AMD A Series 7850K 4-core FM2+

The A10-7850K was a cool APU in 2014, but in our database it scores 37.8 out of 100 with single-thread performance in the bottom third. The Radeon R7 graphics and unlocked multiplier are the only real highlights. Unless you're a retro builder, skip it.

Four cores at 4.0GHz with 8MB of L2 cache sounds okay on paper, but PassMark tells the real story: 3395 multi and 1494 single. That single-thread score is the one that hurts most for everyday responsiveness. The Radeon R7 graphics were the whole point of this chip, and for 720p esports titles from its era, it did the job. But don't expect it to handle anything modern beyond 2D games and video playback. The 95W TDP is also a lot of heat for this little performance, which explains the efficiency score sitting in the bottom third.

Stacked against something like the Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF, this AMD chip looks like it's from another planet, because it basically is. The Ultra 7 has modern architecture, vastly better single-thread, and efficiency that embarrasses the 7850K. Even against other old silicon in our database like the Dell Xeon E5-2637 V2, the AMD holds its own in features but loses on platform longevity. The G.Skill Trident Z Neo isn't even a CPU, so that comparison is a bit of a joke, but it does highlight how scattered this category gets. If you want old-school AMD charm, this is fine. If you want actual performance, look anywhere else.

Pricing is all over the place. US listings hover around USD 128, while European sellers want anywhere from EUR 215 to EUR 332, a spread of EUR 117 depending on which store you hit. The cheapest EUR listing is the only one worth considering if you're in Europe. At USD 128, you're paying collector prices for a chip that gets smoked by a modern USD 100 CPU with integrated graphics. This is nostalgia money, not performance money.

The AMD A10-7850K is a blast from the past, a 2014-era APU that tried to make integrated graphics actually usable for light gaming. It pairs four Steamroller cores with a Radeon R7 iGPU on the FM2+ socket, and at the time, that was a genuinely interesting combo. Today, it's a budget curiosity for tinkerers and retro builders, not a serious daily driver.

Our database puts its total score at 37.8 out of 100, which sounds rough, and honestly, it is. But the feature score lands in the 89th percentile, mostly because HSA and Mantle support were ahead of their time. The problem is everything else. Multi-thread sits near the bottom third, single-thread is mediocre, and the platform is basically a dead end.

Skip this if you need a daily driver for modern work, gaming, or anything that benefits from fast single-thread performance. The FM2+ platform is a dead end, so there's no upgrade path. If you're building a budget PC from scratch, a current entry-level CPU with integrated graphics will be faster, cooler, and cheaper in the long run.

Buy this if you're building a retro FM2+ system, you already have a board lying around, or you just want to mess with HSA and Mantle for fun. It's a neat piece of history with an unlocked multiplier and a surprisingly capable iGPU for its time. Everyone else should spend their money on literally any modern budget CPU.