Dual graphics on the desktop with a Llano A8-3870K
Subject: Systems | March 27, 2012 - 02:49 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: amd, llano, dual graphics, a8-3870K
Dual Llano graphics has become one of PC Perspective's most recommended ways of getting yourself a laptop capable of decent gaming performance without spending a lot of money. It is not as well known as a desktop solution, which X-Bit Labs intends to explore in their latest review. They've taken the high end A8-3870K, overclocked it and paired it with an HD 6670 and then compared it to two similar systems, one using a Intel Pentium G850 and one with a Core i3-2120. The results of their testing just might surprise you.
"Today we are going to compare the performance of Socket FM1 and LGA 1155 systems. Will a hybrid Llano processor be able to beat the entry-level Intel CPU paired with an entry-level graphics accelerator? How efficient AMD Dual Graphics technology is? Does overclocking make Socket FM1 systems more attractive?"
Here are some more Systems articles from around the web:
- Scan 3XS Vengeance GTX680 Z68 OC System @ OC3D
- HP TouchSmart Elite 7320 Review @ TechReviewSource
- Building the Right Box @ Techgage
- Acer AX1930-UR10P Review @ TechReviewSource
- Puget Systems Echo: Intel and AMD Showdown at 65 Watts @ AnandTech
- Intel Xeon E5-2687W in Asus Z9PE-D8 WS dual CPU workstation @ The Inquirer
- HP TouchSmart 520 All-In-One @ TechSpot
EVGA Changes the Game Again
Introduction
Dual-GPU graphics cards are becoming an interesting story. While both NVIDIA and AMD have introduced their own reference dual-GPU designs for quite some time, it is the custom build models from board vendors like ASUS and EVGA that really peak our interest because of their unique nature. Earlier this year EVGA released the GTX 460 2Win card that brought the worlds first (and only) graphics card with a pair of the GTX 460 GPUs on-board.
ASUS has released dual-GPU options as well including the ARES dual Radeon HD 5870 last year and the MARS II dual GTX 580 just this past August but they were both prohibitively rare and expensive. The EVGA "2Win" series, which we can call it now that there are two of them, is still expensive but much more in line with the performance per dollar of the rest of the graphics card market. When the company approached us last week about the new GTX 560 Ti 2Win, we jumped at the chance to review it.
The EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 2Win 2GB
The new GTX 560 Ti 2Win from EVGA follows directly in the footsteps of the GTX 460 model - we are essentially looking at a pair of GTX 560 Ti GPUs on a single PCB running in SLI multi-GPU mode. Clock speeds, memory capacity, performance - it should all be pretty much the same as if you were running a pair of GTX 560 Ti cards independently.
Just as with the GTX 460 2Win, EVGA is the very first company to offer such a product. NVIDIA didn't design a reference platform and pass it along to everyone like they did with the GTX 590 - this is all EVGA.
Continue reading our review of the EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 2Win!!!
Video Perspective: AMD A-series APU Dual Graphics Technology Performance
Subject: Graphics Cards, Processors | July 13, 2011 - 02:13 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: llano, dual graphics, crossfire, APU, amd, a8-3850, 3850
Last week we posted a short video about the performance of AMD's Llano core A-series of APUs for gaming and the response was so positive that we have decided to continue on with some other short looks at features and technologies with the processor. For this video we decided to investigate the advantages and performance of the Dual Graphics technology - the AMD APU's ability to combine the performance of a discrete GPU with the Radeon HD 6550D graphics integrated on the A8-3850 APU.
For this test we set our A8-3850 budget gaming rig to the default clock speeds and settings and used an AMD Radeon HD 6570 1GB as our discrete card of choice. With a price hovering around $70, the HD 6570 would be a modest purchase for a user that wants to add some graphical performance to their low-cost system but doesn't stretch into the market of the enthusiast.
The test parameters were simple: we knew the GPU on the Radeon HD 6570 was a bit better than that of the A8-3850 APU so we compared performance of the discrete graphics card ALONE to the performance of the system when enabling CrossFire, aka Dual Graphics technology. The results are pretty impressive:
You may notice that these percentages of scaling are higher than those we found in our first article about Llano on launch day. The reasoning is that we used the Radeon HD 6670 there and found that while compatible by AMD's directives, the HD 6670 is overpowering the HD 6550D GPU on the APU and the performance delta it provides is smaller by comparison.
So, just as we said with our APU overclocking video, while adding in a discrete card like the HD 6570 won't turn your PC into a $300 graphics card centered gaming machine it will definitely help performance by worthwhile amounts without anyone feeling like they are wasting the silicon on the A8-3850.
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