AMD 45646788 FD8350FRHKBOX FX-8350 FX-Series 8-Core Black Edition Processor

Powerful and Reliable CPU That Still Holds UpI’ve been running this AMD FX-8350 for a while now, and it’s been rock solid. It’s an 8-core processor from AMD’s Black Edition line, and while it’s not the newest chip on the market, it still delivers very capable performance for multitasking, productivity, and even gaming when paired with a decent graphics card.Installation was straightforward, and it dropped right into my AM3+ motherboard without any issues. I really appreciate that it comes unlocked, giving you the flexibility to overclock if you want to squeeze out a little extra performance. The chip has plenty of headroom for enthusiasts, though it does generate a fair amount of heat under heavy load, so a good aftermarket cooler is a must if you plan to push it hard.In day-to-day use, I’ve noticed it handles multiple programs, video streaming, and light editing without lag. It’s also been a fun processor to tinker with because of its overclocking potential. Power consumption is higher than some of the newer CPUs, so that’s worth keeping in mind if efficiency is a priority.Bottom line: This is a tried-and-true workhorse CPU. If you’re building or maintaining an AM3+ system, the FX-8350 is one of the best chips you can get for the platform—fast, reliable, and a great value for what it offers.

First part is about Amazon:After having some troubles with the first and second CPU, now on the third try of returning and receiving a new CPU, it finally boots without any problem with my motherboard (MSI 890FXA-GD70).After waiting for ... hmm... two weeks??? First CPU arrived but would not POST, although my Phenom II x4 worked on the same motherboard, so I returned it. (Yes, I tried everything to troubleshoot to no avail).Second CPU (took a week and a half to arrive) would work, but every now and then will not POST. After reading Frenchyaz Salut's review, I knew again that it was a bad CPU. In both cases, Amazon will take return without fussing with Free Return!!! Amazing.Finally, Amazon shipped the third CPU by "AIR" and it arrived the NEXT DAY. When I got an email alert that the new CPU arrived, I doubted. WOW. This time the CPU works flawlessly.Meanwhile, my CPU thermal paste has shrunk in half! I have tried numerous times putting in my previous CPU, then trying again with this CPU and vice versa. Anyway, Newegg, B&H, Adorama, and Tigerdirect has lost my business. Way to go Amazon. From now on, major purchase will go via Amazon. No hassle return. Wow. wow. wow. If this happened via Newegg, I would've spend a fortune returning two CPUs. Don't forget to buy it on Amazon and nowhere else, because you might get a DOA CPU like I did for twice!Now about this CPU:FX-8350 is way faster than my previous Phenom II x4 975. I'm a casual gamer, and now transitioning into family video & photo editor, and have to multi task with many document/scanning etc. This CPU is great for multitasking like other reviewer says. I can run A/V scan, run Neat scanner, play games, and edit video all at the same time without maxing my CPU.The CPU temperature reading through HWiNFO is about half of that of PIIx4, even in intense games, i.e. BF3 or 4, and uses way less percentage of CPU. If you are a gamer though, you won't feel much difference in FPS since Piix4 is already capable of high end gaming. So if you're purely interested in gaming, invest in better GPU than buying this CPU. Don't take other's "bottlenecking" crap. Piix4 975 will not bottleneck unless you are 4K Ultra-setting everything, if so even the newest and greatest Intel i7 will bottleneck. My Piix4 975 + HD 7970 didn't bottleneck my 22" monitor on Ultra in BF3/4.When doing full system scan through Norton Security Suite, Malwarebyte Anti-Malware, Spybot Search & Destroy, ESET Online, etc... it takes less than half of what it use to take with PIIx4. Neat scanner software load time is cut in half. You need to take this statement with a grain of salt though.For video editing, this thing flies compared to Phenom ii x4 975.Okay, I did make a lot of vague statements here, but that is how I feel. Nothing with concrete numerical data. You can get those through professional review sites. My point here is that this thing is way better, and worth the upgrade if you have the $$$. My 3DMark11 Basic Edition score is around 89xx, whereas it was around 77xx with Piix4. Don't get me wrong. Phenom II x4 series are great CPUs. But FX 8350 is still worth the upgrade if you are and will be doing video editing, and more multitasking.

