# FX-8120 BOINC Benchmarks - Real World Stuff



## Tex1954

Well, I am doing what I did with the 1090T... start from stock, bench, Prime-95... tweak, do it over. Learning some things! 8120 is more sensitive to CPU/NB speeds/voltages... trying to get it 100% stable at 3.6GHz now... working my way up to 4.3 I hope...

At 3.6, it passmarks the same speed as the 8150 chip...

Progress I guess after 50 reboots... always only change one thing at a time, slowly...

Sigh...










Update: Turns out my Uber-Cheapo 16Gig (4x4g) DRAM setup ($100 Blue Vengence 1600MHz kit) won't go so fast with 2 modules loading the lines (I think!). Maybe that is why the hyper-sensitive CPU/NB settings. Turns out, just slowed it down a bit to around 1425Mhz and I can go tons faster... at 3.9GHz+ now with 265 CPU/NB clock... making progress. (yes, I ran D.O.C.P. too, no help...)










Updated:

Okay, start off STOCK fixed clocks, no turbo or anything enabled... stock volts etc...


















Now, this is what I ended up with... want to run it this way a while and see how it does....


















And CPU-Z validate of course...

http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=2048217










For those that will ask, yes it's water cooled, yes it ran Prime-95 Blend 30 minutes fine, max Temp 44c, and now it runs Linux Glitch free and solid...










































Updated:

*8120 OC'ed Linux Bench marks: 2997,13371 Float and integer.

1090T OC'ed Linux Bench marks: 3707,17965 Float and integer.*

I'm betting I have some corrupted install data or files.... but still looks like the 8120 is somehow WAY slower... have to investigate this and see if something can be discovered... maybe from scratch install now that it's solid.

Verified with fresh Ubuntu 11.10 install... it's slow... PERIOD... We will see how it does running overnight doing BOINC....


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## Tex1954

Update:

Ran all night at 4.24GHz solid without error. It is taking LONGER to do Optima WU's than the 3.94GHz 1090T system even with that higher overclock. So, clearly, the FPU construction (Shared between two cores) is having an affect (about 25% slower per WU). I'll try to push it faster, then back to house work.

I added the current figures for Optima to the CPU spreadsheet... the average PPS per core 1090T vs. 8120 is:

1090T:
1959 32.7 0.54424.580.013451084
11025183.83.063138.280.013451084

8120:
3642 60.7 1.01234.480.00934818
12236203.93.399115.830.00934818

At these values, the 8120 makes 8x818=6544 PPD total while the 1090T makes 6x1084=6504 PPD total.

So far, the 1090T is doing a lot better PER CORE running Optima WU's and validating the different Linux benchmarks 2997 vs. 3707 FLOPS.

Keep in mind the OC spread... 1090T went from 3.2GHz to 3.94GHz (23% increase) vs. FX-8120 3.1GHz to 4.24GHz (36% increase). It is only slightly better than the 4.156GHZ 955BE system at this point... Have to say, I am disappointed. That split FPU thing really hurts crunching floating point tasks...










*FINAL Overclock Update:*
Well, I knew I was close, but had no idea how close. Using the other posted 8150 overclock results, I figured I would be able to match them MINUS the rated 500MHz speed difference. That is why I stopped yesterday at 4.24GHz or so.

After spending HOURS and HOURS (yuck) trying, I've come to the following conclusions about this particular FX-8120 CPU.

1) It hates any multiplier over 16... even 16.5 is problematic. (maybe that why binned 8120??)
2) Manually set CPU voltages over 1.435 Volts make no difference in max speed, but cause a lot more heat.
3) I was on the edge of the max settings when I stopped yesterday. Sure, I can get it to boot 4.6GHZ, but every time I try to get a CPU-Z Validate, it crashes... LOL!

Sabertooth Mobo Notes:
The Asus Sabertooth board has many settings to compensate for VDROP and VDROOP etc. I watch CPU-Z voltage values and have it set to Optimize mode... it adds voltage, typically over 1.51 readings at max clock speeds. I've also tried various combinations on Load Line Calibration, HT speeds etc. to no real benefit. The BIOS seems to increase the voltage with sensed load and also seems to supply predetermined (or calculated?) voltages when things set to AUTO like CPU and CPU/NB voltages. I ended up setting most things to the EXTEME mode... LOL! Well, it is OCN after all....

