Asus F2A85-V Pro & AMD A10 5800K Review (w/ HD7660D)

1. Introduction & AMD A10 5800K2. The Asus F2 A85-V Pro3. The Asus F2A85-V Pro (Super High Res Gallery)4. BIOS & Overclocking5. Testing Methodology6. Synthetic: SiSoft Sandra7. Synthetic: PCMark 78. Synthetic: 3DMark Vantage9. Synthetic: 3DMark 1110. Synthetic: Unigine Heaven Benchmark11. Synthetic: Cinebench R11.5 64 bit12. Image Quality: HQV Benchmark 2.013. Synthetic: Drive Performance14. Synthetic: Memory Performance15. Synthetic: Super Pi16. Real World: BluRay Performance with PowerDVD17. Real World: Video Encoding18. Real World: MKV 1080p Performance19. Real World: Flash HD Performance20. Gaming: Alien V Predator21. Gaming: F1 201222. Gaming: Total War Shogun 223. Gaming: Dirt Showdown24. Technical: Power Consumption25. Closing Thoughts26. View All Pages

This is our second of two reviews today, focusing on the official launch of AMD's A10 5800K when paired up with partner motherboards. In our other review we have paired up the new AMD APU with a high end AMD discrete graphics card to see how it compares against a Core i3 and Core i7 system. Many people say that you don't need an ultra high end processor just for gaming so we though it was interesting to specifically cover that topic. The review you are reading now however concentrates on the onboard HD 7660D graphics. Is 1080p gaming finally a possibility if don't want to buy a discrete card?

AMD detailed the new Trinity APU around four months ago. The A10 5800K is a 32nm CoC with four Piledriver cores and a Cayman GPU.

This is no Bulldozer style core however, the focus is on getting power consumption under control and AMD have placed focus on the VLIW4 architecture to improve graphics efficiency. AMD don’t want these new chips to be excessively priced either – the AMD A10 5800K should ship in the UK at a price around £94.99 inc vat.

The differences between Trinity and Llano are also significant.

AMD have created a new architecture with a higher transistor density to improve overall performance. The onboard 32nm HD7660D graphics runs at 427mhz core and 1066mhz memory. The 512MB of GDDR3 is connected via a 128bit memory interface.

The HD7660D has 8 ROPS and 384 Unified shaders.

An AMD diagram overview of the current APU range. The A10-5800K slots in right at the top of the chart, with 4MB of cache, a base clock speed of 3.8ghz and a turbo speed up to 4.2ghz. The maximum DDR3 supported is said to be 1,866mhz but as we will find out later, with the right motherboard this is ready to be broken. The ‘K’ moniker, as always, is an indication that this chip is unlocked, ideal for the overclocking audience out there.

The Asus F2A85-V Pro ships in a traditional ASUS box, with the primary focus on the product name. There are some specifications listed along the bottom and right sides of the box. The A85X chipset is based on the FM2 socket and has Crossfire support, and 8x SATA 6 GB/s ports. It is worth pointing out that the Crossfire support is x16 bandwidth in single mode or x8 bandwidth if two cards are used. The A85x is designed to support 4 USB 3.0 ports and 10 USB 2.0 ports.

The bundle includes several SATA cables, a software disc, user manual, and backplate panel.

The ASUS F2A85-V Pro is an ATX form factor motherboard, measuring 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm. It isn't quite as attractive as the Gigabyte F1A85X-UP4 which is black and grey. ASUS have opted for a mixture of pale and dark blue slots which ruins the appearance slightly.

ASUS use ‘Dual Intelligent Processors 3' with a new DIGI+ Power Control. There is a Direct Key on the board, which lets the end user get access to the BIOS directly.

There are several substantial heatsinks scattered around the board to help improve VRM cooling. There is plenty of space however around the CPU socket for large heatsinks.

The four memory slots support up to 64GB of memory, with official timings rated 1066, 1333, 1600 and 1866mhz. As we will find out later however it is possible to configure the memory faster than these speeds. This is a dual channel memory architecture, like Intels' Z77 platform.

There is a handy ‘MEM OK' button close to the memory slots, which we had to use on several occasions. This is in an ideal position, close to the top of the motherboard and not obstructed with a discrete graphics card.

There are seven SATA ports on the motherboard, six horizontal, and one vertical as shown in the image above. All of these ports are SATA 6Gbps capable with support for RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 and JBOD.

