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AMD's Kabini-Based Prototype And Our Benchmarks

AMD's Kabini: Jaguar And GCN Come Together In A 15 W APU
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Prototypes generally don't emphasize industrial design. However, our Kabini-based ultra-thin notebook with an A4-5000 in it is surprisingly svelte.

Although we used a number of different notebooks for our benchmarks, we used the same hard drive and memory in all of them to keep our comparisons as valid as possible. We want to zero in on platform performance after all, and not the difference between a mechanical disk and SSD.

AMD suggests that Kabini's prime adversary will be low-priced Pentium laptops. To that end, we secured a Pentium B960-equipped notebook for testing as the most inexpensive platform we could find with Intel's CPU inside.

At the other end of the spectrum, Core i3-3217U is another good match-up. This processor sports a similar power envelope and is available in notebooks starting around £300.

Laptop Comparison Test Settings
PlatformKabini Prototype LaptopAcer Aspire V3
HP Pavillion Sleekbook 15
ProcessorA4-5000: 1.5 GHz Base Clock Rate, 2 MB Shared L2 Cache, 15 W (Kabini)
Pentium B960: 2.2 GHz Base Clock Rate, 2 MB Shared L3 Cache, 35 W (Sandy Bridge)
Core i3-3217U: 1.8 GHz Base Clock Rate, 3 MB Shared L3 Cache, 17 W (Ivy Bridge)
MemoryHynix 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR3-667 @ CAS 9-9-9-24-1T
GraphicsRadeon HD 8330
128 ALUs, 500 MHz core
Intel HD Graphics, 6 EUs, 350 to 1,100 MHz coreIntel HD 4000 Graphics, 16 EUs, 350 to 1,350 MHz core
Hard Drive
Toshiba MQ01ABD100H 1 TB, 5,400 RPM
Graphics Driver
AMD Catalyst
13.101_Beta3
Intel HD Graphics Driver
15.28.15.64.3062
Intel HD Graphics Driver
15.31.3.64.3071


And here are the benchmark details:

Benchmark Configuration
3D Games
Metro: Last Light
Version 1.0.0.0, DirectX 10, Built-in Benchmark
The Elder Scrolls V: SkyrimVersion 1.6.89.06, Version 1.5.26.05, 25-Sec. Fraps
Tomb Raider
Version 1.04, Built-in Benchmark
F1 2012Version 1.2, Direct X 11, Built-in Benchmark
Audio/Video Encoding
HandBrake CLIVersion: 0.98, Video: Video from Canon EOS 7D (1920x1080, 25 frames) 1 Minutes 22 Seconds, Audio: PCM-S16, 48,000 Hz, Two-Channel, to Video: AVC1 Audio: AAC (High Profile)
iTunesVersion 10.4.1.10 x64: Audio CD (Terminator II SE), 53 minutes, default AAC format 
Lame MP3Version 3.98.3: Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 min, convert WAV to MP3 audio format, Command: -b 160 --nores (160 Kb/s)
TotalCode Studio 2.5Version: 2.5.0.10677, MPEG-2 to H.264, MainConcept H.264/AVC Codec, 28 sec HDTV 1920x1080 (MPEG-2), Audio:MPEG2 (44.1 kHz, Two-Channel, 16-Bit, 224 Kb/s) Codec: H.264 Pro, Mode: PAL 50i (25 FPS), Profile: H.264 BD HDMV
Productivity
ABBYY FineReaderVersion 10.0.102.82: Read PDF save to Doc, Source: Political Economy (J. Broadhurst 1842) 111 Pages
Adobe Photoshop CS6Version 13 x64: Filter 15.7 MB TIF Image: Radial Blur, Shape Blur, Median, Polar Coordinates
Autodesk 3ds Max 2012Version 14.0 x64: Space Flyby Mentalray, 248 Frames, 1440x1080
7-ZipVersion 9.28, LZMA2, Syntax "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=5"
Benchmark: THG-Workload-2012
WinRARVersion 4.2, RAR, Syntax "winrar a -r -m3"
Benchmark: THG-Workload-2012
WinZipVersion 17.0 Pro, Best Method, ZIPX
Benchmark: THG-Workload-2012
Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings
3DMark 11Version: 1.0.1, Entry, Performance, Extreme Suite
PCMark 7Version: 1.0.4, System, Productivity, Hard Disk Drive benchmarks
SiSoftware Sandra 2012Version: 2012 SP5c-1872, CPU Test = CPU Arithmetic / MultiMedia, Memory Test = Bandwidth Benchmark
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  • 0 Hide
    bemused_fred , 24 May 2013 06:49
    The PS4 is built on this? What a shame.....
  • 0 Hide
    MajinCry , 24 May 2013 10:55
    Y'know, I'm curious as to the settings used.
    What was the Texture Filtering (AMD) set at? If it is at quality, no wonder it is chugging. If it's at performance...Ergh.
    Also, what happens when RadeonPro and it's performance tweaks are thrown in? Would setting the mip-maps to performance help at all?
    What about the few optimization settings?
  • 0 Hide
    Cazalan , 24 May 2013 17:36
    CPU World listed that i3 much higher.
    http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Core_i3/Intel-Core%20i3-3217U%20Mobile%20processor.html
  • 0 Hide
    ivanthechemist , 24 May 2013 22:48
    I am really curious as to how legacy or low demanding games play on this platform. Talking about LoL, DOTA 2, SC2, WoW and so on. This may be a deal deciding factor for some consumers.
  • 0 Hide
    jaslion , 25 May 2013 10:30
    well it is a a4 for a reason just hope the a6 will be better
  • 0 Hide
    selfmade_exe , 27 May 2013 01:04
    1st: 128 ALUs in kabini, how many intel EUs respectively are? I think its just 2 CUs [1 Compute Unit = 64 Unified shaders) if I am correct.
    2nd: the gpu clocks of kabini are standard while intels are variable (favors intel, innacurate results)
    3rd: kabini's gpu is probably bottlenecked by ram speed?