is the FX 8320 a full on 8 core processor?

[MaxTehLegend]

is the FX 8320 a 8 core processor? or is it a 4 core 8 thread processor? on CPU-Z it says that its got 8 cores 8 threads but is that true?

 

[madmatt30]

Yes its a real 8 core processor as it contains 8 physical cores - however these are 2 cores per module & share certain resources.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-1798367/true-amd-8350-cores-cpu.html

Some good info on that thread.

 

[MaxTehLegend]

Yes its a real 8 core processor as it contains 8 physical cores - however these are 2 cores per module & share certain resources.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-1798367/true-amd-8350-cores-cpu.html

Some good info on that thread.

thanks for sharing that thread, indeed good info. but what gets me is when jaguarskx said "The problem with the FX CPUs is that it is a modular design. Every two physical CPUs shares a single FPU (Floating Point Unit). If both CPUs must use the FPU in each module, then one core basically needs to wait and do nothing until the other core is done using the FPU. Therefore, the FPU itself is a performance bottleneck."

does this mean that with all fx 8xxx/9xxx can never truely hit 100% usage as they have to keep sharing each others FPU's? and since the two physical CPU's shares a single FPU doesn't that make it a 4 core processor? since all 8 cores can never be used at 1 time?

 

[madmatt30]

Yes its a real 8 core processor as it contains 8 physical cores - however these are 2 cores per module & share certain resources.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-1798367/true-amd-8350-cores-cpu.html

Some good info on that thread.

thanks for sharing that thread, indeed good info. but what gets me is when jaguarskx said "The problem with the FX CPUs is that it is a modular design. Every two physical CPUs shares a single FPU (Floating Point Unit). If both CPUs must use the FPU in each module, then one core basically needs to wait and do nothing until the other core is done using the FPU. Therefore, the FPU itself is a performance bottleneck."

does this mean that with all fx 8xxx/9xxx can never truely hit 100% usage as they have to keep sharing each others FPU's? and since the two physical CPU's shares a single FPU doesn't that make it a 4 core processor? since all 8 cores can never be used at 1 time?

No its still an 8 core mate without a doubt.
& yes you can force 100% usage on all cores - the issue is you wont get double the performance of just running the 4 primary cores in each model.

Youre generally going to see 150-180% of the performance as opposed to running 4 singlular cores & fpu units on their own.

 

[MaxTehLegend]

Thanks for your help mate