How well AMD Trinity A6-4400M, A10-4600M and Llano A8-3550MX APU perform in real world? Performance and Power Consumption Tests!

After many years with Intel, last year I switched to AMD Llano A8-3550MX APU powered laptop and observed great difference due to Strong (Radeon 6620G) integrated graphics. AMD Fusion APUs are delivering strong enough CPU cores with a discrete level graphics in one die. Means it perform well with both games and business applications, while heat and power consumption numbers are minimal.
AMD says the new Trinity APU features a much improved design over the previous generation of Llano APUs. In this contest I’m going to find out how much better is the new improved design and what capable for!

Is this little thing a powerhouse?​

Test Systems:

HP Pavilion G6-2123US (Trinity)
-AMD A6-4400M Twin Core 2.7GHz@Turbo with Integrated Radeon 7520G
-AMD A10-4600M Quad Core 2.3GHz@Turbo with integrated Radeon 7660G
-G. Skill 2X4GB DDR3 1600MHz CL9 1.5V
-Seagate 500GB 7200RPM HDD
-Windows 8 X64
-AMD Catalyst 12.8 driver

Dell Vostro 3555 (Llano)
-AMD A8-3550MX Quad Core [email protected] with integrated Radeon 6620G
-G. Skill 2X4GB DDR3 1600MHz CL9 1.5V
-Seagate 500GB 7200RPM HDD
-Windows 8 X64
-AMD Catalyst 12.8 driver


AMD Fusion laptops are really sensitive for Dual Channel and Memory Speed setups, therefore to be able measure accurately performance difference, I’ve used both systems with same memory sticks.

The new AMD A6-4400M and A10-4600M with Turbo Core 3.0 technology (automatically overclocks CPU and GPU cores according to temperature, 35W TDP limit and loading situations) to ensure bring its best all the time. Fortunately Trinity APUs are quite well voltage optimized too, because PSCheck with beta Piledriver support isn’t too good for undervolting purposes. Meanwhile you are good to use your machine without tweak programs.
While the old A8-3550MX is an un-optimized APU, using insane high voltages in each P-State and cannot auto-overclock neither CPU nor GPU cores. Therefore need manual optimization by Fusiontweaker or K10Stat. I’ve found 2.4GHz near 1.15V for the highest and 0.8GHz with 0.725V for the lowest best-effective operation. Unfortunately there is no option to overclock the GPU core.

A6-4400M top speed is 3200MHz.



A10-4600M top speed is 3200MHz with two Cores and 2700MHz with four Cores.



A8-3550MX factory default was 2000MHz near 1.125V and 800MHz near 0.938V. After Undervolting the operation is sensibly cooler.​

Tests:

I’m going to avoid synthetic CPU benchmark programs, therefore my tests based on real world situations; encoding video with the commonly used Handbrake program, compressing folders, files with Winzip 16.5 and play few popular games. To bring out the maximum of these APUs, games will run near the highest possible details as long as frame rates are sufficiently enough to play.

45 minutes long DVD movie encoding to MKV file. Handbrake use all available CPU cores, therefore not surprising quad Core APUs are much faster than twin core A6. No OpenCL acceleration yet!



Compressing (Futuremark folder; inside 3Dmark11, 3Dmark2003 and 3Dmark2001SE) 935MB to 434MB. Winzip also use all available CPU cores. To see OpenCL acceleration test scroll down to the second post!



Alien vs. Predator is one of the first titles with DX11 support, which still holds the APUs very well.



A10-4600M runs Battlefield 3 smoothly near advanced details. Going Hunting scene tested with Fraps.



The popular Call of Duty series with maxed out graphics runs perfectly on all 3 APUs. Escape Vorkuta episode tested with Fraps.



Average FPS of 18 Leaders in Civilization V. To run this test, run the application with the command line option “-LeaderBenchmark“



GTA 4 runs fine near decent quality on A8-3550MX and A10-4600M.



Need for Speed Run; What a Rush track measured with Fraps. All details set to Ultra, expect shadow.



No problem playing The Walking Dead Game on these APUs, A10-4600M scores close to the maximum 60FPS. Episode 1, Chapter 8; Safe... Mostly intro part benchmarked.



