Underclocking is not dead it seems, and with a clever, wide turbo which allows the FX-8370e to remain within its TDP, there is only a small performance drop relative to the FX-3850, which can consume a fair bit more power. Though, due to the 95W TDP limitation, the turbo may sometimes hinder performance depending on how many cores are in use creating a fairly strange situation. As with the FX-Series in general, the 8 cores can provide some excellent price/performance especially in multi-threaded applications, this could make a desirable choice for those who are considering a system in the realms of content creation and editing.



In consideration to the current hardware offerings, it would be a poor option if 'high end gaming' was your agenda, while it will certainly be capable, compared to the competition the dated Piledriver cores are starting to lag behind and would be better served up in a mid-range system where gaming and content creation was the need. This is why AMD have recommended ideal pairing of system components (R9 280X/990FX) to get a competitive system at a competitive price. The power draw relative to its current siblings may appear lower, realistically, it is just a fancy control feature that you could manually set up in the BIOS if you had the patience. When looking at the market as a whole, the FX chips are still power hungry, especially when compared to current Intel chips or even AMDs own Kaveri. Though the FX-8370e does enough to rouse attention, most will overlook it as there isn't anything new to see. Still using 32nm and still using Piledriver cores and no real performance gain.

In regards to the future of AMDs 'enthusiast' or 'high end' platform, there are many question marks and despite a promising future in regards to their APUs, this FX refresh remains an uninteresting venture that serves only as a reminder that this platform still exists. Despite the short comings, there are legitimate price to performance factors that are worth weighing up, to which if you are looking, the FX-8370e may be the pick of the bunch due to its out-the-box power saving features, yet enjoys the same ability to hit the top clocks when you want to play around with the unlocked multipliers and increase the clock speeds. For the reasons listed, we present the FX-8370e our Amazing Value Award.







Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net. Thanks to AMD for providing today’s review sample.