First full reviews of desktop Llano

Well it really depends.

If dual graphics works, seems people are having some trouble getting it to work properly. There will probably be some driver updates that will fix this. If dual graphics work as advertised then the Amd a8-3850 will be superior in games vs a i3 2105 with a low cost GPU.

Again they are not really gaming processors. They are for average computer users who might play a game or two.

However throw in a fast GPU 6850 or higher, or 460 and higher. the i3 will out perform it in most games (like 96% of them)

Now the A8's do seem to overclock well, with many sites getting 3.7-3.8ghz with fsb increases. This also overclocks the IGP. Theres Some really good performance at these levels. You cannot compare it to the i3 anymore, because they don't overclock worth a crap.

Otherwise, the Amd apu's are perfect for HTPC's, and average level users. Even some cheap gamers could use one and get playable gaming results. They are rather impressive when overclocked to 3.7-3.8ghz.
 
If this chip had existed last year, it would have been perfect for my needs.

I couldn't use a mini-ITX board/case for my system because I needed a slot for the graphics card and a slot for the TV tuner card. I ended up getting an Athlon II X2 and a 5770 (computer was HTPC for my wife and I wanted to get something she could play WoW on at 1920x1200).

Turns out what I really should have gotten was a quad core with low end graphics (like an Athlon II X4 + 5570/5670 graphics) as she hardly ever plays WoW and probably wouldn't be able to tell if the graphics were slower. Plus, because she encodes lots of her shows she records with Handbrake, a quad core would be much more useful.

Lo and behold, that's exactly what Llano desktop offers while freeing up one PCI slot and allowing me to get a mini-ITX case with room for several 3.5" drives to store TV shows. In a sense, it's academic as I'm not in the market to build another HTPC computer for at least a year (maybe a Llano version of Bulldozer).

I suspect there are many power users and OEMs who are happy they can build smaller computers that won't completely suck now.
 
Astronomica said:
I'm seeing alot of contradiction going around. For a user on a tight budget would the i3-2100 or the Llano be good for a mid end gaming system, assuming one is using a discrete video card. Or would going with the Phenom x4 still be the best bet? The lack of overclocking on the low end intel chips always bugs me a bit as well, as well as the premium on good intel motherboards.
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for a new low budget build, this llano would be the better option because you could forgo the discrete card and start gaming right away. If you later want to add a discrete, that's ok too.

it's slightly slower than the i3, but still plenty of power for a budget system.
 
I am waiting too see if people manage to unlock cores in the cpu or apu. Gonna be pretty awesome if they can.
 
Sojuuk said:
I am waiting too see if people manage to unlock cores in the cpu or apu. Gonna be pretty awesome if they can.
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that only worked because of a freak thing with the ACC fix for the phenom I's, so it was limited to the SB710/750 southbridge. since Llano doesn't use that southbridge the chances of it working are pretty much nil.
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
that only worked because of a freak thing with the ACC fix for the phenom I's, so it was limited to the SB710/750 southbridge. since Llano doesn't use that southbridge the chances of it working are pretty much nil.
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Mobo makers managed to make it work on SB850 too.

Still for the moment while supplies last PII X4 with cheap GPU is much healthier choice.
 
Michaelius said:
Mobo makers managed to make it work on SB850 too.

Still for the moment while supplies last PII X4 with cheap GPU is much healthier choice.
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it really comes down to what the system is used for. for 99% of all computer users the A8-3850 is way more than enough performance for them. we are the minority here and on most hardware based forum's. its why this whole arguement of oh the i3 2100 is faster than the A8-3850 is pointless because the market these systems are catered to don't give a crap about how fast a processor can encode a movie or how fast it can run crysis. all they care is that its cheap, can run IE/FF/Chrome, run flash video's, and play their stupid facebook flash games. Llano pretty much fills all those requirements while being able to play some games on a platform that is far cheaper then anything intel has out there right now. 100 dollar processor, 100 dollar motherboard, 40 dollars in ddr3 ram and you have yourself a pretty bad ass mid range desktop.
 
yes and those solutions are slower.

and get killed in graphics performance.
 
The pentium g is an amazing class of cpu, hits under the i3 in some benchmarks, barely consumes more power and is half the price if i3 and 25 under the cheapest llano ... im pretty sure even with a discrete card it would barely pull more juice in gaming.

Im giving llano boards one week to come down in price other wise im building a pentium g for the den room.
 
Well the procs didn't exactly kill the competition and I waited this long so im not exactly thrilled to wait for prices on something I expected to hit the shelves cheap. They are good but not enough to sway me from intel.
 
Trimlock said:
I wouldlike to see one of these pitted against a pentium g with a discrete gpu of either ati or nvidia. Pentium g is insanely nice for the price and is very close to the i3.
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Two problems there - Pentium-G is not available at most B&M system-builder shops (MicroCenter doesn't carry it at all, for example) - if you (like me) buy mostly (if not entirely) at MicroCenter, the choice is between Fusion A6/A8 and i3/i5. Also, both Fusion desktop APUs allow leveraging with a discrete AMD GPU for Crossfire action (albeit lower-end discrete AMD GPUs) - something that no Intel Sandy Bridge GPU allows at all. The lowball pricing of Pentium-G is likely one reason why MicroCenter refuses to stock it - they are still flogging Pentium DC (which Pentium-G is supposed to replace); however, MicroCenter *is* stocking the AMD Fusion APUs (both A6 and A8) and a decent cross-section of motherboards for them (at prices directly equivalent to the same motherboards aimed at i3 and i5 non-K - H67 and P67). Given the choice between Fusion, Pentium-G, i3, and i5 non-K, why would I buy i3? Even without Pentium-G, Fusion A8 has the same price as i3, but from a block-diagram/applicaton POV, is closer to i5 non-K. While it doesn't have the CPU core performance of i5-non-K, the GPU *does* outperform the midlevel Sandy Bridge part, and can be leveraged with a low-end AMD discrete GPU for budget CrossFireX. Hence my thinking of Fusion on the desktop as a likely i3-killer.
 
llano is a i3 killer.

same price, vastly better graphics, can be overclocked well.

the i3 cannot compete with a a8@ 3.7-3.8 ghz. It will loose in the cpu tests and it will loose badly in the graphics tests. We already know only way to overclock the i3 is by base clock, and sandy bridge processors simply don't like base clock increases at all.

Llano is the new Budget/gaming system.
 
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