AMD FX8350 Black Edition 8 Core Processor, the 4 module 8 logical core processor, this doesn’t mean its not an 8 core processor as it is still 8 cores for processing power as well as these cores are definitely more physical than Intel’s i7’s Hyper threading which provides 4 virtual cores but in reality its still a quad core. It also mentions 8MB level 3 and 8MB level 2 cache in Total 16MB Cache, each module shares 2MB cache so between 2 cores it has 2MB so it works out at 1MB per core + an additional 8MB on top for all of them to share.
AMD FX8350 Black Edition 8 Core Processor
4.0/4.2GHz, 8MB Level 3 Cache, 8MB Level 2 Cache, Socket AM3+, 125W
Anyways this is the AMD FX8350 i want to point out to a few people first that X3XX in the processor’s name for the FX range of products means that its based using the Piledriver architecture which is 20-30% better overall than the original Bulldozer architecture (X1XX) so this is a major improvement over Any FX8100.
This processor is suitable for anyone who requires high multi-tasking power as well as multi-threaded work such as photoshop & video editing / multi-threaded converting.
Gaming Streaming and Design experiences
In my case i do Gaming and Streaming with a bit of photoshop work and over 20+ tabs on Google Chrome (a bad habit of mine) If you are looking for purely gaming performance i would recommend looking at Intel’s overpriced i7s BUT if you are running a lower budget THIS or the FX6300 is a definite choice, It completely dominates price for performance ratio in this price range. The fact it keeps up with pretty much every single i5 which cost MORE than this processor shows how potent and sufficient this processor is in the market and industry.
I was a long time Intel user in my old gaming rig over 6 years ago (2007) i had done a few tweaks to my old system over the years but i was constantly fed up of the 90%+ usage i was getting whilst trying to watch a twitch stream running Skype & having league of legends client open.
My old spec:
- Intel Core 2 Quad 9300 2.5GHz 6MB Cache
- XFX Mobo
- 6GB 800MHz DDR2 RAM
- Nvidia 260 GTX 900MB 448Bit GDDR3
- 120GB SSD + 4TB 7200RPM HDD (i somehow filled them as well which is the crazy part) 750w PSU
This computer was actually still able to play the latest games at 60fps on medium detail and games such as League on max but the most surprising, it keep up well with the newer Tomb Raider by Square Enix with everything on high setting and filtering on 8x got a good 40-50fps Even several months ago (now 28/12/2013) i never think i’d say i need an upgrade since the PC is still running well. But after seeing my system lag in Skype screenshare + twitch stream i thought my CPU getting huge bottleneck to my entire system.
Compare to other series
I first searched for more processing power and i looked at this extremely nicely priced AMD FX 8350 and one of the £220+ Intel i7s (i refuse to buy any i5 because it will keep annoying me that the fact i can get a better processor from the tree branch) I didn’t know much at first about AMD’s processors the last PC i had an AMD in was when Dual cores never existed, haha infact i never seen a processor even have more than 2GHz clock-speed. So i saw the selling points 4GZ tick, 16MB Cache tick, price tick but then i did my research on their architectures, features, single and mutli-threading performance and many other forums.
i7s may appear better in benchmarks but the question is what are you needs?
I got an AMD FX8350 in the end in my new system rig conclude i need a huge upgrade and i can tell you my old system was fast but this is a new level. I never even thought it was possible to have and see a smoother experience on just the Windows 7 OS.
This processor exceeded my expectations by over 4 times when i first got it and running i COULD NOT get it past 60% USAGE until i was really trying when i first ordered it was i only expecting a double the power performance increase guess i was wrong, it basically tanked anything i threw at it.
My new Gaming Rig’s specs:
- AMD FX8350 Piledriver 8 Core 4GHz 16MB
- Cache ASUS M5A99X EVO R2.0 8GB
- Kingston HyperX 2133MHz DDR3 RAM
- Nvidia 260 GTX 900MB 448Bit GDDR3 (switching out to a AMD R9 270x 4GB Dual-X GDDR5 today/tomorrow)
- 120GB Kingston HyperX SSD + all my old HDDs and 1 extra OCZ SSD Dedicated to games.
- 650w OCZ PSU
The only way i can find to get the CPU past 60% usage is to run a benchmark whilst using your PC as normal or do Photoshop rendering and it still runs smooth even when doing that and getting it to touch 80-90% usage.
These processors is also the way forward as i see that the PS4 and Xbox One have also picked up 8 core processors from AMD. We can expect games from the future to be properly multi-treaded so that the games we can play actually use’s this Processor’s full potential.
Gamer or not this CPU is by far the best CPU in this price range.
If anyone is concerned about Power consumption by this CPU then purchase a better motherboard which offers auto clocking features so it de-clocks your CPU when u are just idle on the desktop to something like 1.4GHz, makes the CPU run much cooler as well. It will also clock it back up to 4/4.2GHz when u need it. I found this feature really useful as i generally like to leave my PC on all night to run downloads. I am happy to know that it can run quieter, cooler and consume less energy at night now.
To make things short and simple for those who didn’t understand everything, if you are a casual user rather than an advance/enthusiast user this Processor will 100% meet your needs, absolutely nothing bad i can say about it.
Currently working with computers, I’ve studied IT for 1 Year, did IT back in my Highschool days, and been using computers since the day i can remember. Over a decade and a half experience with Computer hardware and software, out of my friends and family i am the hardware specialist.
I’d made a few things simple for you guys as well Casual / Family User: AMD FX4300 Cheap gaming rig: AMD FX6300 Gaming / Advance Users: AMD FX8350 or Any Intel i7 (I hate i3s & i5s with a passion)
Conclusion & Recommendation
I recommend to add in your build as well SSDs are by far the most visible increase in performance in my lifetime experience, because you never need to defrag an SSD and i know for a fact most casual users don’t even know what a Defrag is so over the year they see a performance loss in their PCs because of something simple as that.
Those who need performance this is a must get, synergies well with all your other parts.
I found it stupid how Intel’s i5 cost more than this processor i believe these are not worth the money, you either go cheap or expensive, i don’t like how Intel decided to call it their mid range category as well and put a hefty price tag on it. Its almost like paying for their brand and thats it.
Also for those who don’t know ALL FX processors come unlocked and when i say unlocked i MEAN UNLOCKED. You have access to everything using your Mobo utility and AMD’s Overdrive software. My old Intel Core 2 Quad lock at 2.5GHz… and that was £173 Processor. I should have bought the Q6600 back then as that was a whole £70.
Thanks for reading my review, i was astonished by this processor’s performance i am sure any one else would be impressed by it. 
