AMD FX-8350 - "Piledriver" for AMD Socket AM3+ Review 438

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

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Value & Conclusion

  • The new AMD FX CPUs are available now. Retail pricing is unknown at the time this review was written, but AMD says the MSRP of the AMD FX-8350 is $195 USD with the other FX CPUs costing less.
  • Excellent affordability versus computing power.
  • Low platform price.
  • NEW Piledriver CPU core design
  • Improved "Per Clock" performance
  • Compatible with existing AM3+ products.
  • Same maximum TDP as previous products.
  • Perhaps a bit late to the market. It still uses 32nm while Intel is on 22nm.
  • Higher power consumption than Intel products.
  • "Low" but adequate single-threaded performance will not appeal to some.
What can I say? AMD has priced these new FX-8350 CPUs in such a way that there is no doubt: they make an attractive alternative to their Intel counterparts, and AMD seems focused on keeping that price difference no matter what. AMD can't take Intel over in number of chips produced and sold, but AMD has several options for you if you are looking for something different. AMD's pricing is, looking at the lower bracket of their new FX chips, interesting, especially with the combinations that are set to meet and beat Intel at price versus performance in every instance – if that is what you are looking for.
If a bit of overclocking is what you are after, AMD has something to offer you here as well, although there's not really more in terms of raw frequency from what I have seen. More performance than the FX-8510 offered at those upper overclocks is definitely possible.
The Intel 3770K costs nearly twice as much, but doesn't offer twice the performance. AMD's current power consumption numbers are higher face-to-face, but even that is something that can be overlooked. With these prices and considering what AMD offers with their APU line-up, I can see that AMD really has no intention at all of competing with Intel when it comes to being the very fastest ever...but AMD does seem to offer a better deal if you want more affordable computing. In the end, I'm left thinking:
What AMD has is good, but is it just a little, well, too late?
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Nov 20th, 2024 00:22 EST change timezone

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