With the new FM2 boards available, we took the chance to compare the A10-5800K (3.8GHz) and compare it to the Intel core i5-3570K processor in terms of it’s performance, overclockability etc.

Tbe Trinity FM2 A10-5800K has a built in graphics core of Radeon 6670D which runs at 800MHz which seems to outrun the Socket FM1 and Core i5 3570K in graphics component test.

The AMD A10-5800K is catching up with it’s Intel counterpart especially in the data crunching and data transcoding department but it will probably need to improve it’s design to match the speed. It has improved from it’s FM1 design but still require more time to evolve.

Generally the AMD A10-5800K is a good alternative if you have little budget for a PC with on board graphics.

Read our review of the BIOSTAR Hi-Fi A85X motherboard review with more detail numbers.

http://en.ocworkbench.com/tech/review-of-biostar-hi-fi-a85x-socket-fm2-trinity-motherboard-with-a10-5800k-processor/

AMD has unveiled it’s Trinity APUs and hope that this would create competition and cause Intel to slash it’s price to compete with them.

In the past AMD has been the alternative to Intel. In fact it has a strong following until recent years with it’s Socket FM1.

We spoke to a number of distributors and they are hesistant to bring in AMD FM2 boards and CPUs as there is not much of a demand in this region. Users who have high spending power naturally goes for Intel.

Adopting the new FM2 socket, AMD has released several Trinity APUs including quad-core A10-5800K, featuring integrated Radeon HD 7660D GPU, A10-5700, A8-5600K, A8-5500 and dual-core A4-5300.

Currently, Intel Core i3 series processor prices range from US$117-138, while AMD’s new Trinity APUs are priced at US$69-129.

The processors are pretty affordable and with motherboards at 70% of the price of Intel motherboards. It might also spur the sales of Intel processors and motherboards as vendors might start slashing prices, probably in a matter of time.

Pricing source : Digitimes

BIOSTAR HiFi A85X Socket FM2 Trinity motherboard

Discuss

September 2012 is drawing to a close and October would be an interesting month for AMD as they will launch their new Socket FM2 processors. Although processors are not available as yet, boards have surfaced on manufacturers website. Information about the processors have also been posted almost on every site. We managed to get a glimspe of the almost ready FM2 processor A10-5800K. Here is how it looks like.

The unlocked chip A10-5800K has 4MB Cache rated 100W and has a max. clock speed turbo at 4.2GHz. The internal graphics clock is rated at 800MHz and has 384 cores. AMD did not reveal actual pricing but it should be in the range of USD 120 in units of 1000. The processor will be available from Oct 2 2012.

Review of BIOSTAR Hi-Fi A85X socket FM2 motherboard
28 Sept 2012

In a few days time, AMD will introduce their next generation of graphics integrated processor or APU. The new APU uses a different socket type FM2 from the previous generation Socket FM1. The new series of processors, also has an improved performance especially in the area of multimedia encoding compared to the earlier generation.

In conjunction with the new generation of AMD processors, BIOSTAR releases a A85 chipset motherboard. This motherboard belongs to the HiFi Series and is known as BIOSTAR HiFi A85X.

The mothboard HiFi A85X supports the newest FM2 socket processors A4, A6, A8 and A10 + Athlon II X4 processors with a maximum TDP of 100W. It has 4 DIMM slots which operates in Dual channel mode and supports up to 64GB of memory.

The board also caters for those who wants maximum graphics performance. It has 3 PCIe 2.0 x16 slots that can work in X16+x8+x4 in CrossFireX mode. There is also 3 PCIe 2.0 and 1 PCI slot.

Native support of SATA3 or SATA 6Gbps supporting 7 SATA 6Gbps + 1 eSATA in RAID 0,1,5,10 modes. There is also native support for USB 3.0. There are two USB 3.0 ports, 1 USB 3.0 header, 4 USB 2.0 ports and 3 USB 2.0 header on board.

Depending on the APU used, it supports dual graphics technology and CrossFire with selected models of graphcis card (see manual). Alternatively, you can use Virtu MVP to boost performance with Virtu’s Hyperformance and Vsync feature.

