AMD Athlon 5150 & Sempron 2650/3850 APUs On Linux

[AJSB]

5350 is about 5 times slower than A10-7850K and certainly isn't suitable for games.
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...0_ubuntu&num=4

Those testings were INCORRECT...check these Window$ tests:

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/cpu/68473-amd-athlon-5350-28nm-kabini/?page=8

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/cpu/68473-amd-athlon-5350-28nm-kabini/?page=7

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/cpu/68473-amd-athlon-5350-28nm-kabini/?page=2

Here is a resume made by me of those results...


3D Mark Firestrike
5350 : 402
7850K: 1490
5350+750ti: 3359

Nice !!!

The Athlon 5350 when paired with a GTX750Ti obliterates the standalone A10-7850K in 3DMark FireStrike !!!
Let?s contrinue....



Bioshock Infinite
7850K: 46.5
5350+750ti: 32.5


Grid2
7850K: 56.5
5350+750ti: 42


At 1st glance it seems that even paired with a GTX750Ti, the 5350 is no match for a standalone A10-7850K....but that is far from the truth !!!


If we see the testing conditions , we will discover that :

1. They tested the iGPU capacities of the A10-7850K with a resolution of 1280x720 with BI set to Medium Quality and Grid2 set to High Quality.

2. They tested the 5350 + GTX750Ti with a resolution of 1920x1024 with BI set to Ultra Quality+DOF and Grid2 set to Maximum Quality.


If they tested with same graphical settings , the 5350 + GTX750Ti would have sweeped the floor with the A10-7850K !!!

Notice that theese was fair tests and the 7850K was in no way handicapped in RAM because it was using 2133MHz (like it should) and 16GB vs only 4GB to the 5350 !


As for costs, and these are Euro prices, let's some caulculations....

5350 base parts
Mobo ASRock or ASUS in any case in mITX format, i can get for 28 ?, 4GB RAM at 1600MHz for 31?, 5350 for 52?, ZOTAC GTX750 1GB for 99? or a ZOTAC GTX750Ti 2GB for 125?....total from 200? to 226?

7850K base parts
Mobo ASRock mITX with 78x chipset or mATX with 55x chipset i can get for 68 ? or 38? respectively , 4GB RAM at 2133MHz for 39? or 8GB RAM at same speed for 78 ? (the 7850K will need 8GB because it has to use part of it for iGPU and subtracting 1 to 2 GB from 4GB would be too crippling) , 7850K for 152?...total from 249? to 288? if you go the mITX route or from 229? to 267? if you go mATX route


As for power drain, at least using a GTX750, i'm sure it won't be worse and possibly will happen the same with a GTX750Ti, in fact, it might still be smaller than with a standalone 7850K....and you don't need to worry with Catalyst buggy state because NVIDIA makes a decent GNU/LINUX that doesn-t stutter like crazy in Source games like L4D2 or TF2 !

[Michael]

Those testings were INCORRECT...

It's not that the tests were incorrect, it's that something is going odd with AM1 under Linux, but further testing is still going on to see if its something due to its kernel or other system software.

[AJSB]

It's not that the tests were incorrect, it's that something is going odd with AM1 under Linux, but further testing is still going on to see if its something due to its kernel or other system software.

I used the incorrect word , no doubt about that but anyway, the performance with OSS drivers in the other test settings were much better and i guess more in line with the capacities of the 5350...

...and after you discover what was going on , if it was because of kernel or what, please do the 5350+GTX750(Ti) combo test using the latest NVIDIA blob, i?m very curious how that will turn out under LINUX compared with others found out under Window$

If turns out as good, this "contra-natura" combo could make a sub-500 (or even a sub-400) cheap SteamBox machine with a minimum of performance and w/o suffering the Catalyst problems with many games...

[zanny]

I used the incorrect word , no doubt about that but anyway, the performance with OSS drivers in the other test settings were much better and i guess more in line with the capacities of the 5350...