The motherboard supports 3 way Crossfire. The top slot runs at x16, the middle slot x8 and the bottom slot x4. While Crossfire is supported, the top slot with downgrade to x8. There are also 2 PCI Express x1 slots and a single PCI slot.

There is a single 8 pin CPU power connector close to the heatsink next to the processor socket.

The back panel connectors are:

• 1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse combo port(s)
• 1 x DVI
• 1 x D-Sub
• 1 x DisplayPort
• 1 x HDMI
• 1 x eSATA
• 1 x LAN (RJ45) port(s)
• 4 x USB 3.0 (blue)
• 2 x USB 2.0
• 1 x Optical S/PDIF out
• 6 x Audio jack(s)

The Internal I/O Connectors are:

• 1 x USB 3.0 connector(s) support(s) additional 2 USB 3.0 port(s) (19-pin)
• 4 x USB 2.0 connector(s) support(s) additional 8 USB 2.0 port(s)
• 1 x COM port(s) connector(s)
• 7 x SATA 6Gb/s connector(s)
• 1 x CPU Fan connector(s) (4 x -pin)
• 4 x Chassis Fan connector(s) (4 x -pin)
• 1 x S/PDIF out header(s)
• 1 x 24-pin EATX Power connector(s)
• 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V Power connector(s)
• 1 x Front panel audio connector(s) (AAFP)
• 1 x System panel(s)
• 1 x DirectKey Button(s)
• 1 x DRCT header(s)
• 1 x MemOK! button(s)
• 1 x TPU switch(es)
• 1 x EPU switch(es)
• 1 x USB BIOS Flashback button(s)

On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source.

The first time we fired up the machine, we entered the bios and were greeted with their UEFI overview screen. We received a new bios for the motherboard just as we were about to start testing.

The ‘5104' bios was easily installed directly from a USB drive.

One quick reboot later, and we are running the latest ‘5104' revision of the bios.

A quick overview of the system build. The AMD A10 5800K with onboard graphics. We are using 16GB of the latest Corsair Dominator Platinum 2,666mhz memory. The board initially defaults to a safe speed of 1,333mhz. You can read the standalone review of this memory running on a Z77 motherboard, over here.

The AI Tweaker is the main panel for all the overclocking settings. We will look at this shortly in more detail.

The Advanced panel is used to change settings for the onboard devices. The Monitor panel is used to check voltages, temperatures and fan speeds.

The Boot menu allows for various changes over the boot priority and devices, as well as USB support and USB support. The Tool menu is used to save and load settings, and to flash the bios to a newer revision.

These are the default settings for the AMD A10 5800k processor in the ASUS bios. There are many settings in here which can be used to gain stability at overclocked settings. Something we are about to attempt now.

This bios has a memory setting for 2,400mhz, however sadly we could not get the Corsair Dominator Platinum memory stable at these speeds, regardless of voltage or timings. It would post, but sometimes we would experience the dreaded ‘Blue Screen Of Death'.

As a side note, the latest BIOS revision adds a new D.O.C.P feature, which correctly adjusts the memory to the XMP profile, of 2,666mhz with 10-12-12-31 timings. Sadly this wouldn't even post, regardless of voltage changes. There is a possibility it will work properly with other memory sticks, but we didn't have time to test this thoroughly before publication.

We backed down to 2,133mhz.

We had to manually adjust the timings to 10-12-12-34 for complete stability at 2,133mhz. AUTO settings (9-10-10) were unstable.

We spoke with AMD’s Sami Makinen to discuss ‘safe’ voltages and he said that any higher than 1.475v was ‘risky’. In order to ensure we could complete the review today (and not kill the processor) we didn’t push past his recommendations for any length of time.

Pushing to 4.6ghz was easy enough so we tried 4.8ghz at 1.475 volts. Stability at 4.8ghz or 4.7ghz wasn’t 100% prime stable at this speed, but we found if we increased the core voltage to 1.52 volts that it was. We didn’t want to potentially damage the processor however long term under Sami’s recommendation, and backed down to 4.6ghz at 1.475v. Still a decent overclock.

System validation at our final settings, are available over here.

Before we head further into the review, it is worth pointing out that the ASUS bios has additional options for overclocking the onboard 7660D graphics part of the AMD A10 5800K APU.

Above left, the ‘default' settings of the HD 7660D, running at 800mhz core and 1066mhz memory. Above right, the ‘Extreme Mode' settings – overclocking the core from 800mhz to 1013mhz.

