[bluray]

Ok, that's three votes for A6-5400K. Now, why?

-New technology (FM2 socket)
-AMD Radeon HD 7540D iGPU
-Trinity 3.6GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) CPU

So, I'd love to hear any experiences, pointer to new reviews, etc. so I can read more than the obvious "it's got a better GPU". Everything seems to be all about A10-5800K.

I'm planning to build one A6-5400K HTPC this holiday......here are some tests on A6-5400K- AMD Trinity On The Desktop: A10, A8, And A6 Get Benchmarked.........

[tutu]

Ok, that's three votes for A6-5400K. Now, why?

Ivy Bridge/Sandy Bridge have a frame drop every 4 minutes (ish) because it can't display 23.976Hz refresh rate correctly. AMD Trinity CPUs have a frame drop every 4 hours (ish).

This is according to Anandtech. At least that is how I interpreted the results.

[wsume99]

Ivy Bridge/Sandy Bridge have a frame drop every 4 minutes (ish) because it can't display 23.976Hz refresh rate correctly.

I wonder if that will get Assassin's attention?

[wsume99]

I'm planning to build one A6-5400K HTPC this holiday......here are some tests on A6-5400K- AMD Trinity On The Desktop: A10, A8, And A6 Get Benchmarked.........

I just don't see a comparison of Trinity to Llano being very useful. So Trinity is better than Llano - who didn't see that coming? I want to see the A6-5400K vs. Pentium G2120. I'm sure the A6 will have a better iGPU but I'm betting the G2120 will have better CPU performance and maybe even lower power consumption. For my HTPC the extra iGPU horsepower of the Trinity is a total waste. I get more benefit from having a better CPU to handle transcoding, unpacking rar files, heavy skins, and multi-tasking.

[Beer40oz]

Ivy Bridge/Sandy Bridge have a frame drop every 4 minutes (ish) because it can't display 23.976Hz refresh rate correctly.

I wonder if that will get Assassin's attention?

Je je... how are you wsume99?... have not talked to you in a while.

Do you run AMD or Intel for your htpc?

Cheers....

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I'm planning to build one A6-5400K HTPC this holiday......here are some tests on A6-5400K- AMD Trinity On The Desktop: A10, A8, And A6 Get Benchmarked.........

I just don't see a comparison of Trinity to Llano being very useful. So Trinity is better than Llano - who didn't see that coming? I want to see the A6-5400K vs. Pentium G2120. I'm sure the A6 will have a better iGPU but I'm betting the G2120 will have better CPU performance and maybe even lower power consumption. For my HTPC the extra iGPU horsepower of the Trinity is a total waste. I get more benefit from having a better CPU to handle transcoding, unpacking rar files, heavy skins, and multi-tasking.

Oh ok.... but if you just use it for HTPC nothing else.. really can't go wrong with intel or AMD... I use another pc to do all my other work....

I guess some people want an all in one......

but aint it best just to have an HTPC to be an HTPC and nothing else....

well all I use mine is for XBMC and nothing else...

[wsume99]

@ Beer40oz - I've been really busy on other things for the last 9 months or so. I've been lurking but too busy to join the discussion.

Right now I have an Intel G620 in my HTPC. I have also used a Sempron 140 and an E-350 in there before as well. So I've used both AMD and Intel. I have no allegience to either OEM - I just want the best bang for my buck. I think the thing that everyone always overlooks is that the best bang for your buck really depends on how you use your HTPC. I can see why Llano and now Trinity would be very attractive to some but it just does not work for me and the way I use my HTPC.

[Dougie Fresh]

I think the thing that everyone always overlooks is that the best bang for your buck really depends on how you use your HTPC.

+1. This is why the first question I always ask is "what do you want to do with your HTPC"? That takes work .

[bluray]

Ivy Bridge/Sandy Bridge have a frame drop every 4 minutes (ish) because it can't display 23.976Hz refresh rate correctly.

I wonder if that will get Assassin's attention?

I tried very hard to see frame drop on HD2000, but I ddidn't see it drop every 4 minutes. I don't see any different on the LCD between my AMD, Intel and Nvidia GPU's......I might have to drink more red wines to see it....

[bluray]

I'm planning to build one A6-5400K HTPC this holiday......here are some tests on A6-5400K- AMD Trinity On The Desktop: A10, A8, And A6 Get Benchmarked.........

I just don't see a comparison of Trinity to Llano being very useful. So Trinity is better than Llano - who didn't see that coming?

You might want to explain it to Dougie. He's questioning it in post #5

I want to see the A6-5400K vs. Pentium G2120. I'm sure the A6 will have a better iGPU but I'm betting the G2120 will have better CPU performance and maybe even lower power consumption. For my HTPC the extra iGPU horsepower of the Trinity is a total waste. I get more benefit from having a better CPU to handle transcoding, unpacking rar files, heavy skins, and multi-tasking.