Did My Best:
Best results were obtained by first manually setting the CPU and CPU/NB voltages to the BIOS displayed ones, then dropping them down slowly to find a minimum. Then, running Prime-95 Max Heat tests, see what could be done. I ended up doing a sort of teeter-totter thing with the CPU vs. CPU/NB voltages trying to find the lowest values and best combo. I did the same teeter-totter thing trying to find max clock speeds with Multiplier vs. BCLK as well and could never get anything over 4.3GHz stable with the Multiplier over 16... stinking brick wall with that multiplier (and maybe why this chip binned an FX-8120 and not FX-8150!).

Anyway, finding the max stable clocks and then lowering the CPU and CPU/NB voltages took hours... I even covered the fan exhaust on top of the 800D box to let it heat up faster for testing... then uncover when it hit 52C and let it rise on its own thereafter.faster for testing... then uncover when it hit 52C and let it rise on its own thereafter.

I tried several CPU/HT and HT Link clock values as well. Not much choice in that area... and not much performance difference...

This is MAX CLOCK ... 4.334GHz stable...









But, look at the Price I had to pay.... in terms of temperature... went up 10c+ to get that 100MHz extra!!! The temp was still climbing too... eventually settled at 58c...

Fact is, this particular chip is really max'ed out at 4.3GHz... which isn't bad considering that represents a 39% increase in the overall speed...

This is where I ended up setting it for normal (read OverClocked BOINC) use 24/7 @ 4.27GHz...


















Runs a LOT cooler not having to bump all the voltages to MAX... but getting that little bit extra is costly in terms of POWER and HEAT!!!

I'm happy where it is now at 4.27GHz and will leave it there... That is about exactly 500MHz lower than what others have achieved with the 8150... so about exactly what I expected.

*Conclusion:*

The FX-8120 isn't the smoking fast BOINC cruncher I was hoping for... barely better than the CHEAPER 1090T chip for sure... but that is only on floating point tasks. There are some Integer based tasks and memory manipulation based tasks yet to test...

Question: _*Would I have purchased this chip if I had known what I know now?
*_
Answer: Well, I wanted that Sabertooth board anyway to really push 3 GPU cards in one 800D box... and needed a new MOBO for that anyway. I had that planned for the 1090T already... BUT, I was expecting a LOT more from Bulldozer chip... So, the answer is, I would have purchased the MOBO anyway to support Dual GTX460 and a Single 6990... but I would NOT have purchased the FX-8120...

But the FX-8150 would have done better... but TG and NE ran out so fast it wasn't funny... still I had to find out for myself... so it's a lesson learned and maybe in the future things will get better... It's barely better than the 1090T, but I bet I could have got some more out of that 1090T on the Sabertooth board...

Cheers!


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## Tex1954

Okay, the house got warm, the 800D got warmer (inside and out)... got a glitch... so backed it down slightly to help stabilize it. Now running with these settings....










Did the Sisoft Sandra thing... got this result...


















Now to compare raw power, check out what the Dry-Stones (Integer) and Wet-Stones (Floating Point) (lol) of the 8120 @ 4.22GHz are compared to an [email protected] Kicks Azz on the 8120... sigh...


















So far, looking okay... still not the screamer I (and most folks) were hoping for...

I also wrote a nice review about this chip on TigerDirect and NewEgg... neither review was very good... NewEgg didn't post it yet... maybe never...

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1239958&CatId=1946
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103961










(Oh, text file of all the SiSoft Sandra Arithmetic stuff...)


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## Tex1954

Well, numbers don't lie. The FX-8120 is pitiful... The two BOINC tests, especially the NFS test show the huge performance differences clearly. NFS has 1.3GByte sized tasks and uses a LOT of memory I/O. Optima use much less memory at 2MBytes and seems more INTEGER intensive, but more of it stays in cache is my guess.

*THE OPTIMA TESTS RUN using Ubuntu Linux-64b.*

*THE NFS TESTS RUN using Windows-7 (Version 1.09 Tasks ) and one set on the 1090T using Ubuntu Linux-64b (Version 1.07 Tasks).*

[email protected] running 16e Lattice Sieve

3.94GHz Phenom II X6 1090T:

(Windows-7 64b)









(Linux-64b) *NOTICE the Linux task is much faster for whatever reason...*









4.22GHz AMD FX-8120:

(Windows-7 64b)









*As one can see, the FX-8120 takes twice as long per task on average running and the extra two cores don't make up the difference in total output by a long shot!!!*

[email protected] running 4.00 Molecular Conformation Problem

3.94GHz Phenom II X6 1090T:

(Linux-64b)









4.22GHz AMD FX-8120:

(Linux-64b)









*Again we see the FX-8120 way behind!!!*

Not good...

