New Mid-Range AMD APUs Follow Intel's Example

A recent roadmap describes the arrival of four new AMD APUs. AMD have taken the opportunity to introduce a new naming system which is very similar to something we've seen before.

The four new APUs aren't really major innovations but rather 'speed bumps' of current APUs, or APUs with clocks slightly up (+100 MHz) on the current offer:

- AMD A8-3870K: 3.0 GHz, 4 cores, Radeon HD 6550D
- AMD A6-3670K: 2.7 GHz, 4 cores, Radeon HD 6530D
- AMD A6-3620: 2.2 GHz (Turbo at 2.5 GHz), 4 cores, Radeon HD 6530D
- AMD A4-3420: 2.8 GHz, 2 cores, Radeon HD 6410D




Note the appearance of the suffix 'K' on the A8-3870K and A6-3670K. This suffix indicates that the APU has an unlocked multiplier, favouring overclocking. Up until now, AMD used the suffix 'BE' - for Black Edition - but is now following Intel's example in using 'K' for its unlocked processors.

To finish up with, remember AMD's new Bulldozer architecture is still planned for mid-October with the arrival of the first AMD FX processors. The latest rumours place them somewhere between the Core i5 2500K and Core i7 2600K in performance terms.

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