The board is also Windows 8 compatible and comes with software like BIO-Remote2, Rapid Switch2, Debug3, BIOSFLasher, Charger booster, BIOS online Update etc to complement the UEFI BIOS.

The BIOSTAR HiFi A85X stands out from it’s competitors as it emphasis on good quality audio. The HiFi series of motherboard provides autio compoenents with independent power design to reduce electronic noise. In addition, it uses noise block multi layer PCB to isolate audio signals from digital sources. The board uses High quality ESD and a Hi-Fi AMP which can drive headphones with over 100dB loads and wide bandwidth of frequencies. There is also Hi-Fi Resistor and Hi-Fi cap which helps in the audio.

To complement the hardware, it has software that can do multi channel calibration (MCC). Audio performance is automatically calibrated to the dimensions of your room. There is another software known as Smart Ear which you can optimize your headphone experience. The board supports THX TruStudio Pro.

So much about the features, how will it perform against the Socket FM1 and Intel equivalent ? We will use the A10-5800K APU to test it against the A8-3850 (FM1) and INtel Core i5-3570K.

Finally the Nexus 7 tablet powered by Tegra3 will go on sale in Singapore from tomorrow at S$399. The price is reasonable based on exchange rate, it is exactly the same. The product is made by ASUS and powered by nvidia.

Below is our unboxing video of the Nexus 7.

Virtu MVP isn’t a new player on motherboards. We first witness it’s performance gains on the Intel Z77 platform.

So, how well will it perform under the AMD platform you might ask. Basically virtu mvp works the same way. You can enable Virtu Hyperformance or Hyperformace + Vsync. This will give it a performance boost.

We witness a run of virtual mvp and found the results to be quite decent. In fact, we compared the results the our own Intel Z77 + Core i5 3570K + Radeon HD 7970 results, the AMD platform is just slightly behind it.

In 3DMark11 (X – 1920×1080), the benchmark was boosted by around 35%. In comparison to the Intel platform, it gave a 39% boost. The slightly better result could be due to Intel’s PCIe 3.0 as AMD is still running in PCIe 2.0 mode.

Below are benchmark results on the Intel Z77 platform for reference.

Normal HD 7970
X2760

With HD 7970+VSync+Hyperperfomrance turned on
X3836

Discuss

According to a news article on techworld australia, it is said that the upcoming Advanced Micro Devices’ latest A-series quad-core desktop processors runs at up to 4.2GHz, but can be overclocked to 6.5GHz with liquid nitrogen cooling, the company said.

The two unlocked processors, which we have already listed as A10-5800K and the A8-5600K
are faster and cheaper than competitive Intel chips, said AMD desktop products manager Adam Kozak during a conference call to discuss the new chips.

Compared to the equivalent Intel, the AMD is in the US$100 to $150 price range, Kozak said. Intel’s unlockable processors start at $216, according to a Sept. 2 price list.

The chips are based on the Piledriver microarchitecture, which is also used in the latest laptop processors code-named Trinity released by AMD starting in the middle of this year. AMD’s internal benchmarks revealed the new chips provide 25 percent to 37 percent overall faster system performance than the older desktop chips code-named Llano, which were released last year.

The unlocked chip A10-5800K has 4MB Cache rated 100W and has a max. clock speed turbo at 4.2GHz. The internal graphics clock is rated at 800MHz and has 384 cores. The A8-5600K has a maximum clock speed of 3.9GHz and 256 graphics cores with 760MHz GPU clock speed.

AMD did not reveal actual pricing but it should be in the range of USD 120 in units of 1000. The processor will be available from Oct 2 2012.

Source

ASUS launches 4 socket fm2 boards F2A85 series motherboards. There are one matx and one full atx board.

The 4 boards are F2A85-V Pro, F2A85-M Pro, F2A85-M and F2A85-M LE.

All 4 boards supports the new socket Trinity FM2 processors. Chipset on board is the new AMD A85X FCH (Hudson D4).

For RAM support, other than the F2A85-M LE, the 3 other boards support 4 DIMM slots of up to DDR3-2400 (OC). AMD official spec for the FM2 is DDR3-1866. The F2A85-M LE supports only 2 DIMM Slots.

