CINEBENCH R15
CINEBENCH 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.

winRAR Benchmark
WinRAR is a popular file compression and decompression tool that also happens to be multi-threaded application. While it does have a built in benchmark we have opted to use a custom 3GB test consisting of small, medium, and moderately large files. We then time how long it takes to compress the files into one .rar file with all WinRAR settings left at their defaults.

x264 HD Benchmark

x264 HD Benchmark is a benchmark that allows you to measure how fast your PC can encode a 1080p video clip into a high quality x264 video file. It allows for an easy comparison because everyone running it will use the same video clip and software. The x264 video encoder has a fairly accurate internal benchmark (in frames per second) for each pass of the video encode and it also uses multi-core processors very efficiently. All these factors make the x264 HD Benchmark an ideal tool in comparing the video encoding performance of different processors and systems.

Adobe

Photoshop is a notoriously slow loading program under the best of circumstances, and while the latest version is actually pretty decent, when you add in a bunch of extra brushes and the such you get a really great torture test which can bring even the best of the best to their knees. Let’s see how our review unit faired in the Adobe crucible!

PCMark 8
PCMark 8 is the latest iteration of Futuremark’s system benchmark franchise. It generates an overall score based upon system performance with all components being stressed in one way or another. The result is posted as a generalized score.

Overall we are rather impressed with what this APU can do. Yes, it is based on an older architecture but the end result is all that matters: good performance. At this the AMD 10-7890K does offer performance that is more than reasonable for its asking price. Basically this APU costs more than an i3 but less than an i5 and performs in-between these two ‘extremes’.

3DMark Ice Storm Benchmark

The latest version of 3DMark from FutureMark includes numerous benchmarks including one they have “Ice Storm” and we have used the ‘Extreme’ settings.

A10-7890K – Gaming Benchmarks

Sleeping Dogs

Sleeping Dogs is an open world action-adventure video game developed by United Front Games in conjunction with Square Enix London Studios and published by Square Enix, released on August 2012. Sleeping Dogs has a benchmark component to it that mimics game play and an average of four runs was taken.

The settings used in the testing below are the stock Medium display settings and a resolution of 1920×1080.

BioShock Infinite
BioShock Infinite is a first-person shooter video game developed by Irrational Games, and published by 2K Games released in March 2013. The game has a benchmark component to it that mimics game play and an average of four runs was taken.

The settings used in the testing below are Low for quality and a resolution of 1920×1080.

Assassins Creed: Black Flag
Assassins Creed: BF is an historical action-adventure video game, published by published by Ubisoft and released in October 2013. Like Battlefield 4 this games does not include an in-game benchmark. This makes it perfect for more real world gaming testing. To obtain repeatable results we have used FRAPs and recorded a custom run through Havana’s marketplace. An average of four runs was taken.

The settings used in the testing below are Medium settings for quality, VSync disabled and a resolution of 1920×1080.

Call of Duty: Ghosts

Call of Duty: Ghosts is a first person shooter video game, published by Activision and released in October 2013. Since it does not include an in-game benchmark, it perfect for more real world gaming testing. To obtain repeatable results we have used FRAPs and recorded 90 seconds of the single player ‘Ghost Stories’ level, starting as soon as we resume control of Logan back on Earth. An average of four runs was taken.

The settings used in the testing below are medium stock settings for quality, VSync disabled and a resolution of 1920×1080.

As you can see while the ‘CPU’ portion of the AMD A10-7890K is basically in-between an Intel i3 and i5 in its overall abilities, the A10-7890K’s ‘GPU’ is a relative monster. A monster so large that it is more than up to the task of moderate game play. This is something that Intel is still not really capable of.

A10-7890K – Wattage, Heat and Sound

System Power Consumption
To obtain accurate results we have connected the system to a Power Angle power meter that has in turn been attached to a 1500watt UPS. This ensures only 120volt power is supplied to the PSU and removes an variances that could potential crop up because of brownouts and power spikes.

In order to stress the video card we have once again used Unigine’s Valley benchmark and ran it for 20 minutes to determine peak system power consumption. For idle results we have let the system idle at the Windows 8.1 desktop for 25 minutes and recorded the peak idle power consumption.

This is one area that Intel is clearly ahead of AMD in; however, in return for more power consumption consumers get access to an integrated GPU that is actually worthy of the name ‘Graphics Processing Unit’.

Temperature Results
For all temperature testing the cards were used in an open test bed environment. Ambient temperature was kept at a constant 20°C (+/- 0.5°C) and if the ambient room temperatures rose above 21°C or dropped below 19°C at any time, all benchmarking was stopped until proper temperatures could normalized.