Most of us, looking at it the other way around. For HTPC, most of us want better iGPU for blu-ray, 3d, games, and most of us trandscodes blu-ray using desktop PC instead......

For a quick glance "Specifications differences", I am confident that AMD 3.6GHz CPU can dance w/ Intel 3.3GHz CPU......for nearly $50 cheaper, A6-5400K got my vote!

[wsume99]

I'm planning to build one A6-5400K HTPC this holiday......here are some tests on A6-5400K- AMD Trinity On The Desktop: A10, A8, And A6 Get Benchmarked.........

I just don't see a comparison of Trinity to Llano being very useful. So Trinity is better than Llano - who didn't see that coming?

You might want to explain it to Dougie. He's questioning on post #5

That's not how I read it. He's not asking why pick Trinity over Llano - which I said was obvious. He's asking why pick Trinity over i3-2100 and I'm asking why pick it over an IVB Pentium (G2120).

Most of us, looking at it the other way around. For HTPC, most of us want better iGPU for blu-ray, 3d, games, and most of us trandscodes blu-ray using desktop PC instead......

The better iGPU in Trinity gives you no extra benefit for blu-ray or 3D - the i3-2100 can handle all of that. The question really comes down to gaming. Will the additional iGPU capability of Trinity fulfill your gaming needs? In my mind you're still better off with a discrete GPU paired with an Intel Pentium (either SNB or IVB) however there are specific scenarios where I do believe that Trinity would be a better fit.

For a quick glance "Specifications differences", I am confident that AMD 3.6GHz CPU can dance w/ Intel 3.3GHz CPU......for nearly $50 cheaper, A6-5400K got my vote!

Sorry but the data I have seen actually shows the contrary. Look at this Anandtech review of Trinity.

The general conclusion is ...

As I mentioned earlier, Trinity's CPU performance puts the buying decision squarely in the tradeoff evaluation zone. Once again what matters the most is how important Trinity's GPU is to you. AMD holds a clear advantage there if you're going to use it, otherwise the decision is heavily weighted towards Intel. Intel holds a power consumption advantage and a clear single threaded performance advantage, while there are some specific workloads that will do better on Trinity (e.g. AES-NI accelerated apps, heavily threaded integer applications).

Overall Trinity is a step forward from Llano. It's not enough to make the job of recommending the APU any less complex than what I've outlined above however. Depending on what you plan on doing with your system, Trinity is either going to be perfect or a distant second.

So as I said earlier it really depends on what you want to do with your system. So I don't think it's correct to say that the A6-5400K is hands down THE BEST CPU to get right now. I can see some scenarios where that is not the case and I see some where that is the case. I do find it a bit funny that some people around here are so quick to jump on the bandwagon and crown the A6-5400K to be the HTPC king. Has anyone even posted a review of their build where they used the chip? Maybe we should wait to see how it performs in the real world before crowning it the HTPC king?

[Dougie Fresh]

Since I'm being quoted (and soon to be accused of starting an argument, being a troll, etc. since I was reamed for asking the same last week) I am actually asking, genuinely and besides quoted specs, what makes the A6-5400K recommended over the A6-3500, i3-2100, G530 or anything else for that matter. I mean, I know the number 7540 is bigger than 6530 but is it actually better? How better? Better for what? And, is a dual-core Trinity better (again, how?) than a triple-core Llano?

I think these are ok questions to be asking and then asking of the answers that say "it's just better" (or even "it's worse") how so?

BTW, "we don't know yet" is a fine answer. It did just come out last week after all.

[bluray]

For a quick glance "Specifications differences", I am confident that AMD 3.6GHz CPU can dance w/ Intel 3.3GHz CPU......for nearly $50 cheaper, A6-5400K got my vote!

Sorry but the data I have seen actually shows the contrary. Look at this Anandtech review of Trinity.

You lost me for a second there. We started off with the "i3-2100 or A6-5400" in OP, and you jumped to iVy. For price and HTPC, A6-5400 still got my vote!

Since I'm being quoted (and soon to be accused of starting an argument, being a troll, etc. since I was reamed for asking the same last week) I am actually asking, genuinely and besides quoted specs, what makes the A6-5400K recommended over the A6-3500, i3-2100, G530 or anything else for that matter. I mean, I know the number 7540 is bigger than 6530 but is it actually better? How better? Better for what? And, is a dual-core Trinity better (again, how?) than a triple-core Llano?

I think these are ok questions to be asking and then asking of the answers that say "it's just better" (or even "it's worse") how so?

BTW, "we don't know yet" is a fine answer. It did just come out last week after all.

Has anyone even posted a review of their build where they used the chip? Maybe we should wait to see how it performs in the real world before crowning it the HTPC king?

There is no such thing as HTPC king.....if it fulfill your needs and make you feel better about what you built, that's all it matter.....