The F2A85-V Pro supports 3 single @16 or dula @ x8/x8 and 1 PCIe x4. The F2A85-M Pro supports 2 PCIe slots supports single 16x or dual 8x. The F2A85-M and F2A85-M LE supports 2 slots in either single x16 or dual @ x16/x4.

Graphics controller is built into the APU and supports Radoen hD 7600 series graphics and also support DX11 and CrossFIRE X.

The F2A85-V Pro and F2A85-M Pro supports Display port in addition to HDMI/DVI/D-SUB. The F2a85-M and F2A85-M LE do not support Display Port.

The audio used on the 2 higher end models are ALC892 while the two lower end uses ALC887. All board uses Realtek 8111F GbE LAN and has 7 SATA 6Gbps and 1 eSATA 6Gbps native ports.

The two higher end boards include 6 USB 3 and 10 USB 2.0 while the 2 lower end has 4 USB 3 and 10 USB 2.0 ports.

As we have mentioned that some newer board supports Virtu MVP, The ASUS does not seem to support it.

Stay tuned for more news at ocworkbench and post your comments here or in our forums or facebook.

Singapore – 25 September 2012 – hybris, a global leader in multichannel commerce solutions, today
announced that it has been named as a leading B2C commerce suite vendor in Forrester Research,
Inc.’s latest Wave report on B2C Commerce entitled: “The Forrester Wave™: B2C Commerce Suites,
Q3 2012”, dated 24th September, 2012.

According to the report; “…hybris has continued to mature as a solution over the past two years —
and gained market share quickly as a result… The key differentiators of hybris remain strong product
content management tools, catalog management, enterprise integration, and globalization/
internationalization capabilities. Its eCommerce features have also matured notably, and there is a
well-defined ability to extend the product and customize it to develop differentiated eCommerce sites
across a variety of verticals.”

Ariel Lüdi, CEO of hybris, said: “Our focus on the B2C commerce market is the cornerstone of our
success and heritage in the retail and industry markets. With our continued success, we are leading
the vendor pack in the evolution towards true omnichannel commerce. As a result, we are very
pleased to see that our technology focus in B2C is gaining us recognition as a leader in this growing
and dynamic sector of commerce.”

According to the Forrester B2C Commerce Suite Wave report; “Today’s multichannel businesses are
increasingly multisite and multibrand businesses. This trend enables more specific and targeted
marketing opportunities for customers; they can also benefit from search engine optimization (SEO) by
enabling the use of more specific terms and metadata to target related search terms. Innovative
merchandising and marketing in areas like flash sales, social commerce, and mobile commerce are
also driving forces behind the need to support a diverse set of sites and customer touchpoints from a
common infrastructure.”

A copy of the report can be downloaded here: www.hybris.com/forrester-wave-Q3-2012.

One of the selling points of Intel Z77 boards was the support of Lucid Virtu MVP. With Lucid Virtu MVP enabled, the scores are not only better. Here is a recap of the 3 major components of Lucid Virtu MVP.

The good news is that the upcoming Socket FM2 platform will join in the Virtu MVP family. With an add on graphics card, you can now tap the power of both GPUs and boost up the performance.

One of the such motherboard is the BIOSTAR Hi-Fi A85X.

Virtu MVP has 3 major components:

Overall Virtu MVP adds value to your platform and gaming experience :

Intel users who buys the Core i5 series usually go for the faster encoding speed and support of new technologies on new boards e.g based on Intel Z77 chipset.

In fact, something that most intend to forget is the raw power of the processors. In fact, when the Socket FM1 processors were introduced, it was not well received.

Picture courtesy of TomsHardware showing the difference of Socket FM1 vs FM2.

Today, we took a look at our old records and did a comparison and found that our Socket FM1 A8-3850 actually outperform our Core i5-3570K processor in terms of graphics capabilities. This is especially in games frame rates and openGL tests. Although it is fast, graphics encoding is behind Intel’s.

So, will the Socket FM2 processors going to change that or will there be any breakthrough ? Discuss.

If you are an Intel user, you would probably be aware of XMP. AMD in it’s upcoming motherboards featuring the Socket FM2 will support AMP. AMP or AMD memory profile it AMD’s version of the Intel Extreme Memory Profiles (XMP) which amounts to known-safe automatic overclock settings. The AMP profiles are stored in the DDR3 memory modules and can be read by supporting motherboards. With such ram modules, it is easy to configure the board to work well with these RAMs as the voltages, ram timings are already preset.