For Idle tests, we let the system idle at the Windows 8.1 desktop for 25 minutes and recorded the peak temperature. For Load tests we ran AIDA64 for 20 minutes.

AMD really knocked it out of the park with this new Wraith design and it does pay dividends. So much so that it is easily up to the task of pushing the A10-7890K to rather lofty overclocking heights.

Sound Level Test Results
While everyone “hears” noise differently there is one easy way to remove all subjectivness and easily compare different fans: use a sound level meter. This way you can easily compare the various fans noise envelopes without us coloring the results and see what fans fit within your personal comfort level. Of course, we will endeavor to try and explain the various results – which are taken at a 15 inch distance from the GPU’s fan(s) – to help you gain an even better understanding of how loud a cooler’s stock fan is, but even if you discount our personal opinions, the fact remains numbers don’t lie.

For Idle tests, we let the system idle at the Windows 8.1 desktop for 25 minutes and recorded the peak temperature. For Load tests we ran AIDA64 for 20 minutes.

Even with a higher TDP processor the AMD Wrath cooler is more than up to the task. Once again this cooler simply destroys what Intel includes with their processors as it not only keeps the APU cooler but also quieter.

A10-7890K – Summary and Closing Statement

Summary

Once again AMD does lag behind Intel’s equivalent in the CPU department, but the GPU built into the A10-7890L simply dominates Intel’s iGPU. Basically for most consumers the AMD will provide a decent if not stellar real world processing power, but is an excellent choice for those who actually want to use the integrated ‘GPU’… and let’s face it if you are not intersected in the onboard graphics why even bother with an APU?!

Closing Statement

Let’s start with the obvious. The new Godavari design’s improvements over Kaveri are best described as refinements that focus mainly on performance per watt…. rather than overall computing performance. It has the same ‘CPU’ cores, the same ‘GPU’ cores, and even the same number of each (4 and 8 respectively). It is ‘only’ a refinement on an already good design. These refinements however allow the processor to run cooler at a given speed and allowed AMD to boost the speed (and thus the performance) of both the CPU and GPU Compute Cores. What these refinements don’t do however are allow this new A10-7890K to compete with Intel’s top of the line models. This to us is perfectly fine… and expected.

While yes the AMD A10-7890K will not have Intel and their latest i7’s, let alone the 2011-v3 6950X, quaking in its boots very few average consumers will care about that. For the same price as an i7 CPU customers can buy the A10-7890K, a motherboard… and maybe even have some money left over to put towards the RAM. Better still is this processor is not a ‘cheap’ processor instead it just inexpensive and can offer people a heck of a lot of bang for the buck. That is the key to this processors success: its overall value.

Simply put, when it comes to value AMD has once again knocked it out of the ballpark… and past the parking lot behind the bloody ballpark. As we saw throughout testing this $150 processor easily slots in between a modern i3 and i5 options from Intel on the general processing front… but eats both of those processors graphics abilities for lunch. In some cases, you basically need to take both the i3 and i5’s results to beat the A10-7890K!

Better still is even when compared to the less expensive A10-7800 this newer processor easily justifies its 36-percent increase in price. On the surface that may seem counter intuitive as the results from the modest clock boost and moderate improvements in the Compute Cores are not 36% higher. But there is a big assterisks to that statement… as that 36 percent may sound downright massive but its only forty dollars. For a mere forty dollars extra consumers get a nice boost increase in performance, and get easy overclocking.

Yes, that ‘K’ at the end means it’s an unlocked ‘black’ processor and with very little effort consumers can easily get a further boost in performance. This boost is actually enough for it to take on the i5 and make it a real horserace to say the least. Then when you add in the Wrath cooler and its abilities vs an i5 and things are even better for AMD and their extremely frugally priced powerhouse APU.

No matter how you look at it, this ease of overclocking combined with improved cores makes the A10-7890K an excellent value. After all, near i5 performance for darn near i3 asking price is all on its own amazing. However when you add in the fact that DDR3 RAM is a lot cheaper than DDR4… well that value really is knocked so far out of the park it nearly reaches orbit. For that reason, we have zero qualms with awarding this Godavari APU our Real Deal award. Needless to say when looking at a reasonably priced system we strongly recommend not overlooking what AMD and their ‘APU’ options have to offer… no matter what some ‘Internet pundits’ have to say. Otherwise you will once again be overlooking one hell of a value and a darn decent processor in its own right.