Upgrading my weak Trinity Laptop with the strongest AMD A10-5750M ES Richland APU

Upgrading is always fun, especially from the weakest Trinity to the strongest Richland APU. My new A10-5750M is very interesting, because it is an Engineering Sample, meaning it has unlocked CPU multipliers and TDP!!! Shall I call it Black Edition?
In this test I’ll examine the performance difference between Trinity A4-4300M and an overclclocked A10-5750M ES! And for those who cannot find it enough exciting, I salted the review with many more APUs; such as the AMD A6-4400M, A10-4600M, A10-4655M, [email protected], Intel Core i5 3317U and A10-5750M ES with stock clocks.

Like two eggs, but very different behavior.​

Test System:

HP Pavilion G6-2235us
- AMD Trinity A4-4300M 35W APU,
- AMD Richland A10-5750M ES 35W APU,
- 2X4GB DDR3 1866MHz CL10 1.5V RAM,
- Samsung 830 Pro 128GB SSD,
- Windows 8 X64,
- AMD Catalyst 13.6 beta Driver

AMD A6-4400M, A10-4600M, A10-4655M, A8-3550MX, Intel Core i5 3317U results are from my earlier reviews. Same version programs with same settings, but earlier video drivers.


To ensure bring the most out of these APUs I installed 2x4GB 1866MHz CL10 1.5V Memory. Richland can benefit from 1866MHz memory speed, while the older Trinity cannot. For overclocking the CPU cores I’ve used overdrive in Catalyst Control Center, the result is 3.2GHz near 1.125V without throttling issue (constant clocks). I could also overclock the GPU with MSI Afterburner, but I skipped this step since it cause too much GPU throttling.

This how is an overclocked Richland A10-5750M ES APU looks like​

Tests:

I’m going to make similar tests than previously; based on real world situations, such as encoding video with the most commonly used multithreaded video transcoder Handbrake program, compressing folders, files with 7zip, WinRar, WinZip, and play the most popular games.


CPU Tests

7zip; Compressing 1GB folder with default setting



WinRar; Compressing 1GB folder with default setting.



WinZip; Compressing 1GB folder with default and OpenCL acceleration settings.



This Handbrake 0.98 version is not OpenCL Accelerated yet, encoding a 45 minute DVD movie. Impressive results from Richland!



x264 HD Benchmark v5.0.1 just for sake of comparability with other systems.​

As you can see on the CPU front, the difference between the A4-4400M and the A10-5750M is quite large, Richland also quicker than the good old A10-4600M. As a result, A10 Richland gets done movie encoding or other CPU intensive tasks significantly quicker.


GPU Tests

In Alien vs. Predator Richland does not impress, maybe AMD ain't optimize for this title anymore



In order to get the most repeatable possible performance from Battlefield 3, I used a 90 second sequence from the Going Hunting level to benchmark. This not the most demanding segment and certainly not multi-player.



The popular Call of Duty series with maxed out graphics. Driver issue?



Far Cry 3 is a new DirectX 11-optimized game with Dunia Engine, which recreates jungles, beaches, and the ocean in stunning detail, if hardware is strong enough to keep up.



GTA4; faster CPU helps a lot



Need for Speed Run; What a Rush track measured with Fraps. All details set to Ultra, expect shadow. This NFS use the same engine as Battlefield 3, but at this time the CPU utilization is higher.



The best video game of 2012 limited to max 60FPS, cause decreased differences between the APUs. The Walking Dead, Episode 1, Chapter 8; Safe... Mostly intro part benchmarked.



3DMark03



And 3Dmark11​

Looking at the GPU tests, the performance difference is enormous between my two runners, easy to notice even without measuring the speed... The old A4 incapable of playing modern titles at reasonable frame rates, the new A10 plays everything.


Power Consumption:
A very important factor for laptop users, usually lower means longer battery time, less heat, less fan noise. Power usage measured with a wall meter connected to a 90W adapter:

The overclocked Richland consumes lots of power; for few seconds it jumped to 88W, when Prime95+Furmark were running together.​

Operating Temperature:
Idle means no CPU and GPU utilization, Load is Prime 95 + Furmark.