*Conclusion:*

*The FX-8120 (and probably the faster FX-8150) is just not made to do BOINC tasks at all... I would get the Phenom II X6 1090T or 1100T.
*


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## Tex1954

You may have seen this on the web; it has happened to me a LOT!










Not only that, but stable tasks like Freehal and Rosetta and others are giving calculation errors constantly for no reason. I even downclocked the CPU today to 3.4GHz and still get random errors!!! Keep in mind this chip otherwise passed Prime-95 and other tests fine, but when crunching tasks all night, weird errors happen.

Something is wrong with this chip... the FX-8120 is NOT working properly.

At this point, I removed the CPU and replaced it with a Phenom II X6 1090T and now the system works perfectly....

Sigh... total flop in FLOPS and normal stuff...


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## drufause

Sub


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## Pao

Good info here, thanks for taking the time Tex! Continues to show the same trend, we'll see if AMD can do anything to turn around that internal bottleneck.


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## Tex1954

Nahh, I will report most benchmarks when I get them in the Spreadsheet. The two reserved posts are plenty for comments and updates... No worries! Post away!!! Don't move a thing!


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## b3machi7ke

Tex, what I'd really like to see, and I think it's already been discussed, is how this thing performs when using a multi-threaded project...it's pretty common knowledge that single core performance isn't very good, and a lot of chips are either as fast or faster than this, but where this AMD chip would appear to really excel would be in a heavily multi-threaded app. i dunno if [email protected] has anything, but i think that would be an superb test of this chip's ability.


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## Aleksipoika

Phenom II 1055T stock with c1ewhat ever and other powersaving on:
CPU Mark 5611.3
Integer math 856.2
Floating point math 4313.1
Find prime numbers 981.2
sse 22.8
compression 5898
encryption 26.4
Physics 382.6
String sorting 4269.3

There is a difference at stock clocks


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## Amor

I wonder, do you just have to recompile the wrapper and projects in order to take advantage of the FMA instruction to actually take full advantage of the chip?

Either way AMD has a long road ahead of it.


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## Tex1954

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Amor*


I wonder, do you just have to recompile the wrapper and projects in order to take advantage of the FMA instruction to actually take full advantage of the chip?

Either way AMD has a long road ahead of it.


That is a thought!!! We have no data on using the chip to its fullest...

Anyone have a multi-threaded project I can test, let me know.


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## Angrybutcher

I haven't done many projects, but Milkyway has some MT units. Unfortunately you can't specify to only get those though.


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## cssorkinman

Interesting thread, thanks for sharing your work with us.
Would there be any point in running the tests in a windows 8 beta environment?


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## Amor

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Tex1954*


That is a thought!!! We have no data on using the chip to its fullest...

Anyone have a multi-threaded project I can test, let me know.











Honestly I suspect that it's a little bit of that but I also think there needs to be lots more of optimizing of the chip, either at the low level or the OS level (Windows 8 is supposed to take better advantage of the chip?). Theoretically it's supposed to be a great chip but if you can't take advantage of the Instruction Sets it offers, then it'll turn out to be slower than an old arch like is evident with lots of peoples testing against PII X6's.

I guess once an update comes out and it can fully take advantage of the chip I'll pick one up as a dedicated BOINC rig but for now I've been happy with my 920 for the last 4 months (desktop/workstation and BOINC'ing).


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## Jayce1971

The results have been surprising. Was expecting much more, with the addition of massive L2 cache. I grabbed the PhII 980 when it was first introduced, (my mobo won't uprade to 6 core support), really the fastest I could put on this board. Your cinebench scores give a "hint" as to the potential... (I can just barely make 4.90, massive oc'd). It'll be interesting to see how high you CAN bump this chip up, running 24/7. Good Luck, Tex.


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## Tex1954

Well, I put results in the second post... I was close to the limit last night...

It's NOT the smoking fast BOINC chip I was hoping for... not yet anyway.

But, in other things, it kicks azz!!! It's very fast in some things, way outperforming other chips in some tasks... but lags behind in others... sort of a mixed bag...


