From EETimes: Advanced Micro Devices announced Tuesday its latest and best PC processor using a combination of x86 and graphics cores, claiming it out-performs mid-range chips from archrival Intel. Analysts praised AMD's Kaveri chips but noted they currently are limited to desktop versions and Intel has higher-end products.
The Kaveri, a.k.a. A10, chips use up to four Steamroller x86 cores and up to eight AMD GCN-class graphics cores that AMD claims out-performs GPUs in Intel's Haswell. Kaveri scores 87% higher on the 3DMark and 61% higher on the Basemark CL graphics-oriented benchmarks than Intel's Core i5 4670K version of Haswell, AMD claims.
A half dozen games use the OpenCL standard, tested by the latter benchmark, to deliver some of their features on GPU cores, AMD said. The company's new Mantle API also boosts performance over Microsoft's DirectX API on Windows, something at least one shipping PC game now uses.
"It looks like AMD has improved its competitive position versus Intel with these latest products," competing with Intel's Core i5 rather than the lower-end i3 line, said Nathan Brookwood, principal market watcher at Insights 64 of Saratoga, Calif.
However, Intel's "Haswell is available for both notebooks and desktop configurations," Brookwood noted. "AMD plans to introduce notebook versions later this year in time for the next OEM refresh cycle, but for now Kaveri is desktop only."
Nevertheless, Brookwood called Kaveri's graphics benchmarks "an impressive achievement, given that Haswell is using 22nm tri-gate transistor technology, while Kaveri uses 28nm HKMG devices, almost a generation behind Intel's technology."
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