An online store has started to take pre-orders on AMD's next-generation FX-series "Vishera" central processing units (CPUs) based on Piledriver micro-architecture. The four chips currently listed by the e-tailer are more expensive than available AMD FX "Zambezi" products, but are not positioned against Intel's higher-end Core i7-series "Ivy Bridge" chips.
BLT store recently started to take pre-orders on four AMD FX "Vishera" chips, models FX-8350, FX8320, FX-6300 and FX-4300 that are priced at $253, $242, $175 and $131, respectively. While the FX-8350 and FX-6300 were expected to be released in the first group of the new FX processors, the other two were not supposed to be launched in the first consignment, which shows that AMD has adjusted its plans.
According to CPU World world web-site, specifications of the chips currently listed for pre-orders are as follows:
- AMD FX-8350 - eight-core, 4.0GHz/4.20GHz, 8MB L2 + 8MB L3 cache, 125W - $253
- AMD FX-8320 - eight-core, 3.50GHz/4.0GHz, 8MB L2 + 8MB L3 cache, 125W - $242
- AMD FX-6300 - six-core, 3.50GHz/4.10GHz, 6MB L2 + 8MB L3 cache, 95W - $175
- AMD FX-4300 - quad-core, 3.80GHz/4.0GHz, 4MB L2 + 8MB L3 cache, 95W - $131

It is noteworthy that the high-end AMD FX-8300-series processors based on Piledriver micro-architecture are priced higher than Intel Core i5 "Ivy Bridge" chips. Potentially, this means that AMD now expects its microprocessors to successfully compete against performance-mainstream products by arch-rival Intel, which is generally a good news as presently-available FX-family CPUs have failed to beat similarly-positioned Core i5 "Sandy Bridge" chips last year. On the other hand, since prices are not official, they may be artificially bumped up.
AMD FX "Vishera" central processing units sport up to eight Piledriver (second-generation Bulldozer) x86 cores, dual-channel DDR3 memory controller, 8MB L3 cache, Turbo Core 3.0 dynamic performance boosting technology, new instructions and other improvements. AMD expects Piledriver to offer 10% - 15% better x86 performance than Bulldozer. Piledriver x86 cores use a new resonant clock mesh technology developed by Cyclos Semiconductor, which allows to cut power consumption by 10%, or boost clock-speed by 10% (compared to Bulldozer) without increase of TDP. The new AMD FX chips are compatible with AM3+ infrastructure as well as Scorpius platform featuring AMD 990FX core-logic sets.

AMD did not comment on the news-story.
Tags: AMD, FX, Vishera, Piledriver, 32nm, Bulldozer, Zambezi
Comments currently:
36
Discussion started: 09/20/12 02:07:14 PM
Latest comment: 10/06/12 03:10:09 AM
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1.
8 cores at 4ghz if it still fail to beat core i5 chip than AMD deserve to go bankrupt and go back to step zero at the drawing board. i for one will be keeping my eyes up for the release and benchmarks before i build my next multi-cores workstation to replace this 3 year-old yet still working reliably.
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Posted by: idonotknow

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Date: 09/20/12 02:07:14 PM]
+ expand thread (8 answers)
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If you want to know how a modern CPU actually performs, run real applications, not benches that are skewed to favor Intel. In blind test consumers have regularly chosen AMD systems over Intel systems when both systems were priced the same.
The smarter PC reviewers have come to understand that the benches are becoming more bogus all the time as they are influenced by Intel money. You will start seeing more price-point PC testing of real applications once the rest of the PC industry realizes they have been duped by tainted benches favoring Intel.
As always I recommend that people buy what makes them happy. You can vote with your wallet against corporate crime if you buy AMD.
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Posted by: beenthere

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Date: 09/20/12 08:39:15 PM]
Thats sounds logical. Perhaps we should Stop using Benchmark not just one but all benchmark tools even the result is favored to AMD or even Intel; to be fair
Hahahha.. surely i can use my stop watch now that has been gathering dust since 10 years.
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Posted by: kailrusha

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Date: 09/20/12 09:10:48 PM]
You'd be surprised how different real apps run compared to tainted benches.
What most consumers care about is system performance not what brand of CPU, what clockspeed, etc. it operates at. I realize some folks base their entire self esteem on owning a particular brand or model CPU, but they need to get a life.
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Posted by: beenthere

