AMD 7th Gen Bristol Ridge and AM4 Analysis: Up to A12-9800, B350/A320 Chipset, OEMs first, PIBs Later
by Ian Cutress on September 23, 2016 9:00 AM EST
Over the last two weeks, AMD officially launched their 7th Generation Bristol Ridge processors as well as the new AM4 socket and related chipsets. The launch was somewhat muted, as the target for the initial launch is purely to the big system OEMs and system integrators, such as Lenovo, HP, Dell and others – for users wanting to build their own systems, ‘Product-in-Box’ units (called PIBs) for self-build systems will come at the end of the year. We held off on the announcement because the launch and briefings left a number of questions unanswered as to the potential matrix of configurations, specifications of the hardware and how it all connects together. We got a number of answers, so let’s delve in.
The CPUs
The seven APUs and one CPU being launched for OEM systems spans from a high-frequency A12 part using the 7th Generation microarchitecture (we call it Excavator v2) to the A6, and they all build on the Bristol Ridge notebook parts that were launched earlier in the year but focused on the desktop this time around. AMD essentially skipped the 6th Gen, Carrizo, for desktop as the design was significantly mobile focused – we ended up with one CPU, the Athlon X4 845 (which we reviewed), with DDR3 support but no integrated graphics. Using the updated 28nm process from TSMC, AMD was able to tweak the microarchitecture and allow full on APUs for desktops using a similar design.
The full list of processors is as follows:
| AMD 7th Generation Bristol Ridge Processors | |||||
| Modules/ Threads |
CPU Base / Turbo (MHz) |
GPU | GPU Base / Turbo (MHz) |
TDP | |
| A12-9800 | 2M / 4T | 3800 / 4200 | Radeon R7 | 800 / 1108 | 65W |
| A12-9800E | 2M / 4T | 3100 / 3800 | Radeon R7 | 655 / 900 | 35W |
| A10-9700 | 2M / 4T | 3500 / 3800 | Radeon R7 | 720 / 1029 | 65W |
| A10-9700E | 2M / 4T | 3000 / 3500 | Radeon R7 | 600 / 847 | 35W |
| A8-9600 | 2M / 4T | 3100 / 3400 | Radeon R7 | 655 / 900 | 65W |
| A6-9500 | 1M / 2T | 3500 / 3800 | Radeon R5 | 720 / 1029 | 65W |
| A6-9500E | 1M / 2T | 3000 / 3400 | Radeon R5 | 576 / 800 | 35W |
| Athlon X4 950 | 2M / 4T | 3500 / 3800 | - | - | 65W |
AMD’s mainstream processors will now hit a maximum of 65W in their official thermal design power (TDP), with the launch offering a number of 65W and 35W parts. There is the potential to offer CPUs with a configurable TDP, however much like the older parts that supported 65W/45W modes, it was seldom used, and chances are we will see OEMs stick with the default design power windows here. Also, the naming scheme: any 35W part now has an ‘E’ at the end of the processor name, allowing for easier identification.
As part of this review, we were able to snag a few extra configuration specifications for each of the processors, including the number of streaming processors in each, base GPU frequencies, base Northbridge frequencies (more on the NB later), and confirmation that all the APUs launched will support DDR4-2400 at JEDEC sub-timings.
| AMD 7th Generation 65W Bristol Ridge Processors | |||||
| Modules/ Threads |
CPU Base / Turbo (MHz) |
GPU SPs |
GPU Base / Turbo (MHz) |
Northbridge Base (MHz) |
|
| A12-9800 | 2M / 4T | 3800 / 4200 | 512 | 800 / 1108 | 1400 |
| A10-9700 | 2M / 4T | 3500 / 3800 | 384 | 720 / 1029 | 1400 |
| A8-9600 | 2M / 4T | 3100 / 3400 | 384 | 655 / 900 | 1300 |
| A6-9500 | 1M / 2T | 3500 / 3800 | 384 | 720 / 1029 | 1400 |
| Athlon X4 950 | 2M / 4T | 3500 / 3800 | - | - | 1400 |
| AMD 7th Generation 35W Bristol Ridge Processors | |||||
| Modules/ Threads |
CPU Base / Turbo (MHz) |
GPU SPs |
GPU Base / Turbo (MHz) |
Northbridge Base (MHz) |
|
| A12-9800E | 2M / 4T | 3100 / 3800 | 512 | 655 / 900 | 1300 |
| A10-9700E | 2M / 4T | 3000 / 3500 | 384 | 600 / 847 | 1300 |
| A6-9500E | 1M / 2T | 3000 / 3400 | 256 | 576 / 800 | 1300 |
The A12-9800 at the top of the stack is an interesting part on paper. If we do a direct comparison with the previous high-end AMD APUs, the A10-7890K, A10-7870K and A10-7860K, a lot of positives end up on the side of the A12.
