Reviews - AMD Bulldozer FX-8150

[Brewster0101]

This is a little bit annoying after I upgraded to a 990 series board hoping to slap in a nice 8 core CPU... Feel let down and rather cheated by AMD's bullsh!t PR.

Although the 4100 Black Edition@ £94.99 looks like it could be a stonking good deal.

Just read the review over at Guru3d... seems their tests show the FX-8150 as not so sluggish.

[Noxvayl]

It isn't so sluggish, it's just much slower than expected.

This is a clear case of AMD creating buzz about a product and then failing to meet the expectations it set for itself.

There are too many scenarios where Intel's currently available chips beat Bulldozer at a similar price point, and too few cases the other way around.

[Jasp]

Having read plenty of reviews around the net what it seems is that it matches the 2500k and 2600k comfortably in games where the GPU is the primary limit, eg full hd, and in encoding eg handbrake it murders the 2500k but can't quite compete with the 2600k which you wouldn't expect it to. Where the chip falls down for me is the power draw and die size, were the hell is all that power going.

[Terbinator]

The 8120 looks to be the chip to have of the bunch IMO.

[Noxvayl]

@ Jasp

These seem to indicate otherwise:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU/341
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU/129
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU/60
http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-fx...ssor-review/19

[j.o.s.h.1408]

if the performance in games is bad now, thats all that matters. Saying the performance might improve with windows 8 is such a pointless statement i cant believe its even been made. Windows 8 is scheduled for release at the back end of next year. Add a couple of months onto that because it will take a fair few updates before its genuinely viable for every day use and we could be talking 1.5 years away.

As for the tasks it can do well, to me the majority of them seem very niche. It seems if you use the computer for anything other than those particular tasks you will loose any time you gained during those tasks on doing other things. Its not an allround CPU in at all and im amazed they released it in this state. It should have been a server only chip but even then, as stated, its power consumption will hold it back from a lot of environments.

I can see a possible future for the architecture but they need to throw some serious resources at this thing because at the moment its clearly just not ready. Even the 10-15% increase in performance year on year that has been suggested doesn't seem like enough for them to ever catch up to Intel unless Intel seriously cock up.

Overall its a complete and utter disappoint to be honest. I took a gamble with AM3+ and boy is there egg on my face, im trying to decide now if i should sell it on or if i should wait for the next intel socket and buy that instead. One thing is for sure though, AMD have lost my support completely.

+1.

I feel teh same from reading multiple reviews. damm waste this CPU is. i am actually pissed at AMD because now INTEL has the gamer/euthiest market on lock down now with no competition. Great for people working at intel and there share holders as they are laughing at AMD now.

[kalniel]

Great for people working at intel and there share holders as they are laughing at AMD now.

To be honest, they were laughing some time ago :/

[TaintedShirt]

Am annoyed with AMD. I am about to upgrade my system and was hoping to go AMD for the first time but now...
Has a date been set for the next Intel offering? I wonder if Intel will relax now and not push so hard.

ps hasn't stopped me entering the competition tho'

[Brewster0101]

Where the chip falls down for me is the power draw and die size, were the hell is all that power going.

Wonder if bios updates are needed on the 9XX series boards to control the power better. This is one of the new parts of the 9xx series chip set and maybe this is the problem. New hardware not quite optimised correctly.

[kopite]

Where the chip falls down for me is the power draw and die size, were the hell is all that power going.

<tinfoil hat>
Maybe they`ve cut a deal with the energy companies in an attempt to boost their profits....
<*tinfoil hat>

[Splash]

Have to say... I'm finding the amount of nerdrage in this thread (and simliar threads elsewhere on the internets) to be quite amusing. It's a new architecture that nobody is forcing you to buy into. Sure, initial results aren't great, but it seems to me that there's a chunk of potential in the architecture.

I guess we'll see over the next 12 months or so, but remember this: AMD don't owe you a 2500K killer.

I've been waiting on BD for a few months now and think it'll probably be the architecture I buy into with my next build (that will not be 'til after Christmas now) which will be my new vSphere workstation, as well as used for the odd spot of gaming. Seems like it might be a good match for me, even if nobody else.

[crossy]

Quite disappointed with this - was really hoping that I'd get a FX-8150 to form the basis of a new virtual machine host. But I'm really not happy with the "8 cores" actually be these weird shared "cores".

Although I really do like the idea of the system being able to power off unused core circuitry - that's something that the top end IBM AIX boxes have been able to do, and it's always impressed me.

One good thing though - assuming I don't want to "defect" to Intel (and the 25/26K look good) - I'm assuming that the FX's will depress the prices of the old PhenomII gear even more. So maybe a 1100T basis with 16GB of memory is "affordable".

[shaithis]

Quite disappointed with this - was really hoping that I'd get a FX-8150 to form the basis of a new virtual machine host. But I'm really not happy with the "8 cores" actually be these weird shared "cores".

Eh? A VM host is probably the number one use for it and the area in which you are going to get absolutely unbeatable value.....

A bit of shared cache and FPU is going to kill you VMs?

[shaithis]

if the performance in games is bad now, thats all that matters. Saying the performance might improve with windows 8 is such a pointless statement i cant believe its even been made. Windows 8 is scheduled for release at the back end of next year. Add a couple of months onto that because it will take a fair few updates before its genuinely viable for every day use and we could be talking 1.5 years away.

Your missing the point......If it performs better in Windows 8.....there is a SOFTWARE FIX that is probably on it's way....

Overall its a complete and utter disappoint to be honest. I took a gamble with AM3+ and boy is there egg on my face, im trying to decide now if i should sell it on or if i should wait for the next intel socket and buy that instead. One thing is for sure though, AMD have lost my support completely.

What games do you run @ 1080p that the CPU cannot keep running at 60FPS with your 5870?

And if that's your attitude, I sure hope for your sake that Intel never go into a netburst era again now that you've thrown your toys out of the pram at AMD.

[kalniel]

Your missing the point......If it performs better in Windows 8.....there is a SOFTWARE FIX that is probably on it's way....

Maybe, but I thought other processors also showed an improvement in Windows 8. I would expect some improvement based on drivers, but it's not going to be significant, especially if AMD are only claiming a 10-15% increase for the next generation of chips as well. Relying on it would be a bit like clutching at straws.

[Biscuit]

Your missing the point......If it performs better in Windows 8.....there is a SOFTWARE FIX that is probably on it's way....

Really? It seems to me if that was the case then they would probably announce it at the same time as they announced the chips. personally i dont think im missing the point at all, i think anyone else hoping for a software fix is.

What games do you run @ 1080p that the CPU cannot keep running at 60FPS with your 5870?

At the moment, nothing. When i eventually upgrade to a crossfire set up and the GPU is no longer the bottleneck, probably quite a few.

And if that's your attitude, I sure hope for your sake that Intel never go into a netburst era again now that you've thrown your toys out of the pram at AMD.

I said they have lost my support, i didn't say i would never use them again. My point being i wont wait out for them or give them the benefit of the doubt again, i haven't thrown my toys out the pram at all. I do all round tasks on my PC and AMD doesn't offer me a chip for that, Intel does.