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Date: 09/21/12 06:24:06 AM]
I love AMD, and wish them to succeed, but do you have any proof for what you say?
As far as I'm aware, the only tainted benchmarks are by BapCo (SysMark), otherwise most others give a fairly good indication of processor capabilities.
And in fact, various real-world benchmarks actually show AMD to be fairly behind Intel, such as this: -
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU/334
Also, check this out for real-world gaming performance, which sadly puts AMD to shame: -
http://techreport.com/rev...rformance-with-today-cpus
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Posted by: wislam

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Date: 09/21/12 04:08:06 AM]
Many benchmarks do not use the AMD subset instructions while properly written software does. You can run your own real apps and see for yourself that AMD CPUs actually run fastener that the tainted benches show. PC reviewers are finally learning of Intel's influence.
Use real apps if you want reality. Af far as games are concerned the eye cannot differentiate true FPS above 30 FPS. So it doesn't matter what the FPS is as long as it's above 30 FPS. The rest is for bragging rights and you pay dearly for something you can't actually use.
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Posted by: beenthere

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Date: 09/21/12 06:28:34 AM]
I agree with your comments about benchmarks. It also depends on C compilers as well. Most programmers choose to optimise for Intel CPUs due to their market penetration (do you remember the days when there was an AMD compiled package of Firefox for Linux? I remember how much faster it was compared to the stock package). I reckon this Intel advantage will change with OpenCL and AMD's APU/ HSA platform. As far as 30fps being enough, I disagree. Why is there 1080p60 video with interpolated 800Mhz subframes and why does it look so good? The eye can tell because the brain calculates at a high frequency (except when you're drunk). I believe 24fps is the minimum to trick the brain into believing the motion is somewhat real. The more frames you have, the more the brain doesn't need tricking. It's huge PPI count on screens where technology starts becoming overkill in terms of human perception.
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Posted by: linuxlowdown

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Date: 09/21/12 09:48:51 AM]
While I recommend Core i5 for gamers, if you actually run a highly multi-threaded video encoding, rendering workstation, an FX8350 @ 4.8ghz will mop the floor with a Core i5 @ 4.5ghz.
It is true that Bulldozer sucks for gaming but for actual multi-tasking, i5 is slower. Alternatively, you'd have to spend $100+ more on an i7 3770k.
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Posted by: BestJinjo

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Date: 09/21/12 08:46:48 AM]
Sucks for gaming, except I've been gaming with FX for a year now without the slightest bit of lag. Get real, it doesn't suck for anything. On Linux, it topples your 3770k with ease.
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Posted by: mmstick

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Date: 09/21/12 12:30:54 PM]
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Good for AMD. These are very competitive products and they will greatly restore faith in AMD's ability to design and ship solid performing CPUs and which close the performance gap with Core i series considerably. They won't beat Corei5 Ivybridge in all benchmarks, but they don't have to.
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Posted by: phileasfogg

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Date: 09/20/12 03:24:45 PM]
+ expand thread (3 answers)
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AMD need to beat Intel Core i5 to be competitive. Look at that price for AMD FX 8350 i can still buy Intel Core i5 at much lower price, then that AMD FX 6300 i can still buy old Intel Core i5 750.
"These are very competitive products and they will greatly restore faith in AMD's ability"
Still subject to proven. you cant draw a conclusion if there no processor been sold and money being made to compare the previous processor.
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Posted by: kailrusha

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Date: 09/20/12 05:39:06 PM]
These are pre-order prices to get some media traffic. They are always higher than actual prices.
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Posted by: PsiAmp

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Date: 09/21/12 03:07:17 AM]
If you take a look at Phoronix Linux benchmarks where there is no shady Intel C+ compilers going on to skew benchmarks, you will find that even the old FX-8150 stomped core i5 in the dirt, even toppling i7 2700k.
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Posted by: mmstick

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Date: 09/21/12 12:29:26 PM]
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AMD only needs to continue offering products that mainstream consumers desire, and they will. As AMD's roadmaps show Piledriver should be a ~10-15% increase over Zambezi and each iteration after Piledriver, i.e. Steamroller and Excavator will also deliver a ~10-15% performance bump over the previous iteration CPU.
FWIW, numerous reviewers already know the performance of Vishera and it is as stated above.
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Posted by: beenthere

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Date: 09/20/12 08:31:19 PM]
+ expand thread (4 answers)
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I agree to your comment. it was able to beat Core I5 Sandy Bridge. the benefit was AMD's Vishera High Clock core @ 1.2 ghz higher than Intel Core i5 2300 or 700mhz higher than Intel Core i5 2500K. only part is missing are the power consumption and heat
here is the link -->
http://wccftech.com/amd-v...ed-fx8150-cpu-benchmarks/
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Posted by: kailrusha