For this review today we are running the AMD A10 5800K processor without a discrete graphics card solution. Our other AMD A10 5800k review today features the Gigabyte F2A85X-UP4 when paired up with a high end AMD HD7970 GHZ Edition. If this of interest then be sure to check it out.

We want to find out today if the A10 5800K can power games at high resolutions with decent image quality settings. At £95 inc vat, this could be a low cost solution for a gamer on a budget, or ideal for a person using a system with a television set in the main living room. Fan noise from many discrete solutions can be intrusive.

Has the 5800K got enough grunt? We all know that Intel onboard struggles with most engines above 720p.

In some of the benchmarks and tests we will compare the AMD A10 5800k against a variety of desktop and mobile processors.

Sadly we didn't manage to make time to test the onboard HD7660D in a Crossfire configuration. We will leave these results for another time.

AMD A10 5800K System:

Processor: AMD A10 5800K
Memory: 16GB Corsair Dominator Platinum @ 2,133mhz
Cooling: Antec H20 620
Thermal Paste: Noctua NT H1
Motherboard: Gigabyte F2A85X-UP4
Power Supply: Antec TruePower 550W
Case: Cooler Master Silencio
SSD: Kingston 90GB SSD Now & Patriot Pyro SE 240GB

Graphics: AMD HD7660D

Supplemental Hardware:
Optical: Asus USB 2.0 BluRay Drive
Monitors: LaCie 730 (IQ testing) and Dell U2410 x3

Comparison processors:
AMD A8 3870K
AMD A8 3850
AMD Zacate E-350
Atom D525 @ 1.8ghz
Turion X64 X2 L510 @ 1.6ghz
Core i7 3610QM
Core i7 2960XM Extreme Edition (Mobile)
Core i7 2630QM
Core i7 2640M processor
Core i7 2360QM
Core i7 2600K
Core i5 2500K
Core i5 2410M
Core i3 2105 desktop processor.

Software:
3DMark Vantage
3DMark 11
PCMark 7
Cinebench 11.5 64 bit
FRAPS Professional
Unigine Heaven Benchmark
ATTO Disk Benchmark
CrystalDiskMark
Cyberlink PowerDVD Ultra 11
Cyberlink MediaEspresso
HQV Benchmark V2.
Alien V Predator
F1 2012
Total War: Shogun 2
Dirt Showdown

Comparison Gaming System:
Processor: Intel Core i7-3770K With onboard Intel HD4000
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme6
Cooler: Corsair H80
Memory: 8 GB G.Skill @ 1600 MHz 9-9-9-24
Power Supply: Corsair 750W
System Drive: Patriot Wildfire 120GB

All the latest BIOS updates and drivers are used during testing. We perform generally under real world conditions, meaning KitGuru tests games across five closely matched runs and then average out the results to get an accurate median figure. If we use scripted benchmarks, they are mentioned on the relevant page.

Some game descriptions are edited from Wikipedia.

SiSoftware Sandra (the System ANalyser, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant) is an information & diagnostic utility. It should provide most of the information (including undocumented) you need to know about your hardware, software and other devices whether hardware or software.

Sandra is a (girl’s) name of Greek origin that means “defender”, “helper of mankind”. We think that’s quite fitting.

It works along the lines of other Windows utilities, however it tries to go beyond them and show you more of what’s really going on. Giving the user the ability to draw comparisons at both a high and low-level. You can get information about the CPU, chipset, video adapter, ports, printers, sound card, memory, network, Windows internals, AGP, PCI, PCI-X, PCIe (PCI Express), database, USB, USB2, 1394/Firewire, etc.

Native ports for all major operating systems are available:

• Windows XP, 2003/R2, Vista, 7, 2008/R2 (x86)
• Windows XP, 2003/R2, Vista, 7, 2008/R2 (x64)
• Windows 2003/R2, 2008/R2* (IA64)
• Windows Mobile 5.x (ARM CE 5.01)
• Windows Mobile 6.x (ARM CE 5.02)

All major technologies are supported and taken advantage of:

• SMP – Multi-Processor
• MC – Multi-Core
• SMT/HT – Hyper-Threading
• MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE 4.1, SSE 4.2, AVX, FMA – Multi-Media instructions
• GPGPU, DirectX, OpenGL – Graphics
• NUMA – Non-Uniform Memory Access
• AMD64/EM64T/x64 – 64-bit extensions to x86
• IA64 – Intel* Itanium 64-bit

Overall performance is reasonably good considering the price point, outclassing the Core i3 2105 in the Cryptographic test. We are disappointed a little with the memory bandwidth performance, although the Asus F2A85-V Pro scores around 1GB/s higher with the same memory than the Gigabyte F2A85X-UP4.

