The first desktop accelerated processing units from AMD have arrived—and no, this time, benchmarks and pretty pictures aren’t the only things on the menu. The AMD A8-3850 and A6-3650 are in stock at Newegg and selling for $139.99 and $119.99, respectively. Amazon has them too, although it charges slightly more: $142.77 for the A8-3850 and $122.37 for the A6-3650.
As we explained in our review, the A8-3850 is the flagship, while the A6-3650 is a slightly cut-down variant with a lower clock speed (2.6GHz, down from 2.9GHz), fewer graphics ALUs (320 instead of 400), and a lower graphics clock (443MHz instead of 600MHz). Both processors have 100W thermal envelopes. AMD did announce a couple of desktop-bound A-series chips with 65W TDPs, but those are nowhere to be seen right now.
AMD’s pricing puts the A8-3850 a ways above the Core i3-2100, which costs $124.99 and has a faster CPU component, not to mention toe-to-toe with the Core i3-2105, a $139.99 model with quicker integrated graphics than the i3-2100. As we saw first-hand last week, however, even the i3-2105’s integrated graphics lag considerably behind those of the A8-3850.
By the way, keep in mind that these APUs require new motherboards with FM1 sockets. Newegg has a few listed at prices ranging from $74.99 to $129.99. Just don’t go trying to squeeze an A6 or A8 APU into a Socket AM3 mobo, and you’ll be fine.