== Background ==
This part is intended as a modest CPU upgrade to an existing system with the following components:
FX-6300
MSI 970A-G43
16GB DDR3-1833
The main use of the system is software development and video encoding. By moving from the FX-6300 to the FX-8310, I believed that I would see a small improvement in single thread performance (4.1Ghz vs 4.3Ghz Turbo) and a ~30% improvement in video encoding speed.
The FX-8310 was attractive due to its low upgrade cost (~$115 up front, minus $25 MIR, and sell the FX-6300 for ~70 on ebay) and the 95W TDP. My particular motherboard is known to have issues with high TDP parts (it has no VRM heatsink), so I was also very interested in net power consumption.
== Power Comparison ==
Power consumption was measured using a Kill-a-Watt meter to compare total power consumption, before and after the upgrade. Idle power was determined from Windows 7 Desktop with no applications. Peak CPU power was calculated with the Prime95 small-FFT torture test, and turbo core was monitored with CPU-Z.
FX-6300 Idle: 128W
FX-6300 Peak: 216W
FX-8310 Idle: 133W
FX-8310 Peak: 228W
== Handbrake Encoding ==
CPU performance was calculated using Handbrake to encode a 75-second video sample. Measurements were taken using a single thread and using all available cores, the best of three runs was recorded.
Single thread - FX-6300: 10.11 fps
Single thread - FX-8310: 9.90 fps
All threads - FX-6300: 45.84 fps
All threads - FX-8310: 57.73 fps
This part is intended as a modest CPU upgrade to an existing system with the following components:
FX-6300
MSI 970A-G43
16GB DDR3-1833
The main use of the system is software development and video encoding. By moving from the FX-6300 to the FX-8310, I believed that I would see a small improvement in single thread performance (4.1Ghz vs 4.3Ghz Turbo) and a ~30% improvement in video encoding speed.
The FX-8310 was attractive due to its low upgrade cost (~$115 up front, minus $25 MIR, and sell the FX-6300 for ~70 on ebay) and the 95W TDP. My particular motherboard is known to have issues with high TDP parts (it has no VRM heatsink), so I was also very interested in net power consumption.
== Power Comparison ==
Power consumption was measured using a Kill-a-Watt meter to compare total power consumption, before and after the upgrade. Idle power was determined from Windows 7 Desktop with no applications. Peak CPU power was calculated with the Prime95 small-FFT torture test, and turbo core was monitored with CPU-Z.
FX-6300 Idle: 128W
FX-6300 Peak: 216W
FX-8310 Idle: 133W
FX-8310 Peak: 228W
== Handbrake Encoding ==
CPU performance was calculated using Handbrake to encode a 75-second video sample. Measurements were taken using a single thread and using all available cores, the best of three runs was recorded.
Single thread - FX-6300: 10.11 fps
Single thread - FX-8310: 9.90 fps
All threads - FX-6300: 45.84 fps
All threads - FX-8310: 57.73 fps