14 DAY TRIAL // Back in 2012, when Advanced Micro Devices finally released the Trinity processors, it launched the mobile chips first, then the embedded parts and then the desktop units. Richland seems to be following a similar pattern.
The Sunnyvale company has finally revealed the first Richland accelerated processing units (APUs), and they are all aimed at notebooks.
There are four of them: A10-5750M, A8-55550M, A6-5350M, and A4-5150M. All have a TDP (thermal design power) of 35W.
The first one is also the most powerful, as the name suggests. A quad-core, it runs at 2.5 GHz / 3.5 GHz Turbo Core and has 4 MB L2 cache memory.
It also boasts an integrated DDR3-1866 memory controller and the Radeon HD 8650G graphics card, with 384 Stream Processors and 533 / 720 MHz performance.
The second chip, A8-5550M, is also a quad-core with 4 MB cache, but with 2.1 / 3.1 GHz speed, DDR3-1600 memory and the Radeon HD 8550G (256 cores, 515 / 720 MHz).
A6-5350 is the lower mid-range processor, with 1 MB cache, two cores and clock speeds of 2.9 GHz and 3.5 GHz. Its memory controller handles DDR3-1600 RAM and the HD 8450G graphics come with 192 processors and 533 / 720 MHz performance.
Finally, the low-end A4-5150M is a dual-core with 1 MB cache, 2.7 / 3.3 GHz speed, DDR3-1600 memory support, and the HD 8350G GPU (128 SPs, 514 / 720 MHz speed).
All four can perform real-time, power-based temperature calculations. Coupled with the on-die temperature sensors, this allows them to increase performance in typical operating conditions (Hybrid Boost).
They also have “Intelligent Boost” technology (explained on the left), a configurable TDP (based on notebook design needs), dual-graphics support with Solar System GPUs, and AMD Start Now (fast resume from S3/S4 sleep modes, WLAN quick reconnect).
As for power efficiency, Richland isn't all that superior to Trinity while Windows is idle or browsing the web, but it does score in HD video playback (9.6W versus 12.8W, 47% better). Stay tuned as we check out the special perks of Richland-based laptops.
