About two months ago AMD did a large product line refresh that focused around the newly introduced Wraith Cooler, at the time we took a look at the cooler. Then closer to our LAN event they sent out samples for some of the other CPUs and APUs introduced. In their FM2+ mainstream line they refreshed the Kaveri APUs as well as an Athlon X4 CPU. Well with our LAN event keeping my schedule tied up I’m just now finally getting a chance to see what the new A10-7860K sample and Athlon X4 880K that they sent out a that time. Then on top of that just last week the A10-7890K came in to round things out. So today I’m going to run through AMDs FM2+ refresh and see how they perform. I’m especially interested I the Athlon X4 880K to find out if it’s a worthwhile budget replacement for someone considering an AM3+ build.

Product Names: AMD A10-7890K, A10-7860K, Athlon X4 880K

Review Samples Provided by: AMD

Written by: Wes

Pictures by: Wes

Amazon Links: A10-7890K, A10-7860K, Athlon X4 880K

 

Before jumping completely into our performance testing it is important to get a better idea of what we are looking at. Especially when we are working with three different processors like we are today. So today I’m taking a look at three processors that all run on the FM2+ socket. You will notice that I’m careful to say processors when talking about all three of them because AMD likes to refer to their CPUs with built in graphics as their APUs but only two of the three processors are APUs. The Athlon X4 880K is a CPU through and through. The Athlon X4 880K sits at the top of AMDs Athlon X4 lineup with its 4GHz base clock speed and 4.2 GHz Max Turbo Frequency. The 880K and the A10-7890K are very similar in specifications with the A10-7890K running 100MHz faster and also with an integrated GPU. They both have the same 95 Watt TDP as well.

Beyond the integrated GPU AMD also distinguished the 800K and 7890K with different coolers. While they both have a TDP of 95 watts they did give them both 125 watt coolers. The A10-7890K is the second AMD product to come with the new Wraith cooler. The 880K however comes with what they call the AMD Near Silent 125 Watt Cooler. The reality is that this cooler is nearly the same as the Wraith cooler. It has the same heatsink and fan design, the Wraith cooler however has its fan shroud for a cleaner look as well as the integrated backlit AMD logo where this cooler saves a little money on all of that. The Wraith cooler also has a sleeved cable where they didn’t sleeve the 125W Near Silent coolers cable. 

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The A10-7860K is a little different from the 880K and the 7890K. It has a lower TDP of 65 Watts. They reach that by lower the clock speed down to 3.6 base and 4.0 max. The lower clock speed and TDP means they are able to keep costs down by including the 95 Watt AMD cooler. This cooler looks a little different with its bright red fan but don’t let that fool you, it is the same cooler that AMD has been bundling with their CPUs and Apus for years. This cooler is significantly smaller when compared to the other two coolers. Our A10-7860K sample actually came in retail packaging so we had the chance to check that out as well.

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Here are the three coolers next to each other. The Wraith cooler still stands out with its fan shroud and sleeve cable as being the nicest but the 125 Watt Near Silent cooler isn’t looking to bad as well. Both together next to the 95 Watt cooler do show just how small it is however.

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I took a few shots of the three processors as well. Nothing has changed here though. All three have the same packaging that all AMD CPUs have had for years now with their solid block top and pins on the CPU. As always this does make it easy for the CPU to pull out of the motherboard if you aren’t careful. I had this happen to me even during my testing of all three of these when using the stock thermal paste included on the coolers. It creates a suction that even twisting and turning to break loose didn’t break.

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Specifications AMD A10-7890K A10-7860K Athlon X4 880K
CPU Cores 4 4 4
GPU Cores 8 8 N/A
Max Turbo / CPU Frequency 4.3/4.1 GHz 4.0/3.6 GHz 4.2/4.0 GHz
GPU Frequency 866MHz 757MHz N/A
TDP 95W 65W 95W
Thermal Solution AMD Wraith Cooler AMD 95W Thermal Solution Near-Silent 125W AMD Thermal Solution
L2 Cache 4MB 4MB 4MB
PCI Express 3.0 X16 X16 X16
Clock Multiplier Unlocked Unlocked Unlocked
MSRP $164.99 $117.99 $94.99

 

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garfi3ld's Avatar
garfi3ld replied the topic: #37884 13 Apr 2016 18:33
Today we focus on the budget end of things with a look at a few of the CPUs and APUs from AMDs FM2+ lineup!

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