We have spent quite a bit of time with AMD’s latest processor, the A-series of APUs previously known as Llano, but something we didn’t cover in the initial review was how overclocking the A8-3850 APU affected gaming performance for the budget-minded gamer. Wonder no more!
In this short video we took the A8-3850 and pushed the base clock frequency from 100 MHz to 133 MHz and overclocked the CPU clock rate from 2.9 GHz to 3.6 GHz while also pushing the GPU frequency from 600 MHz up to 798 MHz. All of the clock rates (including CPU, GPU, memory and north bridge) are based on that base frequency so overclocking on the AMD A-series can be pretty simple provided the motherboard vendors provide the multiplier options to go with it. We tested a system based on a Gigabyte and an ASRock motherboard both with very good results to say the least.
We tested 3DMark11, Bad Company 2, Lost Planet 2, Left 4 Dead 2 and Dirt 3 to give us a quick overall view of performance increases. We ran the games at 1680×1050 resolutions and "Medium"-ish quality settings to find a base frame rate on the APU of about 30 FPS. Then we applied our overclocked settings to see what gains we got. Honestly, I was surprised by the results.
While overclocking a Llano-based gaming rig won’t make it compete against $200 graphics cards, getting a nice 30% boost in performance for a budget minded gamer is basically a no-brainer if you are any kind of self respecting PC enthusiast.
Love the new video format!
Love the new video format! The new intro and graphics are much improved 🙂
Great Video! love the format,
Great Video! love the format, keep em comin!
Thanks guys! We worked for a
Thanks guys! We worked for a while to find a new intro that wasn’t as long as the previous one and I think we found a good mix of "professional" and "edge". 🙂
what memory speed does it
what memory speed does it run?, 1866mhz memory gives a nice boost over 1600mhz too
With the move from 100 MHz
With the move from 100 MHz base clock to 133 MHz base clock, the memory goes from DDR3-1333 to 1773 MHz or so.
Really dig the new video
Really dig the new video format, Ryan. Keep ’em coming.
Ryan – excellent video. It
Ryan – excellent video. It is short, to the point while being informative. I especially liked how you showed us what you did to overclock. It appears that Llano has more punch than what is initially thought.
I hope you’ll consider doing a segment on the mobile end of things in the near future.
Slick 3D graphs!
Slick 3D graphs!
Is PCIe frequency locked to
Is PCIe frequency locked to 100 or it chages with the reference clock?
Yes, it also changes with the
Yes, it also changes with the reference clock.
Show much more power was used
Show much more power was used by the PC after the OC???
thanks for the tip pcper!
thanks for the tip pcper! Excellent video.
you should do a side to side
you should do a side to side test of how much you will gain by just increasing the DDR3 speed. I think most of the gain was because of that speed (DDR3) increase and not much because of the APU increase speed.
And also include the power before/after the OC
Then again check to see if is worth it (power usage)to just OC DDR3 and not the APU.
Great video!! goes directly to whats important!!!
We did in our written article
We did in our written article actually:
Memory speeds: https://pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/AMD-3850-Llano-Desktop-Processor-Review-Can-AMD-compete-Sandy-Bridge/Memory-S
Power Consumption changes (towards the bottom): https://pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/AMD-3850-Llano-Desktop-Processor-Review-Can-AMD-compete-Sandy-Bridge/CPU-and-
drop multiplier on
drop multiplier on sandybridge and up the base clock ..better performance.
nice video. well done.
nice video. well done.
Ok, so what if you took said
Ok, so what if you took said CPU, and decided to toss in a $400 graphics card, would the A8 know to offload the work load appropriately to the bigger GPU?
I believe it all depends on
I believe it all depends on the applications that you use. You could use the integrated gpu to do basic tasks such as
surfing the web, reading emails, ect. on the igpu and when
you do more graphics intensive applications such as games it
powers down the igpu and will use the discreet graphics card
if one is available.
When overclocking the APU by
When overclocking the APU by increasing the BCLK, should I be worried about the northbridge failing? I am a bit worried that speeding up it’s clock speeds could result in harmful results, but if you could give me some piece of mind, I would greatly appreciate it!
Hi Ryan Shrout, thanks for
Hi Ryan Shrout, thanks for your great videos!
Can i ask you one question? Im loving watching the new APU performance, and i bought one (3 days to arrive), with these configs:
APU:A8-3850 2.9ghz
Memory: Corsair XMS3 2x2gb DDR3 1333mhz
Motherboard: ECS A75F-A Black Deluxe
Case: Thermaltake V3 Black Edition
PSU: Cooler Master eXtreme Power Plus 400w (its a good one, already had it)
Do you think that this config will run at 3.6ghz with no problem? My memories will have any problem running at 1773mhz, as you said? Thanks! And wish you could do a new video about overclocking both APU and HD6670 to see how it works! sorry for my bad english.
Love this video, exactly what
Love this video, exactly what I was looking for.I just had one question, how were the temps after overclocking with the stock fan or did you use an aftermarket?
These APUs are pretty amazing in my eyes and I think they are only scratching the surface of what is to come.
Also, how much of an increase do you think adding one of the discrete cards they recommend would be. More specifically an overclocked Radeon HD6670.
k here’s my issue i wanna
k here’s my issue i wanna over clock my gpu i have an amd a4 apu 3300
6480
but its a laptop and ive tired afterburn
and so many other programs, but its like its locked at 444mhz and i cant go higher
i have my amd a4 3300 cpu at
i have my amd a4 3300 cpu at 2.8ghz but my gpu is locked on my laptop plz help
i have this amd a8 3850 and
i have this amd a8 3850 and the same MB.
After OC the pc doesn´t start, then a warning asking me to restore previous settings. What should i do ?