Review-AMD “Llano” A6-3650 and A8-3850 Performance Assessment

Conclusions

AMD’s new A-Series “Llano” APU turns out to be a balanced compromise between CPU speed and graphics processing power. Its CPU cores aren’t remarkably fast, but its integrated Radeon HD GPU is arguably the powerful integrated graphics solution available today. We’re not surprised with this type of combo (average CPU and fast graphics). That’s just what AMD did with its Brazos platform. Perhaps the company decided to combine both those aspects to keep its new APUs affordable for consumers. Affordability has always been one of AMD’s strong points.

Llano’s integrated GPU allows you to play games that aren’t too demanding in its graphics processing requirement, such as Left 4 Dead 2. You can also increase the graphics detail to achieve higher settings without sacrificing frame rate too much, albeit only at lower resolutions like 1360×768 commonly found on small to medium size monitors (up to 18,5 inch). For those internet café prospectors who aim to assemble a fleet of PCs that are powerful enough to play most online games without breaking the bank, Llano could prove to be a worthy alternative. With these new APUs, you don’t need to buy a separate graphics card. The savings could be used to increase storage, memory, or allocated to a better power supply unit.

Generally speaking, with its new Llano APUs, AMD might have struck the right spot between CPU performance, graphics processing power, and, of course, price. Llano gives us an affordable processor with what is perhaps the most impressive integrated graphics in its class.