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The manufacturer has a big problem with the processor. When more than one core is in use, the clock of the A8-4555M is temporarily reduced from the standard 1.6 GHz to a meager 900 MHz. Our measurements show that the throttling can have a massive impact on the performance. We checked the energy settings repeatedly (Windows control panel and AMD drivers) and the results with the second review unit were too low as well. We assume a general problem with the VivoBook U38DT. ASUS K55VJ Battery
During use of a single-core the situation is more relaxed. According to the tool CPU-Z the A8-4555M does not come close to the maximum available turbo clock, but at least it is 200 MHz more than the base clock with 1.8 GHz. ASUS K55VD Battery
Single-core rendering
Multi-core rendering
CPU- & GPU-load
CPU Performance
The low CPU performance is the weakest point of the subnotebook. The Cinebench R11.5 score is very low with 0.42 points for the single-core rendering and 0.78 points for multi-core rendering. The already mentioned Core i5-2537M is more than 100% faster with 0.9 and 1.93 points (Samsung Series 5 530U4C-S02). Even the slow 1.4 GHz Core i3-2367M with 0.53 and 1.32 points is superior (Asus UX32A-R3001V). ASUS K55V Battery
If we have a look at the Lenovo IdeaPad S405 we can see that the A8-4555M without throttling and a higher turbo margin achieves 0.57 points (+36%) and 1.24 points (+59%). We can only hope Asus fixes the problem with the clocks as soon as possible. ASUS K55DR Battery
The VivoBook U38DT has two DirectX 11 graphics accelerators. The Radeon HD 7600G (Terascale-3 architecture) is integrated into the CPU and has a different clock than the bigger Radeon HD 7660G with only 320-424 instead of 497-686 MHz. Because of the missing graphics memory the Radeon HD 7600G uses the system memory (according to the Catalyst Control Center 512 MB clocked at 667 MHz). ASUS K55N Battery
384 unified shaders correspond with the dedicated graphics. With the Radeon HD 8550M AMD finally introduces its new GCN architecture (Graphics Core Next) to the highly competitive low and mainstream market. Thanks to the modern 28 nm process the latest generation is especially energy efficient. Suboptimal: The video memory has 1024 MB DDR3 memory and a clock of 900 MHz but is just connected with a 64-bit interface. According to the tool GPU-Z the core clock is 700 MHz. ASUS K55DE Battery
Luckily Asus decided not to use the Dual-Graphics technology (some sort of CrossFire for different GPUs). The manufacturer only uses a dynamic graphics switching. Although Enduro still cannot compete with Nvidia's Optimus-counterpart (worse detection rate, less visual aids etc.), the technology made a noticeable improvement over the last months. ASUS K55D Battery
In the appropriate driver menu (right screenshot) the user can easily assign the desired graphics to individual applications. "Maximum Power" represents the HD 8550M, "Energy Saving" stands for the HD 7600G. You can also change the global settings. When you choose the setting "Maximize Performance", all the 3D applications start with the dedicated graphics card. That way an incorrect allocation of the GPU can be avoided. ASUS K55A Battery
5Windows 8 Experience IndexProcessorCalculations per second5.7Memory (RAM)Memory operations per second5.9GraphicsDesktop performance for Windows Aero5Gaming graphics3D business and gaming graphics6.2Primary hard diskDisk data transfer rate5.9 ASUS K55 Battery
GPU Performance
The performance of the AMD graphics very much depends on the requirements of the application being used. The higher the CPU influence, the higher is the limiting factor of the throttling A8-4555M.
The subnotebook handles the 3DMark 11 (1280x720, "Performance Preset") quite well. With a GPU score of 1,307 points the Radeon HD 8550M is on the same level as the GeForce GT 640M LE (1,259 points @ Fujitsu LifeBook AH532) or Radeon HD 7690M XT (1,346 points @ HP Pavilion dv7-6c07eg). For comparison: The Radeon HD 7600G only manages half of that (628 points @ Lenovo IdeaPad S405). ASUS K45VS Battery
The result of the Unigine-Heaven-2.1 benchmark (1280 x 1024, High, Tessellation normal) is not very overwhelming. With 14.1 fps it can compete with the GeForce GT 630M at most (14.3 fps @ Medion Akoya P6633). ASUS K45VM Battery , ASUS K45VJ Battery ,ASUS K45VG Battery , ASUS K45VD Battery , ASUS K45V Battery ,ASUS K45N Battery ,ASUS K45DR Battery , ASUS K45DE Battery ,ASUS K45D Battery ,ASUS K45A Battery ,ASUS K45 Battery ,ASUS F75VD1 Battery ,ASUS F75VD Battery ,ASUS F75V Battery ,ASUS F75A1 Battery ,ASUS F75A Battery ,ASUS F75 Battery