PCMark 7 includes 7 PC tests for Windows 7, combining more than 25 individual workloads covering storage, computation, image and video manipulation, web browsing and gaming. Specifically designed to cover the full range of PC hardware from netbooks and tablets to notebooks and desktops, PCMark 7 offers complete PC performance testing for Windows 7 for home and business use.

The system scores 3,789 points which is a really impressive result considering we are using the onboard HD7660D graphics.

Futuremark released 3DMark Vantage, on April 28, 2008. It is a benchmark based upon DirectX 10, and therefore will only run under Windows Vista (Service Pack 1 is stated as a requirement) and Windows 7. This is the first edition where the feature-restricted, free of charge version could not be used any number of times. 1280×1024 resolution was used with performance settings.

The AMD A10 5800K delivers a very healthy score, with the HD7660D scoring 26847 points at the ‘E' setting. This drops significantly in ‘P' mode, to 5468 points. This points to the limited high resolution bandwidth.

3DMark 11 is designed for testing DirectX 11 hardware running on Windows 7 and Windows Vista the benchmark includes six all new benchmark tests that make extensive use of all the new features in DirectX 11 including tessellation, compute shaders and multi-threading.

After running the tests 3DMark gives your system a score with larger numbers indicating better performance. Trusted by gamers worldwide to give accurate and unbiased results, 3DMark 11 is the best way to test DirectX 11 under game-like loads.

If you want to learn more about this benchmark, or to buy it yourself, head over to this page.

The onboard HD7660D delivers respectable results with this intensive Direct X 11 benchmark, scoring 1,424 points in the default ‘performance' test. This is an indication of reasonable gaming performance. We will look at this later in the review.

Unigine provides an interesting way to test hardware. It can be easily adapted to various projects due to its elaborated software design and flexible toolset. A lot of their customers claim that they have never seen such extremely-effective code, which is so easy to understand.

Heaven Benchmark is a DirectX 11 GPU benchmark based on advanced Unigine engine from Unigine Corp. It reveals the enchanting magic of floating islands with a tiny village hidden in the cloudy skies. Interactive mode provides emerging experience of exploring the intricate world of steampunk.

Efficient and well-architected framework makes Unigine highly scalable:

• Multiple API (DirectX 9 / DirectX 10 / DirectX 11 / OpenGL) render
• Cross-platform: MS Windows (XP, Vista, Windows 7) / Linux
• Full support of 32bit and 64bit systems
• Multicore CPU support
• Little / big endian support (ready for game consoles)
• Powerful C++ API
• Comprehensive performance profiling system
• Flexible XML-based data structures

We use the following settings: 1980×1080 resolution. Anti Aliasing off. Anisotrophy 4, Tessellation normal. Shaders High. Stereo 3D disabled. API: Direct X 11.

The overall frame rates at this resolution are low, but it is to be expected with such a demanding Direct X 11 tessellation based benchmark.

CINEBENCH R11.5 64 Bit is a real-world cross platform test suite that evaluates your computer’s performance capabilities. CINEBENCH is based on MAXON’s award-winning animation software CINEMA 4D, which is used extensively by studios and production houses worldwide for 3D content creation. MAXON software has been used in blockbuster movies such as Spider-Man, Star Wars, The Chronicles of Narnia and many more.

CINEBENCH is the perfect tool to compare CPU and graphics performance across various systems and platforms (Windows and Mac OS X). And best of all: It’s completely free.

The results are a little lower than I had hoped initially. The A10 5800K is actually outperformed in this test by the A8 3850 and A8 3870, although that said, it does manage to outperform the Core i3 2105.

HQV Benchmark 2.0 is an updated version of the original tool and it consists of various video clips and test patterns which are designed to evalute motion correction, de-interlacing, decoding, noise reduction, detail enhancement and film cadence detection.

There are two versions of the program, standard definition on DVD and high definition on Bluray. As our audience will be concentrating on HD content so will we.

