So today I'm going to be doing an unboxing of a kind of package I've never
really received before. This is from AMD and it is a an FPP sample program kit.
Nothing on the outside of the packaging besides that label on the front. So
let's go ahead and get it opened up. So here we see some information about AMD's
Lano or their Fusion APUs. We have the
AMD A4, A6, and A8. So these are all
APUs. That means they have a CPU and a GPU component on the same package of
varying performance levels. So let's go ahead and keep opening it up. This is
kind of a throwback color. Reminds me of the Athlon 64. That was the uh the
orange packaging color that they used for that particular processor in the AMD
logo. So, first let's see what AMD has to say for themselves. A discrete
graphics experience without the cost of an additional component plus support for
DirectX11 optimizations. This is a much bigger deal than you'd think because
sure, a low-end discrete graphics card isn't going to run all the latest
DirectX11 games at high details and 2560
x600 resolution, but you do get support for things like direct compute where
your GPU on the CPU can actually assist
it with certain uh functionality. All right, dual graphics boosts visual
performance up to 75%. So, what's dual graphics? Dual graphics is similar to
what we used to call hybrid crossfire where the chipset had a GPU on it and
then that could work with an uh a standalone PCIe graphics card. So in
this case some of the lower-end AMD graphics cards are actually capable of
working in what they call now dual graphics mode to improve the performance
in DirectX10 and DirectX11 titles by using them together. Next, we have
multi-core processing with up to four high performance cores, plus AMD turbo
core technology for optimized performance where it's needed most. So,
multi-core processing, what that means is we've got
uh up to four CPU cores on here that are
each slightly more efficient than an older Athlon uh X2 or Athlon
2X4, sorry, Athlon 2X4. So, the older
Athlon cores, these A4, A6, and A8 cores
are slightly more efficient, especially the A8s because they do have the best
onboard graphics as well as a little bit more cash or certain other higherend
features compared to the other ones. So, what else we got in here? We have an AMD
mug that says, "This is charming." IART
APU. All right. We've got a shirt, which is probably a large. Oh,
it's an extra large. So, obviously it's not going to fit me, but it has uh some
kind of explosion on it. I am the first.
Okay. And then we have piece of paper. Let's see. Yep.
Saying what's in here. There's an S2 heat sink. No, we don't want to look at
this necessarily. And then let's see if there's anything else in here that might
be interesting. That's pretty much it. There's a copy of of this as well. And
then we also have a motherboard inside.
So why don't we make this the unboxing for the A8 APU as well. I'm going to do
this motherboard separately. This is a socket FM1 motherboard to go with a
socket FM1 APU. Now FM1 is different
from the AM2 AM3 family of processor
sockets. So you do need a new motherboard in order to take advantage
of an APU. So, let's go ahead and see what AMD has to say for themselves. On
the outside of the CPU box, you can combine it with DirectX11 graphics
cards. These ones, 6450, 6570, as well
as the 6670. Okay. On the back, we see the
usual spiel. Okay. Unrivaled DirectX11 support. Revolutionary APU. Harnesses
the power of unrivaled discrete level AMD Radeon HD graphics. Small energy
efficient design. Yes, that's one of the things that's actually really cool about
the APU design. is that the idle power consumption
compared to its closest competitor from the blue side is actually significantly
better due to the fact that they've taken away so many components by
building the graphics chip right onto the CPU at a very highly integrated
level. So, let's have a look at the heat sink. And I think you guys are going to
be quite surprised to see the heat sink for this new AMD socket.
There you have it. It looks just like a heat sink for any other AMD socket from
like the last 6 years or so. Uh going
all the way back to uh socket 754 where
you've got the two clips on either side. Okay, you got some fins, you got a
copper slug. What that means is that you can actually use your old heat sink
solution as long as it's rated for a TDP up to 100 watts. Remember, these do have
a graphics chip on them as well, so they kick out a little bit more heat than a
standalone CPU would. So that's why the higher TDP, even though the overall
system power consumption will still be very, very low. So you can use any
properly rated heat sink that was compatible with like pretty much
realistically if you still own it and it's still high performance, you can use
it on your APU. Very cool. Oh, it has a
PWM fan in case you guys were wondering. So, that's a four pin fan. And next, we
have uh some kind of paper documentation showing different sockets. Okay, I
haven't seen a socket FM1 yet, but I will soon. So, I'll be telling you guys
all about that in my motherboard unboxings. I'm going to do a few FM1
motherboards. And there it is. There is the A8 3800 series APU. So, it looks
pretty much like any other AMD chip from the last little while. Oo, the pin
pattern though, that is noticeably different. And you can see actually, oh,
cool. Look at that. So, it has a dot here marking it. It has the usual
triangle marking this one. And then it has a dot on the other side and no dot
here. So, my guess is that that's going to be a lot to do with making sure it's
oriented correctly in the motherboard socket. Last but not least, we have an
AMD Vision sticker, which you can put on your case. So, thank you for checking
out my unboxing of the AMD first APU.
Don't forget to subscribe to Linus Tech Tips for more unboxings, reviews, and
other computer