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8 core 3.6 GHz AMD FX processor questions

A

Anarchist420

Diamond Member
I'm thinking about getting rid of my Sabertooth P67/2500k setup because I can't even fart without making the CPU usage spike despite the system being stable.

Due to that, I have some questions about the highest end AMD FX processor.

1. Does it have SSE4.1 (even if it doesn't need it because it has AVX)? My Phenom II X2 build only had SSE2 support so that's a concern.

2. What is OCing the L3 cache like (speed difference, stability, temps difference)? The 2.2GHz stock L3 speed seems pretty weak. If I get one, I'd hope to be able to OC the L3 cache at least 400MHz.

3. How many more degrees celsius does it idle at than the 2500k with cool n quiet/speedstep/c1e turned off (I know it doesn't run anywhere near as cool as my 2500k does, but I'm not sure how much less cool it runs)?
 
Im confused. Why would you go from a 2500k to Bulldozer? The 2500k handily beats it in almost any task. What exactly are you using your computer for?
 
OC'd to 4.5GHz+, that 2500K would be a far better chip than an FX-8150 IMO. 8150 would be at best a sidegrade and at worst a downgrade from what you already have.
 
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I've concluded that from benchmarks, but why does CPU usage spike every time I move the mouse yet it's stable? I have C1E and EIST/speedstep off and the multiplier set to 33 instead of auto.
 
If your looking for less cpu usage on a graph it be much more cost effective to just drop an I7 into your current motherboard, it's more powerful than the FX 8150. Silly reason to upgrade anyway in my opinion.

As others have mentioned, going from an I5 2500 to a FX 8150 is a side grade at best, most tasks will be slower. But if you really want to reduce overclocking capability and performance while increasing power consumption dramatically be my guest, AMD needs your money.
 
LoneNinja said:
If your looking for less cpu usage on a graph it be much more cost effective to just drop an I7 into your current motherboard, it's more powerful than the FX 8150. Silly reason to upgrade anyway in my opinion.

As others have mentioned, going from an I5 2500 to a FX 8150 is a side grade at best, most tasks will be slower. But if you really want to reduce overclocking capability and performance while increasing power consumption dramatically be my guest, AMD needs your money.
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It's probably not a good idea, you're right. The questions were probably an overreaction. But why does CPU usage spike to as much as 16% when, say, maximizing Task manager from the taskbar when my PII didn't ever spike past 1% when doing the same?
 
uninstall your windows 7 patches. If I twitch my mouse my CPU usage spikes to about 20%. Basically, they're packaging back in the bloat from Vista courtesy the Wintel alliance. I uninstalled all the "security" patches from my netbook (only about 30 of them IE not nearly as many as have been released) and it ran about 20% faster.
 
Open up task manager, switch to the Processes tab and sort by CPU. Now when the "event" happens you will see which process is the cause. From there you can start to work out what is wrong and how to fix it.
 
Anarchist420 said:
It's probably not a good idea, you're right. The questions were probably an overreaction. But why does CPU usage spike to as much as 16% when, say, maximizing Task manager from the taskbar when my PII didn't ever spike past 1% when doing the same?
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My i5 spazzes between 8-16% when I right click on stuff. I think you are just being weird. Windows especially has a ton of random stuff going on in the background.
 
Don't do that. You'll spend more on a new mobo and a new cpu. If those $$ are burning a hole in your pocket, just get a 2600k and drop in your system.
 
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In task manager, enable the "cpu time" column. Then you can watch and see all your processes as they add up over time. I'm willing to bet your short spikes dont amount to much actual cpu time, probably only 1 second per every hour of SystemIdleProcess. One possible explanation for the spikes is that the I/O and memory subsystems are so fast that when you perform a basic I/O operation, it is all simultaneously hitting the cpu at once. In the past you might have been waiting on the swapfile for some operations while others were going right through, which smoothes out the spike keeping it from registering as a spike in task manager. Not to mention task manager itself uses resources, and the faster they are the quicker it is going to use them. The system is so fast that task manager usage itself is adding to the spike. All of that could result in a much bigger spike than you would ever see on a slower system. The bulldozer should work the same way anyway. Any modern 4 thread chip should.
 
soccerballtux said:
uninstall your windows 7 patches. If I twitch my mouse my CPU usage spikes to about 20%. Basically, they're packaging back in the bloat from Vista courtesy the Wintel alliance. I uninstalled all the "security" patches from my netbook (only about 30 of them IE not nearly as many as have been released) and it ran about 20% faster.
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Sigh. 🙄
 
Anarchist420 said:
He thinks I'm retarded so he's trying to trick me into downgrading my system.
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Thinks? Tricking you?

The OP of the thread kinda speaks for itself, doesn't it? No one here is tricking you, we are all kinda wondering who has tricked you though.

A comparison between the 2500K and the FX-8150 shows they are comparable, the 8150 wins some and the 2500K wins some.

It really comes down to what the person is doing with their computer. If you encode/transcode/mega-task then the 8150 is better. If you game or do mere multi-tasking then the 2500K is probably better for you.

But under no circumstances does the cost of side-grading from a 2500K to an FX-8150 make sense. If you've already got the 2500K then you'd be better served buying an SSD or waiting for Trinity/IB before upgrading.
 
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