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## DarkRyder

run some sisoft sandra tests for me, i would like to see how it benches. I'll bench my sandy for a comparison.


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## Tex1954

Okay, will do soon as I get some NFS numbers....


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## DarkRyder

i always enjoy your reviews Tex, keep up the good work man.


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## magic8192

Good info Tex. I was planning on getting a Bulldozer for the wife, but now I am not so sure.


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## Tex1954

Thanks... Just posted the Sisoft Sandra results here... (third post in this thread)...

http://www.overclock.net/overclock-n...l#post15329396

Anyway, have some NFS running, then I will run something else... try to get real performance with various BOINC tasks recorded...


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## DarkRyder

you cut off the info that i wanted tex. in the bottom window, scroll up and i want to see the flops.


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## Starbomba

Now i'm doubting to get a BD at the end of the month, wait for this so-called B3 stepping, or just jump into the 1090t wagon and wait for BD-E for my BOINCdozer build.

It had some issues with [email protected] as well, but i assumed it was because it was tested by someone with limited [email protected] experience (no offense to el gappo, it was darned useful) but as the main usage would be for BOINC...


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## DarkRyder

wish tex would get on MSN


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## ORL

Overclock seems weak. You may have just gotten a bad unit though. Lots of people hitting 5ghz on these chips now so that would offer substantial improvements if it makes stable on your OC.

Do it via Clock not Multi as well. Lots of people stating the chip much prefers this.


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## Tex1954

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ORL;15337447*
> Overclock seems weak. You may have just gotten a bad unit though. Lots of people hitting 5ghz on these chips now so that would offer substantial improvements if it makes stable on your OC.
> 
> Do it via Clock not Multi as well. Lots of people stating the chip much prefers this.


It's proven better performance pushing the BCLK rather than the Multiplier and that's the way I do it...

Also, those 5GHz are FX-8150 chips, not the FX-8120 I have. Maybe I have a lemon, but it makes a solid 38% overclock and that is about all one could expect with water cooling.

Overall though, I wish they had put the CORES of the A8-3850 FM1 chip in the BD instead of what they did. That dang A8 chip runs great! All AMD has to do it drop the built-in GPU and double the cores and have a smoking hot chip!!!

But, if wishes were nickels.... da de da da...


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## Badness

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tex1954;15337548*
> It's proven better performance pushing the BCLK rather than the Multiplier and that's the way I do it...
> 
> Also, those 5GHz are FX-8150 chips, not the FX-8120 I have. Maybe I have a lemon, but it makes a solid 38% overclock and that is about all one could expect with water cooling.
> 
> Overall though, I wish they had put the CORES of the A8-3850 FM1 chip in the BD instead of what they did. That dang A8 chip runs great! All AMD has to do it drop the built-in GPU and double the cores and have a smoking hot chip!!!
> 
> But, if wishes were nickels.... da de da da...


I was thinking that about APUs also. They should come out with am3+ llano type chips. No GPU on-die and add the 8mb L3. So essentially a phenom II on 32nm lith with double L2 and bigger L3. With unlock multi, of course.


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## just_nuke_em

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tex1954;15337548*
> It's proven better performance pushing the BCLK rather than the Multiplier and that's the way I do it...
> 
> Also, those 5GHz are FX-8150 chips, not the FX-8120 I have. Maybe I have a lemon, but it makes a solid 38% overclock and that is about all one could expect with water cooling.
> 
> Overall though, I wish they had put the CORES of the A8-3850 FM1 chip in the BD instead of what they did. That dang A8 chip runs great! All AMD has to do it drop the built-in GPU and double the cores and have a smoking hot chip!!!
> 
> But, if wishes were nickels.... da de da da...


What is your north bridge at? BD doesn't like high NB like the phenoms did. When you push the fsb up, the NB raises with it, so you need to make sure you keep it low before you start OCing the chip.


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## Tex1954

CPU/NB is clocked at something like 2345 or so... I forget exactly... HT Link 20xx something...

But, none of that matters. Even at 4.22GHz, the CPU cores are still significantly SLOWER than 1090T cores at 3.94GHz...


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## one-shot

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DarkRyder;15336401*
> you cut off the info that i wanted tex. in the bottom window, scroll up and i want to see the flops.


Don't worry, Bulldozer knows how to flop very well. lol


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## Tex1954

LOL! Yes it does FLOP well! Lately it "Compute Errored" about 60 tasks after they were done! Well, thinking it's a corrupted Linux install from all the crashes due to overclock tests, I'm installing Linux new again...

