A8-3850: technical specifications

After introducing the architecture of the new Llano processors and chipsets that will support this technology, we go to the description of the product thanks to data collected by some of the most popular commercial software.

The tests will be made on the model available to us, the A8-3850. Currently, this CPU is the flagship of the solutions proposed by AMD, which is available at a price of € 129.99. This model operates at a standard frequency of 2.9GHz, while the integrated GPU is a Radeon HD 6550D with 400 stream processors clocked at 600MHz.

In the second image we can see the 905-pin going to fit into as many holes in the FM1 socket.

Here are the data recorded on the CPU through the known CPU-Z software, updated to version 1.58, that can provide full recognition of the new architecture and new Llano processors.

In the first screen we see all the information about the CPU itself, beginning with the name "K12A8 AMD-3850", ending with a frequency of 2900 MHz, obtained by multiplying the x29 system bus operating at 100 MHz. Note how the software recognizes 32 nm technology and specify that this model is equipped with integrated GPU; it is identified by the heading "Specification: AMD A8-3850 APU with Radeon HD Graphics." The only mistake we can note is the detection of the socket to which they belong, right in the name "Socket FM1" but wrong in the pin number, 937 instead of 905.

The second "tab" contains information regarding the amount of cache inside the processor. We found the lack of third level cache and the L1 data cache amounts to 64KB per core; the same amount we find in the L1 instruction cache. The L2 cache is larger than the Phenom II CPU, and is equal to 4 MB, 1024KB per core.

This screen shows the data on the amount of memory installed, the frequency and the setted timing. In our case, the RAM has been set to a frequency of 1866MHz, supported by the new A8-3850, with 9-9-9-28 timings.

In this image taken from GPU-Z are summarized the main features of the integrated GPU in AMD A8-3850. The software, updated to the latest version, recognizes the GPU and the 32 nm manufacturing technology.

In addition to such information, it reports the number of shaders in this model, 400, the amount of RAM to use, stealing it from system memory, 512 MB in this case (value set from bios) and the rate at which it operates, 1866 MHz (933 x 2).

Other information regard the size of the die, amounting to 228 sq mm and the number of transistors, 1450 millions. The only wrong value that the software reports is the operating frequency of the GPU core, indeed GPU-Z shows 200MHz, while the standard frequency is equal to 600MHz.

As already mentioned, the AMD A8-3850 is the flagship model of the A-Series produced by AMD and as such features the most powerful integrated GPU.