AMD launches its first triple core APU, brings a friend along

[siopao1984]

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AMD launches its first triple core APU, brings a friend along by VR-Zone.com



If the current quad core APU's from AMD are a bit on the expensive side for you, then we have good news, AMD has launched a triple core APU today called the A6-3500. The interesting thing tough is the other CPU AMD launched today, the Athlon II X4 631, as this is AMD's first socket FM1 Athlon branded CPU.

The A6-3500 doesn't hold any real surprises as the specs leaked quite some time ago, but this triple-core model is clocked at 2.1GHz with a 2.4GHz turbo frequency, which just happens to be the same as the A6-3600. Losing out on a core also means losing out on 1MB of L2 cache, so the A6-3500 has a total of 3MB L3 cache. The graphics core also remains the same, which is one of the better aspects of this APU as the Radeon HD 6530D should be more than sufficient for anyone that doesn't play demanding 3D games. The GPU core is clocked at 444MHz and has 320 shaders. The TDP also remains the same at 65W.

The Athlon II X4 631 on the other hand is a curious beast and we have a feeling that it will cause a lot of consumer confusion. It's comparatively slow to AMD's older Athlon II X4 modes at a mere 2.6GHz which coincidentally is the same CPU clock as the A6-3650 APU. In fact, the Athlon II X4 631 is pretty much identical, as it sports 4MB L2 cache and a 100W TDP, the only thing missing is the graphics found in the APUs. The problem is that it goes into a socket FM1 motherboard and currently every single FM1 board has display interfaces, something this CPU can't take advantage of and something we're not sure how AMD is going to highlight towards consumers.

The A6-3500 is priced at US$95 in retail packaging or US$89 in quantities of 1,000 units, whereas the Athlon II X4 631 is priced at US$79 in quantities for 1,000 units. Both models are priced fairly competitive compared to AMD's current Athlon II CPUs, although both models also have the CPU core clocked a fair bit slower.

Source: AMD

[thewicked46]

nice one..for sure dghan palit ani

[Sempron Guy]

Hmm if this goes below 4.5k here in the phil, this would be perfect for gaming cafe's. 65w tdp with a gpu capable of driving games at 1366x768 ( standard 18.5" resolution ) then pair it up with DDR3 1600 ram ok na kaayo. I just hope mubarato pa ang socket FM1 mobo's.

[allarsky]

mobarato pa jud ni ang FM1 mobo's, bag-o pa mn gud gi launch mao medyo mahal pa. huwat ko ani testing sa performance, hopefully if ganahan then i'll stick to it.

[rejiel]

nice ni dah.... huwat2 lang ta ani sa presyo nga muubos...

[KizoneC]

ka nice gud wui socket fm1 na barato pa jud i mean affordable lang

[technowar]

Zzzz wa pa gae Bulldozer, announce na pod ug lain. Zzzz ipagawas sa kaya ang Bulldozer.