AMD FX-8370E CPU Review: Vishera Down to 95W, Price Cuts for FX
by Ian Cutress on September 2, 2014 8:00 AM ESTCPU Benchmarks
The dynamics of CPU Turbo modes, with both Intel and AMD, can cause concern during environments with a variable threaded workload. There is also an added issue of the motherboard remaining consistent, depending on how the motherboard manufacturer wants to add in their own boosting technologies over the ones that Intel would prefer they used. In order to remain consistent, we implement an OS-level unique high performance mode on all the CPUs we test which should override any motherboard manufacturer performance mode.
HandBrake v0.9.9: link
For HandBrake, we take two videos (a 2h20 640x266 DVD rip and a 10min double UHD 3840x4320 animation short) and convert them to x264 format in an MP4 container. Results are given in terms of the frames per second processed, and HandBrake uses as many threads as possible.
Handbrake balances cores and frequency, with the LQ film test often condensing CPUs based on frequency and the double UHD test expanding by cores. The double UHD test puts the 8370E at the bottom of the AMD 8-thread CPUs as expected.
Agisoft Photoscan – 2D to 3D Image Manipulation: link
Agisoft Photoscan creates 3D models from 2D images, a process which is very computationally expensive. The algorithm is split into four distinct phases, and different phases of the model reconstruction require either fast memory, fast IPC, more cores, or even OpenCL compute devices to hand. Agisoft supplied us with a special version of the software to script the process, where we take 50 images of a stately home and convert it into a medium quality model. This benchmark typically takes around 15-20 minutes on a high end PC on the CPU alone, with GPUs reducing the time.
Photoscan results seem to take the following order: i7, i5, FX (8), FX (6), i3, FX (4), A10, A8. The 8370E sits at the bottom of the FX 8-thread section as before.
WinRAR 5.0.1: link
WinRAR takes advantage of all the AMD threads due to its integer workloads.
PCMark8 v2 OpenCL
A new addition to our CPU testing suite is PCMark8 v2, where we test the Work 2.0 and Creative 3.0 suites in OpenCL mode. As this test is new, we have not run it on many AMD systems yet and will do so as soon as we can.
The PCMark8 tests both seem to favor frequency at this point, with the FX-9590 taking the lead.
Hybrid x265
Hybrid is a new benchmark, where we take a 4K 1500 frame video and convert it into an x265 format without audio. Results are given in frames per second.
Again, more threads gives an intesting workload. The FX-8370E beats out the i5-4690K as well.
Cinebench R15
Unfortunately the Achilles heel strikes again in single threaded performance. Multithreaded puts it just behind the FX-8150.
3D Particle Movement
3DPM is a self-penned benchmark, taking basic 3D movement algorithms used in Brownian Motion simulations and testing them for speed. High floating point performance, MHz and IPC wins in the single thread version, whereas the multithread version has to handle the threads and loves more cores.
FastStone Image Viewer 4.9
FastStone is the program I use to perform quick or bulk actions on images, such as resizing, adjusting for color and cropping. In our test we take a series of 170 images in various sizes and formats and convert them all into 640x480 .gif files, maintaining the aspect ratio. FastStone does not use multithreading for this test, and results are given in seconds.
Web Benchmarks
On the lower end processors, general usability is a big factor of experience, especially as we move into the HTML5 era of web browsing. For our web benchmarks, we take four well known tests with Chrome 35 as a consistent browser.
Sunspider 1.0.2
Mozilla Kraken 1.1
WebXPRT
Google Octane v2
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zero2dash - Tuesday, September 2, 2014 - link
Purposeful apples to oranges comparison on that chart.If they put the same GPU with the Intel CPU, the Intel CPU price drops $50 and is flat out in the middle between the 8370e and 8320e.
What a joke. I know they're trying to drum up hype for their product, but FFS at least do an even comparison when possible.
And for the comment about how AMD is 1/10th the size of Intel, give me a break.
