AMD FX-4350 processor: reviews, specs, performance

Recently, many fans of Intel products, changing their principles, are switching to AMD products. It's all about the price of computer components from these brands - having the same performance in the tests, they somehow differ greatly in value. In the focus of this article - a wonderful representative of AMD, a processor with four cores, FX-4350. The description of the device, its technical characteristics and owner's feedback will help the buyer to learn more about the inexpensive but very productive processor, the price of which in the domestic market does not exceed 6,000 rubles.

Marketing progress of the manufacturer

Many readers, of course, are discouraged by the positioning in the market of new AMD FX-4350, the characteristics of which are at the level of Intel Core i5, and the cost does not exceed the coveted $ 100. In fact, everything is quite simple. The manufacturer for the Socket AM3 + platform has reached the limit in the production of powerful processors. We need to create a new, more productive platform than in the walls of AMD now and are engaged. But the rival Intel is not slumbering, it releases an updated and cheaper line of Core i3, occupying a niche of budget devices.

To remove the competitor from the market, the management of AMD company is going to reduce the price of its flagship products - FX-43xx and FX-63xx. Naturally, this step of the manufacturer was positively received by all buyers - 4 cores at a price of two not every day can be purchased on the market. Ardent fans of products on the core Core i will hardly wait the same step from their favorite brand, because in the history of its existence, Intel has never lowered the price of its equipment to drive out competitors from the market.

FX-4350 processor specifications

The fact that the AMD FX-4350 processor belongs to the elite segment is evidenced by its platform - Vishera. In accordance with the specification, the crystal has not undergone any changes and, like all other flagships, has a 2MB L2 cache for each pair of cores, and also fully supports a memory controller operating in dual-channel mode (DDR3 1866 MHz). There are no limits to the processor instructions - even full-fledged support for cryptography commands and vector functions are available.

It is worth noting that the lack of restrictions for a gadget with four cores, working at a frequency of 4200 MHz, led to the fact that the device in the budget class has a non-comparable heat dissipation - 125 W in nominal mode. It is necessary to pay attention to this when buying, because most low-cost cooling systems are limited to 90 watts.

The first acquaintance with the device

Since the crystal is associated with the heart of a personal computer, then the attitude of all manufacturers to it in terms of packaging and bundling is also affected by the AMD FX-4350 processor. Reviews of the owners assure that the packing of the crystal in a huge box is made at the highest level - the processor is not afraid of shocks and drops during transportation. It should be noted that there are 4 modifications of the same device on the market:

• Processor with a locked multiplier and with a standard cooling system (supplied in the old packaging, which was presented to all the Black Edition devices a few years ago);
• Device with a blocked multiplier without a cooler (in the same black package);
• Processor with an unlocked multiplier with a regular cooling system limited by heat dissipation of 125 W (supplied in a new, white package);
• Device with an unlocked multiplier without a cooler in a package in branded white packaging.

If overclocking is supposed (and many buyers buy AMD products for it), then the latter option is more preferable, because the owner will not have to overpay for a regular cooler.

Games with cooling system

Very often for owners of the FX-4350 processor, the overclocking performance characteristics are so priority that they simply lose sight of one fact, chasing the powerful and expensive cooling system of the crystal. The fact is that in 90% of cases, summing up the cost of buying an inexpensive CPU and an effective cooler leads to interesting conclusions. It turns out that for the same amount you can buy a more powerful crystal (for example, with six cores) complete with a regular cooling system.

Accordingly, before buying, the future owner must correctly weigh their needs and conduct an analysis of the cost of several solutions. Focusing on high performance, it is better to give preference to a more powerful device that works with dignity without overclocking. And those who want to save, you need to measure your appetite when buying a powerful cooler to cool the overclocked processor (limitations to 140 W should be more than enough).

Potential for overclocking

The FX-4350 processor with the unlocked multiplier has two modes of overclocking the operating frequency of the core. The technology Turbo is based on increasing the speed of the data bus and is more dependent on the support of this function on the motherboard (the corresponding multiplier is set). The second CPU overclocking can be performed by raising the voltage in the power supply system of the crystal itself. In most budget motherboards this parameter is limited to 1.5 Volts, respectively, above 4.9 GHz, the performance of the crystal can not be increased.