Funny the little Trinity heats more than the new Richland. Fan noise also reduced greatly…​

Conclusion:

The fully unlocked AMD A10-5750M ES impressed me, it is exactly what I was looking for! After the lazy A4-4300M feels like a rocket, faster than the old top Trinity and also faster than the retail version A10-5750M. I would say; Richland Engineering Samples are very recommended, however might not all the ES versions behave so good as my piece, therefore Be careful before you buy!


-->the test continues with AMD Richland A8-5550M ES overclocking:thumbsup:

 

I've always liked Black Edition AMD Phenom II cpu (desktop), so "black" gets my vote!

But of course AMD's apu lineup seems to now be "red" so maybe Red Edition is an OK alternative?

Nice post! Sorry to snip a lot of the detail. Mainly wanted to say: go with Red Edition as both the color and "Richland" is twofold for R.

 

Great review and comparison! Very interesting read! :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

Why is the A10 5750m performing worse than the A10-4600m in Alien vs Predator, BF3, and CoD?...

 

Good point, from now I call it as my dear "Red Edition Mobile Richland"

I do not know, could be just driver related or this ES is more CPU optimized than GPU.

 

Hello! Helpful post, thanks!

Could you please advice. I've got HP ProBook 4545s and already upgraded it to A10-4600M. But temperatures of A10-5750M impressed me a lot. Does my laptop fit this Richland APU? Does this require new BIOS to support this APU? Desktop motherboard vendors provide BIOS updates for new desktop Richland. Did you upgrade your BIOS?

Thanks in advance!

 

Hi,

I installed the latest bios F27 from HP website, but it is might not needed since Trinity and Richland built to the same architecture. However bios updates are always useful, so flash the latest and you are certainly ready to use a Richland APU in your old HP Trinity laptop .

 

Thanks! The difference of more than 10 C looks very good. I hope non-engineering processor will show the same temperatures. The only one con of my HP 4545s with A10-4600M is noisy fan that almost always runs at low speed in idle and turns off (very rarely), if temperature is less than 40 C.

 

He he, I had the same problem, fortunately A10 Richland + Ac diamond thermal paste fixed the noise problem, the fan won't kick in during internet browsing and other harder situations spinning lower rotation.

 

Pretty nice, surprised that the HP booted with the A10-5750M considering there usually no micro code in HP's BIOS's for future upgrades. Then again they will be reusing chipsets this year around, might already be in there?

 

Are you sure that's a complete A10-5750M? In the screenshot for your graphics card it's saying only it only has 320 unified shaders, it should be 384.

It makes no sense that a higher clocked HD8650G with higher clocked ram would produce lower performance than the HD7660G in the A10-4600M.

 

That is only mistake of HWinfo64, it shows the same thing for A10-4600M;



Otherwise if some sharders missing how would you explain such an improvement in the lower games?

Interesting they have removed my F27 bios, only the older F26 available. I wonder why they did it?

 

Interesting, seems strange they wouldn't fix the mistake after trinity being out for so long. Normally you don't get an improvement with less shaders, though I've seen Nvidia desktop GPUs that were faster in some games then GPUs with more shaders because the clocks were higher to compensate.

AMD's A10-5750M reference laptop from January was getting 1400 points in 3DMark11, so I was curious about the differences, the only other review of a laptop with A10-5750M is the MSI gaming laptops, so I'll wait a bit to see what new laptops with the part are capable of.

I'd like to grab one to use in my Asus K55N, but the current $200+ prices are way more than I would pay for the chip, I'll grab one to try out once the price gets to under $100 (considering you can pick up a A10-4600M for $75).

 

I would want to get a dud like back in the Llano days from bad sellers, flogging off crippled chips. Where did you get it from? If you don't want to say here (due to being a ES) a PM will be appreciated?

 

Unfortunately I do not know any cheap or crippled source, my ES is from the same guy how currently sells the regular A10-5750M APUs on crazy high price. However he ran out quickly of Engineering Samples, maybe he had 4 or 5...

So for those who were not satisfied with my 3DMark 11 score, new Catalyst 16.b2 helped to gain some points;



1500 points are still far cry...

 

Glad to hear that the performance is where AMD said it would be, was getting a bit worried. 1500 points is only 7% higher, so it may be possible with newer drivers, but personally I'd be happy with 1400 Points (getting a little over 1000 on my A8-4500M).

Any thoughts on battery life? My A8-4500M is ok battery life wise, but not really great, can get maybe 3 hours watching videos at minimum brightness with wifi on, planning on upgrading to the A10-5750 once price comes down.

