AMD has just launched a refreshed and affordable A8-7670K APU that caters more to owners of family or home office PCs.
The new A8-7670K APU is the latest in AMD's line of A-Series desktop processors, which the company has optimized for use with the upcoming Windows 10. Though it's affordable, it's definitely packed with a number of features that will help every user take full advantage of Microsoft's new OS scheduled to launch on July 29.
The new A8 shares the same quad-core feature with the A10, although its base clock is lower at 3.6GHz while its Turbo Clock measures at a maximum of 4.1GHz. This means the new variant has a base clock that is 300MHz slower and turbo boost that is 200MHz behind. It's also a bit slower when looking at the GPU side since it runs at 757MHz compared to the A10's 866MHz. Furthermore, it's also packed with six GPU cores, which is two cores fewer than the eight found on the A10-7870K.
Users can expect the new A8 variant to boost performance in the new Edge browser of Microsoft through graphics acceleration in HTML5 and WebGL. Other optimized features include DirectX12, Xbox One streaming, video playback, Bitlocker encryption function, AMD Quick Stream technology, GameDVR and the Modern UI that comes with Windows 10.
Windows 10, which has the driver model WDDM 2.0, is an integral component for DX12 certification. It has the extra benefit of taking full advantage of AMD's Heterogeneous System Architecture, leading to better context switching that involves CPU and GPU cores.
Apart from DirectX 12, the A8 also features Virtual Super Resolution and FreeSync support, which allows refresh rates syncing among graphics processors and compatible displays. The FreeSync support may come in handy since AMD believes that a number of current games are running around 30 fps at 1080p with the A8's Radeon graphics processors. Some of these titles include Dota 2, Heroes of the Storm and League of Legends.
"The A8-7670K APU also performs well in popular eSports gaming titles like Counter Strike: Global Offensive, DOTA 2 and League of Legends," says AMD. "We take gaming seriously at AMD which is why we put so many features into our APUs that make your gaming experience awesome, and that starts with improved gaming efficiency with support for DirectX 12."
The new A8-7670K APU is now available from select resellers at the price of $117.99. AMD recommends pairing the processor with AMD 68H-based motherboards, which has a price point that's as minimal as $52.
