache | 2x2MB | 2x2MB | 2x2MB | 2x2MB | 2x2MB |
Graphics | HD 7600G | HD 8510G | R5 | R6 | R7 |
GPU Cores | 384 | 384 | 256 | 384 | 384 |
GPU Clock | 424 | 554 | 514 | 533 | 553 |
Max DDR3 | 1333 | 1333 | 1600 | 1600 | 1600 |
Moving on to the 17W/19W parts, there's apparently a single 17W APU, the A6-7000, along with three 19W APUs. (AMD didn't provide details on the A6-7000 at the briefing, but we've since confirmed the above specifications, and there's also a Pro equivalent -- see below.) Richland had two 17W parts and one 19W part, so AMD has sort of flipped roles here. As expected the 17W A6-7000 is a rather lean chip; it has one Steamroller module and 192 GCN steaming processors (for a total of five Compute Cores, if you're counting), with a base/turbo CPU clock speed of 2.2GHz/3.0GHz while the GPU turbo clock stands at 553MHz. Compared to the previous generation Richland processors, the A6-7000 gains all of Kaveri’s architectural improvements along with an additional 200MHz for the maximum CPU turbo clock. GPU clock speeds on the other hand take a hit, but this is offset by GCN’s greater performance and a badly needed increase in the maximum DDR3 memory clock speed. In fact with mobile Kaveri, DDR3-1600 is now the baseline, with all processors supporting 1600 or better.
Meanwhile the 19W parts all have two Steamroller modules, and maximum base/turbo clock speeds only differ by 300MHz; most of the differentiation comes in the GPU department. The A8-7100 includes four GCN CUs, the A10-7300 has six CUs with slightly higher GPU clocks, and the FX-7500 also has six CUs with another moderate bump in clock speed. AMD has also brought along the "R-series" branding for the GPUs, so the A6-7000 gets an R4 GPU, the A8 is an R5, A10 gets an R6, and the FX has an R7 GPU. Maximum GPU clocks are again down in some cases compared with Richland, though architectural difference should more than cover any loss in clock speed.
AMD 17/19W Commercial Pro Series ULV APUs
|
|||
Model | A6 Pro-7050B | A8 Pro-7150B | A10 Pro-7350B |
Core Name | Kaveri | Kaveri | Kaveri |
Microarch | Steamroller | Steamroller | Steamroller |
Modules/Cores | 1/2 | 2/4 | 2/4 |
CPU Base Freq | 2200 | 1900 | 2100 |
Max Turbo | 3000 | 3200 | 3300 |
TDP | 17W | 19W | 19W |
L1 Cache |
192 KB I$ 64 KB D$ |
192 KB I$ 64 KB D$ |
192 KB I$ 64 KB D$ |
L2 Cache | 1MB | 2x2MB | 2x2MB |
Graphics | R4 | R5 | R6 |
GPU Cores | 192 | 384 | 384 |
GPU Clock | 533 | 533 | 553 |
Max DDR3 | 1600 | 1600 | 1600 |
There's one final category of APUs, which appear to be AMD's equivalent of Intel's SIPP (Stable Image Platform Program) CPUs: the AMD Pro Series. There are three Pro APUs, the A10 Pro-7350B, A8 Pro-7150B, and A6 Pro-7050B. These APUs are functionally equivalent to the FX-7500, A10-7300, and A6-7000 respectively. The Pro series targets business customers with a message of commercial stability and management. AMD guarantees that these APUs will remain available for an extended period of time, so enterprise customers won't need to worry about validating new hardware for a couple years.
Besides offering different levels of performance, AMD is also differentiating their Kaveri APUs based on other features. Eyefinity and TrueAudio support will be limited to the A10 and FX APUs; the A6/A8 APUs lose this functionality. Similarly, the A6 does not have Dual Graphics functionality; I didn't have much luck with Dual Graphics on Richland/Trinity laptops, but with the iGPU and dGPU both being GCN architectures now there's at least more potential to extract additional performance through CrossFire. Finally, note that the A6 APUs get ARM TrustZone functionality, whereas the higher-end A8, A10, and FX APUs do not.