 

You might can expect few minutes longer battery time, but nothing serious.

I added power consumption figures to the test and actually I measured little higher power consumption as with my older A10-4600M. Of course this time the configuration is little different, SSD instead HDD or I use faster RAMs + 2nd HDD.

 

Forgive me about the off-topic regarding the Bios. I too noticed they removed F.27 from HP drivers page (i own a local copy just in case), and replaced it with "old" F.26. In fact, F.27 was just up for a couple of days.

Wonder it this bios wasn't intended for public use and it may be not RSA signed and thus moddable, or simply adds microcode for new richlands ... ?

Is there some expert who could investigate into this misteriously disappearing bios?

 

This is a very interesting question, it would not be nice from HP if they changed their mind supporting older Trinity laptops with Richland APUs. Unfortunately I deleted my F27 bios installer, so please keep it or post here because someone will need it!

 

I'm not at my computer now, but I will upload the bios in a few hours.

 

Bios F.27 uploaded to
http://dfiles.eu/files/3q8druhjp

It should be compatible with all hp g6-2xxx with AMD boards (Mine is a 184A)
Atom, do you know if the 8650g integrated into the a10-5750 would work in dual graphics with a 7670m? I think your hp has a dedicated card, did it work with the integrated?

 

Many thanks for the bios, and yes it is compatible with all hp g6-2xxx with AMD boards. I'm sure someone will need it when Richland's prices are going down on Ebay. +Reputation.

My laptop does not have 7670M, but the two should work together! Someone thinks even better than with A10-4600M, because 8650g's performance matching better with 7670M, it would give less microstutters.

 

Any idea if you need the latest bios for Richland or will the older bios work as well?

Sent from my SGH-I717D using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

I assume should work with older bios as well, but better to be sure with the latest before disassembling the PC.

 

I'm just wondering as my k55n hasn't received any bios updates since last year, I'd prefer to know if the processor works before I buy it, but if it doesn't work in mine, I can always resell it.

Sent from my SGH-I717D using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

Yes, Richland will work with older bios too, do not worry ! I downgraded my bios to F23 (last year's bios) and no issue at all;

 

Awesome, thanks for the update.

Sent from my SGH-I717D using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

Might be a dumb question, but do you guys think I would I be able to replace my Llano A8-3530mx with this? I have a dv6z-61XX from HP about two years ago. What about an A10-4600m?

 

If I recall correctly the llano processors used a slightly different socket than trinity and Richland.

Sent from my SGH-I717D using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

Any thoughts on how well a A10-5750M would crossfire with a 8750M?

Wonder if it be better than a A10-4600M with 7730M crossfire? The 7730M might have a slower core clock speed but has 33% more stream processors and 100% more ROPS than the 8750M.

Thinking about pulling the trigger on a A10-5750M with 8750M notebook. Is a hard choice when the A10-4600M is still more than capable, just for a change in form factor.

 

FS1r1 vs. FS1r2, both has the same pin layout therefore physically possible to put a Richland into Llano socket. Unfortunately bios does not support so won't work.

I do not think too well, the architecture of the two GPU is quite different. Otherwise I can recommend you very much the Radeon 8750M, it is very efficient and very overclockable. I have an Ultrabook with this discrete GPU and it can easily run 1000MHz GPU + 1150MHz Mem, makes more than 2200 3DMark11 score...

 

What ultrabook is this? Not that I've really been looking, but I haven't seen hardly any ultrabooks that have a discrete GPU in it.

 

Although this topic little going off, but I meant the new Samsung 530U4E.

 

I currently own a A10-4600M and from looking at your benchmarks, do I really need an upgrade to the A10-5750M? It seems for some games, the A10-4600M is better in some ways. Would you call it a draw between this two APUs? Thank you for the benchmarks you provided. You helped pick out what notebook I would purchase last year.

 

Hello, I would first like to thank you for the benchmarks you provided for everyone. They really helped me out in selecting my laptop last year. My question to you is, do I really need an upgrade from A10-4600M to A10-5750M? Because looking from your benchmarks, it seems that the A10-4600M performs better in some ways than this new Richland A10-5750M. Would you call it a draw between these two APUs?

 

Your welcome ! I would only upgrade if price difference no more than $15 between two of them. The performance gain is minimal, unless you could find also an overclock-able Engineering Sample. However, those who have smaller (A4, A6 or A8) Trinity laptop, the upgrading makes more sense...

