AMD Radeon R7 512 Cores (Kaveri Desktop) vs AMD Radeon R7 (Kaveri)

AMD Radeon R7 512 Cores (Kaveri Desktop)

The AMD Radeon R7 Graphics width 512 Cores is an integrated GPU in the AMD A10-7850K, A10-7800 and A10 PRO-7850B Kaveri Desktop APUs. It is an integrated GPU without dedicated graphics memory and is based on the GCN 1.1 (or 2.0) architecture of the Hawaii desktop graphics cards (e.g. R9 290). However, it was altered for HSA use in the APU.

In the the top line A10 Kaveri Desktop APUs, the graphics card offers 512 shader cores (8 compute cores) with a maximum core clock of 720 MHz. The similar named AMD Radeon R7 in the A10-7700K, A8-7650K and A8-7600 offers only 384 Shaders but is in games only slightly slower.

It supports DirectX 12 (FL 12_0) in hardware, which is a big advantage over some GPUs from the competition (Intel Haswell e.g. 11.1, Nvidia Kepler and Maxwell v1 11.0).

The gaming performance in our tests was slightly faster than the Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200 (in the Schenker S413). Depending on the game either one of the GPUs lead, but all in all the R7 was faster in two more games (in March 2014). In most cases, the Radeon R7 is sufficient for a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels and medium settings.

Test system: Asus A88XM-PLUS mainboard, 16 GB DDR3-2133 AMD Gamer memory

AMD Radeon R7 (Kaveri)

The AMD Radeon R7 (Kaveri) is an integrated DirectX 12 graphics card found on a number of AMD Kaveri APUs. Depending on the APU model, the GPU can offer all 512 GCN shaders and 8 compute cores, such as on the FX-7600P. Alternatively, other APUs may only feature 384 shaders and 6 compute cores, such as on the FX-7500. Additionally, the maximum core clock and memory speeds of the GPU depend on the overarching APU: While the ULV models are limited to DDR3-1600, the standard voltage models can support up to DDR3-2133.

Architecture and Features

Thanks to the new GCN 1.1 architecture, the Kaveri GPUs are significantly more efficient with higher performance compared to its VLIW-based predecessors Richland and Trinity. The graphics card can now handle both DirectX 12 (FL 12_0) and the AMD Mantle API. The GPU is also able to accelerate various applications like Adobe Photoshop by utilizing OpenCL.

The revised video engine of Kaveri includes UVD 4.2 (Unified Video Decoder) and VCE 2.0 (Video Codec Engine). H.264 codec support has been slightly improved in several areas. However, H.265 is still not fully supported in hardware.

Performance

Due to significant differences in shader count, core clock speed, and memory support between various Radeon R7 models, the performance of the Radeon R7 can vary greatly between different APUs. While the fastest GPU version in the FX-7600P can compete with a dedicated GeForce GT 740M, the slower version in the FX-7500 only performs at the level of a GeForce GT 720M or HD Graphics 5500. In some cases, the relatively weak CPU may limit the framerates.

Accordingly, games of 2014 can be played fluently in low to medium settings at 1024 x 768 or 1366 x 768 pixels.

Power Consumption

The power consumption of the entire Kaveri APU is rated at 19 Watts and 35 Watts for ULV and standard voltage models, respectively. Thus, the 28 nm chip is suited for smaller or medium sized (sub-)notebooks.