AMD - Piledriver chitchat

[Dottorrent]

And I included comparisons to show (nearly) most basic and most basic Core CPUs and FX4300 held its own each time.

Look, I don't want to start a rivalry here, but in my opinion the FX chip wins. It is cheaper than the i3-3220 which isn't a direct competitor but has similar performance. The FX CPU is faster in multiple thread applications, can be overclocked much easier and is backwards compatible with both the AM3 and AM3+ boards. With the core i3, you need to do an enormous bios update on sandy bridge 1155 boards to make it work which is risky (some of the time) and you cannot overclock it, which makes it a bummer for gaming enthusiasts who want a budget gaming system.

Sure, the i3 wins in some things but so does the FX CPU, in some things. The FX CPU wins over the i3 overall in value for money, compatibility and, in many things, performance.

[Terbinator]

Look, I don't want to start a rivalry here, but in my opinion the FX chip wins. It is cheaper than the i3-3220 which isn't a direct competitor but has similar performance. The FX CPU is faster in multiple thread applications, can be overclocked much easier and is backwards compatible with both the AM3 and AM3+ boards. With the core i3, you need to do an enormous bios update on sandy bridge 1155 boards to make it work which is risky (some of the time) and you cannot overclock it, which makes it a bummer for gaming enthusiasts who want a budget gaming system.

Sure, the i3 wins in some things but so does the FX CPU, in some things. The FX CPU wins over the i3 overall in value for money, compatibility and, in many things, performance.

Enormous BIOS update? What? Ignoring the fact that BIOS flashing isn't even that risky and mostly not needed anyway.

[Biscuit]

Enormous BIOS update? What? Ignoring the fact that BIOS flashing isn't even that risky and mostly not needed anyway.

haha i dont even know what an 'enormous' bios would entail over 'regular' bios update

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

This chap compared his FX8120 at the same clockspeed to an FX8350:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1320957/b...350-4-3-4-6ghz

[Biscuit]

This chap compared his FX8120 at the same clockspeed to an FX8350:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1320957/b...350-4-3-4-6ghz

Shame his GPU bottlenecked the gaming benchies, interesting stuff nevertheless.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Shame his GPU bottlenecked the gaming benchies, interesting stuff nevertheless.

The 30% increase in framerates with FSX at the same clockspeed is pretty decent though!!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/377812/a...arm-processors

[DanceswithUnix]

Arm processors seems an odd bandwagon to jump on when Brazos is already better than arm on things like performance and already existing in 64 bit form, and is pretty good on thermals and silicon size too.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

It does make me think,whether they are thinking of mobile devices too. They can attack the low powered X86 market with Jaguar, and have low powered ARM based derivatives for things like phones and lower end tablets??

[sassyjay]

What does flashing a motherboard mean? how do you do it? do you need a spare cpu to put in the motherboard or something because I read with the piledriver chips with most motherboards you will need to flash the bios to update it.

[DanceswithUnix]

What does flashing a motherboard mean? how do you do it? do you need a spare cpu to put in the motherboard or something because I read with the piledriver chips with most motherboards you will need to flash the bios to update it.

Flashing a motherboard means downloading a new BIOS program (the program that runs things before Windows or Linux get hold of the machine) and installing it into the small flash memory on the motherboard. There are various ways of doing that, but these days I usually put the downloaded BIOS onto a memory stick, boot with that in a USB port, boot into the BIOS (press DEL just after turning on the machine with most boards) and ask it to update.

Traditionally a spare CPU been the safest way, though I have flashed motherboards with unsupported CPUs in the past and the worst case I had to only put one memory dimm in as two dimms confused the motherboard until after it was flashed. I notice Asus now claim that some of their boards can re-flash themselves from a USB stick without requiring a CPU or RAM to be installed which is a nice trick.

[watercooled]

It means reprogramming/updating the BIOS. How you do it depends on the motherboard but it often involves copying the new ROM image to a USB drive, then entering BIOS setup and looking for the upgrade option. If you tell us what motherboard you have, I could help more.

If the motherboard already supports Bulldozer, you might be OK, however it's possible the system won't boot at all if it's an older BIOS.

Edit: Beaten to it, and the CPU/RAM-less upgrade sounds interesting!

[sassyjay]

ahhh!!! excellent stuff thank you I have learned a little more. hmmm so thats good to hear that you dont have to have a spare cpu neccesarily. I always doing a piledriver build would be tricky because of that. thank you both!!

[Biscuit]

ahhh!!! excellent stuff thank you I have learned a little more. hmmm so thats good to hear that you dont have to have a spare cpu neccesarily. I always doing a piledriver build would be tricky because of that. thank you both!!

I have a spare AM3 CPU kicking about and have offered it out to loan to people before, if something does go tits up and you need an older more compatible CPU then give me a shout.

[jim]

Thing is, if you buy the right mobo, it shouldn't need flashing. Usually the problems occur when you have a really new chip, and quite an old motherboard. And some retailers if you want might be able to flash it for you - I know Scan have done in the past for me, but it was always as a function of an RMA.

I've never needed to do it yet.

[Biscuit]

Indeed, the offer stands regardless