AMD FX 8320 analysis.

AlienALX

Well-known member
Hi guys, me again. Here is a in depth analysis and thesis I wrote on the AMD FX 8320. Please note, it's not a review. I gave up writing reviews years ago as I can't behave myself.

Note. In this write up I was using two different boards. One has a 4+1 VRM layout, the other an 8+2+2. As thus when it comes to clocking YMMV. I would always get the best board you can, as this will allow you to get every last drop of performance from your chip.

Hey guys. So I've been meaning to do this for ages but pretty much everything that could get in the way got in the way.

It's been a lot of work and I've collected an enormous mass of data.

So why is this an analysis and not a review? well firstly I have not included any other processors as put simply, I don't have them. This is not going to be a "who can pee the highest" sort of write up any way so all that matters here is the subject matter itself; the AMD FX 8320 8 core CPU.

There are two ways in which to use one. You can go cheap, and be limited in your clock speeds or you can go the opposite and spend a pretty penny on the sort of motherboard you would need for extreme clock speeds. In this write up I will be demonstrating both, thus leaving nothing to chance. I will even be showing you exactly how I based my testing on the numerous clock speeds used and how they were achieved.

How I tested.

This is going to differ to many of your usual review type write ups. I always tend to do things differently (that'll be the Aspie in me !) but I will do my best to explain my methods.

Firstly let's cover our system specs.

When I mention 4.3ghz I will be referring to this machine -

AMD FX 8320 clocked to 4.3ghz
Asus M5A97 R2.0 (4+2 power stages)
4GB Geil Extreme memory
GTX 670 SLI

Cost for board and CPU - £172 (est)

When I mention either 4.6 or 5ghz I will be referring to this machine -

AMD FX 8320 clocked to either 4.6ghz or 5ghz
Asus Crosshair V Formula Z motherboard
8GB Mushkin memory
Radeon HD 7990.

Cost for board and CPU £272 (est)

In 3Dmark I will use the following terms.

P = performance mode and or score
X = Extreme mode and or score

Our clock speeds

4.3ghz



4.6ghz



5ghz



So without any further ado, let's get benching.. First up is the rather old 3Dmark Vantage.

Performance



And Extreme



3Dmark 11 Performance



3Dmark 11 Extreme



3Dmark Firestrike Performance



3Dmark Firestrike Extreme



Unigene Valley Benchmark Extreme HD



Unigene Heaven 4.0



Cinebench R15



Now onto the games. Battlefield 4, using this level here.





Crysis 3 using this level (follow Psycho)





Metro Last Light inbuilt benchmark



Tomb Raider inbuilt benchmark



Hitman : Absolution max settings 8XMSAA



Bios settings on 4.3ghz PC





Bios settings on 4.6ghz PC 2





And 5ghz





Peace out :)
 
Metric buttload of data there champ. But where's the analysis?

I have to agree with you here. There is a tonne of useful data here but there is not much in the way of analysis here. a conclusion would be nice.
 
Nice to see how many people actually read what I wrote. I said it wasn't a review ! just a set of benchmarks.

Please note, it's not a review. I gave up writing reviews years ago as I can't behave myself.
 
Nice to see how many people actually read what I wrote. I said it wasn't a review ! just a set of benchmarks.

Please note, it's not a review. I gave up writing reviews years ago as I can't behave myself.

There's a difference between a review and an analysis. A review has an opinion in the conclusion (such as in Tom's articles), while an analysis does not necessarily need an opinion from the author, however it still has a conclusion!
 
There's a difference between a review and an analysis. A review has an opinion in the conclusion (such as in Tom's articles), while an analysis does not necessarily need an opinion from the author.

Right, so you haven't got my opinion.

Nobody cares about some one gassing, it's the results I find more interesting. I stopped writing reviews years ago.
 
Never mind dude. I don't think you get what Im saying.

I don't think you're getting what I'm saying either so better to just leave it there no?

What is it with the internet. No matter how hard you try you always get some one complaining.

*shrugs*.
 
Nobody is complaining. I was just commenting on the fact that the title says "analysis", while this is simply a collection of data. I commend you for your hard work and I'm not trying to be negative at all, so theres no need to say I'm "complaining".
 
Nobody is complaining. I was just commenting on the fact that the title says "analysis", while this is simply a collection of data. I commend you for your hard work and I'm not trying to be negative at all, so theres no need to say I'm "complaining".

Conclusion.

Don't believe what you read, these are fine gaming CPUS.

*awaits some one coming along to disagree*
 
Conclusion.

Don't believe what you read, these are fine gaming CPUS.