JUNE 12, 2013 UPDATEI've had this CPU for going on four months now. It's still rocking it! Runs the latest "Metro Last Light" with a breeze. TO fixing my heating issues I mention below, I have upgraded the fans on my radiator to the Corsair SP120 high performance fans. As of now I have this thing running at exactly 5018Mhz stable right now. Also over time I experimented with RAM. Believe it or not, decreasing my RAM speed actually gained me some FPS in all of my games (its running slightly below 1600Mhz now). I recommend doing FPS benchmarks if you are aiming for gaming with this. Also I wanted to add in my last Power Supply blew up on me. I am now using the gold rated Corsair HX750 that seems work better with this CPU overclocked in terms of heat/stability.Let me skip all the BS. This is a BEAST of a CPU! I've had an AMD Phenom II x6 1045t for the past year now. Although I loved the 1045t CPU, it simply wasn't the greatest for gaming. My stock speed was 3.9Ghz and I overclocked it to 4.5Ghz via the turbo, but with turbo on the Phenom II chips, only three cores would activate. I also was gifted recently an XSPC Raystorm rs360 liquid cooling kit and with that high end cooling I simply wanted the best overclockable chip out there.For about three month's I eyeballed this CPU up on various websites. I wanted it desperately, but I had a few issues and asked myself the following questions. Was it a big enough upgrade over the 1045t? Was it worth buying over the cheaper 8320 model? Lastly should I consider saving up for an intel system instead because of AMD's rocky future in the CPU world (reports say the excavator models are pushed back to 2014 at least)?I took the plunge - I ordered this CPU and could not be happier. The base speed of 4Ghz is awesome, it's nice to see something like that right out of the box. Furthermore the overclockability of this chip is absolutely astounding. You can overclocked it to the Moon assuming you have proper cooling. With the Raystorm rs360 I was able to get this chip to a stable 5Ghz, liquid cooling the CPU and the VRM's on my motherboard.Overclocking is nothing without performance though - how does the CPU perform? Excellent! I got a very noticeable framerate increase in all my games. Crysis 3 I can run completely maxed out with msaa on medium at 60fps (which some intel users can't even handle :o)Some minor pet peeves/issues with this CPU:1) If you're doing overclocking, you will absolutely need a custom cooler. This is a very power hungry, very hot CPU at overclocked speeds. This thing has scarily overheated on me a few times already, I've gotten this to a stable 5Ghz, although I can run it at speeds of up to 5.4Ghz it simply gets too hot at anything else. Although the stock cooler is actually impressive having copper on it, it's still not going to do the job. Here's what I recommend per the speeds you are trying to reach based on my own experience and from what I've read on the web:- Coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO or similar: 4.6Ghz- Closed loop cooler (such as the h100i): 4.8Ghz- Custom cooling kit: 5Ghz+- At least a 600w PSU for anything above (this thing consumes alot of power overclocked)2) AMD STILL SUCKS WITH HIGH SPEED RAM. If you're overclocking this thing even slightly, good luck getting the specified 1866Mhz RAM to work with it. I can only run mine at around 1700Mhz. I tried two modules at 8GB and four modules at 16GB. Could never get this to stably run 1866Mhz, even at stock CPU speeds. If you'r buying RAM stick with a 1600Mhz kit.Other than the power/heat issues and the RAM, this is a great CPU. I paid for a $200 CPU and it felt like I got what I paid for performance wise. Vs. Intel you will see alot of users complain that the "per core" performance isn't as good, and than an Intel i5 3550k will outperform this. Personally I don't give a crap. I'm not reverting my whole system over to Intel just because some silly benchmarks are slightly better. Besides the multi-threading of this CPU will blow away an i5, especially in DX11 games which do utilize all 8 cores.One more thing - vs the AMD 8320 I think this is a much better buy - $10-20 more and you're getting a CPU that's going to be much better in the overclocking department and the increased speeds are going to be much better in gaming. Overall definitely worth the money. Great CPU that will last years to come and AMD's future is rocky if you're waiting for the "next" best thing I think you should just go with this...My build:8350 @ 5Ghz, 1.5v core, 250Mhz bus speed, 20x CPU multiplierGigabyte 990FXA-UD3XSPC Raystorm rs360 water coolingPrimoflex tubing w/ deionized waterEnzotech wmst-81 VRM Water BlockG Skill Ares 1866Mhz (4x4) 16GB RAM (@ 1700Mhz)MSI Radeon Twin Frozr III 7950 overclockedCorsair Force 120GB SSDThermaltake 600W PSULG Blu Ray reader/writerNZXT Phantom Full Tower case (white)