Question The FX 8350 revisited. Good time to talk about it because reasons.

Page 8 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

B-Riz

Golden Member
Feb 15, 2011
1,482
612
136
You make a good case for it, but that 1600AF has better IPC and 4 more threads for the same money. Easy choice for me. But I am glad you shared it with us, some will be grateful for the deal. :beercheers: Oh, and all this coming from someone who paid almost that much for a 8350 that gets molly-whopped by the 1500X.


Ermahgerd, there are new 1800X's in stock for $240, I can finally afford one! :tearsofjoy:

1619959550249.png
 

Shivansps

Diamond Member
Sep 11, 2013
3,835
1,514
136
Always was. DX12 also helps a lot, since DX11 only uses a single rendering thread.

It is true, but to a point, DX11 supported MT, a limited form of multi-threading using deferred contexts, but driver support for it was optional, and only Nvidia supported it, it took a while for games start using deferred contexts and when that happened, only Nvidia supported it, AMD DX11 driver was ST. (i think they support DX11 MT now, i havent checked). But even with DX11 supporting MT in Nvidia, DX11 came out two years after the FX8150, and it took a few more years for devs to use it properly, so DX11 MT came out too late to help FX cpus.

So TL;DR pre-DX12 games had two BIG threads, rendering and the main thread + a few more threads to accomodate AI, Physics, Audio, etc. Deferred context and command lists helped to reduce one thread with nvidia gpus but you still had the main thread killing FX performance.
AMD instead of fixing the DX11 driver came up with Mantle that put Microsoft on the spot and forced them to come up with DX12, what i think it is just a modified version of the DX used in the Xbox consoles of that time due to the timing.

But it was not only DX12, main thread, AI and Physics load on a single thread has been reduced in modern games due to modern multi-threading techniques. Is the combination of both what makes FX perform better today.
 
Last edited:

Insert_Nickname

Diamond Member
May 6, 2012
4,971
1,691
136
It is true, but to a point, DX11 supported MT, a limited form of multi-threading using deferred contexts, but driver support for it was optional, and only Nvidia supported it, it took a while for games start using deferred contexts and when that happened, only Nvidia supported it, AMD DX11 driver was ST. (i think they support DX11 MT now, i havent checked).

Which was ironically why NV cards ran better on FX then AMDs own cards.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tlh97 and Ranulf

Magic Carpet

Diamond Member
Oct 2, 2011
3,477
231
106
It is true, but to a point, DX11 supported MT
Correct. And when it did, 8350 performed rather well. Here's a nice contrast, when it didn't. Far Cry 2 is mostly ST, I played it the other day. My 4790K @ 4.7 gets bottlenecked sometimes in this game.
 

Attachments

  • 1337.png
    1337.png
    37.8 KB · Views: 25
  • 1337_2.png
    1337_2.png
    39.5 KB · Views: 22
Last edited:

Shivansps

Diamond Member
Sep 11, 2013
3,835
1,514
136
At any rate, games with DX11 MT arrived too late to save the FXs, it was like 3 years after the first FX, i brought a 2500K the day the FXs launched, and if i could go back in time even knowing everything, i would do it again, if i had to change something i would have brought the 2700K.
 

blckgrffn

Diamond Member
May 1, 2003
9,110
3,028
136
www.teamjuchems.com
Windows has gotten better in general, but, games moved from ST to MT with the parallel occurence of AMD in the PS4 and Xbox One.

If you watch any of the RA Tech vids or Random Gaming in HD vids with FX tests, newer games do much better.

So, if someone hung on to an 83xx chip, it is a good 60 FPS (mostly) gaming chip with a newish vid card, for newer games, oddly enough.

The minimum FPS (less drops / stuttering) on newer games with the 83xx are much better than a 2, 3, or 4 series Intel i5.

FX is weak on the old ST games.

Haha, that 8 core, sub 2ghz Jaguar CPU set the bar low and wide 😂

I would expect as we see more and more console ports that are exclusive to the newest generation consoles many older CPUs will choke, probably the FX CPUs and the 4c/8t Intel parts being the notable casualties. Notable relative to this thread, I think the world at large will mainly only notice the issues with the i7s :D
 
  • Like
Reactions: DAPUNISHER

B-Riz

Golden Member
Feb 15, 2011
1,482
612
136
Haha, that 8 core, sub 2ghz Jaguar CPU set the bar low and wide 😂

I would expect as we see more and more console ports that are exclusive to the newest generation consoles many older CPUs will choke, probably the FX CPUs and the 4c/8t Intel parts being the notable casualties. Notable relative to this thread, I think the world at large will mainly only notice the issues with the i7s :D

That's why this pandemic delirium induced FX discussion is fun, these chips were so lambasted when they came out, but now, the 83xx is ok if you have one or find one cheap.

I think the 8c/8t FX series still have quite a few years left, the 6c/6t don't have enough resources, per the recent testing in the previously mentioned YouTube channels.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DAPUNISHER

DAPUNISHER

Super Moderator CPU Forum Mod and Elite Member
Super Moderator
Aug 22, 2001
28,274
19,917
146
Look at the FX with completed auctions on Ebay. Or read the comments on the vids. There are a still many people on FX.

I am working up to slicing the seal on this 8350 box. I will pair it with a 1650 super for now, and see what it can do. With and without adaptive sync.
 
  • Like
Reactions: amd6502

Furious_Styles

Senior member
Jan 17, 2019
492
228
116
Look at the FX with completed auctions on Ebay. Or read the comments on the vids. There are a still many people on FX.

