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

Synthetic measurements:

In describing the results, we will mainly compare the FX-8150 to the two Sandy Bridge models, as they are priced in about the range that the FX-8150 comes in. During the built-in measurements of AIDA64, the shape of the FX changes greatly for the various modules. Under Queen, you only have a chance against 2500K, not even 2600K when tuned. Photoworxx has no chance of tightening the 2500K and 2600K, but surprisingly, the FX-980 manages to handle the 8150X. During the Hash module, the Bulldozer felt spectacularly good and beat all his opponents with confidence, with a surprisingly large difference. Under VP8, the situation is no longer so rosy, the 2500K has been approached, but the 2600K and 980X are stepping up. Tuning, on the other hand, has swung a lot, and AMD’s new savior has taken the lead. Under FPU Julia, even the strongest Bulldozer doesn’t excel so much, he only manages to deal with Phenom.

Like AIDA2011, Sisoftware Sandra 64 is a good example of the undulating performance of the Bulldozer architecture and the FX-8150. In one measurement he lags ugly, in the other he catches up, while in a third he is able to beat the complete field. Tuning could also result in significant percentages of values.

Since the Bulldozer’s strength lies in multi-threaded processing, we didn’t expect a big spark on the Super Pi, this progi was somehow never a favorite of AMD processors. Our conjecture was confirmed in the worst case scenario. The FX-8150 even got out of Phenom, with Intel CPUs moving in a different dimension. So it’s better to forget about Super Pi in relation to the Bulldozer.

WPrime is also a dry, synthetic test program, but unlike Super Pi, it can take advantage of more cores. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be enough, as the FX-8150 was included in this test program as well. The Phenom II was much better able to keep up with Intel units than the new architecture.

The Fritz Chess Benchmark (Deep Fritz) is now capable of handling up to 12 threads, meaning the 980X could put all its power into this measurement. You can see that, as he took the lead toweringly, but this test was already to the liking of the AMD FX. We can’t say that we got the right result for the eight cores, as the 2500K was just beaten and the 2600K was lagging behind (tuned), but it was clear that the FX-8150 likes it when all the eight cores may be in use.