We will see... maybe I have a bad chip and have to return it for an 8150...


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## DarkRyder

lol


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## Starbomba

Now looking at the Eggs reviews i see your review tex. Bet almost no one there knows what BOINC is (ironically that is what catched my eye and made me wonder who knew about BOINC







)

Just hope the 8100 is a B3 stepping and under $200, or to get the 8120 reduced in price. I will not pay over $200 on a CPU.


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## Tex1954

AMD really needs to take the A8-3850 CPU die and double it to 8 cores and make that the new 1800T chip... then we would have something!

As it is, discovered there are ongoing problems with the Linux R8111e NIC drivers and that why the Sabertooth internet connection is so dang slow... just another booboo.... Looks like the Sabertooth will end up being a Win7 only machine...


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## Tex1954

Updated the front posts... show NFS and OPTIMA differences between the 1090T and 8120 Puke.

http://www.overclock.net/overclock-net-boinc-team/1143670-fx-8120-boinc-benchmarks-real-world.html#post15329404

Sigh... I'm going to try to trade it in for an 1100T.


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## Angrybutcher

Wow. I really wish AMD would have pulled through with this processor. Do you have the time to get a beta Windows 8 going and see if it runs any better like AMD claims?


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## Tex1954

The tests were run using *Linux-64b* and no minor difference will make up for the 2.5x difference in FPU speeds doing BOINC tasks. It runs no better than the Phenom II 955BE @ 4.156GHz... and costs TWICE as much!

OPTIMA runs only on Linux, I added that to the post.

I'm super disappointed at the BOINC performance and will return the CPU to TigerDirect and exchange it for the 1100T chip if they let me... and I'm a pretty good customer, so they might do it.


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## dafour

Thx for the nice read and for your time testing,now we have a bit more to go on.


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## Angrybutcher

Does the distro of Linux you were using support AMDs new instruction set? Supposedly Win8 does, or at least partially.


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## Tex1954

No, it doesn't. But that doesn't matter if the Project WU's don't support it and they don't at this point. New tasks would have to be generated by each project testing for the FX series CPUs and act accordingly.


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## PCSarge

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Tex1954*


No, it doesn't. But that doesn't matter if the Project WU's don't support it and they don't at this point. New tasks would have to be generated by each project testing for the FX series CPUs and act accordingly.



















i call this FX series crap thier last was much better.


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## Tex1954

if they would use the already shrunk A8-3850 CPU cores and double them (no built in GPU), call it the FX-8800T, now that would be something!










PS: Almost done in attic... then some touchup on the ceiling, then walls... then new cabinets... Moving the A/C vent was a real messy choir since I put a larger new one in... LOL!


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## BWG

Now people are complaining about BSOD's at stock. I just got rid of my 9600 BE, please AMD, don't put us through this nonsense again. Listen to Tex and make Lllano into something better.

I like how you did not even bother to switch your sig to fx or add a link.


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## Tex1954

I give the heck up... even at 3.4GHz I keep getting random errors... can't even do Freehal tasks without buggering up.

I removed the chip and installed the 1090T... now everything fine...

Sigh... it's total crap...


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## one-shot

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tex1954;15389103*
> I give the heck up... even at 3.4GHz I keep getting random errors... can't even do Freehal tasks without buggering up.
> 
> I removed the chip and installed the 1090T... now everything fine...
> 
> Sigh... it's total crap...


Jokes aside, this is bad news for AMD. Hopefully it works better in servers where reliability is the main concern.


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## DarkRyder

Doubtful, given they are both designed the same way.

Sent from my EVO3D using Tapatalk


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## b3machi7ke

you think so? I saw where Tex said that 1.5+ volts were going through this chip, and i don't know much about AMD chips but that seems like a scary amount of volts to run through a chip, water-cooled or not. seems entirely possible some damage could have been done to the chip, especially as it was working w/o errors in the beginning, and only seems to be throwing back errors after OCing attempts. most people putting them in servers aren't trying to hit 5 GHz in their chips, at least no server owners that i know


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## DarkRyder

people with the new bulldozer chips are having bluescreens and errors at stock speeds, not just overclocked.


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## b3machi7ke

oh, i just assumed it was from people trying to overclock them and push them too far, chips being hyper sensitive to voltage...that's really too bad for everyone really, i'll keep sticking to my trust 920


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## claymanhb

Thanks for this heartwarming story OP. You gonna return it?