I thought that the guy at Tom's Hardware did a good job testing the latest Trinity, and these are his words-

"Although it comes equipped with fewer shaders than the Llano-based A8-3850, AMD’s upcoming A10-5800K appears to serve up superior performance as a result of its more utilizable (hey, that’s actually a word) architecture and higher operating frequencies. Our early estimate grants the beefiest Trinity-based chip a 20% advantage in 3DMark 11."

Below is the screen shot of his comment-



Again; between i3-2100 and A6-5400 in OP, A6-5400 got my vote! If you compare it to something else, my vote might change......

[kchao]

Since I'm being quoted (and soon to be accused of starting an argument, being a troll, etc. since I was reamed for asking the same last week) I am actually asking, genuinely and besides quoted specs, what makes the A6-5400K recommended over the A6-3500, i3-2100, G530 or anything else for that matter. I mean, I know the number 7540 is bigger than 6530 but is it actually better? How better? Better for what? And, is a dual-core Trinity better (again, how?) than a triple-core Llano?

I think these are ok questions to be asking and then asking of the answers that say "it's just better" (or even "it's worse") how so?

BTW, "we don't know yet" is a fine answer. It did just come out last week after all.

Agree with Dougie here - newer should equal better but who knows. Quantified tests would be great but given how new the chip is, it hasn't just hasn't been around long to be proven out or tested. Since I wasn't able to find anything that compares the 5400 to the i3-2100 (or a similar price point)I was looking for guidance from folks here.

Personally, I'm only planning on running XBMC on the HTPC - more processor intensive tasks will be offloaded to my desktop. Hence is the reason I'm so torn. Will XBMC benefit in terms of performance and utilization with the stronger GPU or a stronger CPU?

As an aside, would also be interested about performance of the triple core llano A6 vs the dual core 5400K. Anyone have any thoughts on AMD's thinking there?

BTW - thanks to all for the feedback and discussion. Seems like this question is much more difficult than I anticipated.

[wsume99]

I thought that the guy at Tom's Hardware did a good job testing the latest Trinity

All Tom is saying is that high-end Trinity is better than high-end Llano. Again, isn't that kind of expected? How does that answer i3-2100 vs. A6-5400? The Anandtech article I linked compares Trinity to Llano, IVB, and SNB. Isn't that what we're doing here?

IMO it all comes back to what you want to do with your HTPC. Here is how I would group them. (It's way too early to say this with any certainty but this is where I think we'll end up in a few months.)

1. I want 1080 & bitstreaming (and everything below) --> G530
   
2. I #1 + 3D --> A6-5400 or i3 SNB (whichever is cheaper)
   
3. I want #2 + as much gaming as I can without a discrete GPU --> ranges from A6-5400 to A10-5800K depending on your budget
   
4. I want #2 + heavy gaming --> i3 + discrete GPU
   
5. I want #2 + transcoding --> i3 SNB or IVB (whichever is cheaper)
   

As far as the i3-2100 vs. A6-5400 goes the OP said the cost was the same (it's $79 on TigerDirect). So in that case I'd go i3.

The only areas where I would choose the Trinity over Intel is when you need 3D and Trinity is the cheapest alternative OR you want to do some gaming. However I think that if you are into gaming then you should really get a dGPU and if you go that route then you need the best CPU performance for your $$$ and that is Intel.

---

Personally, I'm only planning on running XBMC on the HTPC - more processor intensive tasks will be offloaded to my desktop. Hence is the reason I'm so torn. Will XBMC benefit in terms of performance and utilization with the stronger GPU or a stronger CPU?

Well if you don't need 3D and all you are doing is XBMC then why not get a G530? If you do need 3D then I'd go for the i3-2100 (assuming the cost is the same vs. the A6-5400) since XBMC relies more on the CPU than the GPU.

---

There is no such thing as HTPC king.....if it fulfill your needs and make you feel better about what you built, that's all it matter.....

I agree and I'm just trying to highlight what I see as the pros and cons of each option. I would also suggest you go back an re-read this thread (especially the first page) and see if there was anyone who posted a reply that essentially crowns the A6-5400 the HTPC KING.

[bluray]

As far as the i3-2100 vs. A6-5400 goes the OP said the cost was the same (it's $79 on TigerDirect). So in that case I'd go i3.

The only areas where I would choose the Trinity over Intel is when you need 3D and Trinity is the cheapest alternative OR you want to do some gaming. However I think that if you are into gaming then you should really get a dGPU and if you go that route then you need the best CPU performance for your $$$ and that is Intel.

After shipping cost and discount, Trinity is still cheaper on TigerDirect- Intel Core i3-2100 and AMD A6-Series AD540KOKHJBOX....

do need 3D then I'd go for the i3-2100 (assuming the cost is the same vs. the A6-5400) since XBMC relies more on the CPU than the GPU.

For light games and 3d, A6-3500 (HD6530d) is better than i3-2100 (HD2000), the cheaper A6-5400k with better HD7540d iGPU should be much better than HD2000.......tests by this guy- Graphics Core Performance.....