We tested the Bulldozer: FX-8150 and three 990FX motherboards on the test bench

Test programs, test configurations, consumption and warm-up

Applications used during the measurements:

• CPU-Z 1.58-1.59
• AIDA64 2.00.1720 beta
• Sisoftware Sandra 2011.11.17.84/86/XNUMX Engineer Standard xXNUMX
• TrueCrypt 7.1
• Fritz Chess Benchmark 12
• Winrar 4.10 beta 3 x64
• 7-ZIP 7.22 beta x64
• Super Pi mod 1.5XS
• WPrime 2.04
• Cinebench R10 x64
• Cinebench R11.5 x64
• POV-Ray RC3 x64
• Luxmark 1.0
• Photoshop CS4 11.0.1
• X264 HD Benchmark 4.0
• dBpoweramp Music Converter
• MediaEspresso 6.5.2119_41281
• 3DMark Vantage 1.0.2
• 3DMark11 1.0
• Battlefield 3 + FRAPS 3.4.7 build 13809
• Crysis 2 1.9 + Adrenaline Crysis 2 benchmark tool 1.0.1.13
• F1 2011
• Far Cry 2 + Far Cry 2 benchmark tool 1.0.0.1

Test configurations features and settings

AMD FX-8150 + Crosshair V Formula:

AMD FX-8150 unloaded, Super Pi-loaded (single-threaded) and Fritz-loaded (multi-threaded), and RAM settings

AMD FX-8150 + Crosshair V Formula + tuning:

CPU and RAM information

To the best of our knowledge, a single FX-8150 CPU has arrived for domestic media, and this has been touring various editorial offices. We would have been relatively enthusiastic about tuning if we hadn’t gotten a glimpse of the overcrowding experienced at one of the competitions. There, things got to 4600 MHz. We also browsed through the experiences of several foreign sites, accordingly, we turned off the power management features and the TDP limiter, but unfortunately we couldn’t get any further, in fact. During the tuning we only increased the multiplier, but even so we could not make the system stable above 4515 MHz. Surprisingly, this too was only achieved by not increasing the voltage but decreasing it, up to 1,375 V in the BIOS. Even though we tried higher values ​​up to 1,41 V, the higher operating voltage always only resulted in instability. Let us add that the FX-8150 we visited is an early copy, we are confident that those on store shelves will have more favorable features.

AMD FX-8150 + Sabertooth 990FX:

CPU and RAM information

AMD FX-8150 + MSI 990FXA-GD80:

CPU and RAM information

AMD Phenom II X4 970 BE + Sabertooth 990FX:

AMD Phenom II X4 970 BE unloaded and loaded, and RAM settings

Intel Core i5-2500K + GIGABYTE Z68X-UD7-B3:

Intel Core i5-2500K unloaded, Super Pi loaded (single-threaded) and Fritz-loaded (multi-threaded), and RAM settings

Intel Core i5-2600K + GIGABYTE Z68X-UD7-B3:

Intel Core i7-2600K unloaded, Super Pi loaded (single-threaded) and Fritz-loaded (multi-threaded), and RAM settings

Intel Core i7-980X + GIGABYTE EX58-UD4P:

Intel Core i7-980X unloaded, Super Pi loaded (single-threaded) and Fritz loaded (multi-threaded), and RAM settings

Consumption:

Let's see the "dreaded" consumption! If we look at the numbers, we can see that the FX-8150 can't be called horroristic when it comes to hunger at its base clock, with power management functions on its side. In an unloaded state, it asked for the least, and even during Blu-ray playback it only consumed a few watts more than the two Sandy Bridge CPUs. During AIDA64, it showed more protein in its teeth and consumed the most energy among the field members, with a large difference compared to the Sandy Bridge models. In the case of Furmark, the situation was not so dire: although the FX-8150 consumed the most after the Phenom, the difference compared to the Sandy Bridges was 15-25 watts. It is better not to detail the tuned consumption data, we can clearly see what happens when we unchain the monster (turn off restrictions and energy management) and unleash its appetite.

Warming:

The heat generation characteristics of the AMD FX-8150 were tested in the ASUS Crosshair V Formula sheet:

In the first round, the monitoring was performed with basic settings, leaving all power management functions switched on. The FX-8150 CPU was loaded using AIDA64 for 30 minutes and then allowed to cool. During loading, the total temperature of the processor has risen to 59 degrees Celsius, while that of the cores has risen to 48 degrees Celsius, which does not seem unfriendly, but FX processors are already known not to like high temperatures, up to 60 degrees can be said to work under the right conditions . I managed to keep this, but with a Scythe Ninja 2 Rev B, which certainly can't be said to be an average and cheap cooling, so the question arises as to what happens if we snap a cooler of a few thousand forints onto the FX-8150. Well, we don’t know that, but it’s not out of the question that there could be a problem with a longer load on every core.

Seeing this, we were a little afraid to put the load on the CPU in the tuned state, as we knew we wouldn’t fit into the limit. During loading, the temperature crawled up to 79, both in terms of total value and individual seeds. This certainly slips far from the recommended value, so if our cooling is inadequate, let’s give up permanent tuning rather than torture our unit. The problem is that the Ninja 2 Rev B is not a weak model, although it is no longer the pinnacle, the latest products are not able to beat it by a huge difference either, so we have come to the conclusion that if we want an FX-8150 with lasting tuning to use, we would most likely need water cooling. AMD recognized this fact much earlier than we did, which is probably why it decided to make the FX-8150 available in a package that includes a factory water cooler. The cheaper edition includes a heat tube air cooler, so don’t cherish big dreams about OC.