3DMark03 for what difference you can expect in older games



3Dmark11 Benchmark for last; show similar difference as the DX11 games above.​

Power Consumption:

Very important factor for laptop users, lower means longer battery time, less heat, less fan noise.
Power usage measured from connector, which means the whole laptop consumption. I’ve measured the first minute in each situation and determined the average:

Note I’ve not used SSD and low-voltage DDR3 Memory, but the numbers are already quite low!​

Efficiency:

Trinity with new improved design offer more performance for less power usage. Let’s see how charming the performance/Watt figures:

The new improved design average 18% faster per Watt. Note A8-3550MX was undervolted in each P-State, perhaps lessened the difference.​

Conclusion:

I found the new Trinity very satisfying experience; it definitely gives new life for laptops without discrete graphics. Considering we can play demanding games in High or Maxed out graphics near 1366X768 screen resolution between 37-53W power consumption for overall system, A10-4600M is unbeatable and much recommended! The included CPU situation tests are showing adequate performance too, even if not quite as fast as the old overclocked A8-3550MX. The slower A6-4400M certainly strong enough to outperform 3rd gen Intel Ivy Bridge APUs in gaming, but far not as quick running CPU intensive programs. If your daily routine aren’t more serious than browsing on Internet, play HD video, word, excel, light gaming, etc., than A6-4400M is perfectly enough too.
The point of criticism is some manufacturers are not willing to build laptops for AMD chips and if so only in 15”-17” category where Intel laptops wildly available with higher-class NVidia discrete GPUs. Trinity APUs could be killer in thin and 12”- 14” laptops. Unfortunately these laptops are not exist or very rare, especially a fully-featured good quality one what many people waiting for! For more information visit The Ultimate AMD Trinity Notebook List.

 

Winzip 16.5 OpenCL acceleration test;

A10-4600M still cannot catch the good old overclocked A8-3550MX​

Some more interesting tests;
12.8 Vs. 12.9 AMD Catalyst Driver Performance Review with A10-4600M:

Alien Vs. Predator:............28,3..........28,1
Battlefield 3:....................28,8.........
Call of Duty 7 Black Ops:....50,7.........49,4
Civilization 5:....................44,9.........
GTA 4:.............................29,9..........29,1
Need For Speed: The Run:...23,2.........
The Walking Dead Game:....52,8.........
3DMark03:........................20628.......20442
3DMark11:........................ 1332......... 1338

 

Llano Vs. Trinity Cache and Memory Performance Benchmark by AIDA64:

​

Windows 8 Experience Index (WEI Scores):

A8-3550MX:

​

A10-4600M:

​

 

Really cool benchmarking. It would be nice to have a comparison of those real world tests with a i3 and i5 Sandy Bridge CPU though.

 

I do not have Sandy Bridge any more, but I've marked all the settings in every title so people could re-done very similar scenarios. Maybe Handbrake need further explanation, if need for someone I have the details too...

 

I have both an i7-3610QM and and i5-3360m Ivy Bridge that I can run comparisons with using the HD 4000 in my Clevo W110ER 11.6" notebook if you'd like?

The A8 Llano seems to have the CPU multithreaded advantage, but the Trinity is definitely the better gaming CPU.

 

Interesting, but I think this is posted in the wrong section.

 

Yeah, Trinity is exactly the opposite of Llano; weaker CPU, stronger GPU.
We all know quad core i7 gona be much faster for CPU tasks, but looking forward to see i5-3360m comparison. For WinRar you can download the things from the web, for Handbrake we should use a video file which available for both of us.

I have wanted to post into here --> Notebook News, Reviews
but unfortunately I'm not allowed to open thread there...

My concern is which laptop to keep now? Because I love my Dell Vostro 3555; Noiseless, matte screen with Backlit keyboard and Bluetooth. The HP Pavilion G6 do not have these advantages, but have A10 Trinity inside and I want that very much .

 

Pretty impressive that the 7520g can keep up with the 6620g and that power consumption is awesome. I am planning to upgrade to Trinity soon, preferably when I see an A8-4500m for <$450 or A10-4600m for <$500, and I am glad that I will see a noticeable improvement in gaming and power consumption over my A6-3420m

 

Good review. +rep. I thought Trinity also had trouble reaching turbo speeds like Llano did?

 

Great job Atom_Anti, and thanks for mentioning The Ultimate AMD Trinity Notebook List! I will add this thread to the list as I think buyers in the market for a Trinity notebook would love to see this review. Trinity definitely shows an improvement over Llano for gaming and power consumption has gotten better too especially in the intensive 3D stuff. For the light work (web browsing, videos) Llano power consumption isn't so bad still.

As far as which you should keep, its going to come down to how much you value gaming. For the CPU intensive stuff, overclocked Llano is still holding its own in the ring against Trinity. But if you do a lot of gaming, then Trinity is the obvious choice. For myself, I'm still ok with my Llano for at least another year since I'm not a hardcore gamer. I'm actually going to pass on Trinity and wait for Kaveri. IMO, the G6 isn't the most attractive Trinity notebook so I'd personally pass it up for say a dv6 with a 1080p display. But then again, its up to you and whatever you like so best wishes to whatever you decide.

