We began our testing with an older boxed Core i7-3770K as we waited for the FX-8350 we purchased. Relatively certain the AMD processor would hit at least 4.4 GHz without thermal issues, we started off Intel's processor at the same clock rate. Later, it became clear that our estimate was too conservative, as both CPUs exceeded 4.5 GHz at our chosen voltage levels.
Retesting at higher frequencies would have further delayed this story, so we stuck with 4.4 GHz on both the Intel and AMD chips, at least in the clock-matched portion of our benchmarking.
| Test System Configuration | |
|---|---|
| Intel CPU | Intel Core i7-3770K (Ivy Bridge): 3.5 GHz, 8 MB Shared L3 Cache, LGA 1155 Overclocked to 4.4 GHz at 1.25 V |
| Intel Motherboard | Asus Sabertooth Z77, BIOS 1504 (08/03/2012) |
| Intel CPU Cooler | Thermalright MUX-120 w/Zalman ZM-STG1 Paste |
| AMD CPU | AMD FX-8350 (Vishera): 4.0 GHz, 8 MB Shared L3 Cache, Socket AM3+ Overclocked to 4.4 GHz at 1.35 V |
| AMD Motherboard | Asus Sabertooth 990FX, BIOS 1604 (10/24/2012) |
| AMD CPU Cooler | Sunbeamtech Core-Contact Freezer w/Zalman ZM-STG1 Paste |
| RAM | G.Skill F3-17600CL9Q-16GBXLD (16 GB) DDR3-2200 CAS 9-11-9-36 1.65 V |
| Graphics | 2 x MSI R7970-2PMD3GD5/OC: 1010 MHz GPU, GDDR5-5500 |
| Hard Drive | Mushkin Chronos Deluxe DX 240 GB, SATA 6Gb/s SSD |
| Sound | Integrated HD Audio |
| Network | Integrated Gigabit Networking |
| Power | Seasonic X760 SS-760KM: ATX12V v2.3, EPS12V, 80 PLUS Gold |
| Software | |
| OS | Microsoft Windows 8 Professional RTM x64 |
| Graphics | AMD Catalyst 12.10 |
Great performance and quick installation have kept Thermalright’s MUX-120 and Sunbeamtech’s Core Contact Freezer on my shelf for several years. The brackets that came with these older samples make them non-interchangeable, however.
G.Skill’s F3-17600CL9Q-16GBXLD has a remarkable DDR3-2200 CAS 9 rating, using Intel XMP technology for semi-automatic configuration. As a non-Intel platform, the Sabertooth 990FX configures XMP values through Asus' DOCP setting.

Seasonic’s X760 provides the consistent efficiency required to assess platform power differences.

StarCraft II doesn’t support AMD's Eyefinity technology, so I looked at the recent work of our other editors before bringing back a few classics in today’s test: Aliens vs. Predator and Metro 2033.
| Benchmark Configuration (3D Games) | |
|---|---|
| Aliens vs. Predator | Using AvP Tool v.1.03, SSAO/Tesselation/Shadows On Test Set 1: High Textures, No AA, 4x AF Test Set 2: Very High Textures, 4x AA, 16x AF |
| Battlefield 3 | Campaign Mode, "Going Hunting" 90-Second Fraps Test Set 1: Medium Quality Defaults (No AA, 4x AF) Test Set 2: Ultra Quality Defaults (4x AA, 16x AF) |
| F1 2012 | Steam version, in-game benchmark Test Set 1: High Quality Preset, No AA Test Set 2: Ultra Quality Preset, 8x AA |
| Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim | Update 1.7, Celedon Aethirborn Level 6, 25-Second Fraps Test Set 1: DX11, High Details No AA, 8x AF, FXAA enabled Test Set 2: DX11, Ultra Details, 8x AA, 16x AF, FXAA enabled |
| Metro 2033 | Full Game, Built-In Benchmark, "Frontline" Scene Test Set 1: DX11, High, AAA, 4x AF, No PhysX, No DoF Test Set 2: DX11, Very High, 4x AA, 16x AF, No PhysX, DoF On |
- Chasing Bottlenecks To Eyefinity (But Not Beyond)
- Test Settings And Benchmarks
- Results: 3DMark, Aliens Vs. Predator, And Metro 2033
- Metro 2033, Second By Second
- Results: Battlefield 3, F1 2012, And Skyrim
- Battlefield 3, Frame By Frame
- Skyrim, Frame By Frame
- Power And Efficiency
- Can AMD's FX Keep Up With Its Radeon HD 7970?


What you're paying a premium for (it seems,) is a fluid experience. If you buy an Nvidia SLI/Intel combo, your wallet will take a hit, but you're in for less stutter. Go for all AMD crossfire/CPU, and you might just notice the occasional stutter - Not a problem for casual gamers, but a bit of a nuisance when you're twitch gaming. My aging hardware often causes problems in BF3 - flipping round a corner, spinning round etc - God help you if your GPU freezes for just a split second.
Is there a cunning (or daft) reason that Nvidia cards wouldn't work with AMD processors? If not then wouldn't it make sense to test that too - perhaps go down the route of seeing what the slowest CPU from each side is that gets up to a certain level (either absolute rates or a percentage of the top Intel result or somesuch)
I totally agree with this. Nvidia should have been tested as well.
That's what it looks like to me.
A2 can go up to about 60fps depending on the mission but it seems the AI and some other stuff is very processor heavy (and apparently it doesn't work as well on AMD CPUs anyway) which results in the GPU only being used 30-40%. Some of the worst missions seem to be the official campaigns, which apparently use a lot of scripting and drag it down to 17fps at times.
BS2 never goes above about 40fps and drops to about 25fps or lower whenever there's several other plane/helo models in view, such as flying towards an airfield and again is only using about 40% of the GPU most of the time. Being a 64-bit game, it was also disappointing to find it only uses about 2GB of my 16GB RAM, so I made a 11GB RAMDisk with it instead to make it load faster and eliminate the stuttering/jitters.
To be honest its' rather irritating when you have seen the video more than once, and it keeps on opening every time you just want to read a review. I respect the need to raise advertising revenue especially in these difficult times, I just find the way the video content automatically loads to be somewhat frustrating.
Thank you.
I know for one that i do. Yes i have 2 x 7950s in c/f. do i want more than one monitor no... Do i want to game at 5760 x 1080.. err no i dont..
and the Sabertooth Z77 is a Pci-e 3.0
For equal comparison they needed the Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 Gen3.
the difference from the Sabertooth 990fx (B.1604) and Saberooth R2.0 Gen3 (B.0305)
is about 10%~20% (it differs a lot per website reviews in, Games, Resolutions)
Not to be a conspiracy nut but the reviews should have known this from the start.
not sure if they are going down hill with people or if they made an honest mistake.