# 8-Core AMD, a little disappointed



## enlivenit (Mar 23, 2012)

Hello all! I just have a quick question about the new AMD FX 8-core processors.
I'm hosting a DNSBL (DNS Blacklist) server and for a server
I'm finding the CPU more than adequate. It runs all of the server processors ok,
but for normal desktop stuff it just feels a little slow. I'm comparing it (a
3.2 GHz 8-Core AMD) to my lappy which is an Intel Core-i7 1.8 GHz. The laptop
feels significantly faster. It's strange. Has anyone else had similar experiences
with the AMD CPU's? Is there anything I need to do to configure it better?
Many thanks in advance!


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## toothman (Jul 13, 2008)

Zambezi is no faster than Phenom II at individual thread performance, which is why the i7 feels more responsive. Most individual tasks should actually be faster on it.

Your FX should be much faster at file encoding, however. Try encoding identical videos side-by-side. If your FX loses at that, too, you may have an issue.

And of course feel free to test for stability. IntelBurnTest and Prime95 are great programs for that.
Download IntelBurnTest 2.53 Free - Stress your computer to find out how stable it is - Softpedia
Prime95 (64-bit version) description, Math & Scientific Tools Downloads List By 30 Day Change | PCWorld | PCWorld


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## LMiller7 (Jun 21, 2010)

Adding more cores will improve performance, but only to a point, after which performance will improve very little. The problem is that more cores will only help if there are multiple threads ready to run at one time and that doesn't happen very often with most current software. Writing software that can really take advantage of multiple cores is very difficult. With most current software even 4 cores will be largely wasted.

With most software the performance of each core is more important than how many you have. And there is a lot more to performance than clock rate.


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## toothman (Jul 13, 2008)

^ exactly. AMD actually took a step back on performance-per-core when they designed Zambezi since each core is actually made in two-core modules that share resources. The 8-core 8120 is made up of four of these modules.

Phenom IIs used actual independent cores which is why they're still better gaming processors than Zambezi. And why I bought my 960T.


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## GodsOtherHand (Jun 15, 2009)

Actually intel's i7(2nd gen) is faster on most benchmarks(sometimes even half the time) that amd's 8 core CPU.Zambezi is a disappointment when compared to what Intel has to offer.

Also some features are not implemented in windows7, this CPU will be fully supported in windows8 (up to 20% performance increase)


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

Cores dont really matter these days, its all about threads and TDP.


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## enlivenit (Mar 23, 2012)

forgive my ignorance, what's TDP ?


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## enlivenit (Mar 23, 2012)

sorry, i just googled it

Thermal design power - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

but i'm not sure how this would affect practical processor speed and performance
I do know that the amd cpu i'm using runs very cool compared to intel cpus i've used
for example, it's currently running at 39 degrees, while my macbook air (intel core i7) usually runs at between 75 and 85 degrees (and its a "mobile" processor!)
that said, i've been using a liquid cooling system with the amd cpu - the cpu with the stock heatsink and fan used to usually run at between 49 and 52 degrees, still cooler than the macbook air (nb. i'm surprised how much more effective the liquid cooling is compared to the stock cooling system)


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## toothman (Jul 13, 2008)

Low TDP just allows for more overclocking headroom. My particular CPU, for example, can easily be overclocked +1Ghz or more because of its 95w TDP.


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## enlivenit (Mar 23, 2012)

toothman said:


> Low TDP just allows for more overclocking headroom. My particular CPU, for example, can easily be overclocked +1Ghz or more because of its 95w TDP.


yeah, i'm just wondering if i'd benefit from overclocking mine. i know it isn't at the moment - i've never overclocked a computer. i don't know much about it (though i'm willing to learn) and i just have too many memories from way back in high school of mates overclocking their machines and soldering their cpus the their motherboards lol (whether that actually happened i seriously doubt, that was just the story, but i know they fried their computers). mind you i'm going back quite a while, late 1990's, and i think cpu's have changed significantly since then.

i'm going to have to find out too what the max safe temperature would be for my cpu. specifically it's this: AMD FX-8120 8-Core CPU (3.10GHz - 4.00GHz Turbo) - AM3+, 8MB L2 & 8MB L3 Cache, 32nm, 125W. it runs surprisingly cool for what I'd expect, even when i push it hard.

forgive me, i'm a noob to overclocking, but do you overclock a cpu through the BIOS or through a software application?


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## enlivenit (Mar 23, 2012)

BTW. my MB is this:
Asrock 990FX Extreme4 Motherboard
AM3+, 990FX+SB950, HT 5200
4xDDR3-2100, 3xPCI-Ex16 v2.0, 8xSATAIII, 1xeSATA, 1xATA-133, RAID, 1xGigLAN,
8Chl-HD, Firewire, USB3.0, HDMI, ATX


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## toothman (Jul 13, 2008)

Aim for 50°c or lower when overclocking. 60°c is getting dangerous.

Your motherboard is excellent for overclocking. V8+2 phase VRM and that giant heatsink sitting on top of it. As long as your case cooling is sufficient your motherboard is probably capable of more overclocking than you could get out of that processor.

Use HWMonitor to monitor temps and Prime95 to stress and test for stability. IntelBurnTest is another great program for stability testing. Always test for stability with each tweak.

Overclocking won't make your computer feel like you bought a whole new processor, but it will help some. In my case I saw 25% higher benchmarks. You won't really see this in real-life usage unless your CPU is bottlenecking your performance in a video game, or if you are encoding large video files.


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## baker1989 (May 4, 2012)

I have had very good results at ovclocking AMD CPU's
My Phenom II x6 1090t is running a 4GHz normal at 38 degrees celsius
and in gaming mode or when im encoding 4.6GHz at 46 degrees celsius
I dont think the new amd 8 core could get that high over released clock speeds but you could get a significant improvement in general proformance as long as you keep it cool enough


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