A big ship needs a lot of swimming, and a powerful processor needs high-quality cooling, which will reveal the potential of all components of a gaming computer. The manufacturer releases most processors for games, endowing them with unique features. Naturally, the price of gaming components is clearly not in the budget class. This dilemma can be solved by the AMD FX-6300 Black Edition processor, which is positioned as a gaming one, but its price does not exceed one hundred conventional units. Another marketing move or way out of a difficult situation?
The performance characteristics
The processor of the Vishera family, created using 32-nm technology, has six cores. When studying the characteristics of the cache of the first and second levels, doubts arise about the independence, operation of all cores separately. So, L1 cache in the specifications is registered as 3x64, and L2 - 3x2048. On the manufacturer’s website, you can find that all AMD FX-6300 processors are based on the Piledriver architecture and have a pairwise separation of resources between the cores. And in simple terms, three dual-core processors are hidden in crystals. Apparently, because of this, there is a problem with heat dissipation. The cores located on the AM3 socket show a dissipated power of 95 watts.
Two modifications are available on the market - the AMD FX-6300 OEM processor, that is, without a cooling system, and the boxed version. Judging by the numerous reviews of the owners, the first option is preferred, since the native cooler in the process of operation is very buzzing, showing low cooling results.
The first step towards productivity
If the AMD FX-6300 processor was purchased for productive games, it doesn’t matter if it is overclocked or not, first of all, you need to worry about quality heat dissipation. It is clear that you should not count on a cheap purchase, the choice should fall on a decent cooling system from the famous brand. Judging by the numerous reviews, the Zalman CNPS7X LED coolers, DeepCool Wind Pro Ice, Arctic cooling Freezer Xtreme and the entire SCYTLE Katana line for AMD are well established.
If you ultimately test and compare the cooling quality of a standard cooler, which comes with an AMD FX-6300 BOX processor, it turns out that the sensor installed on the crystals shows room temperature. When raising it by one or two dozen degrees at the time of peak load, the cooler does not make terrible sounds due to the increase in speed. An important factor in lowering the temperature on the processor is a high-quality cooling system in the system unit. Having an ATX tower case with several fans for blowing and blowing, you can save on replacing a regular cooler.
Large power reserve
The main factor when choosing an FX-6300 processor is its cost. However, in addition to this, many users are attracted to the unlocked multiplier, which allows you to increase the frequency of the device’s core. Overclocking the AMD FX-6300 processor can be considered a great prospect for the future. An increase in the nominal voltage from 1.3 to 1.55 volts leads to an increase in the core frequency to 4.8 GHz. Naturally, the motherboard in the computer must have support for the Load-Line Calibration function, which must be enabled, because Ohm’s law has not been canceled. In addition, the frequency of 4800 MHz is far from the limit - it all depends on quality cooling. Having a water installation or a system on liquid nitrogen, the processor will not refuse to overclock, this is its wonderful plus.
In addition to overclocking, the user may be interested in the Turbo mode, which is supported by the processor at the hardware level and turns on when there is a significant drop in performance. Accelerating independently from a frequency of 3500 MHz to 4100 MHz, the system shows a slight increase, but it is often enough to correct the situation with braking.
CPU advantages when compared to Core i5
The Intel Core i5-3470 is a reasonable competitor with which the AMD FX-6300 processor can be compared. Reviews compared to these two models can often be found in the media. Perhaps these two processors were chosen not only for similar performance, but also in order to show the difference in price - an AMD representative on the market is exactly two times cheaper.
- The FX-6300 processor can work with faster memory at a frequency of 1866 MHz, unlike its competitor (1600 MHz).
- Six cores against four give an increase in the productivity of applications that can work as separate threads with each core.
- AMD’s huge second-level cache provides a performance boost in mathematical calculations.
- Synthetic tests show high data transfer for the FX-6300 - 5.4GT / s (for the competitor - 5GT / s).