 

Thanks for the advice! Do you think will be another A10 or better APU released later in the year by any chance? Because I really don't wont to revert to overclocking this APU. It seems turbo mode over heats when ATI Graphics Power Settings is set to maximize performance. Also with the new upcoming PS4 titles coming to PC later on, I would want at least a 40 percent upgrade so I can newer titles. One more thing do you have any advice for me to fix this overheating problem I am having? Someone said IC Diamond is like the best thermal compound to cool off CPUs, so I ordered it on ebay but they also told me you need to be careful on how you apply since its not like applying heatsink. Thanks again for your advice, and sorry for the double post.

 

Kaveri APU should come out in late 2013. I doubt AMD is interested in missing the holiday shopping season.

 

Thank you for telling me about the new APU. I watched the press conference about this new APU, but they didn't talk much about what types would be in notebooks. But I am guessing they might come out Q1 2014. Which isn't bad since only early PS4 game I want on PC is Watch Dogs. But do you also have advice about how to fix this overheating issue when turbo boost is enabled?

 

Do not maximize performance, just set it to balanced! The turbo boost will still kick in but only when needed. I had overheating issue with A4 as well because the CPU was running all the times in the max turbo frequency.
Applying IC Diamond thermal compound is wise decision, it will help decrease few degrees. Applying process is easy, about the size of a rice seed to the middle of the die.

 

Glad to know that's its an easy process and that the overheating problem isn't just me. I will wait for the new APU to come out and hope its better upgrade than Richland. Also hope the upgrade fixes the flaws of the previous APUs. Part of me hopes over time this replaces CPU and GPU in laptops because its not fair that laptops aren't upgradeable. But I'll try and see if IC Diamond helps this overheating issue I am having. Thank you for your advice. Look forward to seeing your new benchmarks.

 

I do not think if any better Richland APU coming and I doubt if Kaveri APU will be compatible with current Trinity, Richland laptops.

 

Awesome test of the Richland APUs. It's kind of awesome really with the overclock.
AMD should probably fine tune their APUs to provide more power like that overclock in stock settings and market it to OEMs as a good replacement for CPU+GPUs.

 

Just a small question about the motherboard. Can you give me the refence of your motherboard ?

I mean the number generally put on the RAM slots where it is written "Replace with hp spare xxxxxxxx".

Thanks !

 

Thank you, Atom, for this thread!
It's so frustrating: Here in switzerland, it's impossible to find a decent notebook chassis with a good APU already built-in (a random online shop looks like this: out of 432 laptops, only 9, all from the lowest-cost-segment, come with an AMD CPU...). The best thing I have found (very subjective, as I'm looking for a light and small notebook with a good screen and a decent AMD APU (yep, I'm biassed...)) is the HP ProBook 6475b, AMD A6-4400M APU. It has a very nice screen and chassis, but only a weak APU.

Now I found your thread here, and my hope to possess a really sweet notebook one day rises
As I've learned from this thread, the above-mentioned ProBook 6475b would almost certainly be upgradable with the A10-5750M Richland. The worst thing that could happen is the microcode for the Richlands is missing in the latest BIOS, right? What happens then? I mean... would it stay black after powering on? Or will Windows just recognize the APU incorrectly?
How can I find out if Richland APU's are supported for this laptop?

Thank you for any help!
Kind regards
deschoe

 

As you say it is very certain A10-5750M Richland will work with ProBook 6475b + it has a recent F.43 bios update.
In my HP the A10-5750M perfectly worked even with a bios from last year .

 

Hi, I have a Lenovo z585 with an A8-4500m and was wondering if anybody knows if an A10-5750m would be compatible?

Thanks in advance

 

You can go ahead, 99% sure it is compatible!

 

hi man, two weaks back i bought the hp pavilion g6 2313ax dual graphics 7660g+7670m...all games are working fine..for my laptop is possible to upgrade A10-5750m..any driver tweaks for windows 8 64 bit for these laptop ( which driver is best)...deticated graphics card also possible to upgrade?....sorry for my bad english..please give some solution...thanks in advance

 

Yes there is a solution coming today apparently, 7-31-2013, for Dual-Graphics/Crossfire improvement.

See here, all credit goes to Big_Vulture for posting this:

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