This has a total of 39 video tests which is increased from 23 in the original and the scoring is also up from a total of 130 to 210. As hardware and software gets more complicated, the software has been tuned to make sure we can thoroughly maximise our analysis.

Read our initial analysis over here

	AMD A10 5800k w/ HD7660D
Dial	4
Dial with static pattern	5
Gray Bars	5
Violin	5
Stadium 2:2	5
Stadium 3:2	5
Horizontal Text Scroll	5
Vertical Text Scroll	5
Transition to 3:2 Lock	5
Transition to 2:2 Lock	0
2:2:2:4 24 FPS DVCAM Video	5
2:3:3:2 24 FPS DVCam Video	5
3:2:3:2:2 24 FOS Vari-Speed	5
5:5 FPS Animation	5
6:4 12 FPS Animation	5
8:7 8 FPS Animation	5
Interlace Chroma Problem (ICP)	5
Chroma Upsampling Error (CUE)	5
Random Noise: Sailboat	5
Random Noise: Flower	5
Random Noise: Sunrise	5
Random Noise: Harbour Night	5
Scrolling Text	5
Roller Coaster	5
Ferris Wheel	5
Bridge Traffic	5
Text Pattern/ Scrolling Text	5
Roller Coaster	5
Ferris Wheel	5
Bridge Traffic	5
Luminance Frequency Bands	5
Chrominance Frequency Bands	5
Vanishing Text	5
Resolution Enhancement	15
Theme Park	5
Driftwood	2
Ferris Wheel	5
Skin Tones	7
Total	193

A score of 193 points is fantastic, and the highest score we have achieved to date with an onboard graphics solution.

A very important aspect of overall system performance is down to drive performance. We use two of our favourite benchmark programs today. CrystalDiskMark and ATTO Disk Benchmark.

Performance from the system is very good, averaging around 430-460 MB/s from the Pyro SE 240GB drive when the compressible data setting is enabled. Not the best result we have seen with this drive, but still impressive.

Excellent results with the ATTO Disk Benchmark, averaging 550MB/s read and 490 MB/s write.

MaxxMem2 PreView is a useful, free program to rate memory performance. It can be downloaded over here.

This result verifies our earlier findings, the AMD platform seems to be memory bandwidth constricted, falling way behind the dual channel Intel configuration.

Super Pi is used by a huge audience, particularly to check stability when overclocking processors and memory. If a system is able to calculate PI to the 2 millionth place after the decimal without mistake, it is considered to be stable in regards to RAM and CPU. This program will also allow us to outline performance gains created by overclocked CPU and RAM frequencies.

We test with the 32M Calculation.

The final time of 22 minutes and 58 seconds is reasonable, considering the low power nature of the A10 5800K.

Cyberlink PowerDVD 11 is one of the finest solutions for the BluRay experience on Windows and we found this software to work perfectly with this chipset. We tested with the new extended Bluray Disc of Lord Of The Rings.

No real problem for the system, leaving plenty of CPU cycles for other duties.

CyberLink MediaEspresso 6 is the successor to CyberLink MediaShow Espresso 5.5. With its further optimized CPU/GPU-acceleration, MediaEspresso is an even faster way to convert not only your video but also your music and image files between a wide range of popular formats.

Now you can easily playback and display your favourite movies, songs and photos not just on your mobile phone, iPad, PSP, Xbox, or Youtube and Facebook channels but also on the newly launched iPhone 4. Compile, convert and enjoy images and songs on any of your computing devices and enhance your videos with CyberLink’s built-in TrueTheater Technology.

New and Improved Features

• Ultra Fast Media Conversion – With support from the Intel Core i-Series processor family, ATI Stream & NVIDIA CUDA, MediaEspresso’s Batch-Conversion function enables multiple files to be transcoded simultaneously.
• Smart Detect Technology – MediaEspresso 6 automatically detects the type of portable device connected to the PC and selects the best multimedia profile to begin the conversion without the need for user’s intervention.
• Direct Sync to Portable Devices – Video, audio and image files can be transferred in a few easy steps to mobile phones including those from Acer, BlackBerry, HTC, Samsung, LG, Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, and Palm, as well as Sony Walkman and PSP devices.
• Enhanced Video Quality – CyberLink TrueTheater Denoise and Lighting enables the enhancement of video quality through optical noise filters and automatic brightness adjustment.
• Video, Music and Image File Conversion – Convert not only videos to popular formats such as AVI, MPEG, MKV, H.264/AVC, and FLV at the click of a button, but also images such as JPEG and PNG and music files like WMA, MP3 and M4A.
• Online Sharing – Conversion to video formats used by popular social networking websites and a direct upload feature means posting videos to Facebook and YouTube has never been easier.

