Raster Graphics Processing
FX-8350 shows a significant increase in score and manages to beat all our Core i3s and even Core i5-2400 (according to our previous tests), not to mention other AMD processors.
Vector Graphics Processing
This group of tests doesn't favor the new module architecture, so Phenom II X6 1100T is still the fastest AMD CPU in the testbed. However, the gap has narrowed noticeably.
Video Encoding
The progress is minor here, because video encoding software favors the previous AMD FX-8150 as well. On the other hand, the increased clock rate does its job. Intel Core i5-2400 has used to outperform any AMD CPU, but now AMD FX-8350 is, on average, faster than even Intel Core i5-2500/2500K.
Office Suites
Just the same as in the much more complicated 3D Modeling tests, FX-8350 can not perform on a par with Intel processors but easily beats the whole AMD lineup.
Java
Though Java is a 'module' group of tests, FX-8150 still can hardly outperform Phenom II X6 1100T but yields to the 3rd-gen Core i5. FX-8350 takes its revenge and even catches up with Core i7.
Games
The improvements of AMD processors still give a certain boost even with our reference GTX 570. Due to certain peculiarities of F1 2010 with six threads, Phenom II X6 1100T yields to Phenom II X4 980 which scores between A10-5800K and FX-8150, and the new FX-8350 is more than 5% faster, thanks to its L3 cache. Generally for the AMD FX series, gamers will probably choose the newer and cheaper dual-module FX-4300 which shows the same productivity.
Multitasking Environment
In this group of tests, the bottleneck is L3 cache performance, so the results are similar to those of compilation benchmarks: even FX-8150 manages to beat Phenom II X6 1100T and any Core i5, not to mention FX-8350 which shows 10% more performance.
Overall Score and Final Thoughts
Our hero should have been released a year ago, named "FX-8150." Like any worthy debut processor of a new microarchitecture, it outperforms Phenom II X6 1100T and scores on a par with (sometimes even better than) the top Core i5 CPUs of the 2nd generation. However, chronologically, the today's FX-8350 is just a successor to FX-8150.
The new processor hasn't made a breakthrough. The revolution has again been delayed—now until Steamroller. However, at this second attempt AMD has proved that the new microarchitecture is reasonable. Including the cheapest octathread processors, the AMD FX-8xxx lineup may become the best choice for those willing. Especially the new, improved FX-8350 is worthy of your attention.
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