AMD has a goal of making its APUs an interesting alternative for all makret segments. It has now introduced Firepro A300 and A320 that builds on the latest Trinity architecture, whose graphics is more powerful than competing solutions.
It was only a matter of time before the company APUs would find its way into the professional segment, and now both the market and software seem ready. The new Firepro A300 and A320 models build on the Trinity architecture is pretty muc identical to the coming retail models A10-5700 and A10-5800K. Graphics performance is not surprisingly in focus, and is said to outperform Nvidia’s entry model Quadro 600 and Intel’s latest Ivy Bridge processors with P4000 graphics (HD 4000 retail equivalent).
| Model | Firepro A320 | A10-5800K | Firepro A300 | A10-5700 |
| Architecture | Trinity | |||
| CPU architecture |
Piledriver | |||
| CPU cores |
4 (2 moduler) | |||
| Frequency | 3.8 GHz | 3.4 GHz | ||
| Turbo | 4.2 GHz | 4.0 GHz | ||
| Unlocked multiplier | Yes | No | ||
| L2 cache | 2 x 2 MB | |||
| Graphics architecture |
Terascale 3 (VLIW4) | |||
| Graphics | HD 7660D | |||
| Radeon cores |
384 | |||
| Frequency (GPU) | 800 MHz | 760 MHz | ||
| Memory support |
DDR3-1866 | |||
| TDP | 100W | 65W | ||
| Socket | FM2 | |||
The difference between the models is not in the hardware, which is identical. It is in the drivers, certified by software for workstations and AMD’s support for Firepro clients. Up to 2 GB DDR3 RAM can be dedicated to the graphics processor, which is more than any competing solutions, and there is support for up to four monitors and the latest APIs.
AMD does not compare its Firepro A300 and A320 to Quadro 600, which it will be able to ouperform in professional applications. The focus is on Intel Xeon E3-1275V2 with integrated P4000 graphics where its own numbers points to improvements of 50 to 800 percent in everything from simulations to image manipulations. The new models will also be capable of some loads that Intel’s graphics can’t even handle. It is clear the graphics is in focus, since they mentions nothing about the CPU performance.
The new Firepro A300 and A320 will not be available in stores, but only to OEMs. AMD targets Asian markets, where the demand for cheap workstations is high, with the professional APUs, but the solutions should also be available to other clients.
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