All of the above was discussed previously (and then pulled), but we have something new to add with today's launch: a performance preview.
125 Comments
View All Comments
xenol - Wednesday, June 4, 2014 - link
TDP doesn't equal power consumption. It equals how much heat a cooling unit must dissipate for safe thermal levels of operation. While there is some correlation, as more TDP generally means higher power consumption, it's not a direct one.Galatian - Wednesday, June 4, 2014 - link
I think it actually pretty much does equal top power draw, since energy in pretty much equals heat out. But do correct me if I don't understand the physics correctly. To me it simply seems like no work being done.JarredWalton - Wednesday, June 4, 2014 - link
TDP means the maximum power that needs to be dissipated, but most CPUs/APUs are not going to be pushing max TDP all the time. My experience is that in CPU loads, Intel tends to be close to max TDP while AMD APUs often come in a bit lower, as the GPU has a lot of latent performance/power not being used. However, with AMD apparently focusing more on hitting higher Turbo Core clocks, that may no longer be the case -- at least on the 19W parts. Overall, for most users there won't be a sizable difference between a 15W Intel ULV and a 19W AMD ULV APU, particularly when we're discussing battery life. Neither part is likely to be anywhere near max TDP when unplugged (unless you're specifically trying to drain the battery as fast as possible -- or just running a 3D game I suppose).Galatian - Wednesday, June 4, 2014 - link
Yes, which is why I said it equal top power draw ;-)JarredWalton - Wednesday, June 4, 2014 - link
Yeah, my response was to this thread in general, not you specifically. :-)nevertell - Wednesday, June 4, 2014 - link
It's amazing that we live in a world where information is accessible on a whim to most people living in the western world, yet even on a website that caters to more educated people (or so I would think), people have problems understanding even the simplest concepts that enable them to expose themselves to this medium. Energy is never lost, it's just used up in different ways. Essentially if we had access to a superconductive material to replace lines and a really efficient transistor, we would have a SoC that's TDP is zero watts. Say, a chip does not move a thing, there is no mechanical energy involved, all of the energy is wasted as heat. Why ? Electricity at it's core is flow of charged particles through a medium. If this medium is copper and the particles are electrons, the only thing standing in the way of the electrons flowing are the copper atoms. The electrons will occasionally bump into the atoms, exchanging kinetic energy, making the atom in question move. As the atoms move faster (i.e. their kinetic energy increases), collisions become more likely to occur, and so they do. In other words, the conductors resistance increases. What scale do we use to measure the movement of atoms ? Temperature! Heat is literally the average amount of kinetic energy of every atom of piece of thing has. Thereby all of the energy that is used to power electronics just goes to waste. Kind of.ol1bit - Wednesday, June 4, 2014 - link
Unless you live in a cold climate, then you get to use part of the energy as Heat! :-)Galatian - Thursday, June 5, 2014 - link
I'm not sure who you are responding too. Nobody said energy is lost. The discussion was first about AMD TDP not being the same as Intel TDP and ten switched over to a discussion of TDP not actually meaning power draw, which by itself is true, but there obviously is a correlation which a several posters (yourself included with a more physical explanation) talked about .johnny_boy - Saturday, June 7, 2014 - link
Compare performance per watt in gaming and Intel stops looking impressive. If you're buying a notebook with the FX chip then that should be what you care about.bji - Wednesday, June 4, 2014 - link
The comparison is for CPUs in the same price range, not CPUs in the same TDP range, obviously.So the performance is decent for the price, as gdansk correctly pointed out. It is not decent for the TDP, at least not compared to Intel's chips, which is what you are focusing on, and is not the metric that most people use when comparing processors.