For our testing today we are converting a 3.3GB 720p MKV file (2h:12mins) to Apple Mp4 format for playback on a portable device. This is a common procedure for many people and will give a good indication of system power.

We are using the newest version which has been optimised for AMD’s A85X platform. Hardware acceleration is enabled.

The final time of 15 minutes and 15 seconds is considerably faster than the Gigabyte F2A85X-UP4/AMD A10 5800K system with HD7970 GHZ Edition (final time of 16m52s). We can assume this is related to the specific A10 5800k, (A85X) hardware algorithms coded into this latest beta version of the software.

The Matroska Media container is a very popular, open standard Multimedia container which is usually found as .MKV files. It is a very popular format in enthusiast circles and can be played directly in Windows Media Player with suitable codecs installed. We use the Combined Community Codec Pack (CCCP).

We ripped our BluRay disc of Sniper Reloaded to 1080P MKV and use Windows Media Player to playback the file.

The system averaged around 30 percent CPU time which is quite a good result. MKV contained files can be very demanding of the partnering hardware.

Many people using this system will be enjoying Flash related content so we feel it is important to test with some of the more demanding material available freely online. Full hardware acceleration is enabled.

No concerns playing back 1080p HD content, averaging 19 percent CPU time.

Aliens V Predator has proved to be a big seller since the release and Sega have taken the franchise into new territory after taking it from Sierra. AVP is a Direct X 11 supported title and delivers not only advanced shadow rendering but high quality tessellation for the cards on test today.

To test the cards we used a 1080p resolution with DX11, Texture Quality Very High, MSAA Samples 1, 16 af, ambient occulsion on, shadow complexity high, motion blur on. We use this with most of our graphics card testing so cards are comparable throughout reviews.

The AMD A10 5800K walks all over the Intel 3770k with HD4000 graphics. That said, neither are playable at this resolution and image quality settings.

F1 2012 is a video game developed by Codemasters. It is based on the 2012 Formula One season, and is the sequel to F1 2010 and F1 2011. It is the fourth Formula One game developed by the Codemasters studios after the company renewed its licence to develop the official games of the series.

The game features all twelve teams and twenty-four drivers competing in the 2012 season, as well as the twenty circuits — including the brand new Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas — included in the championship.

We used a 1080p setting with 2x anti aliasing enabled. We selected the built in ‘medium' image quality preset to get a balanced result.

Fantastic results from the AMD A10 5800K at 1080p with 2 AA, averaging 39 frames per second, and maintaining a 30fps> frame rate at all times. The 3770k with HD4000 by comparison struggles to break 20 fps at all. This isn't even close.

Shogun 2 is set in 16th-century feudal Japan, in the aftermath of the Ōnin War. The country is fractured into rival clans led by local warlords, each fighting for control. The player takes on the role of one of these warlords, with the goal of dominating other factions and claiming his rule over Japan. The standard edition of the game will feature a total of eight factions (plus a ninth faction for the tutorial), each with a unique starting position and different political and military strengths.

We use the built in STEAM settings for these results, so you can directly compare against your own system.

At 720p the A10 5800K manages to produce a smooth frame rate, although it drops close to the danger zone at 25fps a couple of times. The 3700k with HD4000 on the other hand is more like a slideshow.

At 1080p the AMD A10 5800k returns the error message above. Not that it would be playable at this resolution anyway.

Dirt: Showdown (stylised as DiRT: Showdown) is a video game published and developed by Codemasters. The player is entered in a series of “Tour” events, offering a range of races and tournaments to compete in. Winning these events gives the player prize money, which can be spent buying new cars or upgrading existing ones, and unlocks further races. Upon the successful completion of the series final, the next difficulty setting is unlocked, featuring faster opponents and longer races.

We used a 1080p setting with 2 x MSAA and the ‘medium' image quality preset.

The game is playable on the AMD A10 5800K at these settings, and it isn't on the Intel 3700k with HD4000 graphics. The experience on the AMD A10 5800k is actually extremely impressive, much like F1 2012 earlier in the review.