...and after you discover what was going on , if it was because of kernel or what, please do the 5350+GTX750(Ti) combo test using the latest NVIDIA blob, i?m very curious how that will turn out under LINUX compared with others found out under Window$

If turns out as good, this "contra-natura" combo could make a sub-500 (or even a sub-400) cheap SteamBox machine with a minimum of performance and w/o suffering the Catalyst problems with many games...

If you are using a discrete graphics card you should just get a 760K (which is $15 more than the 5350) and get double the cache and almost double the clock speed with an unlocked multiplier. PRIME makes sense with integrated + high power consuming big discrete card, but the 750ti uses barely any juice.

[AJSB]

If you are using a discrete graphics card you should just get a 760K (which is $15 more than the 5350) and get double the cache and almost double the clock speed with an unlocked multiplier. PRIME makes sense with integrated + high power consuming big discrete card, but the 750ti uses barely any juice.

Yes, i also checked that option....an Athlon II X4 750K/760K is indeed a great option.

However, you forget the price difference of the Mobos...and power drain of the 750K/760K...you also have to consider that to fully unleash those CPUs, you *might* need 2133MHz RAM (if it was an APU i was sure that i need it but for a "simple" CPU , honestly, i have no clue if i need it, this is why the "*might*")...

Granted, with some undervolting, i might tame the power drain of the 750K/760K...but it's not clear what will be still it's power drain...also:

In Euro prices the best i can find a 750K is 65? and the 760K at 72? and FM2A78M-ITX+ last value for what i could find it is 68?, as for RAM , and if we need 2133MHZ, i simply can't find a 2x2GB kit, i have to go with 2x4GB (8GB total), i just found a supplier with Team Group Vulcan DIMMs kits at very nice price of 68? , still, with all these differences added in these 3 basic components, the diference is enough to pay the ZOTAC GTX750 (non-ti)....so it's not simply "15 bucks more"...

Granted, the performance should be even greater , a very very nice SteamBox far lower priced than those Steambox prototypes with scary prices....

It will still be possible to DIY a SteamBox for sub-500?...but not for sub-400?....

For sub-400?, you need the AM1+GTX750(Ti)....or that AMD get their s++t togheter as for Catalyst goes so we build something around a standalone A8-7600 (or the A10-7850K, that in any case, almost for sure will have lower performance...but can be really small )

In any case, for building a rig around mITX + dGPU, my favorite case is Silverstone SGO5-Lite (with 3rd party SFX PSU to lower costs).

[Spittie]

It's not that the tests were incorrect, it's that something is going odd with AM1 under Linux, but further testing is still going on to see if its something due to its kernel or other system software.

Yes, I don't think anyone is implying that you did something wrong

Yes, i also checked that option....an Athlon II X4 750K/760K is indeed a great option.

However, you forget the price difference of the Mobos...and power drain of the 750K/760K...you also have to consider that to fully unleash those CPUs, you *might* need 2133MHz RAM (if it was an APU i was sure that i need it but for a "simple" CPU , honestly, i have no clue if i need it, this is why the "*might*")...

Granted, with some undervolting, i might tame the power drain of the 750K/760K...but it's not clear what will be still it's power drain...also:

In Euro prices the best i can find a 750K is 65? and the 760K at 72? and FM2A78M-ITX+ last value for what i could find it is 68?, as for RAM , and if we need 2133MHZ, i simply can't find a 2x2GB kit, i have to go with 2x4GB (8GB total), i just found a supplier with Team Group Vulcan DIMMs kits at very nice price of 68? , still, with all these differences added in these 3 basic components, the diference is enough to pay the ZOTAC GTX750 (non-ti)....so it's not simply "15 bucks more"...

Granted, the performance should be even greater , a very very nice SteamBox far lower priced than those Steambox prototypes with scary prices....

It will still be possible to DIY a SteamBox for sub-500?...but not for sub-400?....

