Why does the FX 9590 exist?

greatnoob

Senior member
Jan 6, 2014
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It costs AU $300-$400, consumes 220W, probably runs at max clock, does not come with a stock fan (add $50 more) AND even at 4.7ghz performs worse to *you know what they are* at stock clocks.

Why does this even exist and why would anybody (sane enough) buy this? :confused:

EDIT: Also, $170 motherboard!
 
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BSim500

Golden Member
Jun 5, 2013
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Marketing mostly. It has 8 cores and runs at 4.7-5.0Ghz and so obviously must be "125% faster" than a certain other brand's 4GHz quad's... :D
 

Sweepr

Diamond Member
May 12, 2006
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To give the illusion AMD has any chance or cares about enthusiast desktop CPUs anymore.
 

Yuriman

Diamond Member
Jun 25, 2004
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It's a binned chip guaranteed (and warrantied) to run at those clocks. You're paying for the binning, in part.
 

MeldarthX

Golden Member
May 8, 2010
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Bins improved; so we get faster chips. People are also snagging different ones for AMD and finding OC these chips are a lot of fun.

I've seen some take that chip to 6ghz on water......single thread yep AMD is slower......but multi threaded; they keep up and are faster sometimes.

Sometimes you just want chip to play with...
 

SlowSpyder

Lifer
Jan 12, 2005
17,305
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There are a good number of enthusiast AM3+ boards out there. This gives them something to upgrade to if they had a FX 4xxx, 6xxx, 8xxx CPU and AMD is happy to make a bigger profit selling you the higher end part. They are more or less 'factory overclocked', but a little different in that the clocks are guaranteed, not something you get if you try and overclock yourself. And I assume they have to be better binned than lower end parts, though the new 'E' CPU's seem to have a bit of a reputation for solid overclocking too. My FX 9370 finishes most benches I've thrown at it at 5.35GHz... certainly not stable, but fun for an enthusiast part.
 

Abwx

Lifer
Apr 2, 2011
11,868
4,846
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It costs AU $300-$400, consumes 220W, probably runs at max clock, does not come with a stock fan (add $50 more) AND even at 4.7ghz performs worse to *you know what they are* at stock clocks.

Why does this even exist and why would anybody (sane enough) buy this? :confused:

EDIT: Also, $170 motherboard!

Here thoses chips cost about 200€, dont see how they could be 300-400$ in the US, reason they are bought is because :

It's a binned chip guaranteed (and warrantied) to run at those clocks. You're paying for the binning, in part.

Also with regular heavy loads thoses chips dont reach 220W, particularly the 9370, the higher clocked 9590 reach 175W TDP at max frequencies with all cores loaded at 100%.
 

sm625

Diamond Member
May 6, 2011
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It exists as a tribute to Intel; it is basically four Pentium D chips glued together.
 

nemesismk2

Diamond Member
Sep 29, 2001
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www.ultimatehardware.net
i have amd fx 4300, amd fx 8350, amd athlon ii x2 270 and they have all been great processors but i really like my regor amd x2 270 the best so quiet and 3.4Ghz gives me lots of speed for little cost. you have to select the cpu for the task you need it for.
 
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Aug 11, 2008
10,451
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There are a good number of enthusiast AM3+ boards out there. This gives them something to upgrade to if they had a FX 4xxx, 6xxx, 8xxx CPU and AMD is happy to make a bigger profit selling you the higher end part. They are more or less 'factory overclocked', but a little different in that the clocks are guaranteed, not something you get if you try and overclock yourself. And I assume they have to be better binned than lower end parts, though the new 'E' CPU's seem to have a bit of a reputation for solid overclocking too. My FX 9370 finishes most benches I've thrown at it at 5.35GHz... certainly not stable, but fun for an enthusiast part.

Cant believe the packers lost that game!! I am a vikings fan, but cant help but feel bad for the packers. I was rooting for them vs the Seahawks.
 

Burpo

Diamond Member
Sep 10, 2013
4,223
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Why does the FX 9590 exist?

People in the Northern hemisphere need space heaters? :D
 

TheELF

Diamond Member
Dec 22, 2012
4,027
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It costs AU $300-$400, consumes 220W, probably runs at max clock, does not come with a stock fan (add $50 more) AND even at 4.7ghz performs worse to *you know what they are* at stock clocks.