AMD disadvantages compared to Core i5
First of all, an inexpensive representative failed all the tests for determining the performance in software related to video encoding, three-dimensional modeling, office applications and working with large amounts of data. This result suggests that the AMD FX-6300 processors are not designed for the above work. Low power consumption and the presence of integrated graphics add a positive quality to the processor from Intel.
Judging by the numerous user reviews, they knew what they were doing, and were ready to lose productivity in office applications due to their rare use. But the processor shows itself perfectly in games, and the attractive price allows you to direct the savings on the purchase of a game-class video card or SSD-drive, which will increase the overall system performance.
Dig deeper
In the post-Soviet space, it is customary to buy either an economical option, for example, an AMD FX-6300 OEM processor, or a "space rocket" from Intel Core i5 / i7, so as not to deny yourself anything. Because of what, on many popular resources, customers are offered to choose between expensive and cheap devices. And what is interesting for Intel in the price range of the processor in question? The Core i3-3220 processor, which is not remarkable for anything, whose cost is in the region of 100 conventional units, is quite suitable for comparison.
Having six cores against two at Intel and a huge cache, the FX-6300 shows the same result in almost all games and applications. A significant gap is observed only in applications that can work with several processes simultaneously.
Acceleration - the solution to all problems
It’s not worth considering how to overclock the AMD FX-6300 processor for a long time. Indeed, only at an increased frequency does this processor reveal its full potential. Approaching the performance of the eight-core flagship FX-8320, the kid from the economy class can play muscles in front of the Intel Core i5. After overclocking, this is a completely different processor, as evidenced by the huge number of synthetic tests with his participation.
As an alternative to solving tasks requiring high performance, it is recommended either to use the "Turbo" mode, or to constantly overclock the processor when necessary. Keeping the device at maximum frequency is not always recommended. Judging by the numerous reviews of the owners, the increased temperature in the processor area leads to overheating of the north bridge, which may burn out at some point.
Proper load distribution
In addition to the processor, the video adapter is also responsible for the performance in games. Naturally, its power is proportional to cost. When buying an AMD FX-6300 processor, the user must install a very powerful video card. In the event of any failures in the game, the video processor will be able to increase productivity by taking part of the load on itself.
However, another dilemma arises here - the cost of a gaming video adapter is much higher than that of any processor, sometimes several times. Because of what, the question arises about the advisability of saving on the processor in favor of a video accelerator. We need a middle ground, which is very difficult to identify, because for each game there are completely different requirements. One manufacturer focuses on the performance of two processor cores, and the other does not allow you to enjoy a game without the last DirectX.
Where to go - smart or beautiful?
In stores, sellers recommend AMD FX-6300 processors only to users who wish to upgrade inexpensively. Indeed, unlike Intel's “zoo” of sockets, AMD Corporation has fitted several generations of processors on one socket (AM3 +). Judging by the positive reviews in the media, many users like this approach of the manufacturer. Literally for a small cost, a game lover can increase the performance of his system several times only by replacing the processor.
To create new platforms for games, sellers recommend using systems based on 8 cores from AMD, or alternative systems based on Intel. This approach will cost more, but in most situations the number of frames per second (FPS) is more important than 100 conventional units.
Finally
As a result, the user came to the conclusion about which processor to give preference in order to get maximum performance in applications and games. To make the final decision, you need to bring together all the available features that AMD FX-6300 processors have.
- Low price. In order to save, you can upgrade the system, for example, from two cores to six if the processor platforms match.
- Fans of AMD who do not recognize Intel products can try to build an inexpensive gaming system.
- Six cores, large cache indicators, incredible frequencies during overclocking are an excellent reason to boast among peers.
- The ability to work on the same frequency with memory (1866 MHz), the price of which is much higher than usual (with a difference of 266 MHz there is no reason at all for buying).
Just look at the performance tests compared to the cheapest Intel Core i3 processor to make the right choice when building a new system from scratch. Do not forget about the cooling system for the FX-6300 processor , which is heated even at the standard frequency. Naturally, for overclocking, there must be a powerful power supply, and the motherboard must have multiphase voltage converters.