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## Tex1954

I tried, Tiger Direct said no... but if this documented clock problem is getting fixed by AMD, then maybe I can get a free upgrade to the later chip... still has long warranty left...

Also, guess what? I discovered a BIOS problem that screwed up the DDR3 timing... found out about it after I put the 1090T back in...

I pulled out 2 DRAM modules leaving only 8Gig and started getting errors. Turns out, the BIOS (Latest) isn't setting the parameters properly, so set the manually and testing now. IF it works, it would explain why I couldn't run them at 1600MHz... and then I will have to retest things to be fair.

Even so, don't think it will make a big difference... but running 1600 vs. 1333 will add something.


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## Aleksipoika

Well i was thinking to keep that BD 8120 once it arrives. If i have issues with it i will keep it untill new stepping is out and then rma it. Should get b3 with bug fixes,lower temps/power usage and maybe a little better performance, but not ecpecting more than bugs fixed. If first 8120 works fine all the better. Just want more cores for world community grid and gpu crunching. Now to sleep it's 3 am here and my son and stepdaughter will be up in 4-5 hours or so :S


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## Aleksipoika

How long i need to wait for that chip to arrive







Only fx-6xxx cpus have arrived to Finland. Seems i might need to wait for week or two more atleast. Don't like these launches with month or more waiting before product is in stock.


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## Tex1954

Don't know about Finland, but here, the FX-8150's sold out in hours first shot...

Sigh...


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## Aleksipoika

Well here no fx-8xxx have arrived to importers







There is fx-6xxx, but that is useless to me. Would get 1090T over fx-6xxx any day, but fx-8xxx is different matter.


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## Aleksipoika

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Tex1954*


Don't know about Finland, but here, the FX-8150's sold out in hours first shot...

Sigh...











Did you get fx-8120 swapped to 6-core thuban?


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## Tex1954

Nope, they would not do it... so I will hold on to it and see what happens later...


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## DarkRyder

give it away as a price for the next BGB


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## Aleksipoika

Give it to me and i will join OCN boinc-team


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## b3machi7ke

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DarkRyder;15460188*
> give it away as a price for the next BGB


This is a good idea, i wouldn't mind going out a buying an AM3+ board if I won it








Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Aleksipoika;15460460*
> Give it to me and i will join OCN boinc-team


You should be anyway!! Bring your team over to OCN, we'll happily absorb them into ours, you can never have too many members on a team!!


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## Tex1954

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DarkRyder;15460188*
> give it away as a price for the next BGB


LOL! Well, I actually thought about that... but I am holding on to it until AMD comes out with a clock timing fix... then maybe RMA it for something better.


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## one-shot

Buyer's remorse sucks!


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## Tex1954

Yup! But, no different than sell exploding Pinto cars.... and a lot less lethal.

LOL!


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## b3machi7ke

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Tex1954*


Yup! But, no different than sell exploding Pinto cars.... and a lot less lethal.

LOL!











lol...were you one of those people that bought one and rode around in that waiting-to-explode-car-bomb???


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## Tex1954

Yup, I owned one for a time... about 1.5 years... all gone now.


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## Aleksipoika

My fx-8120 arrived today. Running smooth and cool. Had to change 3 cpus today to rigs and no time to OC yet. Just trying to get all rigs running and tweaked.


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## Aleksipoika

Tex did you came a cross with multi dropping to 14 while running commont torturetest like occt or prime95 ? Mine does it with those even with stock clocks. I m testing that right now , but multi dropping to 14 doesn't happen in all of these kinds of testing programs. Just in some.

Running it with Corsair h100 with 4x gentle typhoon 1850 rpms in push/pull in top pushin air out and i have 2 gt 1850s getting fresh air in with full speed. So it's not temps.
Temps are all under 40 C.


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## Tex1954

Disable Turbo Core if you haven't. Also, turn off C1E and such. After that, had no problems myself.


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## Aleksipoika

all those i disabled from the start







Something called apm or something kicking in and noway to disable it from this gigabyte. No option in bios.


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## Tex1954

Oh, welp, it's one of those things... setting PASSIVE temp control in Power Configuration may help too...


