AMD Athlon X4 880K Review

cageymaru

cageymaru

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AMD Athlon X4 880K Review.
AMD Athlon X4 880K Review - ComputerShopper.com

Not bad for a true quad core that overclocks to 4.5GHz using the stock Wraith cooler. I would want this over a dual core Intel due to some games automatically blocking the dual cores. I doubt anyone in this price range is willing to edit .ini files to make their games run. Windows Store doesn't even allow you to see the game files as everything is hidden.

The $250 i5-6600K they tested it against was impressive. Too bad it is 2.5 times as much in price.
 
They needed to test it against an i3 which is also a 4 threaded 2 module processor.

The $250 i5-6600K they tested it against was impressive. Too bad it is 2.5 times as much in price.
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And also 2 times the number of modules.
 
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cageymaru said:
Not bad for a true quad core that overclocks to 4.5GHz using the stock Wraith cooler. I would want this over a dual core Intel due to some games automatically blocking the dual cores. I doubt anyone in this price range is willing to edit .ini files to make their games run. Windows Store doesn't even allow you to see the game files as everything is hidden.

The $250 i5-6600K they tested it against was impressive. Too bad it is 2.5 times as much in price.
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Don't forget to mention that the stock frequency is 4ghz, while in the 6600K is 3.5ghz and it scale hugely with overclock so both overclocked at 4.5ghz should mean a way more than the ~50% presented in that review (which sadly don't include any gaming) you are paying 150$ more but you are getting a totally better and way modern platform.

About your point, yes I know what you did there :) dual core pentium isn't the same as dual core i3, those mentioned games that refuse to run on dual core doesn't have any trouble with i3, as i3 are recognized as fully 4 threads under windows, the game is unable to tell which one are logic or physical cores, they detect 4 threads then the game run.. so even for 250$ you are getting a true quad core chip that perform much better than a 4Modules/8Threads FX8370 even in Heavy Multi-threaded applications, so you can expect a much bigger difference while gaming, i3 skylake still will mean a gargantuan upgrade over an Athlon X4 880K which is just 30 bucks more.

drescherjm said:
They needed to test it against an i3 which is also a 4 threaded 2 module processor.

And also 2 times the number of modules.
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That's correct, the i5 6600K is just another league, Just look how even it outperform the FX8370 even in heavy multi-tasking synth benchmarks which was always the winner point on FX Octa Chips versus intel i5s, I would have expected they compared against an i3 6100.
 
Its a soldered-lid speedbump 860k. Same as the 870k, just a speed bin higher.
 
Ocellaris said:
It's still performance that fails to compete with years old Intel tech. If someone has a super limited budget, used Intel hardware is a better deal.
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And you can always find used FM2+ tech. A guy in FS/FT was selling a 870K that clocks to 4.5Ghz, A88M board, and 2x4GB of RAM for $100 shipped. I don't know that you're going to find a better deal on a "super limited budget."
 
kirbyrj said:
And you can always find used FM2+ tech. A guy in FS/FT was selling a 870K that clocks to 4.5Ghz, A88M board, and 2x4GB of RAM for $100 shipped. I don't know that you're going to find a better deal on a "super limited budget."
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lol that was me

Good chip btw, the soldered lid keeps temps insanely low compared to an 860k, I was seeing an average of 20C cooler comparing them side by side and the 870k took 100mv more for the same clock speed (the 860k stops scaling at about 4.4ghz and 1.350V while the 870k was still going up when the board couldn't handle any more without throttling at 1.475V and 4.6ghz).

Let it be known that this architecture really doesn't gain much past 4.3-4.4 or so though anyways, even with good cooling. We've seen it for a while with Kaveri, unlike Vishera it does not keep getting better the more clock speed you pile into it, and I blame the super anemic memory bus and L1/L2 cache. For comparisons sake, Skylake L3 cache is almost twice as fast as Kaveri L1.
 
Haha...I knew I saw it somewhere. I thought it was a good deal FWIW.
 
LigTasm said:
lol that was me

Good chip btw, the soldered lid keeps temps insanely low compared to an 860k, I was seeing an average of 20C cooler comparing them side by side and the 870k took 100mv more for the same clock speed (the 860k stops scaling at about 4.4ghz and 1.350V while the 870k was still going up when the board couldn't handle any more without throttling at 1.475V and 4.6ghz).

Let it be known that this architecture really doesn't gain much past 4.3-4.4 or so though anyways, even with good cooling. We've seen it for a while with Kaveri, unlike Vishera it does not keep getting better the more clock speed you pile into it, and I blame the super anemic memory bus and L1/L2 cache. For comparisons sake, Skylake L3 cache is almost twice as fast as Kaveri L1.
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I am not a big fan of the fsb being locked to pci-e. I am fsb oc-er but looks like I am a dinosaur with these APUs.
 
JustReason said:
I am not a big fan of the fsb being locked to pci-e. I am fsb oc-er but looks like I am a dinosaur with these APUs.
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Yeah it would be nice if we could adjust that. I enjoy the chips just because they're cheap and powerful for the price. Fun to play with. If I was buying new I would definitely get the 870/880k though, the soldered lid and better binning helps a lot.
 
Why is the A10-7890K so much faster than the 880K (Handbrake and Povray) ... there's only 100MHz difference both base and turbo. Both rated 95W. Same cache sizes.
 
