The AMD FX-8320E – not something that’s exactly new but in fact it’s actually quite old as the Codename Vishera for AMD’s Piledriver core based FX series processors surfaced many years ago. The thing about the FX-8320E is that it’s improved with lower TDP, from a whopping 125w down to 95w.
Processor Details
Here’s the CPU-Z capture.
Everything is essentially as the other FX-8xxx series, so the FX-8320E is exactly the same processor as the FX-8320 released 3 years ago (in 2012) running at lower power consumption.
Let’s cut to the chase – benchmarks! Oh but before that, I managed to overclock the processor to 4Ghz with vcore at around 1.2.
Test Setup & Overclocking
| Motherboard | ASUS Crosshair IV Formula |
| RAM | Avexir Blitz 1.1 8GB kit, set to 1333Mhz |
| Graphic Card | ASUS HD 7750 |
| Cooler | Stock / DeepCool Gamer Storm Lucifer |
| Power Supply | Cooler Master V700 |
| Operating System | Windows 8 Pro 64bit |
Benchmarks
The following are the test results. Note that there’s the STOCK setup and there’s the 3.5Ghz setup where the frequency is fixed, this is to see how it actually performs without fluctuating clock.
x264 – 10bit to 8bit Video Conversion
The source video is a 720p MKV file that is 90 seconds in duration. x264 settings at the slowest.
| CPU | Time Taken |
| AMD FX 8320E stock | 234 seconds |
| AMD FX 8320E 3.5Ghz | 215 seconds |
| AMD FX 8320E @ 4Ghz | 202 seconds |
| AMD FX 8350 | 192 seconds |
The overclock gave the Pentium a significant boost in performance but it’s still no where near the capability of a Core i3 with 2C / 4T.
Cinebench R15
Default settings
| CPU | CB |
| AMD FX 8320E stock | 509 |
| AMD FX 8320E 3.5Ghz | 556 |
| AMD FX 8320E @ 4Ghz | 599 |
| AMD FX 8350 | 633 |
WinRAR
Speed of archiving some almost 1GB worth of CR2 and MOV file.
| CPU | Time Taken |
| AMD FX 8320E stock | 52 seconds |
| AMD FX 8320E 3.5Ghz | 46 seconds |
| AMD FX 8320E @ 4Ghz | 45 seconds |
| AMD FX 8350 | 50 seconds |
While it’s beyond my explanation on how the FX-8320E and FX-8350 exchange blows, it’s good to see that the FX-8320E does give the FX-8350 a good challenge.
Power Consumption
Power Consumption measurement is based on readings taken from watt-meter. Power consumption is based on entire system, comprising of the processor, a motherboard, 2 sticks of RAM and 1 fan for cooling purpose. For this setup, the power consumption is inclusive of the HD 7750 graphic card.
| Condition | Peak (W) |
| Idle | 56 |
| Prime95 In-place Large FFT | 136 |
| Video Conversion | 123 |
Temperature
goldfries.com’s lab temperature is set at +/- 25°C
| CPU | Temperature (°C) |
| Idle | 35 |
| Load (Stock fan setting) | 54 |
| Load (Silent fan setting) | 61 |
The stock heatsink handled the 4Ghz @ 1.20 vcore overclock fine BUT the processor is throttled quite often. Basically it works, the fan will be at full RPM once the temperature peaks and the processor down-clocks to 1.7Ghz – 2Ghz range from time to time.
I’m quite surprised at the temperature level because on stock settings the stock heatsink doesn’t feel hot, which is very unlike the 125w AMD FX processors and APU.
The Verdict
It’s not new and it’s not revolutionary either but it’s a great step ahead. You now have an 8-core 3.5Ghz processor solution at under RM 600, the processor retails at around RM 570. 🙂 It performs very close to the 125w FX-8350 that’s priced at around RM 700. A decent 970 chipset based board like GIGABYTE’s 970A-DS3P retails at around RM 310 and you have a great setup for under RM 900, much cheaper than having an Intel Core i7 with Z97 board setup.
I think the FX-8320E would be a great option for gamers on a budget, the only overclockable setup that’s under RM 900! For non-gamers, it works great too but you’ll need to add about RM 100 to the setup cost for a graphic card.
