SFF.Network [SFF Network] AMD Launches A10-7890K Desktop APU

While AM4 is on the horizon, AMD and partner manufacturers are still releasing new AM3+ and FM2+ products. Today the A10-7890K has been announced. This socket FM2+ chip, based on the "Kaveri" Refresh silicon, replaces the A10-7870K as the fastest APU you can buy. The chip's maximum (Turbo Core) frequency is upped to 4.30 GHz, compared to the 4.20 GHz on the A10-7870K. The base clock speed remains close to the the current fastest APU, at 3.9 - 4.1 GHz. There's a good chance that this 95w APU will come with AMD's updated Wraith CPU cooler.

Read more here.

 

[iFreilicht]

A good sign of AMD getting their production under control when they can bin an even higher tier of chips now, but one has to wonder of how much use it is next to the announcements of AM4. In the end, it will be bought by some, so it will probably pay off anyway.

AM3+ mITX boards would be awesome, but frankly, I won't believe in them until I see an announcement of one. The thing about AM4 is that a market for FM2+ mITX was already determined to exist, so as APUs are coming to the AM4 socket, mITX boards will use that socket, too. With AM3+, there's not really been any testing, and so close to the end of it's lifespan, the incentive for manufacturers to bring an experimental product to market is lower than ever.

 

[confusis]

I sort of agree with you, but there has been some new features implemented - iirc Asus launched the first 970 chipset with SLI certification, etc

 

[iFreilicht]

Which is pretty cool, and I welcome that they extend the lifespan of their platform, it's just a logical step to make with the recent developments in storage interconnect technology, but these Chipsets are less expensive to produce and can be used on multiple boards, so it's less of a risk for the manufacturer than jumping to a new form factor.

 

[confusis]

That's the thing though - this is an engineered solution.

Look at the ASUS M4A88-TI Deluxe. It has a Northbridge that is used on AM3+ (880g) boards (evidence here), (southbridge is inconsequential as it doesn't connect to CPU directly) the VRMs are rated for 125w CPUs, etc etc./

All it would really take for ASUS to make an AM3+ itx board would be to grab the old design files, swap out the socket, write an updated BIOS and send it to production.

 

[iFreilicht]

Huh, that's interesting, didn't know about that one. My best guess would be that board didn't sell well, so ASUS was reluctant to refresh it for AM3+.

 

[confusis]

When it was on the market, SFF wasn't such a big thing. This was well before APUs, the Prodigy (grr) and ITX gpus unfortunately. The SODIMM RAM was also a big issue for a lot of people back then as the cost vs desktop RAM was nowhere near as balanced

 

[mitxlove]

There's a whole community of people yearning for an am3+ mitx.. Myself included!

Here's hoping to them producing even just one board... I mean, they've got to know there's demand for it right? Who knows maybe they'll throw us a bone..

 

[Vittra]

Haha. Refresh of a refresh.

 

[iFreilicht]

Well I guess they can bin a bit more strictly so it kind of makes sense to release it, doesn't it? They're not placing it as part of a new line-up, so I wouldn't really call it a (refresh of a) refresh.

 

[confusis]

As production goes on, yields and quality improves. Much the same reason why late Phenom II generation dual and tri core CPUs were just locked down quadcores that were easily unlocked (and some quads into hexes). Earlier batches were not as refined and thus were not stably unlockable.

I believe Intel does the same - i7-2700k was laucnhed 10 months after i7-2600k and so forth

 

[Vittra]

7850K --> 7870K ---> 7890K

Kaveri --> "Godavari" JK it's Kaveri --> Okay you know this is Kaveri too

Intel has done this, but not twice in a row, as far as I am aware.