TechRadar Verdict
An interesting option, but only if the module-enabling prospects turn out good.
Pros
- +
AMD's latest microarchitecture
- +
Decent multi-threading throughout
Cons
- -
Weak per-core performance
- -
Jury's out on module re-enabling
Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.
When is a six-core PC processor not a six-core PC processor? When it's AMD's new FX 6100 Black Edition.
Long before AMD released its fancy new FX chips, we had a feeling a fisticuffs was brewing over the definition of what constitutes a processor core.
Now the FX has arrived and the gloves are off.
It all comes down to the radical new approach to simultaneous multi-threading (SMT) taken by AMD with the new Bulldozer architecture.
Intel's been doing SMT for a bit in the form of Hyper-Threading and fair to say Chipzilla's take can be called SMT lite.
It hasn't spent a lot of transistors in enabling each of its processors cores tow run two software threads in parallel. So a multi-threading performance boost of around 15 to 20 per cent is a pretty decent outcome.
AMD reckoned it could do better and verily cooked up the Bulldozer module. This little techno-beasty packs a pair of execution units. But much of what you'd normally consider a processor core is shared.
So has that Bulldozer module got enough power to give this six core processor a chance?
