Issue 1194 71
Hardware
AndrewUnsworthhas
beenwritingabout
technologyforse vera l
years,he'shandywith
aspanner,andhis
handshakingskills
aresecondtononeIssue 1404 71
W
e’re approaching
that time of the year
when new computer
components,
particularly graphics cards and
processors, start to be dropped on
a possibly unsuspecting but most
definitely interested public. At the
time of writing, news of the AMD
A10-7890K and the Athlon X4
880K has broken, although we
won’t be able to buy them until
the end of March.
The A10-7890K is AMD’s
latest accelerated processing
unit (APU), which is what it calls
its CPUs with built-in Radeon
graphics processors. These chips
have always been something
of a bargain, and while the
graphics power of the built-in
GPU hasn’t been as good as a
discrete card, it’s been better
than you’d expect and perfectly
capable of light 3D gaming.
The A10-7890K is a four-core
chip with eight GPU cores and
a 95W TDP. Base clock speed is
3.9GHz, with frequency rising
to 4.1GHz with turbo boost.
However, the A10-7890K is
unlocked, so it can be overclocked
to provide even higher
performance. Theretail version of
the A10-7870K comes with the
Wraith cooler, which AMD says is
near-silent.
AMD says the Athlon X4 880K
is the “fastest multi-core Athlon
processor everreleased” and cites
its 4.2GHz maximum turbo boost
speed as evidence, although the
previously fastest Athlon hada
4.1GHz, so the frequency increase
isn’t that extreme. The four-
core chip has a generous base
frequency of 4GHz, and because
it’s unlocked, owners will be able
to overclock it so that it runs at
even higher frequencies. The
Athlon X4 880K comes
with a promising new
heatsink and fan assembly
called the 125W Thermal
Solution too, which is
theWraith cooler with
the fancy illuminated
surround taken off. The
125W Thermal Solution
should operate near-
silently, too. If it provides
enough cooling to allow
a meaningful overclock, then all
the better.
AMD has published
benchmarks for 1,440p and Ultra
HD gaming with an X4 880K,
coupled with a Radeon R7 370
graphics card, and the figures
lookrespectable. AMD’s
benchmarks claim 66.9 frames per
second inCounter Strike: Global
Offensiveat a 4Kresolution, and
126.7fps at 1440p. AMD says
these benchmarks were taken
with the game running at 8x
MSAA and with the highest detail
settings enabled.
I don’t have UK prices just yet,
but the US price for the A10-
7890K is $165, which means it
should sell for around £118 going
off conversion rates at the time of
writing – assuming it’s a straight
conversion, of course.
Another neat addition to the
line-up is the bundling of the
currently available AMD A10-
7870K with the 125W Thermal
Solution. Any additional cooling
is great, but the promise of
nearly silent performance will be
a big draw for those who want
a decent amount of power but
don’t want their gaming or work
interrupted by the sound of an
angry hairdryer.
AMD says all the new products
will be on sale at the end of
March, so the temptation tobuy one of them so soon after
pay day will be immense. In my
experience, the combination
of an AMD A-series chip and
an SSD has always produceda
snappy,responsive andrelatively
powerful low-cost computer.
The ability to build a bargain PC
around them is especially true
given therelatively low price of
AMD motherboards.
The A10-7890K is particularly
compelling because, when
combined with a £40-£50 liquid
cooler, the ability to overclock it
makes it a (potentially, depending
on UK pricing) wallet-friendly chip
for enthusiasts that want to tinker
but don’t want to risk fryinga
£200-plus CPU.Pi Time
Also fresh out is the Raspberry
Pi 3, which I’m sure has been
covered extensively elsewhere
in the mag. However, it’s worth
saying that if you haven’t already
experienced the joy of Pi, then
you should definitely put your
hand in your pocket and shell out
for one. It costs less than the price
of a meal out, so even if you only
tinker with it for a month or two
before passing it on to someone
else, it’s been a worthwhile
investment. I must admit thatI
don’t give my Pi 2 the attention it
deserves, but I’ll berectifying that
in the next few months.Fun Per Second,
Surely?
Andrew Unsworth checks out AMD’s new hardware releases