Testing methodology
Comparison Systems |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| System name | AMD A10-5800K | AMD A8-3870K | Intel Core i7-3770K | Intel Core i3-3225 | Intel Core i3-2100 |
| Processor | AMD A10-5800K @ 3.8GHz | AMD A8-3870K @ 3.0GHz | Intel Core i7-3770K @ 3.50GHz | Intel Core i3-3225 @ 3.30GHz | Intel Core i3-2100 @ 3.10GHz |
| Cores/threads | 4/4 | 4/4 | 4/8 | 2/4 | 2/4 |
| Cooler | AVC reference | AVC reference | Intel reference | Intel reference | Intel reference |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte F2-A85X-UP4 (F2) | ASRock A75M-ITX (F10) | Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H (F8c) |
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H (F8c) |
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H (F8c) |
| BIOS | F2 | F10 | F8c |
F8c |
F8c |
| Chipset driver | Catalyst 12.8 SB | Catalyst 12.8 SB | Inf 9.30.0.1031 |
Inf 9.30.0.1031 |
Inf 9.30.0.1031 |
| Graphics | AMD Radeon HD 7660D | AMD Radeon HD 6550D |
Intel HD 4000 Graphics | Intel HD 4000 Graphics | Intel HD 2000 Graphics |
| Graphics driver | Catalyst 12.8 | Catalyst 12.8 | Intel 8.15.10.2761 | Intel 8.15.10.2761 | Intel 8.15.10.2761 |
| Memory | Patriot 8GB IEM DDR3 (2 x 4GB) |
||||
| Memory speed | 9-9-9-24-1T @ 1,600MHz |
Sound card | Onboard high-definition audio |
||
| Primary storage | 256GB Samsung 830 SSD |
||||
| PSU | Corsair AX750 |
||||
| Chassis | Corsair Graphite 600T |
||||
| Operating System | Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit |
||||
Benchmarks |
||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AIDA v2.60 | Tests system bandwidth, cache bandwidth, and latency | |||||||||||
| HEXUS PiFast | A single-threaded number-crunching test we've been using for over 10 years now | |||||||||||
| Cinebench R11 | Using Cinebench's multi-CPU render, this cross-platform benchmark stresses as many cores as possible. | |||||||||||
| TrueCrypt 7.1a | This benchmark evaluates the AES-encryption ability of the systems | |||||||||||
| X264 HD 5.0.1 | Much-used, standardised test that encodes a 1080p clip into H.264 format | |||||||||||
| LuxMark | Uses LuxRender and OpenCL for GPGPU performance evaluation | |||||||||||
| PCMark 7 | PCMark 7 combines various single- and multi-threaded CPU, Graphics and HDD tests to score overall system performance | |||||||||||
| 7-zip 9.2.0 | Popular program for zipping files. Includes compressing and decompressing tests | |||||||||||
| 3DMark 11 | Run at Entry preset | |||||||||||
| 3DMark Vantage | Run at Performance preset | |||||||||||
| DiRT: Showdown | 1,280x720, 4x MSAA, Medium settings, DX9 | |||||||||||
| Batman: Arkham City | 1,280x720, 2x MSAA, High-quality settings (DX9) and Medium-quality settings (DX11) | |||||||||||
| Power consumption | Noted for system idling, under X264 HD all-core load, and for GPU playing Batman: Arkham City | |||||||||||
Notes
We've stuck the A10-5800K chip up against the best AMD APU of the last generation, A8-3870K, and also evaluated it against two price-comparable Intel Core i3 chips from the Sandy Bridge (i3-2100) and Ivy Bridge (i3-3225) lines.
Understanding that AMD's best APU, A10-5800K, and Intel's Core i3-3225 are priced at similar levels - circa £100 - we've highlighted their performance in brand-matching colours in the ensuing graphs.
