AMD FX-8350 - "Piledriver" for AMD Socket AM3+

[cadaveca]

Without much fanfare, AMD is launching yet another new product, this time the Piledriver-based AM3+ CPUs. Ready as a drop-in replacement for current 9-series AMD motherboards, the FX-8350 not only offers a bit of a surprise in performance, but also a suprise that your wallet will like too!

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[btarunr]

It's a more than decent processor for its price. I'd definitely get one if I were upgrading from Core 2 Quad, Phenom II, or even Core i5/i7 LGA1156.

 

[f22a4bandit]

Great job on the review. Piledriver seems like a nice alternative if you don't want to spend as much cash. Good improvement on the process.

 

[trickson]

Great review! Looks like AMD has a winner. Some more refinement and the such and this could be just what AMD and the AMD community has been looking for.

 

[devguy]

Nice review, but Cadaveca, isn't Intel on the 22nm process, not the 28nm one? I believe AMD is planning on moving it's new Fusion chips to 28nm, so maybe that's where the confusion is?

 

[Melvis]

It's a more than decent processor for its price. I'd definitely get one if I were upgrading from Core 2 Quad, Phenom II, or even Core i5/i7 LGA1156.

Totally agree, ive been holding off with my 965 praying that this CPU would be good enough to upgrade to and it is, FX-8350 is my next upgrade for sure.

 

[reverze]

this is finally a great alternative to the current i5 line up, if you bought anythign less than the 3570k there was too much of a drop in performance.

Now the 8350 is so close in gaming performance ( what most of us buy top end cpus for ) i can advise people to get one and save money on cpu and mobo and either keep the money in the pocket or spend the money saved on a better videocard, a combo that will beat the i5 with its slower videocard.

Only thing i would like to see is refreshes of high end AMD mainboards with more USB 3 ports and UEFI support.

I feel this cpu brings amd back to the "if you are a gamer, go AMD" days where the performance these FX chips bring is all you need and could never tell the difference by spending more on i5/i7.

 

[HumanSmoke]

The Intel 3770K costs nearly twice as much, but doesn't offer twice the performance

Isn't the natural comparison the 3570K ?...i.e. the Intel CPU closest in price..the CPU that also appeared in the review comparison.

For more impact I'd go with:
"The Intel 3960X costs nearly five times as much, but doesn't offer five times the performance"
Still trudging through the other reviews. Seems like some reviewers didn't get a lot of time to do the reviews.

 

[[H]@RD5TUFF]

Suripse . . .. err wait nope still the same garbage as the last round of AMD chips, when will AMD get their act together and make a real chip.:shadedshu

 

[btarunr]

Only thing i would like to see is refreshes of high end AMD mainboards with more USB 3 ports and UEFI support.

All ASUS AMD 9-series chipset motherboards have UEFI. Quite a few MSI, Biostar, and ASRock motherboards (entry-thru-performance) have it as well. It's just Gigabyte's 9-series boards that stick to ye olde AwardBIOS. They do feature "HybridEFI" if you want to boot from large volumes, though.

 

[reverze]

All ASUS AMD 9-series chipset motherboards have UEFI. Quite a few MSI and ASRock motherboards (entry-thru-performance) have it as well. It's just Gigabyte's 9-series boards that stick to ye olde AwardBIOS. They do feature "HybridEFI" if you want to boot from large volumes, though.

Ah thats why i probably thought about general lack of UEFI cause i usually buy gigabyte boards, thanks for clearing that up.

 

[Nordic]

I wish I could see some comparisons to the 2500k being they are the exact same price.

 

[Melvis]

I wish I could see some comparisons to the 2500k being they are the exact same price.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/amd_fx_8350_processor_review,1.html

 

[seronx]

-snip-

Nice review.

cadaveca you probably should place somewhere why you typed 28-nm for Intel. Like:

1. Metal/Interconnect layers are comparable to 28-nm from other foundries.
2. Even though the name of node is 22-nm it actually has a physical gate(fin) length of 26-28 nanometers.
3. etc.

While you did say 28-nm for AMD the successor to Vishera is Vishera 2.0 and Viperfish(die name).

Vishera 2.0 will be on 32-nm SHP but will most likely have some form of Steamroller in it. While Viperfish will be on some form of 28-nm/22-nm FinFET from IBM and GlobalFoundries.
Vishera 2.0 = 2013.
Viperfish = 2014.

 

[cadaveca]

Nice review, but Cadaveca, isn't Intel on the 22nm process, not the 28nm one? I believe AMD is planning on moving it's new Fusion chips to 28nm, so maybe that's where the confusion is?

Whups.

Isn't the natural comparison the 3570K ?...i.e. the Intel CPU closest in price..the CPU that also appeared in the review comparison.

For more impact I'd go with:
"The Intel 3960X costs nearly five times as much, but doesn't offer five times the performance"
Still trudging through the other reviews. Seems like some reviewers didn't get a lot of time to do the reviews.

Why? The i7-3770K and the FX-8350 are currently the best CPU you can get for their respective sockets. To get the best form intel costs twice as much..but doesn't get you twice the performance. I will not argue that Inteli s faster..it is, but AMD has price/performance sealed up in the <$200 market.

