AMD have flaunted the word 'Fusion' for a number of years now, but Fusion is now here firmly in the present. Offering an affordable, well balanced combination of processing power and graphics that cater for the needs of an ever developing visual interactivity that technology provides, the APU really does take a huge step forward in mainstream computing. There were various hiccups with the A6-3650 APU including the CrossfireX set up and the driver/compatibility issue. Stand alone, the A6-3650 does offer a low power all round work horse that would be happy in any home PC. It has the CPU power to get your work done and the graphical power for light gaming, high definition movies and the features that will allow software to take advantage of GPGPU compute. As time progresses more and more applications will be available to take advantage of the APU.




I felt, while using the A6-3650, that the GPU felt pretty crippled compared to the A8 variant. Considering cost, the A6 is not that much cheaper at £85-90 compared to the £100-£105 for the A8-3850. The A6 has a 10% lower CPU clock speed and 20-40% lower GPU horses. It may be that AMD are having yield issues with Llano and that is causing the price to remain high. However, it is difficult to ignore that from a gaming perspective, the HD 6530D seems over kill for HTPC applications, yet not powerful enough alone to satisfy a gamer. Which is why a £55 Radeon HD 6570 or a £65 Radeon HD 6670 is needed. When considering the price of an APU and discrete graphics card there may be other, better options? What about an existing Phenom II x2 CPU that can bought for £65 with a HD 6670 for £65? Totalling for roughly £10 less than an A6-3650 + HD6570, likely perform better without any hassles and has the possibility of being unlocked into a Phenom II x4.

Regardless the A6-3650 APU from AMD does exactly what it is set out to do, be a balanced processor that can provide the grunt for an everyday home PC and deliver stunning graphics and flawless HD movie playback with an upgrade option of adding in a discrete GPU for extra performance (If they can fix all the bugs). For the gamers out there, if you are looking at a Llano chip, it would depend on what games you play. If it is CSS or TF2? Then something like this will offer great value. If it is for the latest and greatest on a budget or for a LAN rig, then look at the A8-3850 with the possibility of an extra card to bolster the performance. If you are wanting to max out your games at the highest resolutions at the highest frame rates. You are looking at the wrong hardware.







Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net.