I am working up to slicing the seal on this 8350 box. I will pair it with a 1650 super for now, and see what it can do. With and without adaptive sync.

Just sold one 8350 recently, this thread made me some easy money, thanks all!
 

B-Riz

Golden Member
Feb 15, 2011
1,482
612
136
One man's trash...

TREASURES, ALL CPU's ARE TREASURES! :laughing:

I never thought these were bad products, or "trash" as the tech zeitgeist seems to think. They were good competition for the 2 and 3 series i3/i5.

i7 was a different class of performance, with the $$$ to go with it and a lot of people seem to think that because they had the money for i7 that the FX 8xxx series was horrible.

AMD still offers good value for money, seems like the haters on the halo product 5k series pricing seem to forget that 3k series still exists, just that prices for 3k series are out of proper segment alignment with the supply chain issues.
 

blckgrffn

Diamond Member
May 1, 2003
9,110
3,028
136
www.teamjuchems.com
It wasn't trash so much as he damaged the pins somehow. I've done a lot of work like that (mainly on intel boards) for the last year or two so it was a pretty easy fix.

I fixed a couple, but I still have a 6(3?)00 here where the kid was having trouble so he decided to follow some Internet guides and that included reseating his CPU (which had been working fine for years) so he "does" that but when he put it back on, he did it with the lever down - not up - so the CPU was sitting mainly on top of the socket. He then proceeded to put the heatsink on and when he was tightening it down the HS just moved to the side so a tremendous amount of the pins squished down.

I was really optimistic I could make it work when he said bent pins. A couple hours and a few railed posts later I decided he was right and that new keychain dongle had been created instead ;)
 
  • Wow
Reactions: DAPUNISHER

DAPUNISHER

Super Moderator CPU Forum Mod and Elite Member
Super Moderator
Aug 22, 2001
28,274
19,917
146
That is a DIY horror story to be told around the campfire right there.

My first question would be: How high were you? ;)

About my sealed 8350: I don't have a cooler necessary for it, that is not in use at the moment. Decisions, decisions. I have never used in FX with an AIO, maybe it's time?
 

Furious_Styles

Senior member
Jan 17, 2019
492
228
116
I fixed a couple, but I still have a 6(3?)00 here where the kid was having trouble so he decided to follow some Internet guides and that included reseating his CPU (which had been working fine for years) so he "does" that but when he put it back on, he did it with the lever down - not up - so the CPU was sitting mainly on top of the socket. He then proceeded to put the heatsink on and when he was tightening it down the HS just moved to the side so a tremendous amount of the pins squished down.

I was really optimistic I could make it work when he said bent pins. A couple hours and a few railed posts later I decided he was right and that new keychain dongle had been created instead ;)

Yeah sometimes the damage is too extensive to bother. I got a 4100 that might be in that category. Will post a pic or two of it today.
 

DAPUNISHER

Super Moderator CPU Forum Mod and Elite Member
Super Moderator
Aug 22, 2001
28,274
19,917
146
I thought I would throw this in:

Good stuff, thanks.

I would love to see it paired with a 5700XT or 6700XT for all of the DX12 and Vulcan titles. I will do it myself, someday, when the massive mining card selloff begins.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tlh97 and Ranulf

Magic Carpet

Diamond Member
Oct 2, 2011
3,477
231
106
I would love to see it paired with a 5700XT or 6700XT for all of the DX12 and Vulcan titles.
Yeah, it would do far better with AMD hardware due to the known Turing/Ampere driver bottleneck, that was used in the above test. Just imagine ~20% of extra performance 😈
 
  • Like
Reactions: DAPUNISHER

Mopetar

Diamond Member
Jan 31, 2011
7,797
5,899
136
i7 was a different class of performance, with the $$$ to go with it and a lot of people seem to think that because they had the money for i7 that the FX 8xxx series was horrible.

I think the general opinion on an enthusiast driven tech form is going to be outside of the norm. That aside, there are some viewing Bulldozer and its descendants through some rose-colored lenses. The chips that AMD had at the end of the architecture were okay for what they were, but there original offerings were bad and there were plenty of instances where the older K10 CPUs performed better.

That era of AMD chips is almost the opposite of what we see now where even the lower-power i5 chips from Intel were competitive with the top end FX CPUs. Maybe in 10 years we'll see a thread like this where people are talking about how great Rocket Lake was at the time, which is kind of true if you get one of the cheaper mid-range parts that AMD doesn't stack up against, but almost anything can be a great product at the right price.
 

B-Riz

Golden Member
Feb 15, 2011
1,482
612
136
I think the general opinion on an enthusiast driven tech form is going to be outside of the norm. That aside, there are some viewing Bulldozer and its descendants through some rose-colored lenses. The chips that AMD had at the end of the architecture were okay for what they were, but there original offerings were bad and there were plenty of instances where the older K10 CPUs performed better.

That era of AMD chips is almost the opposite of what we see now where even the lower-power i5 chips from Intel were competitive with the top end FX CPUs. Maybe in 10 years we'll see a thread like this where people are talking about how great Rocket Lake was at the time, which is kind of true if you get one of the cheaper mid-range parts that AMD doesn't stack up against, but almost anything can be a great product at the right price.

Oh yeah, 81xx was underwhelming compared to Phenom II X6, 83xx got a little better.

Rocket Lake is kinda meh beyond the 11400; it looks like non-K Rocket Lake was only released to "compete" with the Zen3 APU's, but we know how that is going to go, lol.