So far, Biostar, ECS and ASRock Socket FM2 boards will feature this capability. It will be useful for users who just wants less headaches plug and play solution. For those who loves to meddle with ram timings, this might not be that important as you can manually adjust your ram timings anyway.

So, will you buy AMP certified modules at a premium ? Discuss.

The craze over 4G speed is ongoing. In our earlier post, we mentioned about the iPhone 5 ‘s disadvantage as it supports a single band 1800MHz.

According to repotrs in early tests conducted in Australia and Sweden, a typical speed range for the following frequency bands is :

20Mbps to 40Mbps using 800/900MHz frequency band
40Mbps to 60Mbps using the 1800MHz frequency band
60Mbps to 100Mbps on 2600MHz frequency band

Today, we saw a post by our HK colleague, he tested the Smartone LTE network with iPhone 5. The speed he gets is far above the highest we saw repoted in the newspaper (tested by ST).

Here is the screen shot. Smartone is able to deliver 55Mbps for downlink which is very impressive.

What about Singtel ? It only achieves 15Mbps at Boon Keng. Looks like Singtel network isn’t fully operational or something isn’t right somewhere with their LTE network.

If you have screen shots of your test of LTE 1800MHz at various locations with Singtel, M1 or Starhub, please send them in to us.

Apple iPhone 5 goes on retail yesterday. As LTE or 4G is the latest enhancement to the iPhone, we found some test results posted by consumers.

Below is a screen shot of Singtel phone user testing the LTE speed test at Kovan. It achieves 11Mbps for downlink and 27.11Mbps uplink.

Judging from the speed registered, it is still quite far away from the theoretical speed of LTE of 75Mbps. Is this because of the single band support of 1800MHz. Will other phones running dual band 1800/2600 be able to get better results. Do send in your results and indicate the phone used, location, time and telco used to do the test.

Picture courtesy of Sgphonedeals

ASUS, a global leader in the new digital era, has launched the Google Nexus 7 tablet in Malaysia.

Priced at RM999, the tablet is now available at retail showrooms in the country.

George Su, System Country Manager, said Malaysia is the first country in South East Asia to receive the device.

“Previously we have introduced higher price range of tablets. We introduced the Nexus 7 tablet to position ourselves in the market and increase the company’s market share, especially in Malaysia,” he said at the launch here today.

“We believe that the demand and response will be very good for Nexus 7 tablet in the local market, as it is suitable for all kinds of users,” he added.

Nexus 7 is the first tablet in Google’s Nexus line of devices and the lead device for Android 4.1, Jelly Bean, the latest version of the world’s most popular mobile platform.

Asus and Google jointly developed Nexus 7 tablet, the world’s first seven-inch quad core tablet which delivers the best of the Google experience in a slim, portable package that fits perfectly in the hand.

The iPhone phenomenon

Apple fans throughout the world are fasincated by the launch of the iPhone 5 today. Pre-orders were available in Singapore but that didn’t deter people from queueing to collect it overnight.

Look at the overnight queue at EpiCentre, Singapore.

Although the iPhone 5 is not technically superior than some of the Andriod phones out there, there are still a die hard group of fans that will go for the iPhone. It happened for 3GS, 4, 4S and now iPhone 5.

Some of it’s competitors has larger screen and slimmer body. Some even has anti dust, water resistance. The most important thing that most review sites forgot to mention is that the iPhone 5 comes with single band LTE 1800MHz unlike the others with Dual band of 1800MHz and 2600MHz. This is important as outdoor coverage is mainly 2600MHz and iPhone 5 will likely be seeing access speeds.

So, why is it that people are buying into Apple products knowing that the technical specifications might not be as good as the competitor. What I feel is the software that is more important than the hardware. Look at the apps you have on iPhone versus others. Secondly, it is the only brand that provides iOS upgrade from version 3 to 4, 5, and now iOS 6 across all iphones and iPads. Older phones gets a new life with every OS update. Compared to the Android, most of the older phones are still stucked at version 2.3.4 Gingerbread.

