FX's have modules. When they first came out, there was a lot of argument over whether "6 core" was false advertisement, because the cores share resources. Each module has 2 cores in it, and if both cores are doing something, they only perform on average at around 80% of if only one core was loaded. It's generally accepted now that 6 cores is an acceptable label, but running on all 6 cores really only gets you 4.8x the performance of running a single thread.
Stock vs stock, an i3 will have ~50-60% better performance per clock, and another 30% potential boost from hyperthreading, making a fully loaded i3 (on paper) about 4.2 to the FX's 4.8, but equally fast in 4-5 thread loads and pulling ahead below that, up to 50-60% faster in 2 threaded loads.
aah thanks for the explanation.
Wonder the odds of intel releasing a K series i3 by next year?