AMD A6-3500 with GIGABYTE A55M-S2H, Entry APU OC Review

[windwithme]

[windwithme]

Re: AMD A6-3500 with GIGABYTE A55M-S2H, Entry APU OC Review

IO
1 X PS2 KB/Mouse
D-SUB/DVI/HDMI Output
1 X S/PDIF Optical output
6 X USB 2.0(Red)
1 X RJ-45 LAN
3 X Audio jacks


Test Configuration
CPU: AMD A6-3500
MB: GIGABYTE A55M-S2H
DRAM: CORSAIR CMX8GX3M2A1600C9
VGA: AMD Radeon HD6530D
HD: WD 7200rpm 640GB
POWER: be quiet! STRAIGHT POWER GOLDEN 550W
Cooler: AMD original cooler
OS: Windows7 Ultimate 64bit SP1


Performance Test
CPU 100.0 X 21 => 2100.1MHz(Turbo Core up to 2400MHz)
DDR3 1866.8 CL8 10-7-27 1T
GPU 600MHz

Hyper PI 32M X 3 => 28m 41.814s
CPUMARK 99 => 317


Nuclearus Multi Core => 1315
Fritz Chess Benchmark => 8.65/4150


Nuclearus Multi Core doesn’t support Multi Thread Speed.
It should be having issue for AMD APU 3 Cores CPU only.

CrystalMark 2004R3 => 108281


CINEBENCH R11.5
CPU => 1.95 pts
CPU(Single Core) => 0.67 pts


PCMark Vantage => 5328


I will compare the performance with former Intel Pentium G620 and AMD A6-3500.
G620 market price is lower than A6-3500 which is similar product position.
As CINEBENCH R11.5, in single thread performance, G620 is 55% higher than A6-3500.
G620 dual core full speed is 3% faster than A6-3500 triple core.
Fritz Chess Benchmark multi-tasking performance, G620 is 6% higher than A6-3500.
A6-3500 is enough for general use. This is why I mentioned AMD multi cores can compensate the CPU performance.

DDR3 1866.8 CL8 10-7-27 1T
ADIA64 Memory Read - 8933 MB/s
Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 13677 MB/s
MaXXMEM Memory-Copy - 9379 MB/s


FM1 APU DDR3 can run 1866 as default and OC to higher range.
The bandwidth is not improved much. AMD AM3+ Bulldozer CPU is only AMD platform which improves the DDR3 bandwidth.

Temperature(Room is 22˚C)
Enter to OS Desktop - 18


CPU Full Speed - 48
LinX 0.6.4


About AMD 32nm CPU temperature, the test value will be much lower than actual temperature.
Left side AISA64, you can see it’s much lower than room temperature. As internet data showed the CPU info is not accurate.
Even though GIGABYTE Touch BIOS software temperature is more accurate, it’s still lower than real temperature.

[windwithme]

[windwithme]

Re: AMD A6-3500 with GIGABYTE A55M-S2H, Entry APU OC Review

OC Setup - M.I.T. tuning page
CPU Frequency from 100 to 135
Memory Clock change to x6.66


GPU Set Up Related Page. As former review, adjusting GPU clock is not improving 3D performance much.
In APU platform, you only can rise DDR3 clock to improve 3D performance.


Advanced DDR3 Setup Page
This time I set it as CL8 10-7-27 1T.


CPU Related Items. You can set up IGX here.


PC Health Status


APU OC range is not as high as old platforms, however, the clock range is still wide enough.
OC is relying on CPU and DDR3 quality to adjust clock and voltage.
It takes to fine tune the best setup.

OC Performance Test
CPU 135 X 25 => 2835MHz(Turbo Core up to 3240MHz)
DDR3 1800.2 CL8 10-7-27 1T

Hyper PI 32M X 3 => 21m 51.782s
CPUMARK 99 => 428


Nuclearus Multi Core => 1766
Fritz Chess Benchmark => 11.53/5533


CrystalMark 2004R3 => 153049


CINEBENCH R11.5
CPU => 2.60 pts
CPU(Single Core) => 0.90 pts


PCMark Vantage => 6298


The comparison of A6-3500 OC from 100MHz to 135MHz.
Referring to CPUMARK, Fritz Chess Benchmark and CINEBENCH R11.5 CPU performance benchmark,
single threading improves 34~35%. 3-core full speed performance also enhances 33%. This is very well.

[windwithme]

[windwithme]

Re: AMD A6-3500 with GIGABYTE A55M-S2H, Entry APU OC Review



AMD FM1 CPU has three positions. First is entry platform by APU 3D performance.
After then, it’s X4 CPU without IGP to build low cost 4 cores platform with A55 or A75 chipset. Finally, it’s K skus which is unlock version.
Unfortunately, even K skus or 32nm manufacturing, CPU is hard to reach 3.6GHz in acceptable voltage.



Formerly, windwithme already shared several A75 with A8-3850 reviews which are more high-end combo in FM1.
This review is entry A6-3500 and A55 chipset. If you are looking for AMD APU, you can use it as your reference.
APU owns good 3D performance and moderate OC ability. If you need high-end 3D applications, you better to have external VGA card.
For only using IGP and need better 3D performance users, PU structure can be your good options. :)

This article is also post in my blog WIND3C, Welcome your comments.