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AMD is launching one last chip for the FM2+ platform (AMD CHIP A8-7680)

For those with all the End of Life FM2+ Motherboards, you will be soon getting a new BIOS Update for the new AMD A8-7680: AMD is launching one last chip for the FM2+ platform - TechSpot

WTF?! It sounds like a joke, but surprisingly, it’s true: meet the AMD A8-7680. Based on the now nearly five years old A8-7600 and launching on the nearly eight year old FM2+ socket, this will certainly be a chip that absolutely no one cares about.

The chip was first suspected to be coming when Asrock updated their BIOS to support it on their A68H motherboards – though admittedly most people thought it was an error at the time. Just recently, however, an official AMD document began listing the device, and several online retailers have put it up for sale. Though at around $55, it comes up against the far more modern Athlon 200GE.

According to its listings, the A8-7680 features four cores and four threads with a 3.5Ghz base clock and a whopping 3.8Ghz boost clock. It’s technically unlocked but there’s little hope of pushing it very far given its 28nm node, and notorious Excavator architecture.

Only the base clock has been improved from the old A8-7600, and by a measly 400Mhz at that. Surprisingly, a large number of motherboards have actually updated their BIOS to support it, including the Asus A68HM-K, A68HM-Plus, Gigabyte F2A68HM-DS2 rev1.1, F2A68HM-H rev1.1, F2A68HM-S1 rev1.1, MSI A68HM-E33-v2, ASRock FM2A68M-HD+, and FM2A68M-DG3+.

Technically, the chip is specced higher than the Athlon 200GE, which only features two cores at 3.2Ghz. So maybe it’ll be worth a buy. But really AMD, what's the point?

6 Replies

had they made the processor at 14nm it likely would have sold lots of them as then the clocks could be faster and lower power too

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As Anandtech hypothesized, it's likely a custom OEM order, but either they canceled either part or all of the order, or AMD made too many, so they're releasing it to the open market. We saw it before with Seagate and some of their SSDs that were OEM only yet released to the public.

Still, there are very few reasons to consider FM2+ to AM4. With a $60 Athlon 200GE and $70 DDR4 (8GB) vs a $55 FM2+ APU and $50 DDR3 (8GB), $130 vs $105 isn't enough price difference to justify, although FM2+ has Windows 8.1 support if that would factor in anywhere...

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MSI has several low cost AM4 motherboards, some with 4 memory slots

AMD AM4 processors are low cost but I tend to consider R5 and up which have more horsepower

The budget R3 are workable for lower grade needs

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ajlueke
Grandmaster

Interesting that the Techspot article mentions that "only" the speed was increased by 400 MHz compared to the A8-7600.  However, the A8-7600 was a "Kaveri" APU based on the Steamroller core, while the A8-7680 is a "Carrizo" gpu based on the Excavator core, and their are differences beyond a simple bump in clock speed.

For example, my current small form factor PC uses a "Kaveri" based APU and is unable to stream 4K mkv files well due to a lack on dedicated hardware decoding for h.265 HEVC.  Support for HEVC was added with Carrizo, so for me this APU is an instant upgrade without having to purchase a new motherboard or new memory.

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mosael
Journeyman III

elstaci a écrit:

For those with all the End of Life FM2+ Motherboards, you will be soon getting a new BIOS Update for the new AMD A8-7680: AMD is launching one last chip for the FM2+ platform - TechSpot

WTF?! It sounds like a joke, but surprisingly, it’s true: meet the AMD A8-7680. Based on the now nearly five years old A8-7600 and launching on the nearly eight year old FM2+ socket, this will certainly be a chip that absolutely no one cares about.

Torrent  TurboTax Gogoanime

The chip was first suspected to be coming when Asrock updated their BIOS to support it on their A68H motherboards – though admittedly most people thought it was an error at the time. Just recently, however, an official AMD document began listing the device, and several online retailers have put it up for sale. Though at around $55, it comes up against the far more modern Athlon 200GE.

According to its listings, the A8-7680 features four cores and four threads with a 3.5Ghz base clock and a whopping 3.8Ghz boost clock. It’s technically unlocked but there’s little hope of pushing it very far given its 28nm node, and notorious Excavator architecture.

Only the base clock has been improved from the old A8-7600, and by a measly 400Mhz at that. Surprisingly, a large number of motherboards have actually updated their BIOS to support it, including the Asus A68HM-K, A68HM-Plus, Gigabyte F2A68HM-DS2 rev1.1, F2A68HM-H rev1.1, F2A68HM-S1 rev1.1, MSI A68HM-E33-v2, ASRock FM2A68M-HD+, and FM2A68M-DG3+.

Technically, the chip is specced higher than the Athlon 200GE, which only features two cores at 3.2Ghz. So maybe it’ll be worth a buy. But really AMD, what's the point?

Fascinating that the Techspot article makes reference to that "just" the speed was expanded by 400 MHz contrasted with the A8-7600. Be that as it may, the A8-7600 was a "Kaveri" APU dependent on the Steamroller center, while the A8-7680 is a "Carrizo" gpu dependent on the Excavator center, and their are contrasts past a basic knock in clock speed.

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I was considering an A8-7600 as a low cost CPU to use for AM4 platforms as a test processor as well as for general purpose

every board from the HP willow onward all support it

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