Final thoughts and rating
AMD's rollout of six second-generation APUs brings renewed focus to the constituent parts of any mainstream PC today. A good look at the A8-5600K chip reveals its can-do CPU core and above-average integrated graphics provide a good fit for an inexpensive system.
We'd recommend pairing said APU with a microATX motherboard, 8GB of DDR3-2,133 memory, a cheap-as-chips SSD, and a small chassis - all for under £300, assuming you could sufficiently cool the chip without resorting to using loud fans.
After presenting 30-odd graphs and prodding and poking the APU's qualities, we feel that AMD's A8-5600K is a reasonable bet if you can't stretch the extra £20 for the A10-5800K and don't want to go down the Intel Core i3 path.
In an ideal world, however, we'd like to see this APU's power-draw drop from 100W to 65W - helping cooling in confined spaces - and the graphics to match the full-fat variety offered on the A10-5800K. Hold on a second, folks, because the A10-5700 may just fit that bill, though its review story will be told a different day.
The Good
Reasonable CPU and capable GPU
Competitive pricing
Overclocks well
The Bad
100W TDP negates use in small systems
HEXUS Rating
AMD A8-5600K
HEXUS Awards
AMD A8-5600K
HEXUS Where2Buy
The AMD A8-5600K APU is available to purchase from Scan Computers*.
HEXUS Right2Reply
At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.
*UK-based HEXUS community members are eligible for free delivery and priority customer service through the SCAN.care@HEXUS forum.