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I built three new computers for my family using 860k, fm2+ gigabyte a88 board and 8gb of ddr3 2400 for $125 each. Very happy with the performance / cost ratio
 
buttons said:
I built three new computers for my family using 860k, fm2+ gigabyte a88 board and 8gb of ddr3 2400 for $125 each. Very happy with the performance / cost ratio
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I got the 7870K for my Wife when I thought my/her 965BE board died. Cool part is both that the 7870K came with a great MoBo deal and the 965BE MoBo was actually fine.
 
xorbe said:
Common problem with APU reviews, mystery ram speed and if it was single or dual channel even, quite often.
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Yeah I remember one using 1600 intentionally whilst knowing 2133/2400 made about 20% improvements.
 
JustReason said:
Yeah I remember one using 1600 intentionally whilst knowing 2133/2400 made about 20% improvements.
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Yea, I hate that.

Is 2400 good for the Athlons? I've thought about grabbing one of these when they come out just to play around with.
 
Private_Ops said:
Yea, I hate that.

Is 2400 good for the Athlons? I've thought about grabbing one of these when they come out just to play around with.
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Faster can be better as a few games benefit but only really necessary with the APUs.
 
JustReason said:
Faster can be better as a few games benefit but only really necessary with the APUs.
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The Athlons love fast memory, particularly dual rank sticks. In my own testing I gained 7-10% in most games going from 1600mhz single-rank to 2133mhz dual-rank. The cache is extremely slow on those chips so any improvement to the memory subsystem gives a nice boost.
 
Private_Ops said:
How do i know if a set of memory is dual rank?
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The only sure way to tell is to use a program like AIDA64, but you can make an educated guess. Typically if it has modules on both sides of the stick and a command rate of 2T it is dual-rank. Single rank modules mostly have a command rate of 1T. Very few manufacturers document it though so it takes some digging to find out before you buy rather than after.

Here is an example of AIDA64 showing the memory type, my modules are dual rank in this machine.

CR1.jpg
 
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Private_Ops said:
How do i know if a set of memory is dual rank?
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Just run CPU-Z and click the "memory"tab it will say "Channel #"

LigTasm said:
The only sure way to tell is to use a program like AIDA64, but you can make an educated guess. Typically if it has modules on both sides of the stick and a command rate of 2T it is dual-rank. Single rank modules mostly have a command rate of 1T. Very few manufacturers document it though so it takes some digging to find out before you buy rather than after.

Here is an example of AIDA64 showing the memory type, my modules are dual rank in this machine.
Click to expand...

Command rate have nothing to do related to Dual or Single Channel, Most XMP profiles set CR to 2T just for stability, however you can turn always CR 1 In Single, Dual, Triple, Quad Channel without any issue, in fact it help a lot with system response times as it drop considerably the memory latency and also it add about ~10% performance in heavy memory related applications, most people report over 10ns latency drop by just turning 2T to 1T in dual channel configurations which of course make even daily usage OS a feeling of a snappier system.
 
Araxie said:
Just run CPU-Z and click the "memory"tab it will say "Channel #"



Command rate have nothing to do related to Dual or Single Channel, Most XMP profiles set CR to 2T just for stability, however you can turn always CR 1 In Single, Dual, Triple, Quad Channel without any issue, in fact it help a lot with system response times as it drop considerably the memory latency and also it add about ~10% performance in heavy memory related applications, most people report over 10ns latency drop by just turning 2T to 1T in dual channel configurations which of course make even daily usage OS a feeling of a snappier system.
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You're talking about channels, I'm talking about DIMM ranks. Two different things.
 
I have to check this rank thing on a couple sets of sticks I have. Funny thing, I have some slower memory that turns in better Prime95 results than some faster clocked memory, even when set to the same timings (well the ones I can change).
 
The x4 CPUs aren't bad. I'm using one in my GF Rig and its been running for 2 years. I believe hers is the x2 760k paired with a GTX 650ti.
 
a3venom said:
$25 more than a x4 860k, why would anyone even look at this?
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Because they can, all part of a free market society. To the lions share of the market most don't care which is faster or who makes it as long as it works, explains pre-builts. To those that know and still purchase, it is because they want to. Simple as that.
 
Will the the 860k dry up, and 880k drop in price eventually?
 
but it would essentially cost the same as i3 6100 + 40$ h110 mobo for 880k + 60$ mobo (which is going to be half decent for OC), kinda kills the point of it specially in gaming builds
 
a3venom said:
but it would essentially cost the same as i3 6100 + 40$ h110 mobo for 880k + 60$ mobo (which is going to be half decent for OC), kinda kills the point of it specially in gaming builds
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Then I guess it's up to personal choice. I'm gonna build an 880K rig here soon just because I can.
 
Private_Ops said:
Then I guess it's up to personal choice. I'm gonna build an 880K rig here soon just because I can.
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You have extra money, but their target audience is budget ppl and it is the worse option in it's price range which makes it sad.
 
a3venom said:
You have extra money, but their target audience is budget ppl and it is the worse option in it's price range which makes it sad.
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Budget builders buy prebuilts not build dual cores, except for that rare occasion they are building for the inlaws or mom and dad.
 
JustReason said:
Budget builders buy prebuilts not build dual cores, except for that rare occasion they are building for the inlaws or mom and dad.
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Cores don't matter too much if the IPC difference is 50%. Most gamers make their own builds even at cheapest lvl.
 
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