| High-End AMD APU Comparison | |||||||
| A12-9800 | A10-7890K | A10-7870K | A10-7860K | A10-9700 | |||
| MSRP | - | $165 | $137 | $117 | - | ||
| Platform | Bristol Ridge | Kaveri Refresh | Bristol Ridge | ||||
| uArch | Excavator v2 | Steamroller | Steamroller | Steamroller | Excavator v2 | ||
| Threads | 2M / 4T | 2M / 4T | 2M / 4T | 2M / 4T | 2M / 4T | ||
| CPU Base Freq | 3800 | 4100 | 3900 | 3600 | 3500 | ||
| CPU Turbo Freq | 4200 | 4300 | 4100 | 4000 | 3800 | ||
| IGP SPs | 512 | 512 | 512 | 512 | 384 | ||
| GPU Turbo Freq | 1108 | 866 | 866 | 757 | 1029 | ||
| TDP | 65W | 95W | 95W | 65W | 65W | ||
| L1-I Cache | 192 KB | 192 KB | 192 KB | 192 KB | 192 KB | ||
| L1-D Cache | 128 KB | 64 KB | 64 KB | 64 KB | 128 KB | ||
| L2 Cache | 2 MB | 4 MB | 4 MB | 4 MB | 2 MB | ||
| DDR Support | DDR4-2400 | DDR3-2133 | DDR3-2133 | DDR3-2133 | DDR4-2400 | ||
| PCIe 3.0 | x8 | x16 | x16 | x16 | x8 | ||
| Chipsets | B350 A320 X/B/A300 |
A88X A78 A68H |
A88X A78 A68H |
A88X A78 A68H |
B350 A320 X/B/A300 |
||
The frequency of the A12-9800 gives it a greater dynamic range than the A10-7870K (having 3.8-4.2 GHz, rather than 3.9-4.1), but with the newer Excavator v2 microarchitecture, improved L1 cache, AVX 2.0 support and a much higher integrated graphics frequency (1108 MHz vs. 866 MHz) while also coming in at 30W less TDP. The 30W TDP jump is the most surprising – we’re essentially getting better than the previous A10-class performance at a lower power, which is most likely why they started naming the best APU in the stack an ‘A12’. Basically, the A12-9800 APU will be an extremely interesting one to review given the smaller L2 cache but faster graphics and DDR4 memory.
A Wild Overclocker Appears!
Given that technically the systems with the new APUs have been released for a couple of weeks, some vendors have their internal enthusiasts play around with the platform. Bearing in mind that AMD has not announced any formal overclocking support on these new APUs, NAMEGT, a South Korean overclocker with ties to ASUS, has pushed the A12-9800 APU to 4.8 GHz by adjusting the multiplier. To do this, he used an unreleased ASUS Octopus AM4 motherboard and AMD’s 125W Wraith air cooler (which will presumably be bundled with PIBs later in the product cycle).
NAMEGT ran this setup on multithreaded Cinebench 11.5 and Cinebench 15, scoring 4.77 and 380 respectively for a 4.8 GHz overclock. If we compare this to our Bench database results, we see the following
For Cinebench 15, this overclocked score puts the A12-9800 above the Haswell Core i3-4360 and the older AMD FX-4350, but below the newer Skylake i3-6100TE. The Athlon X4 845 at stock frequencies scored 314 while running at 3.5 GHz, which would suggest that a stock A12-9800 at 3.8 GHz would fall around the 340 mark.
(Since writing this, a preview by Korean website Bodnara, using the A12-9800 in a GIGABYTE motherboard, scored 334 for a stock Cinebench 15 multithreaded test and 96 for the single threaded test. We've added this result for perspective.)
When we previously tested the Excavator architecture for desktop on the 65W Athlon X4 845, overclocking was a nightmare, with stability being a large issue. At the time, we suspected that due to the core design being focused towards 15W, moving beyond 65W was perhaps a bit of a stretch for the design at hand. This time around, as we reported before, Bristol Ridge is using an updated 28nm process over Carrizo, which may have a hand in this.
When we asked AMD about overclocking details on the new APUs, the return reply was along the lines of ‘No OEM systems at this time will be unlocked, and no official comment on the individual units. More details will be released closer to the platform launch for DIY users’.
