# AMD FX-9590 Review, Piledriver at 5 GHz



## Cilus (Jul 20, 2013)

Guys, check out the review of the AMD centurion series FX-9590, the 1st commercially available 5 GHz x86 processor. Although architecture wise it is same as our FX-8350 and the higher speed has introduced a huge TDP of 219W and it is just a marketing strategy by AMD to keep up with new Intel releases. a 5 GHz processor is still something and will definitely attract the enthusiasts around the world. So check it out:-

AMD FX-9590 Review; Piledriver at 5GHz


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## harshilsharma63 (Jul 20, 2013)

But it's only available to OEM's and system-builders. Anyways, the extra ~$130 aren't justified.


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## snap (Jul 20, 2013)

yep just a marketing strategy but when will steamroller arrive?


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## Cilus (Jul 20, 2013)

It is available in Newegg and you can buy one right now. It is simply a marketing gimmick IMO, they are just showing how much they can reach with the current architecture.


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## Chaitanya (Jul 20, 2013)

-1 to FX9590
cause it's monster in powr consumption. 1.4x of 8350.


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## ankush28 (Jul 20, 2013)

Why amd is not trying to make low power consumption processors atleast around intel ones, price of this processor is also not that much cool PROs will surely opt for opteron.


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## Chaitanya (Jul 20, 2013)

My xpectation frm AMD
just decrease TDP & all will fall in2 plc.


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## Cilus (Jul 21, 2013)

I guess then you gus have to wait for Steam Roller. It is not just going to be simple iteration from Piledriver architecture like it was from BD to PD. Although the execution units (Integer and FPU) are going to be based on same methodlody, there will be significant changes in the Fetch and Decode units, memory controllers and Cache access techniques. For example, In a module,both BD and PD has two Fetch units (which fetches instructions and data from Main memory or Ram) and one decoding unit (Which decodes the fetched instruction or data to processor understandable binary data or Microcode). AMD Engineers have observed that the rate at which the dual fetch units are fetching the instruction/data, single decode unit can't keep up with it to decode the instruction and data and decoding it at far lower speed and cannot feed the two Integer units present in a Module in an efficient manner and hence bottlenecking it. Steam Roller will be having two separate decoders, each for each of the two cores inside a module. Also the L2 and L3 cache access protocols and Branch prediction units are going to be a complete new and far efficient design.


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## ankush28 (Jul 21, 2013)

yup lots of expectation from steam roller heared that it will have huge l2 l3 cache 
and might be it will also upto 5GHz mark.
Cilus are you talking about ALU in 3rd line of post


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## gagan_kumar (Jul 21, 2013)

if amd is unable to keep up with intel after steamroller then probably it will be the last of it...........


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## Chaitanya (Jul 21, 2013)

gta0gagan said:


> if amd is unable to keep up with intel after steamroller then probably it will be the last of it...........



Can't say that buddy Intel processors are sucking big time..
See constant degradation in thermals from good ol SNB to latest Haswell


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## gagan_kumar (Jul 21, 2013)

Chaitanya said:


> Can't say that buddy Intel processors are sucking big time..
> See constant degradation in thermals from good ol SNB to latest Haswell



dude just see their power consumption in mobile platform intel is already advancing to mobile platform while maintaining and increasing their processor efficiency ........ that's really something worth appreciating on the other hand everyone knows u can have more processor power on higher power consumption design...........


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## Chaitanya (Jul 21, 2013)

gta0gagan said:


> dude just see their power consumption in mobile platform intel is already advancing to mobile platform while maintaining and increasing their processor efficiency ........ that's really something worth appreciating on the other hand everyone knows u can have more processor power on higher power consumption design...........



*www.memecreator.org/static/images/memes/1513936.jpg


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## Cilus (Jul 21, 2013)

ankush28 said:


> yup lots of expectation from steam roller heared that it will have huge l2 l3 cache
> and might be it will also upto 5GHz mark.
> Cilus are you talking about ALU in 3rd line of post



No, I am not talking about ALU. ALU is a part of the Integer execution unit which performs Integer operations. Even a single Core CPU is divided in multiple sub units like Fetch Unit, Decode Unit and multiple Execution units to perform different operations and ALU is one of these execution units. The module based design of AMD is little different, here Fetch, Decode and Out of Execution logic is same for a module but each of the two integer cores have their own sub execution units. So two of the integer cores do have their own ALU. 
The Fetch, Decode and Out of Order Execution logic are collaboratively called CPU Front-end which feeds the execution units (Integer and FPU) with instructions and data.
In Intel as well as AMD's older Phenom design, each of the cores has their own frontend. So a 6 Core Phenom II 1090T actually has 6 frontend, each per core, feeding their respective cores. On the other hand in BD and PD design, each of the modules has a single Frontend which feeds data/instructions to two integer cores and one FPU. So they need to be reasonably faster than their old Phenom II Frontend as one Frontend is feeding two physical cores. In Steam Roller, AMD is redesigning their frontend part for better performance. Hope I am clear now.



> dude just see their power consumption in mobile platform intel is already advancing to mobile platform while maintaining and increasing their processor efficiency ........ that's really something worth appreciating on the other hand everyone knows u can have more processor power on higher power consumption design...........