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Date: 09/20/12 09:39:59 PM]
Who cares what clock is if it runs smooth? In multithreaded programs bulldozer reaches i7 2600 performance. If will be 15% improvement, I will go for FX8350 because I need cheap and well threaded machine for rendering and calculation. For now I have FX4170. An it handles everything I throw to them.
And about heat. My FX4170 overclocked to 4.5Ghz with stock cooler on heavy load reaches 45C.
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Posted by: kvarta

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Date: 09/20/12 11:49:39 PM]
You might not care, but for those people who care about Power Consumption. beating an Quad Core using an 8 Core + High Clock speed is not efficient core.
Your not paying their electric bill monthly.
Its much better you buy both and compare as beenthere said. we should not rely on benchmark but i suggest we use stop watch now. hehehehe.
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Posted by: kailrusha

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Date: 09/21/12 05:36:25 PM]
@beenthere "AMD only needs to continue offering products that mainstream consumers desire" - yes, but they have to make more compelling products than Intel's if they want to start making real money again. Having said that, I don't believe they should gun for desktop processor prestige, because they will not be able to catch Intel's very top products in the foreseeable future. Beating Intel on price alone is not a sustainable business model for the long term - Intel have previously dumped processors on the marketplace. AMD must be "up there" again winning the mid-range. I believe AMD's best chance in the near term is with their upcoming Steamroller core with shared CPU/GPU memory reducing a major bottleneck. But they must also begin to speed up their tick-tocks to keep pace with Intel's die shrinks, particularly in the mobile and tablet markets. It's called product execution. I believe this is starting to happen under Rory Read. Overall, I'm positive about this company's future with their compelling APU and HSA consortium of companies that includes the who's who of Silicon Valley, ARM and Samsung working to agree to cross license each other's silicon IP in this space. This is the only way they will manage to out muscle Intel across an increasingly diverse and wider market - with the "Voltron" approach.
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Posted by: linuxlowdown

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Date: 09/21/12 10:13:18 AM]
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# AMD FX-8350 - $253
# AMD FX-8320 - $242
These are special prices for review sites. Only they are eager to get products from the launch.

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Posted by: Azazel

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Date: 09/20/12 11:16:34 PM]
5.
I'm expecting the 28nm Steamroller CPU for a come back
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Posted by: tks

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Date: 09/20/12 11:27:12 PM]
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i think it will be slightly better than this junk AMD has been offering since Jim is working on those. But still it will take time for Jim to fix this junk because of the limited resources AMD has. "Fables" means the changes that you wish to make on the architecture will be slower.
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Posted by: AvonX

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Date: 09/21/12 07:16:51 AM]
Disagree AvonX. The ex-AMD foundry now included under the control of Global Foundries has more money pumped into it and a broader base of customers so it can tool up quicker for die shrinks. They announced today they will be able to do 14nm by 2014, in just 18 months. I don't think that a near broke AMD would have managed to do that.
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Posted by: linuxlowdown

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Date: 09/21/12 10:33:34 AM]
I agree that Steamroller will be the comeback. Maybe then Excavator fabricated at TSMC 20nm with FinFET transistors?
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Posted by: linuxlowdown

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Date: 09/21/12 10:23:16 AM]
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FX Piledrivers are just pretty much a fixed version of FX Bulldozers. So i don't expect a lot of improvement overall over the first gen FX series, but any improvement is a step in the right direction. As for Steamroller it should be a decent improvement in performance over Piledriver, but the chip i'm really expecting big things from is Excavator which should be the first FX chips to use a DDR4 memory controllar as well.
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Posted by: SteelCity1981

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Date: 09/21/12 06:08:15 AM]
+ expand thread (2 answers)
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Each new announced AMD desktop CPU iteration will show ~15% improvement. Excavator may be more but it's too early to confirm. DDR4 is primarily of value only to servers as desktops running DDR3 at ~1333 MHz. are not bottlenecked by the DRAM.
DD4 is a point-to-point design meaning you must install all the RAM from the get go or replace all the RAM to increase capacity.
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Posted by: beenthere

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Date: 09/21/12 06:20:44 AM]
point to point doesn't mean that...
point-to-point topology is where each channel in the memory controller is connected to a single DIMM.
it's not just about the speed it's also about the bandwidth and the voltage. One big area DDR4 will help is in mobile devices due to the fact that DDR4 has lower voltage then DDR3 does. So DDR4 isn't just for show it has it'a practicly purpose.
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Posted by: SteelCity1981