To measure power consumption we take a reading from the socket with a calibrated power meter. The power readings are taken when loaded in the last test of 3dmark 11, with the AMD A10 5800k fully active, including the HD7660D. All peripherals, including the monitor, do not factor into this reading.

Power consumption is fantastic, with a maximum draw of 116 watts being drained from the socket.

Asus F2A85-V Pro

The Asus F2A85-V Pro is a fantastic motherboard that is well equipped as a partner for the AMD A10 5800K. As we mentioned earlier in the review, we feel the Gigabyte F1A85X-UP4 is a more attractive design, comprising dark grey and black components. Asus have opted for light blue and dark blue slots which slightly ruins the overall appearance.

Technically, there are no shortage of connectors on the F2A85-V Pro, and we appreciate that all the SATA ports are 6Gbps rated on the A85X chipset. As these are backwards compatible there is no need to double check which port you are using with a new Solid State Drive. Simply plug and play for maximum performance.

The Asus F2A85-V Pro bios is rock solid and we received an update just before starting the review. There are plenty of options available for overclocking and we managed to push the A10 5800K to 4.6ghz with minimal effort.

The A85X chipset supports up to 64GB of memory, however unlike the Gigabyte F1A85X-UP4, the Asus motherboard has a built in BIOS setting for 2,400mhz rated memory. Sadly, we couldn't get complete stability at this setting, even when using cutting edge 2,666mhz rated Corsair Dominator Platinum sticks. The D.O.C.P feature didn't work for us either, although as it was pushing the memory to native speeds of 2,666mhz we didn't expect it would. 2,133mhz was the most stable limit, an identical result to the Gigabyte F1A85X-UP4.

The BIOS layout is worthy of a mention, as ASUS lead the way in this regard. They cleverly place all the overclocking and timings options within a single scrollable menu system, which is both intuitive and easy to navigate.

We have no confirmed price point yet in the UK for the Asus F2A85-V Pro, although our early price indications would point to between £100 and £110 inc vat. This means you can get the AMD A10 5800K with motherboard for £200 inc vat. Even though this is a high end motherboard, I do think the prices need to drop by £10-£15. I can't imagine anyone paying £95 for the A10 5800k will want to spend £100+ on a partnering motherboard.

Pros:

• Very stable.
• fantastic bios.
• memory support up to 2,666mhz via D.O.C.P.
• great connectivity.

Cons:

• Not the prettiest looking motherboard.
• We could only get 2,133mhz stable with 2,666mhz memory sticks.
• More expensive than the A10 5800k processor.

Kitguru says: A well equipped, stable motherboard that has plenty of options for overclocking and performance tweaks.

AMD A10 5800K

I have to admit, the A10 5800K didn't excite me initially. I started testing with a variety of FPU and bandwidth related applications such as Cinebench and Super Pi and found the results to be slightly uninspiring, especially when compared directly to the last generation AMD A8 3850 and A8 3870K.

For a gamer on a budget however, I was quite literally blown away. We have never seen current titles such as F1 2012 or Dirt Showdown playable from an integrated chip solution. If you had told me a few weeks ago that 2x anti aliasing was also possible at 1920×1080, I would have raised a eyebrow in disbelief.

When we compare again the 3770k with Intel HD4000 graphics, the differences are literally night and day. Not only does the A10 5800k deliver smooth, playable frame rates with F1 2012 and Dirt Showdown, but the image quality is significantly better.

As the foundation for a high definition media center we have no hesitation recommending the AMD A10 5800k, the image quality produced from the new processor is almost at the same level as a stand alone discrete solution, often costing 3 or 4 times as much money.

The A10 5800K delivers the best integrated graphics performance available today. It is an efficient chip design which could be partnered up with a modest 200W power supply. Additionally, there is reasonable overclocking headroom … to 4.6ghz without much of an effort.

If you are currently in the market for an integrated solution to play games, and have no desire, or limited funds to purchase a discrete solution then the AMD A10 5800k is the most viable and cost effective solution available.

You can buy from ARIA for £93.54 inc vat.

Pros:

• Only £95 inc vat.
• Outclasses the Core i3 2105 in all areas.
• fantastic integrated graphics performance.
• headroom for overclocking.
• image quality is approaching discrete solutions.

Cons:

• For processor intensive tasks such as 3D rendering and video editing, it can struggle.
• A85X motherboards are expensive.

Kitguru says: The A10 5800K is a fantastic budget gaming processor and it might be all that some people will ever need.

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