AMD’s FX-8150 vs. Core i7 & Phenom II – Bulldozer Arrives!
Bulldozer FX vs. Phenom II vs. Intel Core i7 in gaming
This evaluation is focused on the FX-8150 in gaming. And we are going to set up a “David vs. Goliath” scenario using the more expensive Core i7 LGA 1366 platform. You can expect to pay more for a tri-channel Intel system that we are comparing as the current i7-960 runs at 3.2GHz and sells for about $300. Of course, a savvy gamer will more likely choose the higher-performing-in-gaming Sandy Beach i5 2500K or 2600K and overclock them over 4.0GHz. In this case, our 1366 LGA i7-920 overclocked to 3.8GHz with Turbo Boost will perform similarly to a stock i5-2500 in gaming.
The review that we are presenting today evaluates the Bulldozer FX-8150 versus the overclocked Phenom II 980 Black Edition versus the overclocked Core i7 920. We will use the HD 6970 and HD 6970 CrossFire as our tests card because we are looking at a relatively high-end gaming system – something an enthusiast would likely pair with a Core i7 or i5 processor..
As in previous similar testing we will prove a point in gaming – that the video card makes the most difference as long as it is paired with a capable CPU. If you look at just about every other tech site, they compare the Intel CPUs to the Phenom IIs using low to medium details and at low to medium resolutions with 3 or 4 games – something no gamer can relate to. Instead, let’s give you practical gaming results at resolutions you play at – beginning with 1920×1200 resolution which 1080p gamers can also completely relate to. And let’s use twenty (20) modern games to give you a good feel for what to expect from our 3 test CPU platforms.
We need to know if the new Bulldozer can give similar performance to a high-end CPU platform with fast graphics and at high resolutions. Using our HD 6970 and HD 6970 CrossFire should be similar performance-wise to using either a GTX 570 or GTX 570 SLI; something an enthusiast might well pair with either Core i7 or a Phenom II processor. We want to see if the AMD FX platform suffers practically in gaming when compared to Intel’s solution and how well it does compared to the overclocked Phenom II.
We had very little time to spend testing our CPUs and HD 6970s. In fact, we had such poor scaling with CrossFire on the AM3+ platform, we suspect driver issues. In our follow-up Bulldozer article, we will also set up Nvidia video cards and test our FX-8150 with even more powerful graphics – GTX 580, GTX 580 SLI and HD 6970-X3 TriFire.
Overclocking
Our FX-8150 overclocked easily to 4.4Ghz by upping the stock multiplier of 18 to 22 (calculate using the multiplier times the bus frequency of 200MHz to get the CPU core’s clockspeed). We added a little voltage to the core to make it completely stable at 1.4V and the temperatures remained nearly as cool as at the stock settings.
Beyond 4.4GHz we were stopped. We could not get 4.5GHz stable no matter how much voltage we dared to use (up to 1.55V). It may be an issue of using our old Thermalright UltraExtreme120, a good CPU cooler in its day. It still manages to get our Phenom II 980 BE from 3.7GHz to 4.3GHz, so it is at least still a decent air-cooler. However, for our follow-up article, we will use watercooling and a full tower case instead of the mid tower we currently use.
We used the BIOS to adjust our CPU overclock. The ASUS AM3+ CrossHair V motherboard in incredibly full-featured and an absolute joy for the overclocker to use – it is that intuitive, easy-to-use and functional!
[insert MB image]However, there is another overclocking option within Windows that is available in the (formerly-named) Catalyst Control Center (now called AMD VISION Engine Control Center) that allows you to adjust the CPU core speed also:
Naturally we settled on the “free” +600MHz over stock (+200MHz over the extended 4-core Turbo Core mode) and we ran our benches at 4.4GHz as well as at the stock speeds to give you an idea of the framerate increase from increasing the core speed. Just remember that most games will not use more than 4 cores and you will only get +200 more MHz over the automatic turbo mode – even if the boost is for an instant.
To achieve 4400MHz, we also disabled Turbo Core and power management since it would not clock higher manually.
Here is CPU-Z information about the FX-8150 at idle and we can see power savings at work.
AMD sent us a very nice watercooling unit that will be available with the FX-8150 as a bundle that may cost around $100 more. Here is a picture of it.
Since we received our watercooling unit from AMD yesterday and since we have not yet unboxed our new Thermaltake Tower case, we will naturally do a follow-up article on the FX-8150 that will feature further overclocking. There is a lot more to be explored with the new processor that we have only touched on in this introduction.
In fact, this week we are planning to build our new AMD platform in a brand new Thermaltake Chaser MK II full-sized Tower case that is set up for watercooling – expect an evaluation of this beautiful case this month (plus a Thermaltake mechanical gaming keyboard evaluation!) as well as Part Two of the Bulldozer FX-8150 evaluation which will include Part 3 of SLI vs. CrossFire.