For sub-400?, you need the AM1+GTX750(Ti)....or that AMD get their s++t togheter as for Catalyst goes so we build something around a standalone A8-7600 (or the A10-7850K, that in any case, almost for sure will have lower performance...but can be really small )

In any case, for building a rig around mITX + dGPU, my favorite case is Silverstone SGO5-Lite (with 3rd party SFX PSU to lower costs).

If you're going with a dGPU, then the ram speed doesn't really matter anymore.
I agree that AM1 is great for the price. The only thing I'm dubious is regarding future upgrades. If you go with an A4, then you can easily switch it with an A8 (when AMD bother to release it...) or with an A10, and FM2+ seems a socket that will be around for a while.
We don't know yet if AM1 is going to be around in the future, or if it's going to be replaced by something else in the next generation. Also the 5350 is the fastest thing you can get, unless AMD release something else in the future.

[zanny]

You can also get single DIMMs. If I went with a 760k + 750ti / 265 type build, I'd just a 4GB stick of 1600mhz ram. They are usually only around $30.

[AJSB]

If you're going with a dGPU, then the ram speed doesn't really matter anymore.
I agree that AM1 is great for the price. The only thing I'm dubious is regarding future upgrades. If you go with an A4, then you can easily switch it with an A8 (when AMD bother to release it...) or with an A10, and FM2+ seems a socket that will be around for a while.
We don't know yet if AM1 is going to be around in the future, or if it's going to be replaced by something else in the next generation. Also the 5350 is the fastest thing you can get, unless AMD release something else in the future.

At 1st i also was thinking that doesn't matter but the thing is that AMD recomends a 1866MHz for the 750K for example...same as for 5800K witch is a APU....in any case, you end up spend more in RAM...

The AM1 should continue around for some (if not even a long) time...
I believe that the AM1 archicture was designed to continue to get upgrades in the future....

In fact, it should stay for a long long time around and using DDR3...
Why i talk about DDR3 ?

I'm starting not be so sure about FM2+....there is too much talk about Carrizo support for DDR4...if it has it, all it's advantages when using DDR4 is of no importance for FM2+ users because they can't use DDR4 in their current MoBos....in any case i heard about Carrizo going to use FM2p or FM3 socket because of DDR4...oooops, bad news for FM2+

I guess they could make some Carrizo for FM2p/FM3 and others for FM2+ connectors...

I start to believe that AM1 = DDR3, Carrizo and after it = DDR4.

Even if Carrizo (or a downgraded version of it) is fully compatible with FM2+ , i heard some things about it that i don't like....lot's of IPC improvements...that will be eaten , if not completely in large amount, by reducing even further clock rates so it can achieve the 65W goal....we already started to see this movie with Kaveri...


BTW, IMHO (and others in other forums), the delay of the A8-7600 is that because is cheaper and drains a lot less energy than A10-7850K with almost same performance (it seems that besides cTDP of 45W and 65W in (some) MoBos BIOS you can set it to Unlimited) as a 7850K, because of this AMD *KNOWS* that as soon as they launch it, the sells of the A10s will drop to near ZERO.

So, now, instead of end of Q1 2014, it was delayed to second half of 2014....personally, i think they gonna delay it again to end of year...if not even later or if we will ever see it at all.

[AJSB]

You can also get single DIMMs. If I went with a 760k + 750ti / 265 type build, I'd just a 4GB stick of 1600mhz ram. They are usually only around $30.

As opposite to AM1 that was designed for single channel, FM2(+) APU/CPUs were designed to get their best performance with dual channel...you need two sticks.

AMD, even for the 750K/760K recommends same RAM speeds than for a APU...this is why my doubts....not between 1600 vs 2133 MHz but between 1866 vs 2133 MHz....let's not forget that there isn't a L3 cache in these CPUs....i guess a slight way to "compensate" (it NEVER fully compensates) the lack of L3 cache is use fast main RAM...

[JS987]

It's not that the tests were incorrect, it's that something is going odd with AM1 under Linux, but further testing is still going on to see if its something due to its kernel or other system software.

Does frequency scaling work right?