Why does this even exist and why would anybody (sane enough) buy this? :confused:

EDIT: Also, $170 motherboard!
For videographers (or whatever the term is,people who make their living by recording events, editing and transcoding them on dvd/bluray)

3d artists/designers

and even for offices that need to run huge databases,

these chips are actually very compelling since they are cheaper than an I7 and perform equal and better.

For anybody else,pretty much what everybody in this thread said.
 

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
22,870
12,932
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Another reason: try downclocking a 9590 to ~4.5 ghz (or some other arbitrary clockspeed) and then undervolting it. See how much voltage it takes compared to, say, an 8350, or even one of the newer low-leakage "E" chips.

You will probably see the 9590s doing those speeds at comparatively low voltages. For anyone who wants lots of thread-handling capacity at a respectable clockspeed and unexpectedly low voltages, the 9370 and 9590 can really deliver. Smart shoppers had several chances to snap up heavily-discounted 9370s and 9590s this past November during Black Friday/Cyber Monday season, online.

edit: Superbiiz still has the thing for $225 USD! Talk about cheap.
 
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SlowSpyder

Lifer
Jan 12, 2005
17,305
1,002
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Another reason: try downclocking a 9590 to ~4.5 ghz (or some other arbitrary clockspeed) and then undervolting it. See how much voltage it takes compared to, say, an 8350, or even one of the newer low-leakage "E" chips.

You will probably see the 9590s doing those speeds at comparatively low voltages. For anyone who wants lots of thread-handling capacity at a respectable clockspeed and unexpectedly low voltages, the 9370 and 9590 can really deliver. Smart shoppers had several chances to snap up heavily-discounted 9370s and 9590s this past November during Black Friday/Cyber Monday season, online.

edit: Superbiiz still has the thing for $225 USD! Talk about cheap.


I think it was around Christmas time here in 2013, the FX 9370 was $199.99 and came with Far Cry 3. If your motherboard can handle it, and you want the best performance you can get on AM3+, the FX 9xxx CPU's are generally cheap enough now that they're worth considering.

Microcenter has the FX 9590 for $220 and looks like it comes with a game.

*edit - Just wanted to add, I've run my FX 9370 at under 1.3v and 4.4GHz. I've finished short benches at 1.225v and 4.4GHz, didn't try lower. I imagine at 4.2-4.3GHz I could make this thing just sip power.
 
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Ramses

Platinum Member
Apr 26, 2000
2,871
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Was just discussing this on another forum.
The 9590 is overkill, I'd freely admit. I've likened it before to a traditional v8 american muscle car, handles ill, bad MPG, crude, but a lot of fun and fast when in it's element, and that is very appealing to a lot of people.
The analogy isn't perfect but it's not too far off. I'm sure one of the cheap 8xxx that overclocks well is the sweet spot.

I still think the 9590 was a giant FU to the world just because they could.
The $1000 or so initial price, boxed with an AIO cooler when that wasn't a commonplace item?
lol.
Ballsy.
If you're going to go down you might as well do it with a smile and your middle finger up to the world.

And I predict the 9590 will remain and become a niche CPU that will always have a market on ebay and such.
Especially if AMD never makes anything faster.

Benchmarks aside it performs extremely well in day to day use and gaming for a lot of people. I see the power usage reported on my UPS but it isn't reflected on my utility bill(and that usage is dwarfed by my GPUs). The central west coast of the US has such a mild climate heat is a non-issue with a competent enthusiast class cooler and case(D15 and FT02 here). I can't find anything not to like about it myself, nor any compelling reason to upgrade. As soon as I do, I will, but due to the somewhat stagnant nature of CPU performance increases I'm not seeing that happening for at least a year.
Every game I have runs beautifully maxed out at 1080p, every application I use performs somewhere between instantly and more than quickly enough.
I don't see what more I could ask for given the relatively low price of admission, especially considering the age of the thing. The lower price 8xxx models when overclocked are a much better deal but it's nice to be able to buy the last of a breed/top of the line of anything now and again. The 9590 isn't for most people to be sure, but it has a market. I've bought several in the last year. DrMrLordX covered another excellent aspect as well.
 

Headfoot

Diamond Member
Feb 28, 2008
4,444
641
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True -- if it really is the end of AMD's high performance desktop chips, the top tier one will likely get collector value years down the road. lets hope not