If you just bought your iPhone 5, I would like you to do a speedtest (using Speedtest app) on the LTE network. Do a screen capture and send it in to us on our Facebook page or email us at webmaster at ocworkbench.

Screen shot of Singtel phone user testing the LTE speed test at Kovan. It achieves 11Mbps for downlink and 27.11Mbps uplink.
Picture courtesy of Sgphonedeals

So what is your opinion about this phenomenon ? Will you buy one ? Post your comments below :

WD® Creates World’s Thinnest 2.5-inch Hybrid Hard Drive

New 5 mm Standard Slashes Storage Footprint by Almost 50% Compared to Traditional 2.5-inch Hard Drives

IRVINE, Calif. – Sept. 10, 2012 – WD®, a subsidiary of Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC) today announced it is sampling a 5mm-thin hard disk drive featuring hybrid technology. WD has developed hard drives slim enough for integration into today’s thinnest notebook PCs, which provide high-capacity storage and robustness while featuring instant-on and application performance similar to today’s client solid state drives (SSDs). The new technologies will be showcased during WD’s Investor Day, Sept. 13, 2012.

“Mobile devices are becoming smaller, thinner, lighter and more responsive,” said Matt Rutledge, vice president of client storage solutions at WD. “Working with our technology partners, WD has developed new 5 mm hard drives that enable high capacity storage along with excellent performance and superior economics to allow our customers to expand their thin offerings.”

With device volumetric efficiency a key concern for system makers, WD began shipping 7 mm height hard drives for thin-profile notebooks earlier this year (historically, standard notebook hard drives have been 9.5 mm). WD 5 mm hybrid hard drives will enable the market’s thinnest computers to offer 500 GB of capacity, utilizing almost 50% less volume compared to current 9.5 mm hard drives and at one tenth the cost of similar capacity SSDs.

“Acer is partnering with WD to bring advanced notebook performance and capacity in the smallest form factor,” said David Lee, associate vice president of Mobile Computing Product business unit at Acer. “It’s a part of our ongoing commitment to present leading technology that ultimately improves the total user experience of our customers.”

“We are seeing a shift in the computing world to more powerful mobile computing solutions,” said SY Shain, senior vice president of ASUS’ notebook business unit. “With this in mind, ASUS and WD are collaborating to create slimmer and more mobile notebook solutions — without sacrificing capacity or performance — to deliver smaller form-factor to consumers.”

Hybrid Technology and Client Tiered Storage
WD’s innovative hybrid technology pairs MLC NAND flash storage for fast SSD-like data throughput and instant-on responsiveness with magnetic disks for efficient, high-capacity storage. Similar to the practice of multi-million dollar enterprise systems, WD’s hybrid technology utilizes the concept of tiered storage. Data accessed most frequently (often referred to as ‘hot’ data) is managed using speedy NAND flash to ensure fast response times, while data accessed less often (‘cold’ data) resides on the robust magnetic disks. The tiered design of hybrid hard drives, compared to current dual-drive solutions, also provides a redundancy benefit for users. The magnetic disk backs up all files residing in the NAND, protecting the user from inevitable NAND wear and preserving it for the more hot data handling. WD’s hybrid technology works in conjunction with the PC operating system to deliver higher performance than current hybrid offerings while minimizing NAND wear to allow the use of less expensive MLC NAND.

Hybrid hard drives combine NAND flash and magnetic disks, simplifying storage-element integration for OEM customers and providing a host of end user benefits: superior performance, responsiveness, lower power consumption, greater operating shock tolerance, and data protection. And unlike dual-drive designs, WD’s hybrid technology provides single-unit design homogeneity that OEM system manufacturers have long sought from the storage industry.

BIOSTAR supports the next revision of AMD A-Series Mainstream APU processors

September 20, 2012 Taipei, Taiwan – BIOSTAR, major manufacturer of motherboards, VGA cards, industrial computer systems and other peripherals, today announces that its’ AMD AM3+ motherboard are fully compatible with “the next revision of AMD A-Series Mainstream APU processors”.

Accordingly to AMD’s latest product planning, a new 2012 AMD FX Series based Desktop Platform is scheduled to be launched in October next month. As usual, users can expect more exciting features and outstanding performance from AMD.