The acquisition of a motherboard with overclocking capabilities, again, is irrational. After recounting all the costs of buying a computer, you will inevitably have to give preference to a more productive processor. Yes, and with the overclock of this crystal it turns out that at 5 GHz it shows unstable performance.

Strange offer of the manufacturer

Quite interesting is the processor FX-4350 reviews of owners regarding using it to build platforms for office solutions. Low cost and high performance, as it turned out, have one side-effect, which AMD is silent in the commercials. On the basis of the crystal itself, the integrated graphics are not implemented, respectively, the integrated video output for connecting the monitor will not work on the motherboard. Definitely will have to buy a discrete video adapter.

If the future owner does not plan to increase the performance of the system by overclocking or even wants to purchase a computer for office applications or multimedia, IT professionals recommend paying attention to Intel's Pentium G or Core i3 products. In all products of the competitor, in addition to the built-in graphics, much less heat generation of the processor itself, which means that the whole system will work much more economically in terms of electricity consumption.

Performance in synthetic tests

If you compare all similar processor modifications in the budget price niche - FX-6300, Intel Pentium G3258, Core i3 4370 and FX-4350, which is being reviewed, many interesting facts will be revealed. First, the performance of all test programs that test only one core of the crystal, and excellent results will show for all devices for processors with the Intel brand. All AMD products with a huge margin will be at the bottom of the list.

But tests that take into account the integrated performance of all cores, their frequencies and available technologies, show excellent results, bringing the products of the FX-43xx and FX-63xx lines closer to the performance of the powerful Intel Core i5 processor. The conclusion is one: the rationality of buying AMD products directly depends on the needs of applications that will be used by the user. In most cases, all programs are "sharpened" for the work of one core, in contrast to productive dynamic games, respectively, the purchase of this processor will be beneficial only for fans of games.

The most delicious piece of pie

Revenge in the tests of the processor FX-4350 is clearly visible in gaming applications. It's no secret that most game manufacturers are guided by the total performance of the processor and graphics chip, working in conjunction. Accordingly, all modern toys are directly created for a line of FX processors with four cores.

AMD processors compete freely with Intel representatives in the budget niche. Overclocking the FX-4350 to 4.9 GHz even allows you to bypass the more expensive competitor Core i5 in games: Metro, Hitman and Shadow of Mordor. But lovers of the world of tanks will have to look for a processor from the Intel line, because the manufacturer has optimized the code of this legendary game for the performance of two Intel cores, which are adapted to SSE4.2 instructions. Yes, these technologies are supported by AMD products, but the optimization of the processor cores in the pair leaves much to be desired.

Unexpected expenses

For all potential buyers of the FX-4350 processor, the factor of choosing the power supply for the gaming system will be important. As the practice of testing the energy consumption of this crystal shows with minimal and maximum load, the processor loves to consume the electricity. If in standby mode, all products of the budget class consume the same (about 40 W), then the maximum load causes concern. Without overclocking, at regular frequencies, the FX-4350 processor demonstrates 140 watts of electricity consumption (while the Pentium G3258 hardly exceeds 60 watts).

In overclocking under maximum load, the tested processor beats all existing records for devices of budget class - 240 W (using a 64-bit Linpack application). Even the high- performance representative Intel Core i5 4690K, which in its overclocking demonstrates incredible performance, is less gluttonous - it limits 155W of electric power consumption.

Owner feedback

This may sound strange, but it is about the modification of the FX-4350 processor that reviews contain more positive statements than negative ones. First of all, the budget value and the presence of four cores are affected. After all, in fact, no one is giving such a gift to the market (in the segment up to $ 100). The presence of all existing technologies and instructions on the chip allows you to work with any application owner, and a great potential for overclocking will come in handy in the future, with the appearance of more demanding games and programs. The negatives are attributed to the lack of graphics on the core of the processor, as well as high dissipated power, which requires an additional cooling system.

Finally

As you can see from the review, AMD FX-4350 processor modification quickly found its customers in the market and earned a good reputation among the owners. Low cost, huge overclocking potential and excellent technical characteristics in applications promoting the novelty in the world market clearly contributed to this. All potential buyers who want to save on the purchase of the processor, you can safely recommend this model for building a gaming platform.