TechwareLabs Your source for unbiased computer hardware reviews, guides, and editorials

Search Form

AMD FX-8350 “Piledriver” Processor Review

For those of you not aware, the new “Piledriver” based processors are the next evolution of the FX-series from the previous “Bulldozer” based processors. Unfortunately, the “Bulldozer” release was met with quite a bit of constructive criticism, as the hype and pre-release detail left a lot of folks underwhelmed. So, the immediate upside for AMD this go around is many people will be going into this release with more realistic expectations. However, the obvious questions still loom, are the “Piledriver” based processors worth a look and more importantly your money? Let’s dive in and find out.

AMD A10-5800K Trinity APU Review

Today AMD launches the new Trinity APU lines based on the Piledriver architecture. We have in their latest A10-588K and A8-566K APU's for testing. GPU as well as CPu enhancements await end users with this new product line. The big question on everyones mind is "Does Trinity close the gap and finally provide a compelling argument to the Ivy Bridge CPU. There's no doubt that Intel retains the performance crown but the really compelling argument is in where AMD is headed. The question you should be asking yourself is " What should I be looking for in a processor?"

Intel® Core™ i7-3820 Processor Review (10M Cache, 3.60 GHz)

The 2XXX Second Generation of the Intel Core Processor Family took off this past year with many early adopters pleasantly surprised by the abundance of speed, updated technologies, and better graphics integration. Here at TechwareLabs we had the pleasure of reviewing the i5-2500K and i7-2600K last year with future prospect of greater economical choices to come in Q1 2012. The Sandy Bridge-E i7-3800 Desktop series takes on many of the 2nd Gen i7-2XXX series features with a boost in base clock speed, cache, and thermal specification.

AMD Llano A8-3870K APU Review

With AMDs' Llano and Bulldozer line releasing within 8 months of each other it was only a matter of time before we saw them merge. The main complaint about Llano was the inability to overclock anything. Well now we see 2 unlocked versions come into the market: the A8-3870k and the A6-3670k. With AMDs rich heritage in overclocking and GPUs what kind of performance can we expect out of these? Lets first take a look at the new line desktop Llano APUs.

AMD FX-8150 Bulldozer 8 Core CPU

Today AMD announces the Bulldozer CPU, it's first major release of micro architecture since the AMD 64. We have the FX-8150 strapped in for some testing and with 8 cores of multi-processing power at 3.6 GHz we show you why the Bulldozer is must have hardware. Gaming, processing power, and price tag combine to make the Bulldozer recipe a winner.

AMD A6-3650 APU/Processor

As you might know, AMD has managed to remain the leader in graphic chipsets, but Intel still holds both the mobile and hybrid computing markets. This is where the Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) comes in to play for it is a combination of CPU and GPU all rolled into one. It is AMD’s response to Intel’s SandyBridge and referred to as ‘Llano’. The AMD A6-3650 is the budget-friendly little brother to the AMD A8-3850 we did a review on last month.