[OFFICIAL] Bulldozer Reviews Thread - AnandTech Review Posted

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jvroig

Platinum Member
Nov 4, 2009
2,394
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Looks like my Thuban @ 3.8GHz core / 2.6GHz uncore is not going anywhere anytime soon unless it is for a Sandy Bridge rig.

The only silver-lining I can see (until a review is out) is that $115 quad-core BD might be a good low-end enthusiast chip only because it is completely unlocked compared to the i3 alternative. If a quad-core BD is far lighter in power consumption and thermals than the full-monty octo-core daddy even when overclocked, it might be a good alternative for enthusiasts looking for the traditional "low-end price, high performance overclocked" chip instead of what Intel (as Anand noted) is forcing on us ("no more Celeron 300A guys, give us more money for the privilege of overclocking to higher performance levels"). I hope there will be reviews about this in the next week or so. It's the only thing about BD right now that remotely interests me.

Looking forward to see how Interlagos sizes up in the server space. That's probably all that matters to AMD anyway, since the consumer market is better served by Ontario, Zacate, and Llano. If Interlagos gets beaten by MC just as how the FX-8150 gets whooped by the Thubans, well, I don't know what their excuse would be to their partners.
 

Idontcare

Elite Member
Oct 10, 1999
21,110
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^ in that video "Unrivaled" - wut?, "Unbelievable" - full on agree.

everything i've seen indicates that banias was an emergency project.

From the outside, and to a laymen, I can appreciate that it would appear to indicate this. But you've got to understand that it simply isn't the case, chips are not designed on timelines that are amenable to being rushed, no matter how much the pressure to do so.

Much like the parallel versus serial processing codes we think about with our multi-threaded apps, with IC design there are only certain aspects of it that can be giga-threaded such that piling on more resources results in anything resembling a reasonable speedup in the development cycle.

Companies do have "emergency" projects, crisis management and critical response, but the timeline is still years, not months or weeks.

Look at the condition that Bulldozer is in, despite AMD taking an extra 2 yrs (scrapped 45nm plans) to tweak it into what they thought would be an emergency response to C2D/Nehalem/Sandy.

This is a case where it is true that Rome wasn't built in a day, labeling banias as an "emergency" project does nothing to address the fact that the timeline itself was still pretty much locked in stone as a 3yr project timeline.
 

RussianSensation

Elite Member
Sep 5, 2003
19,458
765
126
A
Haven't seen a comparison yet between say 2500K at 4.5 and 8150 at 4.8. I'm pretty sure the 2500 is better in 90% of the benches with half the power draw and 20% less expensive.

t6.png


- 8150 costs more
- 8150 benefits less from overclocking since it already has a more aggressive 3.9/4.2ghz Turbo
- A 4.8ghz+ 8150 consumes 250-275W more power compared to an overclocked 2500k.
 

jacktesterson

Diamond Member
Sep 28, 2001
5,493
3
81
The power consumption on these 8150's with big overclocks are Insane!!!


I'm a huge AMD supporter, but this is just a complete Flop. Why did they even release this? I think I'd be happier with another delay!
 

DeeDot78

Member
Jul 29, 2011
77
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The Question is, what space is left for AMD to occupy. With I3 eating at heels of lowend amd, what's next?
 

DeeDot78

Member
Jul 29, 2011
77
0
0
The power consumption on these 8150's with big overclocks are Insane!!!


I'm a huge AMD supporter, but this is just a complete Flop. Why did they even release this? I think I'd be happier with another delay!

To get the most out of overclock i'll bet u need an 12 phase board. Try those clock with 4 phase, and youu have a serious fire hazard!
 

jacktesterson

Diamond Member
Sep 28, 2001
5,493
3
81
To get the most out of overclock i'll bet u need an 12 phase board. Try those clock with 4 phase, and youu have a serious fire hazard!

My 990FX MSI board is a 10+1 phase board... and I am pretty sure I'm not going to go near Bulldozer. Piledriver maybe depending on whats optimized.


I saw one site had a Overclocked 8150 and a GTX 460 pulling in over 550w

Thats just not cool.
 

formulav8

Diamond Member
Sep 18, 2000
7,004
522
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Seriously, something is wrong with the caches. Especially the L1 cache. They need to address those cache problems, it would definitely increase ipc. I guess thats what PileDriver will include since its up to 15% faster. But theres still something not quite right... The L3 cache latency could be better as well.. :confused:

GlobF didn't help things either. Look as how bad Llano is scaling in clockspeed and thermals. So GlobF needs to get a good grip on that 32nm process as well before things can improve for BD and Llano.
 
