AMD A10-6800K APU Richland Desktop Processor Review

By Hank Tolman

Manufacturer: Advanced Micro Devices

Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article has been provided by AMD.

So far, it seems that the early summer of 2013 is destined to be full of Intel Haswell coverage. Rather than consigning themselves to the shadows, AMD is quietly releasing two new members of their APU family. The next generation of APUs is being represented at the top by the A10-6800K and the A10-6700 Accelerated Processing Units, codenamed Richland. It has been about eight months since AMD released the last generation, Trinity APUs. When that happened, AMD took back the performance lead from Ivy Bridge in the sub-$150 CPU price range.

This has been AMD’s bread and butter for a while now, especially with their ability to pair discrete level graphics with their CPUs that totally decimate the onboard capabilities of their opponent. Haswell may change things, but for now, we’ll see where AMD is setting the bar for entry-level performance. In this article, Benchmark Reviews takes a hard look at the third generation of AMD APUs with the top end AMD A10-6800K Richland Processor.

From the recent tech news, it seems like both AMD and Intel are starting to move more development money towards the inevitable expansion of mobility processing and away from the old-hat and worn out desktop market. Can you blame them? Laptops are getting smaller and faster, but even they can’t keep up with the publicity of tablets and smartphones. Intel has experienced a few design wins in the tablet market, especially where Windows 8 Pro tablets are concerned. The Atom processors are in a lot of designs, but the i5 tablets are what gets me salivating.

AMD isn’t far behind either. If Intel can throw an Ivy Bridge CPU into a tablet with its sub-par graphics performance, what’s to stop AMD from putting an APU in a tablet and giving the mobility world a small taste of the power of desktop graphics? Well, power, actually, is exactly what has been stopping them. But that won’t last for long.

With all the profits tied up in the mobility space, desktop enthusiasts are looking for a cookie. A little token of appreciation for the years of toiling and dollars spent upgrading. The summer of 2013 promises a little for everyone with both Intel and AMD pushing out something for us desktop fools. Where their plans lie for the future of desktop computing is anyone’s guess. Both companies have come out and said they are not giving up on it. While that may not mean much, let’s take a quick look at what AMD is releasing for us.