*awaits some one coming along to disagree*
No one is going to disagree with you, they are fine gaming CPUs. Best bang for buck for which AMD has become synonymous for, what you have shown quite clearly here is that they perform better when overclocked. What your Analysis is missing is the context for the analysis. Kudos for the huge torrent of info though. ;)
 
No one is going to disagree with you, they are fine gaming CPUs. Best bang for buck for which AMD has become synonymous for, what you have shown quite clearly here is that they perform better when overclocked. What your Analysis is missing is the context for the analysis. Kudos for the huge torrent of info though. ;)

Yeah they do overclock very well and respond well to it too.

I was supposed to see if the myth that the FX 8 perform better at 4k than my 3970x but never did get around to it.

Maybe sometime soon once I finish my small build. I have my step daughter coming soon and she just veges out on the sofa playing Fifa 14 so I need it built ASAP.
 
i don't see why you would use a different system for 4.3ghz..
Although its nice to see how it compares as a budget build i would have expected to have the 4.3ghz results from both systems as a fair comparison.
 
i don't see why you would use a different system for 4.3ghz..
Although its nice to see how it compares as a budget build i would have expected to have the 4.3ghz results from both systems as a fair comparison.

One is/was a budget build. The other is a little expensive to be called a budget build.

One is running GTX 670s in SLI the other a 7990. They were close enough in terms of performance for me not to bother. Remember, I'm not testing a specific GPU here just the CPU itself. People say the FX 8 will bottle neck well I didn't see any.

All I wanted to show is the facts. AMD FX 8s are great gaming CPUs and can be paired with powerful GPU hardware to make for a decent gaming rig.

I wanted to avoid this whole budget/Intel are better debate, hence why I did my level best NOT to put down any opinions or bother with a conclusion. The results speak for themselves and that's pretty much that.

Always a few want to drag you into it though eh?

It's kinda like that dumb test you take at school where it asks you to draw a box, rub your tummy and move your hand around your head. Then you get to the bottom and it clearly states -

Now please put your pen down and do nothing.

Some people don't read things properly then jump in before they find out they didn't really need to do anything at all, just read what was put to them.

I had it in my other analysis thread where all I was doing was showing core use under Windows 8 in a specific set of games. I specifically pointed out to ignore the Intel vs AMD stuff and focus more on the results of the core analysis yet people don't ever read things properly.

I'm done with arguing on internet forums. It was fun in 1999 it's old now.
 
Hopefully when DX12/Vulkan games come out it'll give the 8xxx more life. When things are in their favor they are excellent (see Cinebench) bang for buck on the professional side of things too. I still use mine for virtual machine hosting. To compare, an i7 4770k@ 4.4ghz gets a score of about 880 whereas a 9590/83xx@5ghz gets around 800.
Its just a shame that games (and some programs) still are 32bit, 1 cpu core only stuff. I guess thats why AMD 8 cores are still kinda popular with Linux users.
 
Hopefully when DX12/Vulkan games come out it'll give the 8xxx more life. When things are in their favor they are excellent (see Cinebench) bang for buck on the professional side of things too. I still use mine for virtual machine hosting. To compare, an i7 4770k@ 4.4ghz gets a score of about 880 whereas a 9590/83xx@5ghz gets around 800.
Its just a shame that games (and some programs) still are 32bit, 1 cpu core only stuff. I guess thats why AMD 8 cores are still kinda popular with Linux users.

Put it this way, if I were still on the FX 8320 I wouldn't be at all worried.

I've said it before but hey, one more time won't hurt. I see no visible difference gaming on my 3970x over the 8320. None. Well actually no, the Titan Blacks allowed me more MSAA on Crysis 3 @ 1080p than the 7990 in the AMD rig.

Every single sign out there now points to not needing a good CPU for gaming. With Mantle AMD eliminated the CPU. Stupid technology as it only works on one out of two brands of card *but* it has made others see the light and make them work on the same things.

As you say, DX12, Mantle, Vulcan, Pascal.. You name it.

Thing is, even when the CPU is called upon it still speaks up plenty loud enough. If you look at any modern game the CPU makes very little difference.

It's just a stigma tbh. One people really need to get over. The CPU race is over, Intel won and got more sales but you don't need a top end one for gaming.

I remember hearing rumours about fifteen years ago that GPUs were so fast the CPU was holding them back and devs were going to work on APIs that only lean on the GPU.

It took AMD *again* to actually make things happen (looks at 64 bit CPUs and so on).

It's just a shame that for all their hard work pushing the industry forward they seldom get rewarded for it.
 
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