I'd +rep you but for some reason it says I have to rep others first before I rep you.

You already can! Check out the 14" Toshiba Satellite L840D-BT2N22 Laptop with A8-4500M starting at $440 or the 15.6" Toshiba Satellite L850D-BT2N22 Laptop with A8-4500M (upgrade-able to A10-4600M for $48 more) starting at $440 too.

 

Llano never could get into Turbo for me, while Trinity often does; high as the chart shows. The only thing what bothers me is PSCheck tweak program. It actually good for undervolting, but cause slow downs and extra power consumption and should cause the opposite. A crap, not sure why could not they give full piledriver support after so many months.

davidricardo86
I do not play so often either, but when I do I expect the highest available quality and Trinity is much stronger. Especially surprised me with 3DMark result; even the White box test machines could not get further than 1150 points.
Waiting for Kaveri? That is like a year....!
Yes, probably the Pavilion DV6 will be the right machine for me with 1080p anti-glare panel. I'm just afraid that still have fan spinning noise and cost double as the G6...

 

Nice review. :thumbsup:

Btw, seems like the performance gone up comparing to the last review I saw from Anandtech(15th May).
Better driver I guess?
3DMark 11 increased from 11xx to 13xx.
Gaming Performance gap from a Llano also increased.
Good job Trinity!

Btw, will there be a tablet with an A10-4600M? Sorry if I'm a bit outdated on this.

 

Thanks! I did not liked the Anandtech Review; Games were running near low or medium details, while Trinity do not slow down turning details to High and adding AA and Anisotropic filter. They were using only 2X2GB 1600MHz with CL11 memory. Newer driver and Windows 8 probably also helped to reach my results, but mostly the good Dual Channel RAM.
I do not know too much about AMD tablets, but certainly they will use some ULV APU and not an A10.

 

Good review. I'd bench my a8 but I'm running win7 with cl11 ram so it wouldnt be a accurate comparison.

 

I meant $450 out the door. With tax and shipping the A8-4500m is $500, which is more than I would be willing to spend on it especially in a Toshiba

 

Cool stuff,... Now get some ULV APU benchmarks! =)

 

Why do not you take this Asus K55N for $400 at BestBuy? BestBuy available every corner in the US and some States do not even have Tax... Features an Quad Core A8, if needs arise you can upgrade to A10 just like I did with the HP Pavilion G6.

 

Had not seen that yet but now it is probably going to be my next laptop

 

K55n is a good buy. I purchased this and don't regret it. Just need to buy 1 stick of 4gb ram and you're set.

 

Yes, definitely need for optimal performance. Fortunately RAMs are really not expensive in the past 1,5 years, so hopefully abaddon can stay in $450 limit.

 

Where can you get A10?

edit: NM, see you can get it on eBay for ~ $175. Kind of a steep price. Still holding out for a 13" A10, even an A8 I'd settle for I guess as long as the price is right.

 

Wow, so my A6-4400m should be okay running Battlefield 3 on medium settings? That's really impressive if it's true. I haven't really tested any super intensive games yet, but it can handle LoL and Team Fortress 2 on max fine. Thanks for the benchmarks!

 

I've bought my A10-4600M in May for little less on Ebay. My Vostro 3555 did not worked with it, but fortunately I kept it and good for the HP Pavilion G6 and other Trinity based laptops.

Yes, I think so. Check my settings, because certain extras have more affect for performance than others.

 

Anty, I found this review as the best Trinity Performance demonstration. Very nice Work! Before reading Engadget, Anandtech and other crap reviews I thought Trinity won’t perform so much better than Intel's HD4000 and was holding me back to purchase my Trinity laptops. Do you think HD7660G could outperform GT630M too?

 

Thanks! Yes those sites did not meant to bring out the maximum of these APUs, especially those which tested with Single Channel Memory. The GT630M usually paired with Intel processors, so it depends how much CPU or GPU use the game. The less CPU intensive (or better multithreaded) games can be faster on 7660G, but for sure much faster than HD4000.

 

I've added few extra informations to the 2nd, 3rd, 4th posts on the first page.

 

Maybe you could repeat these benchmarks with the 12.9 Catalyst update?

 

That is what I was checking in my 2nd post in this thread, but 12.9 over 12.8 ain't show any performance difference . I think 12.9 will give performance boost for only CrossfireX Trinity laptops...

 

It seems 12.8 Catalyst driver already bringing out the best of A10, so I doubt if we can expect more performance boost with new drivers. Maybe Trinity 2.0 will make P1500 3DMarks?

