AMD Launches Enthusiast A10-7860K APU, New Mainstream Processors And Wraith Cooler
AMD made a number of platform and processor related announcements a few weeks back at the Consumer Electronics Show, but we already have some additional updates from the team to share with you today. At CES, the company revealed the upcoming A10-7890K APU, as well as its plans to move all next-gen processors to a single socket, dubbed socket AM4, and the new Wraith cooler. You can check out our initial coverage of the announcements right here.
As it turns out, AMD wasn’t done making announcements just yet. Today we’ve got news of some more new APUs, processors, fansink coolers, motherboard updates, and we’ve gotten our hands on an AMD Wraith cooler for some in-house testing.
The first bit of news is more of a head’s up than a full-blown announcement. AMD hasn’t released new chipsets for its APUs and processors in quite some time, but the company has been working with board makers to enable a new wave of socket AM3+ and FM2+ motherboards with support for technologies like USB 3.1 (some with type-C), M.2 solid state drives or both. Many of the updated motherboards are already available, as you can see in the slide above, but more will be shipping later this quarter.
In addition to the A10-7890K announced at CES, AMD also has a trio of additional APUs / processors coming down the pipeline -- the A10-7860K, the A6-7470K, and the Athlon X4 845.
The Athlon X4 845 is a quad-core part, featuring four Excavator-class cores clocked at up to 3.8GHz. The processor has 2MB of L2 cache, 8 PCIe 3.0 lanes, and a TDP of 65W, but no built-in graphics. The A6-7470K is a dual Steamroller-core APU (clocked at up to 4GHz), with 8 GPU cores (clocked at up to 800MHz), 1MB of L2 cache, 16 PCIe lanes, and a 65W TDP.
The A10-7860K is a little beefier. The 7860K has four Steamroller cores (clocked up to 4GHz), with 8 GPU cores (clocked at up to 757MHz), 1MB of L2 cache, 16 PCIe lanes, and it too has a 65W TDP. And because they’re K-SKUs, both the 7860K and 7470K are unlocked for more flexible overclocking.
Notice that the A10-7860K and Athlon X4 845 will be shipping with a new 95W-class cooler, while the A6-7470 will ship with a 65W thermal solution.
The new 95W cooler AMD will be including with these new processors will similar to the Wraith in design, but it’s smaller, doesn’t have the lighted AMD logo, and it’s outfitted with a red fan. There’s also an updated thermal solution that’ll be included with select processors, that follows a similar design language with the red fan. The processors that’ll receive the update are outlined above.
The new Wraith cooler is debuting with the FX-8370. Its claims to fame are much quieter operation than AMD’s current PIB cooler, thanks to a low-noise, constant velocity fan, significantly more surface area, and a back-lit AMD logo. The cooler features a dense array of aluminum fins, linked to a copper base via a quartet of heat pipes. The Wraith cooler is somewhat larger than AMD’s previous bundled cooler, but not large enough to pose any kind of clearance or compatibility issues on current motherboards.
The FX-8370 bundled with the Wraith cooler will be arriving today at the same price point as the previous edition. Current FX-8370 inventory bundled with the original PIB cooler will be sold at a discount.
The Wraith cooler looks like some of the better, mainstream aluminum / copper hybrid, aftermarket air-coolers currently on the market. The copper base extends all the way to the edges and four heat-pipes link it to a stacked array of fins that gets progressively wider toward the top. An 80mm, roughly 56CFM, fan sits on top, with a black shroud that features a lighted AMD logo. According to AMD, the Wraith cooler offers 24% more surface area than the previous PIB cooler and the fan pushes 34% more air.
Out of the box, the cooler is equipped with a healthy application of thermal paste. The Wraith mounts to the socket using a familiar clip and cam locking mechanism. As long as the CPU is clean, mounting the Wraith is a simple matter of lining up the clips, and turning the cam lever to the locked position.
We installed the Wraith cooler on an AMD FX-8370 that was installed in a 990FX-based Asus CrossHair V Formula motherboard (with the most recent BIOS). The motherboard, unfortunately, ran the Wraith cooler at full-tilt, all the time as Asus’ proprietary Q-Fan controls weren’t disabled in the BIOS, which resulted in some louder-than-expected operation. We’re told by AMD that the Wraith cooler should operate at about 2,200 RPM, but the motherboard was pushing the fan closer to 3,000 RPM. To remedy the situation, we tested the cooler with Q-Fan controls turned on (using Asus’ Auto settings), at full tilt, and then manually dialed the fan speed back to 2,200 RPM as well.