AMD's CPU division is floundering, but they've been flat out abusing NVIDIA on price/performance for the last several years now - another company that is probably larger than AMD. The inferred excuse that "they can't compete because they're smaller" is a joke.
I love my R9's but I happily put them in an i7 setup because AMD CPU's are still not up to snuff and are still too power hungry (by comparison).
just4U - Tuesday, September 2, 2014 - link
Multi threaded performance is decent.. single is meh.. price $200 putting it in i5 category.. it needs to be sitting around $150 to be competitive... than it becomes a interesting buy. People worried about the numbers I am on a 4790K and also have systems based around the new Pentium and Amd's A10 and Vishera 6300.. I am on and off those systems quite extensively and you know what?I don't go why so slow.. omg ... similarly configured their all pretty fast.
Germanicus - Tuesday, September 2, 2014 - link
Exactly. Thank you for your refreshing dose of reality.just4U - Tuesday, September 2, 2014 - link
You want to know the really nice thing about AMD's AM3+ I can replace aging motherboards that have died and still keep the cpu. It's a good platform overall just people want a real update I guess. I build/upgrade 20+ systems a year and do use the AM3+ platform when the right deals come along. I am fine with the update... although I do think the price on that cpu should be around $160 to make it viable.dj christian - Wednesday, September 3, 2014 - link
"I don't go why so slow.. omg ..."What?
just4U - Tuesday, September 2, 2014 - link
Ian,I'd really like to see an article (blog whatever..) about a baseline system. What you feel is still viable for todays computing needs. Occasionally I still have to do work on X2's and P4's and have come to the conclusion that they should have been retired long ago.. but Phenom 2 setups and Core2's (8x series not 6..) still seem to be trucking along perfectly fine with new hardware surrounding them (SSD's video etc.)
Basically something you could refresh once a year or so.. you know? be real cool to see that and since it would be going thru the battery of tests put thru on new setups it can be included in new cpu reviews as well as part of the comparisons.
Hrel - Tuesday, September 2, 2014 - link
So AMD's 6 core CPU is MARGINALLY faster than Intel's quad core i5 on a test written specifically to maximize the advantage of many threads and HALF as fast in the single threaded test? Come on...You're better off with a Sandy Bridge chip from 3-4 years ago than you are with a brand new AMD CPU. This is sad indeed.
I feel like Intel, at this point, might have the next breakthrough, like Conroe or Sandy Bridge, but they have no reason to release it because they've essentially stood still for 4 years and AMD still can't do more than "achieve" HALF the performance of an Intel counterpart.
Come on AMD, introduce some damn competition!
TauxiC - Tuesday, September 2, 2014 - link
The fact that Amazon had the FX-8350 on sale several weeks ago for a mere $159 and that I was able to throw that CPU into an Asus Crosshair IV Formula from 2010 (while selling my X6 1090T for $175 on eBay), and overclock that baby to 4.7GHz, and OUTPERFORM a $350 Intel i7-3770K AND an i7-4770K in Passmark, scoring 10,700 points proves that AMD's chips are extremely competitive. Made mincemeat of Intel's lineup. LOLtechguyz - Thursday, September 4, 2014 - link
so you're comparing an overclocked AMD chip to a stock Intel chip. Doesn't seem fair.with the 6 cores out for just $60 more than a quad core, that price to performance ratio rises dramatically.
a 4790k+mobo is cheaper and faster in the long run than an FX 8 core. The power costs alone will make up the price difference over a few years. Then there's the undeniable single threaded performance, which means 4 threaded applications get 100% of the cpu, while in AMD lesser than 8 threads means all that horsepower is under utilized.
You just don't realize the performance you're missing.
And don't get me started on things like min fps in gaming, which AMD can't match even with all cores in use.
royalcrown - Tuesday, September 16, 2014 - link
It's a good upgrade deal for sure; kind of dumb to tout the "thrashing" when I can simply go into the bios on my Asus Maximus Formula and simply click on a single button to OC to at least 4.2.I'll run Passmark OC'd and see what I get on my 3770k. I bet it's not taking such a bad thrashing then.