 

If Trinity 2.0 coming with 50-100MHz faster GPU certainly will reach P1500 3DMarks. However I'm afraid only CPU part will get few hundred MHz boost, which won't make difference... 1866MHz DDR3 Memory support would be welcome too!

 

Hi Atom! Awesome review!!! I got Pavilion G6 with A6 Trinity and want to add my new A10-4600M processor just the way you did. How the heck can I remove the damn keyboard?

 

Removing the keyboard is the most difficult part of this laptop, but possible. First of all read the manual, it gives good explanation about all the necessary steps.
After removing the one screw, you basically need to push crazy the keyboard trough the shown hole;



Good luck .

 

Thanks, I made it. Laptop is great now!

 

Guys, I've figured out the Winzip OpenCL acceleration did not worked in my test, because the configuration-->System menu should have an OpenCL switch, what I do not have;

I should see this:


But I see this:


Any idea how to get that OpenCL switch?

 

Maybe you have to use a different version? Or edit some kind of .ini or .cfg file?! I'm not sure.

Sent from my SPH-M580 using Tapatalk

 

I have been using the latest version, could you please to check on your laptop? Maybe not compatible with Windows 8 yet.

 

I just tried this and YES I can enable OpenCL on my laptop.

Maybe you are correct in that its not Windows 8 compatible? I'm using Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium and Winzip 16.5 Pro (10096) 64-bit. That is really weird. It SHOULD allow you to enable OpenCL acceleration.

 

Ok David, thanks for the confirmation. I've started to investigate this problem, and I've figured Winzip 16.5 with Windows 8 need at least Catalyst 12.9 beta driver. From now I can turn On OpenCL acceleration on both systems and it does the jack. Later I will fresh one of the first few posts with new results.

 

It was a great review.

I was wondering between A6-3420 & 4400.
I read somewhere that 3420 with its 4 mb cache & quad core would beat 4400 with OC to 2400 MHz.
Do you think that 3420 could be a better choice than 4400 considering OC?

 

Welcome to the forum nashouri! The [email protected] will utterly crush A6-4400M in CPU demanding situations, while A6-4400M will run games better about 20-30%.
So which one is better choice? If you do lot's of video encoding or often do some sort of CPU heavy application than A6-3420M is the winner, otherwise if you only surfing internet, edit excel tables and play few games than A6-4400M is the smarter choice. The A6-4400M laptops are extendable to A10-4600M, probably for the upcoming Trinity 2.0 APU too.

 

Many thanks Atom Ant, maybe the most important factor is the upgrade ability to A10-4600 or maybe above.
I found HP G6-2123-US with A6-4400 at Staples for $330 after rebate. I guess it will be a good deal especially when considering the price of A10-4600 CPU (around $125-135) on ebay. So, total cost will be cheaper than any laptop with A10-4600.
Any way, I do not intend to upgrade for the time being.
Thanks again.

 

Yes, HP G6-2123-US has excellent Trinity deals, which I think the (one of the) best performance laptop for price! After upgrade you can still sell your A6-4400M to save some extra $$. However upgrading is difficult and risky (if you brake something), so I only recommend for advanced users!

 

have you tried 1866 ram in any of your laptops?

Now that I got 1600 working I want even faster.

 

Neither Llano nor Trinity supports faster RAM than 1600MHz. The only thing what you could do is tighten memory timings by Thaiphoon Burner. Otherwise I have been still waiting for a faster A10-4650MX APU which would support 1866MHz DDR3 in 45W TDP...

 

This actually the first good A10-4600M performance demonstration review out on web with favorable tests, measuring power consumption is brilliant. so I really enjoyed read it trough. Other sites just complaining about nothing or they don't want show out its full potential. I have the MSI GX60 with A10-4600M + 7970M which a very hard gamer laptop.

 

Thanks, that was my purpose because we have not seen any good Trinity Review before! Because I did not run Synthetic crap programs, I have not find anything to complain about ... Trinity is great!
And congratulation for your high-end gamer laptop ...

 

Atom, Do you know if CMSX8GX3M2A1866C10 can do CL6 at 1333MHz?

 

I do not know about that, but someone in the review mentioned the following;

These are rated to run at the following according to CPU-Z @ 1.50V...
DDR3 1333, CL6
DDR3 1600 is missing from CPU-Z's SPD tab, but CL8 works
DDR3 1866, CL9
DDR3 2050, CL10

So if these correct figures, it will run CL6 near 1333MHz. I would give a try too, but currently this memory cost twice as much as CL9 1600MHz RAM... Let me know if you do this upgrade and than run a 3DMark11 benchmark!

 

HTwingNut's RAM running in CL5 near 1333MHz, so you might want check out that memory!