With the motherboard’s fan control’s enabled, the Wraith’s fan spun between 1418 and 1800 RPM at idle and load, respectively. With a sound meter placed 1 foot away from the rear of our test system, it produced a sound pressure of 44.1dB and the CPU ran at about 36’C. Under load, the CPU temp went up to about 57’C, but the system remained relatively quiet at 45.4dB. With the fan running at full-bore, the system produced about 50.1 – 50.3db, but idle and load temps were somewhat lower at 34’C and 51’C. Finally, with the Wraith’s fan operating under normal conditions, which should result in a consistent 2,200 RPM, the system produced a sound pressure of 46.7dB, with an idle temp of 34’C and load temp of 54’C.
The ambient temperature in the room was 25.5’C and the only other fan that was running in the system was in the PSU, which was mounted face-down, at the bottom.
Overall, the Wraith seems like a solid cooler that’s not only relatively quiet, but offers decent performance as well.
As it turns out, AMD wasn’t done making announcements just yet. Today we’ve got news of some more new APUs, processors, fansink coolers, motherboard updates, and we’ve gotten our hands on an AMD Wraith cooler for some in-house testing.
The first bit of news is more of a head’s up than a full-blown announcement. AMD hasn’t released new chipsets for its APUs and processors in quite some time, but the company has been working with board makers to enable a new wave of socket AM3+ and FM2+ motherboards with support for technologies like USB 3.1 (some with type-C), M.2 solid state drives or both. Many of the updated motherboards are already available, as you can see in the slide above, but more will be shipping later this quarter.
In addition to the A10-7890K announced at CES, AMD also has a trio of additional APUs / processors coming down the pipeline -- the A10-7860K, the A6-7470K, and the Athlon X4 845.
The Athlon X4 845 is a quad-core part, featuring four Excavator-class cores clocked at up to 3.8GHz. The processor has 2MB of L2 cache, 8 PCIe 3.0 lanes, and a TDP of 65W, but no built-in graphics. The A6-7470K is a dual Steamroller-core APU (clocked at up to 4GHz), with 8 GPU cores (clocked at up to 800MHz), 1MB of L2 cache, 16 PCIe lanes, and a 65W TDP.
The A10-7860K is a little beefier. The 7860K has four Steamroller cores (clocked up to 4GHz), with 8 GPU cores (clocked at up to 757MHz), 1MB of L2 cache, 16 PCIe lanes, and it too has a 65W TDP. And because they’re K-SKUs, both the 7860K and 7470K are unlocked for more flexible overclocking.
Notice that the A10-7860K and Athlon X4 845 will be shipping with a new 95W-class cooler, while the A6-7470 will ship with a 65W thermal solution.
The new 95W cooler AMD will be including with these new processors will similar to the Wraith in design, but it’s smaller, doesn’t have the lighted AMD logo, and it’s outfitted with a red fan. There’s also an updated thermal solution that’ll be included with select processors, that follows a similar design language with the red fan. The processors that’ll receive the update are outlined above.
The new Wraith cooler is debuting with the FX-8370. Its claims to fame are much quieter operation than AMD’s current PIB cooler, thanks to a low-noise, constant velocity fan, significantly more surface area, and a back-lit AMD logo. The cooler features a dense array of aluminum fins, linked to a copper base via a quartet of heat pipes. The Wraith cooler is somewhat larger than AMD’s previous bundled cooler, but not large enough to pose any kind of clearance or compatibility issues on current motherboards.
The FX-8370 bundled with the Wraith cooler will be arriving today at the same price point as the previous edition. Current FX-8370 inventory bundled with the original PIB cooler will be sold at a discount.
The Wraith cooler looks like some of the better, mainstream aluminum / copper hybrid, aftermarket air-coolers currently on the market. The copper base extends all the way to the edges and four heat-pipes link it to a stacked array of fins that gets progressively wider toward the top. An 80mm, roughly 56CFM, fan sits on top, with a black shroud that features a lighted AMD logo. According to AMD, the Wraith cooler offers 24% more surface area than the previous PIB cooler and the fan pushes 34% more air.
We installed the Wraith cooler on an AMD FX-8370 that was installed in a 990FX-based Asus CrossHair V Formula motherboard (with the most recent BIOS). The motherboard, unfortunately, ran the Wraith cooler at full-tilt, all the time as Asus’ proprietary Q-Fan controls weren’t disabled in the BIOS, which resulted in some louder-than-expected operation. We’re told by AMD that the Wraith cooler should operate at about 2,200 RPM, but the motherboard was pushing the fan closer to 3,000 RPM. To remedy the situation, we tested the cooler with Q-Fan controls turned on (using Asus’ Auto settings), at full tilt, and then manually dialed the fan speed back to 2,200 RPM as well.
The ambient temperature in the room was 25.5’C and the only other fan that was running in the system was in the PSU, which was mounted face-down, at the bottom.
Overall, the Wraith seems like a solid cooler that’s not only relatively quiet, but offers decent performance as well.