Power Draw
We kept an eye on power and the FX-8150 kept within its specified TDP of 125W – that is, until we overclocked it and then readings went way up. We will cover this thoroughly in Part Two when we get watercooling set up.
Please continue on to the next page for the complete hardware and software setup of our platforms – AMD’s FZ-8150 versus Phenom II 980 BE versus Intel’s Core i7-920. We shall see what happens with high performance again in PC gaming with fast graphics in the Autumn of 2011.
Your review is a lot different than most of them out there. And that is a good thing. Its a different view comparing BD with the phenom 980 and the i7 920. Most other sites used the phenom x6 and intel’s Sandy Bridge. With the latter configurations its harder to see BD in a good light. Especially considering AMDs own 6 core phenoms which in, my opinion, currently a much better value. As a slightly revised model, I believe many ppl have overlooked the 1100t. it pulls away from then phenom x4 by a decent amount. Its a bar that bulldozer is struggling to surpass.
But your review focus is interesting because it does show BD isnt that bad compared to the phenom2s (4 core versions). Its not so bad at all in this comparison. AMD can only improve on this design from here. It will get better. Its just a terrible way to start it off. only if that 1100t (and 1090) wasnt in the picture, bulldozer would be a much better looking AMD option!
Thanks for your angle in reviewing the BD, it is something unique and useful. Its a review that i enjoyed mostly because it helps see a more complete picture.
The benchmark charts was a clusterfuck that I couldn’t understand. The gaming chart was much better. Need to create readable charts and organize the scores accordingly instead of copy and paste results at tiny pics which are hard to see, this review is a fail.
I don’t understand why this review was posted in the shape it’s in.
First off, apoppin, this is way below your standard just in terms of presentation. The pasted screenshots make comparisons awkward.
SATA scores with some 500GB seagate drive.. wtf? Use some high-speed SSD, maybe some fast USB flash to evaluate the south bridge performance.
Sometimes you have Intel scores, sometimes you don’t. How much work is it really to run SuperPi on the Intel setup?
And lastly, why the 920? The AMD chip just came out, I think it makes more sense to compare it to current Intel chips. The Sandy Bridge comparison is fair in terms of price and availability. Who buys a 920 today?
Overall this isn’t up to ABT’s standards, I feel.
First of all, I have to agree. And I am not going to make excuses for it. There is not even a real conclusion in my article.
Let me start with the last issue first – the i7-920. Don’t forget that it is benched at 3.80GHz with turbo on to 4.0GHz. That is faster that the current stock i7-960, Intel’s fastest LGA 1366 quad-core on their lead platform – the X58 motherboard (until it is replaced this month). As noted in the article, it would be about as fast as a stock i5-2500K. So it is a very valid comparison. That said, we are also again evaluating new CPUs from Intel and I just received a Core i3-2105 for comparison so we can see how the dual cores perform, including the Phenom II X2 in gaming.
The main issue with the FX-8150 evaluation was one of lack of time. Reviewers mostly had 7 days from the receipt of the FX-8150 until publication which is time pressure enough. However, the ABT review kit’s ASUS AM3+ motherboard was DoA; a hardware issue and it would not even post.
It took over two days to get a replacement AM3+ MB and that left only about 3 days for the entire evaluation (considering that it takes a day to set up Windows and 20 games and all of the benchmarks, updates and patches – and I did it twice).
Worst of all, CrossFire didn’t scale well with the stock-clocked FX-8150 on the replacement motherboard and it also had issues which meant a lot of retesting. While overclocking the FX-8150, the MB’s LAN became defective and a PCIe riser pulled loose from the MB with the video card, and I am now waiting for a third motherboard as replacement so that I can finish Part two of this FX-8150 Evaluation.
In the meantime, I will clean up my charts and put up easier to see images as needed. And I will add in the few comparable Intel benches which I had no time to run. An overall summary chart would also be nice. But I am saving that for Part two which will also explore CrossFire scaling with the overclocked FX-8150 (at 4.4GHz on air and perhaps further under watercooling).
All of ABT’s evaluations are always done from a gamer’s point of view. That is why you see 20 games benched as a minimum with far less emphasis placed on other CPU functions. Also, normally I run Total War: Shogun II and Deus Ex: Human Revolution, but they BSoD the PC when I tried to launch them with the FX-8150. AMD acknowledged it and believes that it may be due to an issue with Steam.
Over the next couple of days, I will clean up this article. But watch for Part II – that is the important part with a real conclusion about FX-8150 as a gaming CPU. Having two weeks with it (now) makes a lot of difference than taking a superficial 3-day look at it. I am not under time pressure now.
If I may make a suggestion to everyone reading this, follow us on ABT forum. The members find out exactly what is going on – first, before it is polished up for an article and you may even have input into the way the testing is conducted before we do it. How and what we test is driven by our members.
Fair enough — waiting for Part II. Thanks for the explanations!