Vishera, Deneb, Trinity, and Propus are code names for some of AMD's most value-oriented processor configurations from the past couple of generations. We get our hands on several models to compare in productivity, content creation, and gaming workloads.
8 GB (2 x 4 GB) Crucial PC3-12800 kitStock: DDR3-1600, CL 8-8-8-24 at 1.5 VOverclocked: Athlon II/Phenom II: DDR3-1600/1607, CL 8-8-8-24, Athlon X4 750K/FX-6350/FX-4350: DDR3-1866/1875 9-9-9-24 @ 1.6 V
Common
Graphics
Sapphire Radeon HD 7970, 950 MHz GPU, GDDR5-5700
System Drive
Samsung 840 Pro 256 GB, SATA 6Gb/s SSD
Power
Corsair Professional Series HX1050, 1050 W, 80 PLUS Silver
Software and Drivers
Operating System
Windows 8 Professional x64
Graphics Driver
AMD Catalyst 13.2 Beta 7
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Benchmark Configuration
3D Games
Borderlands 2
Version 1.0.28.69606, DirectX 9, Custom Run, Fraps Test Set 1: Medium Quality Settings, Low PhysX, 8x AF Test Set 2: Highest Quality Settings, Low PhysX, FXAA,16x AF
Crysis 3
Version 1.0.0.2000, Direct X 11, Custom Run, 60-Sec. Fraps Test Set 1: Lowest Quality Settings, No AA, 1X AF Test Set 2: Medium Quality Preset, FXAA, 8x AF Test Set 3: Very High Quality Preset, 2x SMAA, 16x AF
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Version 1.8.151.0.7, Custom Run, 25-Sec. Fraps Test Set 1: High Preset, No AA, 8x AF, FXAA Enabled Test Set 2: Ultra Preset, 8x AA, 16x AF, FXAA Enabled
F1 2012
Version 1.2, Direct X 11, Built-in Benchmark Test Set 1: High Quality, No AA Test Set 2: Ultra Quality, 8x AA
Far Cry 3
V. 1.04, DirectX 11, 50-sec. FRAPS "Amanaki Outpost" Test Set 1: High Quality, No AA, Standard ATC., SSAO Test Set 2: Ultra Quality, 2x MSAA, Enhanced ATC, HDAO
Hitman: Absolution
V. 1.0.446.0, DirectX 11, Built-in Benchmark Test Set 1: Medium Quality Preset, No MSAA, 2x AF Test Set 2: Ultra Quality Preset, 2x MSAA, 16x AF
StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm
Version 2.0.9.26147, Custom Run "Harvest of Screams" Campaign Mission, 60-Sec. Fraps Test Set 1: High Preset, No AA, 8x AF, FXAA Enabled Test Set 2: Ultra Preset, 8x AA, 16x AF, FXAA Enabled
Tomb Raider
Version 1.00.722.3, Direct X 11, Custom Runs, "Chasm Monastery", "Mountain Village", 45-Sec. Fraps Test Set 1: High Quality Preset Test Set 2: Ultimate Quality Preset
Audio/Video Encoding
HandBrake CLI
Version: 0.98, Video: Video from Canon Eos 7D (1920x1080, 25 frames) 1 Minutes 22 Seconds, Audio: PCM-S16, 48,000 Hz, Two-Channel, to Video: AVC1 Audio: AAC (High Profile)
iTunes
Version 10.4.1.10 x64: Audio CD (Terminator II SE), 53 minutes, default AAC format
LAME MP3
Version 3.98.3: Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 min, convert WAV to MP3 audio format, Command: -b 160 --nores (160 Kb/s)
So much BS, the old Phenom II X4 and X6 BE are still really competitive after all these years. Yet, if they bother to update the instruction set, and just shrink the thing, then change it to AM3+ socket, that would be great...
K10 has so much more potential...
Kelvin, the tests showed that the Piledriver FXes are not that far off the Phenom IIs clock for clock and core for core. The Phenom II X4 965BE at 4.0 GHz was generally about as fast as the stock FX-4350 running 200-400 MHz faster so you figure about a 5% per-clock, per-core advantage for the Phenom II. However, each Piledriver core is quite a bit smaller than a K10 core and they also have a longer pipeline so they can clock quite a bit faster (K10 was pretty well tapped out.) So you get more cores and more clocks out of Piledriver with essentially the same performance per core and per clock. I'd say that the modular architecture used in the FXes finally got the vindication it deserved with this test. Way to go Tom's.
As I was going through this, at first I was worried about the absence of comparison to Intel, but was relieved to see it at the end. Especially if I don't want to push my 970BE really hard (I'd rather play on my PC than with it), the FX-63x0 looks like a viable upgrade.
I want some juice GPU news. I am aware they are not going anywhere fast with CPUs. My wallet will be open for 8 core in 2 years when performance Increases 20%
Thank you so much for writing this article. Thank you also for including the Phenom II 965 processor to this test. I use it, and it is somewhat dated, and hard to find compared to newer cores. However it still kicks a lot of butt in gaming. I bought my Phenom II 955BE C3 last year with overclocking in mind
I always wanted to see how it would compare to newer models, and even intel counterparts. Thank you for this. I loved reading the article. Keep comparisons like this coming.
I also wanted to add, thank you for listing the 965BE with overclock at 4Ghz. It's easy to clock this processor up to those speeds. That's about what I run at, and it also runs much greater than stock speeds. This is important in future comparison tests. Thanks again.
Wanted to see i3 and i5 CPUs on the charts. Not just in the "Wrapping things up" section. Also, why not compare to a i5-3470? It's locked, cheaper, and still fast.