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pinkfloyd48

Member
Oct 2, 2006
34
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Great now here I sit with an 990fx board with nothing to put into it. Any ideas people
how about a four core or six core for gaming and ocing anf folding
 

jacktesterson

Diamond Member
Sep 28, 2001
5,493
3
81
Great now here I sit with an 990fx board with nothing to put into it. Any ideas people
how about a four core or six core for gaming and ocing anf folding

I personally would go with a AMD 980 X4 right now. They can hit 4.3Ghz

or a 1090T if you want 6 cores.
 

skipsneeky2

Diamond Member
May 21, 2011
5,035
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If the numbers sucked a bit more...it's almost worth a court case for those expecting performance to come when they picked up 990x and 990fx motherboards and paying their premium...expecting this performance to come and now stuck with the motherboard .

I for one almost went 990fx but my budget at the last minute changed so went p67/2500k.

I would have been fuming if i woke up this morning to see my investment sucking ass thru a straw and underperforming what i am using now .

Edit:Last paragraph assuming i had went with a x6 1090t which i almost did .
 

Munky

Diamond Member
Feb 5, 2005
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I'm almost tempted to call Bulldozer AMD's Netburst and/or Geforce FX. Where did all those 2billion transistors go to result is such low performance? Granted, it may be a viable CPU in the server/business world and the Windows 8 scheduler will possibly allow Bulldozer to really stretch its legs, but for the enthusiast home user/gamer, this is absolutely a huge letdown.
 

nanaki333

Diamond Member
Sep 14, 2002
3,772
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i'm still going to grab one. i can stick it in a machine to fold with a couple of these gtx 465s i have laying around. any benchmarks from these BDs folding?
 

RussianSensation

Elite Member
Sep 5, 2003
19,458
765
126
Great now here I sit with an 990fx board with nothing to put into it. Any ideas people
how about a four core or six core for gaming and ocing anf folding

If you don't want to sell the board:

Phenom II X4 955 - $120
If you want more cores for rendering, folding, encoding, etc., Phenom II X6 1090T for $170.

Otherwise, sell the board on eBay/Craigslist and go Sandy.
 

sequoia464

Senior member
Feb 12, 2003
870
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The power consumption on these 8150's with big overclocks are Insane!!!


I'm a huge AMD supporter, but this is just a complete Flop. Why did they even release this? I think I'd be happier with another delay!

I just ordered a Phenom II 960T Zosma. Can't return my 990FX board so I might as well make the best of it. Looks like an interesting processor if the fifth and sixth cores unlock properly.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103995
 

DeeDot78

Member
Jul 29, 2011
77
0
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If the numbers sucked a bit more...it's almost worth a court case for those expecting performance to come when they picked up 990x and 990fx motherboards and paying their premium...expecting this performance to come and now stuck with the motherboard .

I for one almost went 990fx but my budget at the last minute changed so went p67/2500k.

I would have been fuming if i woke up this morning to see my investment sucking ass thru a straw and underperforming what i am using now .

Edit:Last paragraph assuming i had went with a x6 1090t which i almost did .

Those bogus slides comparing it to 980x are what really make me mad thinking about it. Then what happened to all the people(supposedly in the know) who where endorsing BD when all the "fake" slides came out showing bad performance. Am3+ board values just took a nice hit with reduction in worth.
 

RussianSensation

Elite Member
Sep 5, 2003
19,458
765
126
I just ordered a Phenom II 960T Zosma. Can't return my 990FX board so I might as well make the best of it. Looks like an interesting processor if the fifth and sixth cores unlock properly.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103995

Very cool. I haven't kept up with Phenom II's as much. Didn't know they replaced the 955 with the 960T that has 2 hidden cores. :sneaky: That's like getting an X6 for $125.
 

carnage10

Member
Feb 26, 2010
38
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So if this slide is to scale AMD will have a processor equal to Phenom II next year, and finally a processor faster than Phenom II in 2013?
They need a hell of alot more than a 10-15% increase each year to stay competitive
 
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skipsneeky2

Diamond Member
May 21, 2011
5,035
1
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Those bogus slides comparing it to 980x are what really make me mad thinking about it. Then what happened to all the people(supposedly in the know) who where endorsing BD when all the "fake" slides came out showing bad performance. Am3+ board values just took a nice hit with reduction in worth.

Their mistake selling 990x and 990fx motherboards before the release of its featured to come processor.

The value deduction isn't gonna make many now 990fx owners feel any better the selling point to me was the support of sli...two gtx580s for example with a 8150 can you just imagine the power it would pull?

It would be a furnace .
 

sequoia464

Senior member
Feb 12, 2003
870
0
71
Very cool. I haven't kept up with Phenom II's as much. Didn't know they replaced the 955 with the 960T that has 2 hidden cores. :sneaky: That's like getting an X6 for $125.

I just stumbled on it this morning - didn't even know it existed. Looks like a very recent release.

I know very little about any of these processors really, but I seem to remember reading that the Thubans have an improved memory interface/controller than the Denebs?? Do you know if that is accurate?
 

carnage10

Member
Feb 26, 2010
38
0
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AMD were right about not releasing early benchmarks in fear of cannibilizing their current sales. Except it wouldnt have been due to a halt of Phenom II sales because of people holding off buying and waiting for BD causing a backlog of unsellable inventory, but for people realizing that BD wasn't worth waiting for and buying SB.