Overclocking

AMD's FX architecture was designed for very high clock speeds. With Piledriver we're able to see some of that expressed in overclocking headroom. All of these chips should be good for close to 5GHz depending on your luck of the draw and cooling. For all of these overclocking tests I used AMD's branded closed loop liquid cooler which debuted back with the original FX launch. I didn't have enough time to go through every chip so I picked the FX-8350 and FX-4300 to show the range of overclocks that may be possible. In my case the FX-4300 hit 5GHz with minimal effort, while the FX-8350 topped out at 4.8GHz (I could hit 5GHz but it wasn't stable through all of our tests). Both of these overclocks were achieved with no more than 10% additional core voltage and by simple multiplier adjustments (hooray for unlocked everything). The increase in performance is substantial:

Windows 8 - x264 HD 5.0.1 - 1st Pass

Windows 8 - x264 HD 5.0.1 - 2nd Pass

The increase in power consumption is pretty bad however, you do pay for these types of voltage driven overclocks:

Power Consumption - Load (x264 HD 5.0.1)

The 5GHz FX-4300 is pushed into FX-8300 territory, while the 4.8GHz 8350 is in a league of its own at just under 300W of total system power consumption.

Projected Performance: Can AMD Catch up with Intel? Final Words
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  • CeriseCogburn - Tuesday, October 30, 2012 - link

    You know, you look at this crap amd chip in the review, and then it hits you... hard

    You can lock sandy b 2500K at 4,500.00 mhz all day long on every motherboard out there, all 4 cores, with no voltage increase, w the crap stock intel fan for years on end, never a hiccup, and smoke the every living daylights out of everything amd has.

    I mean, I find it very interesting that with videocards we STILL hear about overclocking, but when it comes to cpu's, suddenly all the OC fanboys of amd fall dead freaking silent on the matter.

    Sorry, just cannot help noticing when the wannabe emperor is stark naked and moments ago his glorious worshippers were pointing and admiring and swooning over just how fast the amd jaybird can run when pushed, and then.... suddenly, the MASTER OC CHIP OF ALL TIME, the Sandy Bridge... is rather ignored... and the naked jaybird streaking thing becomes the dejected peasants silence...

    Really sick of it man. Really sick of it.
  • g101 - Wednesday, November 21, 2012 - link

    Oh look, it's the highly ignorant fool CeriseCogburn...

    You make demonstrably false statements on every single AMD article and merely provide further proof of your ignorance. Honestly, if you're unable to find anything better to do than post idiotic comments on every anadtech article, I have a suggestion: EDUCATE YOURSELF, LITTLE DIPSHIT.
  • Desolator2B - Wednesday, November 21, 2012 - link

    Dude, seriously? Did you know the current world record for overclocking is held on an AMD processor? AMD is incredible when overclocking, especially super cooling, yes it may be a bit slower than Intel, but damn you can't beat AMDs price.

    You're a bit of an idiot mate.
  • JrPgFaN83 - Wednesday, May 14, 2014 - link

    i couldn't have said it better myself mate. This response made the read worth it.
  • vench - Friday, November 23, 2012 - link

    think about this..
    which one is better an eight unlock cores as AMD called it.
    or 4 cores with hyperthreading technology?

    4 cores with hyperthreading it will act like an eight cores because single core will act like two cores as claimed by intel but bear in mind there would be a mathematical complex going on behind intels hyperthreading. but WHAT if you unlock this thing so it would go freely to eight cores as claim by AMD?

    THAT IS THE REASON WHY AMD HOLDS THE WORLD RECORD FOR OVERCLOCKING BECAUSE THEY MANAGED TO UNLOCK THIS THING.
    IF INTEL WILL PRODUCE 8 CORES CPU..THEN AMD WILL MAKE 16 CORES..AND THEN AMD STILL WIL BE THE WINNER FOR WORLD RECORD..

    ON THIS POINT OF VIEW JUST BE OPEN MINDED.
    DO NOT ACT LIKE YOU REALLY SICK WHEN ITS NOT BECAUSE YOU WOULD MAKE YOURSELF LIKE TWICE MORON AND TWICE IDIOT.
    JUST TAKE AN ADVICE FROM G101. EDUCATE YOURSELF.

    I USED TO BE AN INTEL USER.. BUT WHEN I'M BEGINNING TO UNDERSTAND THIS TREND..I WOULD LOVE AMD AS THEY LOVE CONSUMER'S POCKET (AGAIN- BE OPEN MIND. ITS MY OPINION)
  • sleekz - Thursday, May 2, 2013 - link

    CAPS. The world overclocking record is meaningless. You can't compare clock speed across brands and AMD cores are half-cores. They still can't compete with intel and the circuit size is several years behind, which is why they consume so much power. AMD has given up in the enthusiast CPU market, and is losing money.
  • JrPgFaN83 - Wednesday, May 14, 2014 - link

    AMEN!
  • Mombasa69 - Thursday, March 14, 2013 - link

    My AMD Vishera 8350 blows my ghay i7 3770k out the water and was HALF THE PRICE, says it all really.
  • Etnos - Saturday, April 20, 2013 - link

    I hardly think you own intel shares so the fact you care so much is pretty sad.

    very sad.
  • Idiot10 - Tuesday, May 7, 2013 - link

    Here comes the 2500K-loving Intel mercenary know-it-all-about-processors again, and yet he cannot sleep to know that there are chips out there who can outperform his 2500K. SOB!!!!

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