Recently the AMD team from APA C region was here to launch the popular and powerful AMD A-Series APU family (codenamed “Kaveri”) . Designed for the power-efficient notebooks for both personal and professional use. The new mobile APUs mark the debut of Heterogeneous System Architecture (HSA) features and Graphics Core Next (GCN) Architecture for mobile devices, establishing them as AMD’s most advanced mobile APUs to-date.
“This latest breakthrough from AMD is a total package of superior compute performance, striking graphics, and cost-effective power use with leading technologies in the industry, making the 2014 AMD A-Series APUs a potent force in today’s computing generation,” said Ryan Sim, General Manager for AMD Far East Ltd in the ASEAN region. “This introduction of the latest line of APUs to the Philippine market is part of our vision to improve and ultimately transform the computing experience of Filipino consumers.”
AMD told us that it is only them that can do both — CPU and GPU at the same time and to respond to the needs of an evolving commercial marketplace for longevity, performance and stability in enterprise systems, AMD has introduced a professional line of the Performance Mobile APUs. Designed especially with business in mind, AMD PRO A-Series components offer outstanding stability and longevity, and enable open, industry-standard DASH manageability.
The 2014 model of AMD APUs includes the following features:
Revolutionary Architecture
- Up to 12 Compute Cores (4 CPU + 8 GPU)[i] deliver amazing performance and responsiveness, bringing to life the full capability of the APU on various workloads and applications
- The breakthrough new Heterogeneous System Architecture (HSA) allows the CPU and GPU to work together in harmony by quickly dividing and directing the right tasks toward the appropriate cores for new levels of performance and efficiency in consumer and commercial desktop and notebook PCs, thus enabling a new era of compute capabilities with compute cores
- Award-winning Graphics Core Next Architecture with AMD Radeon R7 series graphics and compute capability
- Support for UltraHD (4K) resolutions and new video post-processing enhancements that make 1080p videos look amazing when upscaled on an UltraHD-enabled monitor or TV
Best Gaming and Entertainment Experience
- Support for AMD’s acclaimed Mantle API that simplifies game optimizations for programmers and developers to unlock unprecedented levels of gaming performance
- AMD Radeon Dual Graphics provide a performance boost from 49 percent to 108 percent[iv] for the ultimate gaming experience
- Experience-enhancing features such as AMD Quick Stream, AMD Steady Video and AMD TrueAudio technologies combine to deliver lifelike audio and video
Performance Leadership
- FX APU: Up to 30 percent more system compute-per-watt than our previous generation
- FX APU: Up to 40 percent more graphics performance-per-watt than our previous generation
- FX APU: Up to 58 percent better graphics performance and more than 1.13x the compute performance versus Intel i7-4500U (“Haswell”)
- A10-APU: Up to 50 percent better graphics performance and more than 1.2x the compute performance versus Intel i5-4200U (“Haswell”)
- 12 Compute Cores (4 CPU + 8 GPU) A Compute Core is a hardware block (CPU, GPU or other processing element) within an HSA-enabled APU, that is programmable, capable of performing computational tasks, has access to entire system memory, and can queue workloads to other cores. For more visit amd.com/ComputeCores. Note: The following must be used on the same page as the claim: *4 CPU + 8 GPU. See amd.com/ComputeCores for details.
- Requires 4K display and content. Supported resolution varies by GPU model and board design; confirm specifications with manufacturer before purchase.
- Mantle application support is required.
- Testing conducted by AMD Performance Labs on optimized AMD reference systems. PC manufacturers may vary configuration yielding different results. The 2014 AMD FX-7600P APU, code named “Kaveri”, paired with AMD Radeon R7 240 GCN Discrete Graphics demonstrated improved performance over APU- only configurations. The 2014 AMD FX-7600P paired with the AMD Radeon R7 240 Discrete Graphics card showed 65 FPS (frames per second) over 45.7 FPS for the AMD FX-7600P alone on Call of Duty Black Ops and 46.7 FPS over 22.5 FPS on Crysis 3; both games were set to 1920×1080. KVN-11
AMD EXPERIENCES REQUIREMENTS:
Additional hardware (e.g. HD or 4K monitor, USB, 3.0 ports, wirelessly enabled HDTV) and/or software (e.g. multimedia applications and/or wifi access) are required for the full enablement of some features. HD/4K Video display requires an HD/4K video source. Not all features may be supported on all components or systems – check with your component or system manufacturer for specific model capabilities and supported technologies.
AMD TrueAudio technology is offered by select AMD Radeon R9 and R7 200 Series GPUs and select AMD A-Series APUs and is designed to improve acoustic realism. Requires enabled game or application. Not all audio equipment supports all audio effects; additional audio equipment may be required for some audio effects. Not all products feature all technologies—check with your component or system manufacturer for specific capabilities.
PRICING AND AVAILABILITY
Locally, both Acer and Lenovo has notebooks that are powered by AMD’s 2014 A-Series APU Processor lineup and incorporated with AMD Radeon R-Series discrete graphics for an exceptional cinematic or gaming experience are already available.
The Acer E15, powered by AMD A8-7100 APU with Radeon R5 Graphics and features 8 Compute Cores (4 CPU + 4GPU), is available at a suggested retail price of P29,900.00.
The Lenovo IdeaPad Z50-75, which is equipped with AMD A10-7300 APU with Radeon R6 Graphics and features 10 Compute Cores (4CPU + 6GPU), is available at a suggested retail price of P33,995.00.
Other computer brands will also feature 2014 AMD A-Series APUs which will be available soon.
AMD’s Ryan Sim told Digitalspidey though that the company is not gearing towards making processor for mobile phones or tablets. It is not in their future plan to join the likes of Intel and Tegra because they believe their market for the PC and for some gaming device is enough.
