AMD A6-3650 APU Review

[flibberdipper]

 

 

INTRO

Let me begin by telling you what the system configuration is. Obviously there’s the AMD A6-3650, then 8GB DDR3 1333MHz RAM, Pegatron 2ACF motherboard,  some Hitachi 7200RPM 1TB HDD, and a crappy 300 watt HP PSU.

 

GENERAL PERFORMANCE

For how old it is, I guess you can’t complain. It’s terrible in gaming, and it does okay in general multitasking. The CPU cores are extremely weak (first generation of APUs, kind of has to be expected), and the graphics are particularly pitiful. I was able to play 2K video fairly well, but it didn’t seem to like 4K that much. But, for what was last sold at just under $70 (when NewEgg still had them), they’re not too bad.

 

GAMING PERFORMANCE

Let’s just get to the bottom line: They suck for gaming. Although I was impressed at how well it handled Battlefield 3 (more on that game later), they are still terrible. Take Amnesia: The Dark Descent, for example. 1024x768, mostly medium or high settings, no anti-aliasing, and was able to get about 40-60FPS most of the time. Or GTA: San Andreas. 1024x768, all settings maxed, no AA. It’s able to achieve about 30-35FPS (using the frame rate unlocker program). It does do well in Halo: CE (I would hope it does).  At 1440x900, it’s easily able to pin down 60FPS with all of the settings cranked up, even on a really busy multiplayer server. Now for Battlefield 3… I was impressed with this one. I had honestly expected it to just lock up and die on me upon launching the game. However, it proved me wrong. Boy did it prove me wrong. I was able to go on a 64-player multiplayer server, and usually get between 30-45FPS, depending on how much was happening onscreen. I did do a video of it, but I had FRAPS limit the framerate to 30 in an effort to try and make both the raw video and the final video a little bit smaller.

 

 

I also ran the 3DMark benchmarks to give you a good idea of the power (or lack thereof) that this APU has. All of the tests were run at 1080p. On Ice Storm, it got a result of 42214, Cloud Gate got 3874, Sky Diver got 1741, and Fire Strike got 496.

 

MULTITASKING PERFORMANCE

For general office (or grandparent use), this APU should suffice. Even though it is a quad-core, the cores are really terrible, and I sometimes found my Sempron (when it had both cores up and going) able to catch up to it. The Cinebench R15 score was okay, with the OpenGL test coming in at 16.83FPS, the multi-core test coming in at 242cb, and the single core weighing in at 65cb. But if you are just doing simple things like working on a few Word and Excel documents while browsing the web, there should be no slowdown.

 

POWER CONSUMPTION

This APU does come in at a pretty hefty 100 watts, but given when this was released, that’s fine. Given its age, the power consumption isn’t that much of a deal. However, when it comes to heat output, I do believe it puts out a little bit closer to 120 watts, since it gets hot pretty quick.

 

CONCLUSION

Overall, I’m both let down, but impressed with this APU. I’m let down in how it performs doing heavy multitasking, but I was impressed with its performance in Battlefield 3. And again, given that this APU was released in 2011, and was the first generation of APUs, I’m okay with its performance. It is a midrange one after all.

 

IS IT STILL RELEVANT AND WORTH IT?

No. With Kaveri out right now, and Beema and Mullins on the horizon, and with Carrizo coming out in 2015, these are irrelevant and kind of weak and terrible. The IPC is terrible and the integrated graphics just lack any kind of graphical horsepower (at least in comparison to today’s APUs), and you can do so much better for the price of one of these (if you can still even find them).

 

And if you are interested, check out my YouTube channel, since there might be some more videos of this thing playing Battlefield 3 coming up, since school is out for me now. Just saying.

[The Crazed Child]

You are an awesome reviewer. AMD should send you free stuff to review lol.

[Simmytu]

Great review. It's nice to see some older tech reviews and comparisons on this forum

[flibberdipper]

You are an awesome reviewer. AMD should send you free stuff to review lol.

heheh That would be nice. Thanks. I appreciate the feedback.

 

Great review. It's nice to see some older tech reviews and comparisons on this forum

Thanks. But I guess when the majority of stuff that you have is old, you tend to review it.

[Inkz]

I had used a 3850 myself for a while(not my choice) it was decent but later when I got a 7970 I could tell it was really holding me back.

[SkilledRebuilds]

Good review, enough info to ascertain that you can buy a similar priced, yet far better performing newer APU currently, and that its usable as a platform for specific use, but also providing info that you can do better for the performance>watt.

[flibberdipper]

Good review, enough info to ascertain that you can buy a similar priced, yet far better performing newer APU currently, and that its usable as a platform for specific use, but also providing info that you can do better for the performance>watt.

Thanks. I appreciate the feedback a lot. Heck, I'm working on a few more reviews right now. Not going to tell what they're on though...

 

I had used a 3850 myself for a while(not my choice) it was decent but later when I got a 7970 I could tell it was really holding me back.

For a first gen product, they aren't that bad.

[nick99n]

my father's pc has an a4 5300 it's pretty cute for browsing the web /watching youtube