AMD A8 Pro-7150B vs AMD A8-6410

AMD A8 Pro-7150B

The AMD A8 Pro-7150B is a power efficient ULV (Ultra Low Voltage) quad-core processor based on the Kaveri architecture. It was revealed in June 2014 for notebooks and is manufactured by GlobalFoundries using a 28 nm SHP process. In addition to having two CPU modules for a total of four integer cores clocked at 1.9 - 3.2 GHz, the AMD chip also integrates a Radeon R5 GPU clocked at up to 533 MHz with 384 GCN shaders and a dual-channel DDR3-1600 memory controller.

Technically, the 7150B is almost identical with the consumer model A10-7300. However, AMD guarantees an especially high stability and durability for the business-oriented Pro-Series.

Architecture 

Kaveri is the successor to the 2013 Richland architecture (e.g. A10-5750M). The revised CPU cores, codenamed Steamroller, represent the third generation of the module-based Bulldozer design. A number of major changes include modified decoders (now one per integer core), optimized branch prediction, and increased L1 I-cache from 64 KB to 96 KB per module. These revisions boost the performance per clock slightly over a similarly clocked Richland APU. For more details about the AMD Kaveri architecture, see our detailed analysis here:

Analysis of the AMD Kaveri Notebook Platform

Performance 

According to the clock rates, the A8 Pro-7150B should offer a CPU performance level similar to the Haswell-based Intel Core i3-4010U. Overall, the 7150B will be sufficient for all daily workloads (Office, Internet browsing, multimedia) as well as light multitasking. Detailed benchmark can be found on the cpu page of the A10-7300 APU.

Graphics

The Radeon R5 (Kaveri) GPU of the A8 Pro-7150B features a core clock of up to 533 MHz and 384 shader units. Since the GPU is based on AMD's GCN 1.1 architecture, both DirectX 11.2 "Tier 2" and Mantle are supported. Furthermore, the GPU can be used for general purpose computing in various applications, such as Adobe Photoshop via the OpenCL API. 

In terms of 3D performance, the GPU should be roughly as fast as a dedicated GeForce GT 720M and can handle many current games at low or medium settings at (W)XGA resolution.

Power Consumption

The power consumption of the entire APU is rated at 19 Watts, which is somewhat above the Haswell ULV CPUs from Intel (15 W including chipset). Nevertheless, the A8 Pro-7150B is suited for 12 - 13-inch notebooks or larger.

AMD A8-6410

The AMD A8-6410 is a mobile quad-core SoC (codenamed "Beema") for entry-level devices and subnotebooks, which has been presented in spring 2014. In addition to 4 CPU cores clocked at 2.0 - 2.4 GHz (boost clock), the 28 nanometer chip also integrates a Radeon R5 GPU, a single-channel DDR3L-1866 memory controller and the Southbridge with various I/O-ports. Besides the slightly higher base clock (2.0 instead of 1.8 GHz), the technical data and therefore the performance is almost identical to the A6-6310 APU.

Architecture

Both Beema (for notebooks) and Mullins (for tablets and compact subnotebooks, same die) are based on AMD's Puma+ architecture, which is the successor to the previous Jaguar design (Kabini and Temash APUs). Neither the performance per clock nor the feature set (including SSE up to 4.2, AVX and AES) have been modified. However, AMD managed to reduce the leakage current, enabling significantly higher (boost) clock speeds. This leads to a more responsive system and better overall performance. As its predecessor, the chip is manufactured in 28 nm.

Performance

In single thread tasks, the A8-6410 is clearly faster than the former A6-5200 (25 W, 2.0 GHz), but just slightly ahead in multi thread benchmarks. Overall, the APU offers a performance similar to a Haswell-based Pentium or Core i3 (ULV). Nonetheless, the A8-6410 will be sufficient for all daily workloads like Office, Internet browsing and multimedia.

Graphics

The SoC integrates a Radeon R5 GPU with 128 shaders, which is based on the GCN architecture and clocked at up to 800 MHz. On average, the graphics performance is similar to Intel's HD Graphics 4200 or a dedicated Radeon HD 7470M. Only a few current games (as of 2014) are thus playable in low settings, but older and less demanding titels should run flawlessly.

Power Consumption

The power consumption of the entire SoC is rated at 15 watts. Thus, the APU is suitable for smaller subnotebooks.