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Date: 09/21/12 12:20:26 PM]
7.
More crap to flood the market. But hey, you still need some of those who think its okay to buy this crap.
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Posted by: AvonX

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Date: 09/21/12 06:57:48 AM]
+ expand thread (1 answer)
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You are a humble soul.
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Posted by: linuxlowdown

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Date: 09/21/12 10:35:48 AM]
8.
I imagine how they would feel when AMD finally confesses that this junk will be the last performance dedicated CPU. LoL
It will feel like you just got ripped off BIG time.
And i would like to see their faces of those who support this "junk" as being good enough.
I cant wait to see that. LoL
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Posted by: AvonX

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Date: 09/21/12 08:09:01 AM]
+ expand thread (3 answers)
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The last performance CPU? You still reading ridiculous rumors from a month ago? AMD has already outlined the updates to the architecture with Steamroller and further intergration of HSA within their next generation APU designs up to 2015.
http://www.guru3d.com/new...d_2015_gpu_codenames.html
You can't expect a company with 3 billion market cap to have the R&D and manufacturing capabilities to actually beat Intel, right? Let's get real now. Intel is already 1 generation ahead in terms of node and 3D transistor. Even if AMD's engineers design a faster CPU on paper, it will continue to be 1 node behind Intel.
Either way, any improvement is welcome.
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Posted by: BestJinjo

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Date: 09/21/12 08:54:32 AM]
Please cut the crap. ah yes the HSA foundation. LoL
The problem at AMD was bad management and it still "exists" unfortunately. And not only that, AMD has decided to go cheap a long time ago and they are still cheap. Its not always about money the problem is execution and has always been the case at AMD. The new management is even worst. Worst case scenario is that the new management will ruin the graphics department as well. If i owned AMD i would not of hired a CEO which comes up with comments such as "its enough" i would of fired him right there on the spot.
By the way get your numbers strait. Its not 3 billion, its 2.5 billion and its going down. From 4 billion to 2.5??? i would not call that a success. I wonder how come he still haves his job.
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Posted by: AvonX

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Date: 09/21/12 11:35:40 AM]
Yes, my humble one, AvonX.
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Posted by: linuxlowdown

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Date: 09/21/12 10:47:35 AM]
9.
Intel, the great stagnanter, kills the awesome Atom so its sales won't cut into their crappy Celeron line, now scrambles to catch up to the rest of the world.
Morons with dollar signs in their eyes!
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Posted by: andresgriego

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Date: 09/21/12 12:41:30 PM]
10.
Do I have to remind people that AMD is the INNOVATOR while Intel follows. You see, no matter what AMD does, Intel will always do anything to stay on top.
If it wasn't for AMD's head strong CPU design innovations, they would have been finished. AMD really cannot afford to make mistakes whereas Intel can.
By the time Steamroller hits the street, AMD should either be tied or beat Intel's equivalent offerings.
For now Piledriver should be approx: 15% to 20% faster Clock for Clock versus Bulldozer...
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Posted by: nt300

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Date: 09/22/12 01:45:20 PM]
11.
All one has to do is look at a benchmark that shows the actual calculations a processor is capable of performing. For example, there is no i5 processor that is faster than the FX-8150 when all things are equal.
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html
Looking at the list above, you can see that even the i5-3570k is behind the FX-8150. The FX-8350 is 5% faster than the 8150 when performing single threaded applications. On multi-threaded apps it is 10% faster than the 8150 and when overclocked it is 15% faster. This is in fact a significant improvement over the 8150. This puts the FX-8350 at 2500k single threaded performance while completely blowing away a 3570k in multi-threaded performance thus putting it at the i7-2600 level without overclocking.
Don't forget that the FX-8150 tied or beat the i7-2600k when both were overclocked to around 4.5ghz in multi-threaded benchmarks but trailed the i5-2500k in single threaded performance by less than 5%.
http://techreport.com/rev...-8150-further-overclocked
The FX-8150 is already a heavy multitasking monster compared to even the i7-2600k when performing heavy tasks at the same time.
Another consideration to take is that Windows 7 will never fully support the 8150 or 8350 so some results will prove to be unfavorable. Preliminary benchmarks of the Fx-8150 on Windows 8 show roughly a 5% increase.
With all that said though Intel is still far ahead and has a great product for those willing to spend the extra money.
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Posted by: Kool-Kat

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Date: 10/01/12 08:48:40 AM]
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Thanks for the info everyone.
Great thread!
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Posted by: oldengineer

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Date: 10/06/12 03:10:09 AM]
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