By far, the world's first processors with 8 physical cores on a single crystal have attracted the attention of all potential buyers. Is an eight-core monster worth 10,000 rubles capable of removing all its competitors from the computer market? In this article, the reader will be introduced to one of AMD's products, the FX-8300 processor. Characteristics, reviews of owners and professionals will help the buyer understand if he needs a multi-core crystal.
Through the eyes of the manufacturer
When you first get acquainted with the processor, untrained users have too many questions. The presence of eight cores on one chip and positioning in the budget class of the product AMD FX-8300, the price of which does not exceed 10 thousand rubles, will definitely mislead the buyer. After all, the same Intel representative with 8 cores (4 physical cores and 4 virtual ones) costs 3 times more expensive in the computer market. Only this argument is enough to understand the ongoing marketing war launched by AMD.
Many professionals in the field of IT technologies claim that at least 100 cores can be placed on a single chip, but in fact the processor’s performance will ultimately be determined not by a quantitative attribute, but by the results of testing in real conditions (everyday programs and games).
Specifications
The representative of the new generation, the FX-8300 processor is built using 32-nanometer technology, has reduced heat dissipation (95 watts versus 125 watts in the old generation of multi-core crystals) and is designed to be installed on the AM3 plus platform. However, overclocking fans will be interested to know that with a slight increase in the frequency of the cores, not only energy consumption increases, but also the emission of power dissipation. The manufacturer assigned the new product the code name Vishera (Buldozer was somehow more consonant with high performance).
One chip has a three-level caching system, as it is implemented with all powerful processors, but AMD technologists managed to cheat here too. The cache of the first level is 384 Kb. Moreover, this volume is not distributed equally on each core, but is summed up between four pairs of cores. The second level cache works with the same principle, having a total volume of 8 MB. With L3, there are never any problems - it is common to all cores and is 8 MB.
Support for modern technology
Crystal FX-8300 Black Edition at the hardware and software level can work with 64-bit platforms. That's just on the central processor with such powerful characteristics that the graphics core is missing. But with the support of RAM, the crystal is in full order - a DDR3 chip of any size (128 gigabyte limitation, in total), working at any frequency and even with a hardware-implemented ECC function. Many professionals in their reviews claim that such a symbiosis of AMD products with RAM is always lacking for Intel processors.
The presence of standard instructions supported by the chip does not surprise anyone, it is only worth focusing on the capabilities of hardware AES encryption and creating virtual environments. Superficially, without testing, everything looks pretty attractive - decent physical data and full support for all modern technologies.
Meet the Representative
The manufacturer took the right step towards customers when he presented the market with two processor modifications: a BOX package and a model without a cooler - FX-8300 OEM. The fact is that this crystal is acquired by many game lovers in order to further increase productivity by overclocking. Accordingly, the standard cooling system is replaced with a more serious analogue, which supports the heat package within 95-150 watts of power dissipation.
The boxed instance is no different from other AMD processors. All the same huge box, made in dark (red-black color) or light (red-white shade) colors. Inside, in addition to the crystal and cooler, there is an AMD branded sticker, thermal grease and a lot of waste paper from the manufacturer.
Recommendations for choosing a cooling system for overclocking the processor
Choosing the right cooler for the eight-core crystal will not be a particular problem for any owner, because any user can determine the range of heat generation (up to 150 watts). However, it is at this stage that many buyers make their first critical mistake. For the FX-8300 processor, overclocking of which is a priority, a very expensive cooling system is purchased. Sometimes the price of the cooler is 50-100% of the cost of the crystal. After all, logically this amount could be spent on a more powerful processor.
Professionals in their reviews recommend not following the recommendations of interested sellers and, when buying a cooler, limit themselves to a budget that does not exceed 20% of the processor cost. The following inexpensive cooling systems have proven their worth in the work: Zalman CNPS5X, Arctic Freezer 7 Pro, DeepCool Gammaxx 300 and Scytle Katana.
Thrill lovers
Having studied the review on the FX-8300 processor, many beginners will immediately rush to compare the performance with the analog of Intel. It is clear that this will be the flagship Core I7. Using synthetic tests will lead the user to the idea that the new product from AMD is quite competitive. The gap from the top representative of Intel is about 20%. AMD overclocking helps to reduce the discrepancy.
In tests of resource-intensive games, the FX-8300 processor does not have enough overclocking to get closer to the Intel flagship. Test toys “Alien vs. Predator” and “Metro 2033” demonstrate the clear superiority of Core I7. There is no question of comparing two eight-core processors in programs for encoding and processing video, as well as in 3D modeling. An AMD representative is simply losing ground, showing very low rates (20-30%).
Price wrestling
For the FX-8300 processor, it is better to perform a performance test with devices from a similar class rather than chasing the number of cores. In the budget segment, there are many representatives of the 4th generation, labeled Core I3. True, they are equipped with only two physical cores and have a smaller cache.
In synthetic tests, any Core I3 processor has no chance against the FX-8300. An Intel representative simply loses all positions, both in independent work and in symbiosis with RAM and a video adapter. However, the situation is corrected in experiments with real applications and games. It would seem that 2 cores versus 8, the gap should be 4 times. But the representative of Core I3 is inferior to the opponent only 15-20% in productivity. And when it comes to 3D-modeling and video coding, an AMD representative simply loses, and no overclocking of frequencies can fix the situation.
Performance Recommendations
Many owners of the FX-8300 processors, overclocking of which was a priority during the purchase, managed to discover a strange feature: in the same budget class there are no motherboards that support increasing the core frequency and are able to work with raising the voltage on the chip. The necessary systems for overclocking are in an expensive game class and have an appropriate cost (15-20 thousand rubles). Naturally, for many potential buyers, the desire to purchase a multi-core processor for overclocking will disappear.
Professionals recommend looking for motherboards in a budget class that have processor support up to 4.5 GHz and can set a multiplier for cores. This data is enough to disperse the crystal at home. The main thing here is to pay attention to the computer case. A large amount of heat from the processor should be very effectively removed outside the system unit.
About end consumers
Many readers from this review have already realized that the FX-8300 processor in a budget class and with 8 cores is AMD’s next marketing move , which, instead of improving its own technologies, is trying to remove its competitor Intel from the market. However, not everything is as bad as it seems at first glance.
An inexpensive eight-core representative will be interesting, first of all, to all fans of resource-intensive dynamic games. As tests show, the processor is still capable of processing a large data stream. Do not forget about the support of fast DDR3 memory modules, because any game directly depends on the symbiosis of the crystal, RAM, video card and hard disk in the system. Accordingly, choosing the right components, the player can significantly improve the performance of his system.
Finally
The beauty of AMD products on the computer parts market is that several generations of processors can be placed on one motherboard for one decade. What can not be said about Intel products - each generation of crystals requires the purchase of a new motherboard. Naturally, the FX-8300 processor will be of interest primarily to those customers who decide to upgrade. Reviews of professionals in the media assure that this will be the most effective and affordable solution to the user.
If we are talking about acquiring a new computer assembly, then before buying you need to make a list of tasks for which a processor is purchased. For home use, working with multimedia and resource-intensive games, buying an FX-8300 will be appropriate. In other cases, it is better to give preference to representatives of Intel.