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## Aleksipoika

Only with cinebench,prime95,occt and other multithreaded benchmarks. Not sure how many not so pro reviewer have same issue and geek,cine and other tests have so low points.bad run with multi dropping ocd ment 1.2ghz less speed and using aod to change things lost 25% memory bandwith








Programs like memtest x8,boinc with 8 tasks for cpu and 2 for gpu won't drop multi. Issue is only when software uses all 8 cores to one multithreaded program/app.

Hopfully i get new bios to my gigabyte soon with apm options.


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## Tex1954

Crossing Eyes for ya!


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## Aleksipoika

Well i got apm diabled with amd overdrive enable and then disable turbocore trick.
Doesn't drop to multi 14 anymore







I have been running [email protected]~4.0ghz and it crunches world community grid clear water 64 bit tasks 1 hour faster that PII [email protected]
fx 3h10min and PII 4h20mins. I will overclock my PII again once i have time to replace cooler with mugen 2 B.


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## Tex1954

Okay, check this out... Toms Hardware Benchmarks include the 8150 chip... and in most cases, looks like the 1100T beats the 8150...

Just more wood on the fire...

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sandy-bridge-e-efficiency-core-i7-3960x,3075-5.html










I still have that 8120 CPU... have no idea what to do with it since it's so slow... except maybe exchange it for one that has the timing error fixed later...


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## DarkRyder

sorry man, believe i did warn you ahead of time.


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## Amor

Anyone know how the Interlagos chips will run BOINC?

At a little under $2000 you can potentially have 32 cores at 2.1Ghz of server computing goodness. Plus an expensive space heater for the house (140W TDP?)


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## Tex1954

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *DarkRyder*
> 
> sorry man, believe i did warn you ahead of time.


Warned me AFTER you told me to get the Sabertooth board as I recall....

LOL!

It may be good for something someday... I hope... otherwise I have a $220 paper-weight...


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## DarkRyder

you were dead set on getting it, so i gave advice on a good board to go with it. might as well pair it with something good.


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## Tex1954

LOL! Yes, I wanted a GOOD mobo to run three GPU's at the same time.... Sabertooth will do it well I think. It will have to wait a while though...










I am willing to trade straight across for a new or fairly new (show me receipt) 1100T chip so long as it hasn't been over-volted (past 1.5v VCore) or over-heated. Still keeping my eyes open in the for sale area's... I'm not going to trade for a fried chip that barely runs because someone put 1.7 volts on the CPU/NB or something and will require proof of purchase and warranty support. I may also RMA the 8120 I have for the clock interrupt problem and just get a brand new one to sell/trade.


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## DarkRyder

good luck with that man


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## Tex1954

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Amor*
> 
> Anyone know how the Interlagos chips will run BOINC?
> At a little under $2000 you can potentially have 32 cores at 2.1Ghz of server computing goodness. Plus an expensive space heater for the house (140W TDP?)


Yup... them new chips ain't cheap... 32 cores crunching for that price isn't bad though... except trying to find water blocks for G34 plus all the ECC DRAM plus the PSU and all the other parts... probably looking at $4000 or so for good stuff water cooled... Still not bad...










Note: It would still be slow as heck... better to use the money to buy 4 i7-2600K parts.... or i7-950 parts...


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## Tex1954

Upgraded the Sabertooth BIOS to the latest release and tried again. In a nutshell, first I got the BSOD clock error thing again... then got it running again... and it proved to be slow again.

For comparison, with the same exact Linux on the same box, BOINC reports 2600 FPU performance for the OC'ed 8120 while on the same machine, same BOINC, it reports 3680 for the 1090T...

The 8120 is fully 1/3 slower in FPU performance from a BOINC point of view compared to the 1090T at 3.94GHz and that makes the Passmark Benchmarks about useless for BOINC purposes...

Got an RMA from AMD today... will return the CPU and see what I get back...


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## granno21

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tex1954*
> 
> Got an RMA from AMD today... will return the CPU and see what I get back...


Hey Tex, how long does an RMA usually take? I've never had to send a chip back (hopefully never will) and was curious


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## Tex1954

Don't know... I've never done it before either... and I haven't sent it yet... due to forgetting to do it...


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## granno21

I'm still hoping for a magical update that makes this BD a crunching beast since there aren't any reasonably priced 6 or 8 core processors on the horizon.

on behalf of other crunchers, thanks for going through all the trouble and headaches testing BD out


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## deegon

I do prefer Intel but I did hope that this chip would put the fight back in to AMDs line of CPUs
cause the more they battle the better it is for us








and i hope u get your money back on that chip tex! just tell them it sux and you want the money


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## Tex1954

Well, have no idea... but I will include documentation proving it's dang slow...