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ddriver - Saturday, September 24, 2016 - link
So you are a fascist who thinks some people are not entitled to opinions? I am not projecting anything, I am expressing my opinion. If you have a problem about it, that's your problem entirely. If my opinions threaten to shatter someone's fragile artificial worldview, that's their their problem entirely. Or maybe you are implying that people should only be allowed to express opinions that are coherent with the herd's baaing? Did you see me denying the right of opinions to dummies or anyone? Nah, because it is their right, even if it is mind-numbingly stupid and even if I don't like it.goatfajitas - Friday, September 23, 2016 - link
Different ballparks entirely dood. One runs alot of fun mobile toys, the other runs the entire business world including every computer and every system in every factory that makes all of those toys.ddriver - Friday, September 23, 2016 - link
That's not the problem, most people can't and quite frankly don't need to be powerusers - engineers, designers and such are a very small fraction of the population. The problem is the lack of choice - you don't even have the option to use an android or apple tablet for professional work. And the even bigger problem - that this becomes a trend.Year after year the entire industry is moving towards the "walled garden spyware milking station" model, I wouldn't be surprised if in the near future owning an open general purpose computer becomes criminalized - because you know... only pirates, hackers, terrorists and pedophiles need it.
And last but not least, what is perhaps most worrying is people are getting increasingly dumb as technology gets more and more affordable. One would say "big whoop, I don't care about the dummies", however in the long run that's a huge problem, it affects the entire species, and thus every individual member of it. Call me old fashioned, but I think people should, if not get smarter, then at least not get dumber as technology becomes more available and widespread. Today software helps you finish your sentences, before you know it, software will be dictating your sentences. It is ok for machines to do the "legwork" for you - numerous small and repetitive tasks, but it is a very dangerous thing when machines begin doing the thinking for you and you forget how to do it... if you ever knew to begin with...
goatfajitas - Friday, September 23, 2016 - link
I don't disagree with most that... but I don't know if people are getting increasingly dumb... It used to be the dumber people didn't use computers much, and now everyone does. As computer/tablet/mobile usage went up the average computer user's IQ went down, but those dumbies always existed, its just that now they are online and have a voice.... Yadda yadda yadda, now we have Trump. LOLddriver - Friday, September 23, 2016 - link
They are being made dumber and it makes perfect sense. Longterm economic strategy 101 - with ample resources you breed a lot of workers to produce wealth, as resources begin to run out you automate menial labor and focus on services to take that wealth from the workers, and finally, using the wealth you produce a military complex to protect you from the workers as they become obsolete and infeasible both as workers and consumers. Being dumb will make it easy to march the general population straight into the void, unable to resist or survive without the system which no longer has need of them. Dumb is convenient - easy to exploit, easy to dispose of. More technology has allowed for more ways to dummify - more knowledge of the dummies, more control over the dummies, more distraction for the dummies from the issues at hand. Everything people do online passes through data mining algorithms, gets profiled, analyzed, and combed for anything anyone might find useful in any way. Including this very comment space.goatfajitas - Friday, September 23, 2016 - link
I agree, there are a heck of alot of dumb people out there... Just not sure they are getting even dumber. Lazier maybe, but the average person has always been mindbogglingly stupid.Just picture in your mind how stupid the average person is... Now think, half of everyone is stupider than that guy! - George Carlin (said long before the vast majority of people had any PC at all)
msroadkill612 - Wednesday, April 26, 2017 - link
Its sad to think almost 50% of people are below average.msroadkill612 - Wednesday, April 26, 2017 - link
Sadly, i concur. Its depressing.A way of looking at it via the "property is theft" philosophy is why, w/ all these new marvels, are even the fortunate employed (those serfs useful to the regime), feeling more on a treadmill over a shark tank than ever?
Our alleged protective regimes have focused more on how to meter mankinds recent gifts (and infrastructure, long paid for by our compatriot forbears), than disperse them free or at cost.
Most of the great "inventions" and their resultant fortunes were assigned to the best schemer in the group, not the true inventors. Some were unrelated predatory lawyers, & often they were major hinderances to wider adoption.
The last thing capitalism wants is to remove the necessity of serving the regime.
To all intents, it is illegal to live simply. You may not build your own shelter e.g. You must take a mortgage for a sale price bureaucrats very actively inflate.
Free wi-fi to the poor in some areas would cost a pittance to our allegedly caring commonwealths. Instead they hand out monopolistic licences at dodgy auctions, if that.
Michael Bay - Saturday, September 24, 2016 - link
You really have to be braindead or commited ethnic masochist to support anyone but Trump in this cycle.Valantar - Saturday, September 24, 2016 - link
"Commited ethnic masochist". Did you mean to say "not astoundingly racist"? Because those words you just strung together mean nothing at all.Also, braindead? Really? So anyone with a functioning brain would be unable to see the lying, gross inconsistency, thin-skinnedness and general stupidity that spews from the Trump campaign (and his own mouth)? Not to mention the racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, elitism, disdain for poor/middle class people, blatant disregard for the rule of law, due process and the courts, promotion of violence, and willingness to lie about anything and everything to win?