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AMD FX-8350 Review: Does Piledriver Fix Bulldozer's Flaws?
An anonymous reader writes "AMD just officially took the wraps off Vishera, its next generation of FX processors. Vishera is Piledriver-based like the recently-released Trinity APUs, and the successor to last year's Bulldozer CPU architecture. The octo-core flagship FX-8350 runs at 4.0 GHz and is listed for just $195. The 8350 is followed by the 3.5 GHz FX-8320 at $169. Hexa-core and quad-core parts are also launching, at $132 and $122, respectively. So how does Vishera stack up to Intel's lineup? The answer to that isn't so simple. The FX-8350 can't even beat Intel's previous-generation Core i5-2550K in single-threaded applications, yet it comes very close to matching the much more expensive ($330), current-gen Core i7-3770K in multi-threaded workloads. Vishera's weak point, however, is in power efficiency. On average, the FX-8350 uses about 50 W more than the i7-3770K. Intel aside, the Piledriver-based FX-8350 is a whole lot better than last year's Bulldozer-based FX-8150 which debuted at $235. While some of this has to do with performance improvements, that fact that AMD is asking $40 less this time around certainly doesn't hurt either. At under $200, AMD finally gives the enthusiast builder something to think about, albeit on the low-end."
Reviews are available at plenty of other hardware sites, too. Pick your favorite: PC Perspective, Tech Report, Extreme Tech, Hot Hardware, AnandTech, and [H]ard|OCP.
I agree about multithreaded performance being important thing moving forward.
Regarding power consumption, anandtech review puts total system power consumption for Vishera tested at 12-13W more than Ivy Bridge. Scroll to bottom of page for chart. Bar and line graphs at top of page are misleading-- they put x axis at 50W, not 0W.
If you are concerned about power consumption, find 100W lightbulb in your house. Replace with CFL. You will have greater energy saving.
You are missing an importan point when it comes to "money is on the line". No one in their right mind would use a desktop processor from Intel for anything critical. Why? All non-xeon processors have been crippled to not support ecc memory. If money really is on the line there is just no way that is acceptable.
Amd on the other hand does not cripple their cpu's as all. The whole Vishera lineup support ecc memory, as did Bulldozer.
The xeon equivalent of 3820 is in a completely different price league.
So please, when you compare price and use cases make sure you fully understand which processors are the actual alternatives.
I play games maybe 1h 30m a day on average. My 5 year old dual-core E6750 overclocked at 3.2 GHz handles most of them gracefully, but there are some new releases which require more processing power. However, in choosing a new platform, I'm mostly looking at TDP, not from a consumption perspective, but heat dissipation. I hate having to use a noisy cooler.
My current CPU has a TDP of 65W and a Scythe Ninja 1 as cooler, and the fan usually stays at 0% when the CPU is idling. While gaming, I can't figure out whtehr it makes noise, because my GPU cooling system makes enough noise to cover it. And I'd like to keep it that way when I pick my new CPU.
You're saying that graphs are misleading. No, they're not, if one has half a brain. I'm not looking at the hard numbers and the power consumption difference is of about 100W. The i5 3570K draws about 98W and Zambezi and Vishera (who the fuck names these things?) draw around 200W. if you put TWO i5 on top of the other, they barely reach ONE AMD cpu power consumption. Thanks, but things DO look bad for AMD. I'll just have to pass.
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
Here are a set of benchmarks that are more centered on the Linux world from phoronix and are thus a little less prone to intel compiler discrimination. The results seem more realistic: better and worse and similar to an i7 at different work, still hard on power usage, low purchase price.
"but money is the God of Algiers & Mahomet their prophet." - Rich. O'Bryen June 8th 1786
Light bulbs are easily removable, and there can't be that many of them in a rented apartment - or even in a rented home. Take them with you, since you will need them at the new place anyway, and leave the old ones (that you saved) in their place.
Well if that's no good, how about this: http://www.silentpcreview.com/Ninja2
This is what I use on my Athlon 2, works perfectly, is very quiet, and it's rather old now so you could probably pick a used one up pretty cheap.