AMD’s second generation desktop APUs are official and some parts are already available in European retail.

With new Piledriver CPU cores and completely revamped graphics, Trinity is a very interesting alternative to Intel’s Core i3 series and some Core i5 parts as well. Best of all, AMD kept the prices on the low side.

The dual-core A4-5300 is shipping for just 39 pounds in Britain, or €55 on the continent. Pretty good for a 3.4GHz processor with HD 7480D graphics. The unlocked A6-5400K clocks in at 3.6GHz and features a bit more graphics muscle, thanks to the HD 7540 GPU. At €69 it is also worth a look.

In the quad-core department AMD did an even better job. Llano quads in 65W were not available, although they were announced. Now there are two 65W quads, the A8-5500 and A10-5700. The A8-5500 is clocked at 3.2GHz , features HD 7560D graphics at 760MHz and 4GB of L2 cache. It is already available at about €100 and we think this is the sweet spot for APUs. The A10-5700 runs at 3.4GHz and features HD 7660D graphics. The asking price is €119, so it doesn’t offer quite the same bang for buck, but it is still a fair price.

Two unlocked quad-cores are also available and these 100W Black Edition parts should cater to the somewhat more demanding crowd. The A8-5600K runs at 3.6GHz and features HD 7560D graphics. It is listed at €99 in Angela Merkel land, making it a pretty good deal in our book. The A10-5800K is clocked at 3.8GHz and features HD 7660D graphics. It’s already available at €119.

The only trouble is that very few FM2 boards are available at the moment, but early listings indicate that they will be on the cheap side, provided you are not going for high-end gear. The cheapest A55 board sells at less than €50, A75 boards will be available in the €70 to €90 price range, while flagship A85 boards are listed at €100+.