AMD A10-7890K APU Review - PAGE 1

Earlier on March 1st, 2016, AMD announced several new processors with updated thermal solutions. As noted in the official summary image below, one of those updated processors is the A10-7890K APU, the fastest released by AMD at 1.02 TFLOPS theoretical compute performance. The unlocked A10-7890K APU is paired with the AMD "Wraith" cooler, giving the user an option for out-of-the-box overclocking without the added expense of an aftermarket heatsink/fan.

As shown in the second image below, the A10-7890K APU is positioned in the mainstream/online segment of AMD's desktop product lines. Integrating discrete Radeon R7 class graphics, the A10-7890K APU is designed to handle production software loads, games with a responsive performance, and media playback for enhanced viewing.

AMD’s fastest APU to date will be available in a new box (see the third image below) that also bundles the AMD Wraith cooler. We are going to test the A10-7890K APU on a Gigabyte F2A88X-UP4 motherboard provided by AMD along with a set of 16GB DDR3-2133 RAM, then compare those results to the AMD FX-4350 CPU mounted on a MSI 970 Gaming motherboard with a set of 16GB DDR3-1600 memory.

Note that even though the A10-7890K APU is a newer processor, the FX-4350 has a level 3 cache and is billed as a performance processor. So results will require great consideration and the comparison data will most likely be a little slanted toward the performance segment. First let's take a little look at what the A10-7890K APU has to offer, then a look at the included Wraith thermal solution.

Broken down in three columns showing and three rows, this PowerPoint slide provides users with a quick reference to determine whether an AMD CPU or APU fits within the chipmaker's Performance, Mainstream or Everyday computer usage markets.

The next slide outlines the new AMD A10-7890K and its included heatsink, touting it as AMD's fastest APU with 1.02 theoretical compute performance and integrated AMD Radeon Graphics.

With the Steamroller microarchitecture and Godavari processor cores, the A10-7890K APU is manufactured with a 0.028 micon process and has a 906pin lidded micro-PGA package.

Specifications:

Information courtesy of AMD http://www.amd.com/en-us/products/processors/desktop/a-series-apu

Closer Look:
AMD provided the Gigabyte F2A88X-UP4 motherboard to facilitate this review. Later in this review I will list the additional equipment I used to make a complete system for testing.

As indicated in the next image, the AMD Wraith Cooler is designed to run quiet while providing 125W of thermal cooling power. With backlit illumination and shroud, the Wraith will even showcase your A10-7890K APU in style if desired.

The next four photos showcase the Wraith cooler shroud, standard AMD mounting clip and the provided thermal paste. The clear plastic film over the thermal paste was added to protect the paste while handling, and of course will be removed prior to mounting the heatsink.

Here is the APU and cooler all powered up, showing off the AMD name and logo on the Wraith shroud that can viewed during operation through a widowed side panel of your computer case.