And no, there was not a lot of time...I am sure many had to wait for BIOS as I did, if they had a board in the first place. Seems funny to me that AMD gave me so much for FM2, but so little for this launch...perhaps this shows what is really more important to them...? I am not sure.

Nice review.

cadaveca you probably should place somewhere why you typed 28-nm for Intel. Like:

1. Metal/Interconnect layers are comparable to 28-nm from other foundries.
2. Even though the name of node is 22-nm it actually has a physical gate(fin) length of 26-28 nanometers.
3. etc.

No, it's a typo, will fix in a moment.


EIDT: FIX'd.

 

[Nordic]

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/amd_fx_8350_processor_review,1.html

On top of this, anandtech has a review also.

In my opinion the 8350 outperforms intel in multithreaded apps quite nicely for the price. For single threaded performance intel will be king for the foreseeable future. Amd does have a very competitive platform. I need more single threaded performance and am very happy with my 2500k for that regard. If I needed more multithreaded I would definitely get a 8350.

 

[seronx]

I see the opposite james888 AMD is the king of singlethreaded applications. It just happens that code that runs on both cores utilizes the FPU the best.

With single-threaded applications one core can process 8 instructions per cycle while in dual core mode both cores can process only 4 instructions each.

 

[Ghost]

I liked Omega's reviews more. More comprehensive and less biased.

 

[darkangel0504]

thank for review

i need upgrade my BIOS and buy FX-8350

 

[btarunr]

when will AMD get their act together and make a real chip.:shadedshu

"Never." In my informed opinion, these are the very last CPUs from AMD. There are only APUs and enterprise CPUs in the foreseeable future. Enjoy Intel chips till the PC form-factor fades out.

 

[cadaveca]

I liked Omega's reviews more. More comprehensive and less biased.

My review would have been more comprehensive if I had more than a week with a working BIOS, and AMD provided me with more than a bare chip in an envelope.

Unfortunately it seems Omega is a bit to busy with other aspects of life, as does happen, so what you see is what you get.

Numbers hold no bias. If you can show me some bias in my review, please do.

"Never." In my informed opinion, these are the very last CPUs from AMD. There are only APUs and enterprise CPUs in the foreseeable future. Enjoy Intel chips till the PC form-factory fades out.

I agree, in part. I do nto think CPUs have much place left in home systems. Power users can use server-grade parts, provided some way to unlock OC ability.

However, I do not think the desktop form factor will be anywhere long-term..it will merely loose it's luster for many for some time.

 

[Nordic]

I see the opposite james888 AMD is the king of singlethreaded applications. It just happens that code that runs on both cores utilizes the FPU the best.

With single-threaded applications one core can process 8 instructions per cycle while in dual core mode both cores can process only 4 instructions each.

I admittedly do not know much(or anything) about cpu architecture. I can read graphs though. Why does intel do better in most games even if slightly? The game I play most right now, Ns2, is heavily cpu dependant and is pretty much single threaded. I have trouble keeping 50 fps sometimes at 4.5ghz. I am pretty sure I would have a harder time with the 8350.

Also, multithreaded is the future. It is only a matter of time.

 

[Melvis]

On top of this, anandtech has a review also.

In my opinion the 8350 outperforms intel in multithreaded apps quite nicely for the price. For single threaded performance intel will be king for the foreseeable future. Amd does have a very competitive platform. I need more single threaded performance and am very happy with my 2500k for that regard. If I needed more multithreaded I would definitely get a 8350.

Your link sends me back to Guru3d

Agreed you 2500K is great and not worth changing over to this CPU, its more so for us Phenom II users that wish to catch up to those SB users I think over all this new CPU is a good buy. For me personally its a good upgrade, ive had a 990FX board sitting here for almost 6 months waiting for a good CPU to drop into it and this for me is what ill be getting.

 

[seronx]

"Never." In my informed opinion, these are the very last CPUs from AMD.

There is a couple generations after this one.

Zambezi(2011) -> Vishera(2012) -> Vishera 2.0(2013)

All Orochi...eight cores

Unknown 1.0(2014) -> Unknown 1.1(2015)

All Viperfish...ten cores

^---
Quad-lane DDR4
20 MB L2 cache + 4 MB Northbridge Cache(IOMMU/HMMU Coherency)
So, far the socket is going to be AM3+ or the long thought dead Socket G3.
Other awesome-things come with Viperfish.

Why does intel do better in most games even if slightly? The game I play most right now, Ns2, is heavily cpu dependant and is pretty much single threaded. I have trouble keeping 50 fps sometimes at 4.5ghz. I am pretty sure I would have a harder time with the 8350.

Also, multithreaded is the future. It is only a matter of time.

I think it is due to the faster cache and lower latency interconnect that Intel wins. The problem with Bulldozer is to focused on not making errors that it actually needs a higher clock rate. For AMD it takes to long to get the instructions to the cores and to get executed and get written since the L2 is so slow.

 

[cdawall]

Suripse . . .. err wait nope still the same garbage as the last round of AMD chips, when will AMD get their act together and make a real chip.:shadedshu

Which part is the garbage part? Power consumption is down, performance is up, and the CPU's clock well, not to mention they are drop in upgrades for most people with anything from a Phenom II to the "garbage" Bulldozer chips.