Sapphire launches Firepro APU and motherboard bundle

MOTHERBOARD VENDOR Sapphire has launched a Firepro bundle that features AMD's Firepro A300 accelerated processor unit (APU) and a Sapphire PGS A3 M motherboard.

AMD recently launched its first Firepro branded APU dubbed the A300, claiming it provides entry-level workstation performance along with certification for a clutch of industry standard applications. Now Sapphire has launched a bundle that includes its Sapphire PGS A3 M motherboard and either a Firepro A300M APU or a Firepro A320M APU.

AMD's Firepro A320M APU is an unlocked quad-core 100W part with a base clock speed of 3.8GHz that boosts up to 4.2GHz, while the GPU runs at 800MHz and has 384 stream processors. The firm's Firepro A300 APU is a quad-core, locked part but has a base clock of 3.4GHz that boosts up to 4GHz, while the GPU runs at 760MHz, all of which results in a TDP of 65W.

As for Sapphire's PGS A3 M motherboard, it is a micro-ATX affair with a single 16-lane PCI-Express slot, along with one four-lane and one single-lane PCI-Express slots, all of which are Gen2. The firm has stuck four USB 3.0 ports and eight USB 2.0 ports on it along with VGA, DVI-D and Displayport 1.2 outputs.

AMD's Firepro branded CPUs carry the all-important certifications from software vendors such as Adobe, Autodesk and Maxon that are critical in the workstation market. While the firm's APUs will not compete against discrete workstation boards anytime soon, for entry-level workstations, AMD and Sapphire could be onto a winner. µ