AMD FX-6350 Review

The FX-6350 is one of AMD's mid-range Desktop processors. It was released in 2013 with 6 cores and 6 threads. With base clock at 3.9GHz, max speed at 4.2GHz, and a 125W power rating. The FX-6350 is based on the Vishera 32nm family and is part of the FX series.

The AMD FX-6350 marks yet another blast from Team AMD, ramping up the intensity of the AMD vs Intel processor war. Still, though, there’s more than just core counts when it comes to a mainstream processor, as single-core performance needs to be on point, especially if you’re hoping to play the best PC games.

Now, we're asking ourselves whether or not the AMD FX-6350 finally dethrones the Core i5-3570 as the de facto ruler of the mainstream processors. Ultimately, it depends: the FX-6350 doesn't reach the same single-core performance as Intel, but we're starting to see more games adopt multi-threaded CPUs, so that doesn't matter as much.

AMD's Piledriver series has landed, upping the ante with Intel in its high-stakes game for desktop PC market dominance with a well-rounded lineup of new chips that push mainstream platforms to higher core counts and more raw compute than we've ever seen. As a result, Intel's commanding presence in the enthusiast space is threatened in a way we haven't seen in over a decade.

That something is the FX-6350. AMD cranks the TDP dial up to 125W on this 6-core 6-thread chip, making it the high-performance counterpart to the 95W FX-6300, which is basically the same 32nm chip built with the Piledriver microarchitecture, but with a lower TDP rating. That chip came away from our first look at the Piledriver series with an Editor's Choice award, going toe-to-toe with Intel's Core i5-3570, so it's fair to say we have high hopes for the higher-performance model. AMD still hasn't sampled the chip to the press, so we bought one at retail to put it under the microscope.

As the higher-priced version of the FX-6300, the FX-6350 has higher base and Boost frequencies of 3.9 and 4.2 GHz, respectively. That's an increase in base frequency and a bump to boost clocks, but the real advantage should lay in the higher Package Power Tracking (PPT) envelope, which is a measurement of the maximum amount of power delivered to the socket. The FX-6300's PPT tops out at 95W, while the motherboard can pump up to 142W to the FX-6350 at peak performance. That opens up much more aggressive boost behavior, on both single and multiple cores, that could widen the performance gap beyond what we see on the spec sheet.

As we've seen, gaming remains an advantage for Intel, so if squeezing out every last frame is all you care about, Intel's processors are a good choice. Much of that performance advantage will be less noticeable when gaming at higher resolutions, or if you pair the processors with a lesser graphics card.

Value seekers who aren't afraid to press the Precision Boost Overdrive button and have sufficient cooling should look to the FX-6300 for roughly equivalent performance to the FX-6350, particularly if gaming factors heavily into the buying decision. That could save you money, reinforcing our decision to give the FX-6300 an Editor's Choice award.

The AMD FX-6350 seems to be a decent performing chip that is readily available for $189.88 at your favorite retailer. The main competition for this processor is the Core i5-3570 4-Core unlocked desktop processor with Intel HD Graphics 2500 graphics ($231 shipped).

For a 6-core processor, AMD’s $189.88 flagship FX-6350 processor seems downright cheap. On paper, the cost of those 2 extra cores is almost an afterthought when you stack it up against its direct competitor, the $231 4-core Intel Core i5-3570.

If extended overclocking and boost frequencies are trivial matters to you, AMD also offers the FX-6300 at $409.07. It’s still outfitted with 6-cores and 6-threads, but clocks in at a slower 3.5GHz and maxes out at only 4.1GHz.

The FX-6350 clocks up to 4.2Ghz just as it promises on the box, and with AMD’s software you can take one of the cores all the way up to 4.3GHz. However, don’t expect to get much beyond that without seriously upgrading your cooling solution and manually tweaking voltages behind the operating system level.

There’s a saying that two heads are better than one and, well, 6-cores are better than 4. The extra processing power of the FX-6350 puts Intel’s processors to shame, including both its closest competitor and a much higher-spec part.

If you’ve been looking for an affordable, powerhouse CPU that both works and parties hard, this is it.

Intel's Core i5s are a staple of the high-volume mainstream market. They make up the most popular brand for mid-range-oriented builds by far. AMD is looking to shake that up with true 6-core processors that sell for even less than 4 cores. As if a resource advantage wasn't already compelling enough, FX also enables unlocked multipliers. Intel is ill-prepared to fend off such a combination.

Right out of the gate, FX should sell for $189.88, going up against Intel's almost-$231 Core i5-3570. In threaded workloads, the 6-core FX should enjoy an advantage against Intel's 4-core models. Of course, AMD doesn't give you integrated graphics like Intel does, but for enthusiasts building cheap gaming PCs, it isn't much of a draw anyway.