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## jprovido

how about in folding how do fx chips perform? would be surprised if it is still worse than a thuban


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## Tex1954

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *jprovido*
> 
> how about in folding how do fx chips perform? would be surprised if it is still worse than a thuban


Don't know about [email protected], but it is similar to Rosetta and SIMAP I think and it lags behind the 3.96GHz 1090T bigtime... It plain flat chokes when all cores loaded with BOINC stuff...


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## DarkRyder

i'd think since folding uses all cores for the same task it would choke harder.


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## Tex1954

Okay, the RMA replacement CPU came in a few days ago... they gave me a new chip/cooler/box like it was purchased brand new. Sooo, now I have an extra cooler that I will keep.

Later tests proved that Asus Sabertooth BIOS and Windows tweaks added no real BOINC performance gain. It is a nice CPU in general and screams on multi-threaded things and overclocks okay, but to load up all 8 cores with FPU tasks bogs it down...

So, I have decided to sell or trade it for an 1100T or 1090T... I know the 1090/1100 CPU's will use more power and have fewer cores, but for BOINC tasks, the extra two FPU's will provably give better BOINC output.

What I want is an 8-core 1800T or something on 32nm process....

LOL!


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## granno21

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tex1954*
> 
> Okay, the RMA replacement CPU came in a few days ago... they gave me a new chip/cooler/box like it was purchased brand new. Sooo, now I have an extra cooler that I will keep.
> Later tests proved that Asus Sabertooth BIOS and Windows tweaks added no real BOINC performance gain. It is a nice CPU in general and screams on multi-threaded things and overclocks okay, but to load up all 8 cores with FPU tasks bogs it down...
> So, I have decided to sell or trade it for an 1100T or 1090T... I know the 1090/1100 CPU's will use more power and have fewer cores, but for BOINC tasks, the extra two FPU's will provably give better BOINC output.
> What I want is an 8-core 1800T or something on 32nm process....
> LOL!


Hey Tex, before you sell it off, can you run 8 WCG tasks on your 8120? Prices for the X6 phenoms are going up (or already up) and FX prices/combos are falling so I am wondering if this could make a cheap cruncher.


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## Tex1954

Naaa! I'm not going to open it up and plop it in... always the danger of bending a pin or screwing something up... besides, it's in the 800D box with the sabertooth board and I have plans for that. Also, that box is shut down because it's clogged up with dust from sanding.... LOL! House remodel close to being done... then I can move stuff into the computer room, clean it all up and go again...

There is an FX club thread in OCN... perhaps someone there could run some tasks. But, I'll tell ya, so far as heavy FPU tasks go, it's slower than a 1090T... does other stuff fine, but not BOINC... Consider it an expensive 4-core BOINC processor... with sorta Hyper-Threading...


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## Schmuckley

hey..did you do the windows thread-scheduler update?
those cpus don't like cpu/nb so much..around 2400 max
and yeah..i wasn't impressed with fx series


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## Tex1954

Nope, didn't do that, but when running as a 4-core it would help and is probably required... still, for BOINC PPD output, the 6 full core CPU's do better.

Also, I prefer to run the system under LINUX and not sure if they have a patch yet, but probably so...

The problem is the shared FPU's... BOINC tasks are heavy on FPU usage and sharing them doesn't work.


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## Schmuckley

eh..i'm hoping they redeem themselves this spring


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## granno21

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Tex1954*
> 
> Naaa! I'm not going to open it up and plop it in... always the danger of bending a pin or screwing something up... besides, it's in the 800D box with the sabertooth board and I have plans for that. Also, that box is shut down because it's clogged up with dust from sanding.... LOL! House remodel close to being done... then I can move stuff into the computer room, clean it all up and go again...
> There is an FX club thread in OCN... perhaps someone there could run some tasks. But, I'll tell ya, so far as heavy FPU tasks go, it's slower than a 1090T... does other stuff fine, but not BOINC... Consider it an expensive 4-core BOINC processor... with sorta Hyper-Threading...


Understandable. I bet I can find someone trying to prove the power of their new FX processor


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## Tex1954

I may yet end up using it if nobody is interested in buying or trading it...


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## DarkRyder

be patient texie, there is bound to be at least one amd nut that will beg you for it!


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