AMD FX-8370 and FX-8370E Processors Review

Before proceeding, let us look at the current prices for the processors in the comparison tests so that their relative performance might be placed in proper context.

System Benchmarks
wPrime is a good quick CPU-sensitive multi-threaded math calculation benchmark that utilizes square roots instead of prime numbers. The 32 million number benchmark is used.

The AIDA64 suite has various benchmarks for CPU, FPU and memory testing: CPU Queen is an integer benchmark that tests branch prediction and misprediction penalties. CPU PhotoWorxx tests the SIMD integer arithmetic execution units of the CPU and the memory subsystem. CPU ZLib is a compression benchmark that tests the combined CPU and memory performance. CPU AES is a multi-core encryption benchmark that uses Advanced Encryption Standard data encryption. CPU Hash is an integer benchmark that measures performance using SHA1 hashing algorithm.

FPUJulia measures single precision FP, FPU Mandel measures double precision FP, FPUSinJulia measures extended precision FP while FPUVP8 is a video compression test utilizing the FPUJulia fractal module.

MAXON’s Cinebench R15 runs two sets of benchmarks, a processor test for the CPU and an OpenGL test for the graphics cards. The 3D rendering workload is based on Maxon’s Cinema 4D, a program utilized by movie production studios world wide for special effects so it is a semi-synthetic test closer to real-world 3D graphics benchmarking.

PCMark 8 simulates typical home-related workloads including web browsing, gaming, photo editing, video chat and productivity. Like Futuremark’s 3DMark, a numerical score is generated from the combination of semi-synthetic tests. AMD’s A0-7850K can take advantage of OpenCL acceleration to accelerate the performance.

WinRAR is a very popular compression program and has a built-in multi-threaded benchmark.

x264 is a popular free software library for encoding video streams into the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC format. x264 FHD measures how efficient a system is in encoding H.264 video and produces results in frames-per-second.

Handbrake is free open-source video transcoder that can convert various video file formats to compatible video files for other typical media viewing applications such as in an iPhone or Android tablet. A 52:55 1.1GB H.264 MKV file was used converted to the built-in iPod Preset (5G Support), then manually timed. The results are in seconds and the lower number is the better result.

Gaming Tests

Futuremark’s 3DMark is a semi-synthetic gaming benchmark that calculates both graphics and CPU-bound physics in a controlled series of tests and provides scores that can be compared with other gaming platforms.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim uses a DirectX9 engine that is sensitive to CPU performance and improves framerates accordingly compared to newer DirectX11 engine games which are mostly GPU dependent. Maximum settings was used with FXAA enabled and with no mods loaded. Performance was benchmarked with Fraps from a 60 second real-world gameplay.

Power Consumption and Temperature

The 95W FX-8370E is surprisingly decent at power efficiency, something I completely did not expect at all considering how the Vishera processor line has performed previously. The E versions have a wider range of base to turbo clock and are aggressive at power saving, sacrificing a bit of the performance for much more manageable efficiency within the same package.  Temperature wise, a large CPU cooler is not needed unless overclocking as with the Noctua NH-U14S you can see AMD Overdrive reporting thermal margin moving slightly from 56C in idle to 42C after a 15-minute constant load.