AMD does not need to beat haswell in terms of performance but need to be comparable in terms of power consumption. Don't you think if you can get FX-8350 level performance at a power consumption of say i5 2500K level, it will be an attractive buy.
It Laptop platform, AMD is not at all targeting the Intel Core i7 Processors and their offering is basically balanced performance of CPU and GPU in a reasonable lower price point. Their Richland based A10-5750M is only a 35W TDP Processor which packed a Processor as powerful as 3rd Generation Core i5 base models and a HD 7650M level IGP which is quiet interesting actually. Check MSI GX60 review on Anandtech and you will find out that Richland cores can actually keep up with the Haswell ULV Core i7 (2 Core, 4 thread, like an normal Core i5 but with far lower TDP) processors. In RIchland, AMD actually tweaked the power distribution between the CPU and GPU and concentrated more on CPU which can now operate at higher base frequency and also can reach its full Turbo Core speed. 
In many reviews, it was reveled that Trinity based APUs (A10-4600M, A8-4500M) were never reaching their maximum turbo even when running the very intensive apps resulting poor performance. In RIchland, that has been addressed. But it is just a smaller update, lets wait for the Steam Roller + GCN + HUMA or Kaveri in a single word.


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## topgear (Jul 21, 2013)

gta0gagan said:


> dude just see their power consumption in mobile platform intel is already advancing to mobile platform while maintaining and increasing their processor efficiency ........ that's really something worth appreciating on the other hand everyone knows u can have more processor power on higher power consumption design...........



too bad everyone only thinking about mobile cpus   but still AMD has not locked the OC feature [ hope they will continue this with SR ] so that's a great bit of hope for enthusiasts/overclockers and higher power consumtion does not always translates into more processing power.


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## quad_core (Jul 21, 2013)

@Cilus :When is the expected release date for the  steam roller?   Should be a worthy upgrade for people having Phenom II x4s(like me)


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## topgear (Jul 22, 2013)

^^ not before next year AFAIK.

BTW, about the review : I'm wondering despite of 219W+ tdp why the review did not use a water cooler for the cpu and FX-9590 has only one year warranty .. so even AMD is not confident enough how long this 219W TDP cpu will last ?

Now acc to the review if it's due to mobos power limitation they faced a OC limit then what ill be the efect running this cpu on a motherboard ? I mean all those 10k+ mobo which are meant to run this  biggy ?


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## Cilus (Jul 22, 2013)

^^ Topgear, I think they have used H80 but that was also overwhelmed due to the heat dissipation of the Processor at 5 GHz speed and that's why they were forced to use a NH-U14S with Dual Fan setup. For motherboard, they have used Sabertooth 990FX. However, I think here they should have gone with top of the line 990FX motherboards like Asus Corsair Formulla or Gigabyte UD7.


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## topgear (Jul 23, 2013)

yep, they should have used a motherboard which is a record holders for many AMD cpus but if AMD continues to make such cpus ( and Intel Haswell ) it won't take much time before we see some closed loop LN2/Helium coolers just to keep this cpus cool or oc them to a moderate speed


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## Hrishi (Jul 23, 2013)

topgear said:


> yep, they should have used a motherboard which is a record holders for many AMD cpus but if AMD continues to make such cpus ( and Intel Haswell ) it won't take much time before we see some closed loop LN2/Helium coolers just to keep this cpus cool or oc them to a moderate speed


hahaha .  ,
Hotter CPU's , lesser average life. More expense/year.Limited headroom for OClocking.Benefit for Chip making companies.


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## Bhargav Simha (Jul 23, 2013)

Cilus said:


> Guys, check out the review of the AMD centurion series FX-9590, the 1st commercially available 5 GHz x86 processor. Although architecture wise it is same as our FX-8350 and the higher speed has introduced a huge TDP of 219W and it is just a marketing strategy by AMD to keep up with new Intel releases. a 5 GHz processor is still something and will definitely attract the enthusiasts around the world. So check it out:-
> 
> AMD FX-9590 Review; Piledriver at 5GHz



Since it is same as FX-8350 and just pile driver with a better die... couldnt we just buy 4-5 fx-8350's and try overclocking them to 5.0 ghz?!
If we get lucky with the die, we could get 5.0hz with the first or second fx 8350.. so can use the remaining money to buy a liquid cooler setup?


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## Cilus (Jul 23, 2013)

Arey vai, we don't need to buy it. It is just for a show-off and only for enthusiastic overclockers.


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## guru_urug (Jul 23, 2013)

quad_core said:


> @Cilus :When is the expected release date for the  steam roller?   Should be a worthy upgrade for people having Phenom II x4s(like me)



I've been reading a lot on some other forums that Steamroller may not be AM3+ afterall. Its sad since I just purchased a new mobo after being told here that it would definitely support it. Time will tell if this is true. It has been confirmed for the FM2 and the FM2+ sockets though. The reason for this speculation is that AMD's server roadmap doesnt show any Steamroller based server for 2014, they will be based on modified Piledriver cores(Warsaw) And since AMD usually brings out the newest architecture for Server first before bringing it out to the enthusiast segment, it doesnt look like a good sign.
The initial opinion that AM3+ would support steamroller, was probably mis-interpreted. AMD never gave any official statement on that, they just said that piledriver series wouldnt be the last CPU on AM3+, they could have been referring to the Centurion or maybe a modified low-power Piledriver CPU. AMD is keeping mum on this issue, probably because people are still purchasing the AM3+ socket boards thinking it will support Steamroller. 
If Steamroller does indeed come out for AM3+ socket then the upgrade from PIIX4 would be a good one. Steamroller is expected to have 20% better IPC than PD, architecture improvements include a dedicated decoder for each core. So it should be a good improvement. Other than that, currently only 83xx would be a good upgrade from the PIIx4.
Having said that, there doesnt seem to be any clear indication what AMD is planning for the future of the FX series. But IMO it is best if we don't get ahead of ourselves and tell new buyers that AM3+ will definitely support Steamroller. Just my 2c


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## Cilus (Jul 23, 2013)

Please check here: AMD sticks with Socket AM3+ for Steamroller- The Inquirer


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## guru_urug (Jul 23, 2013)

Cilus said:


> Please check here: AMD sticks with Socket AM3+ for Steamroller- The Inquirer



I have read that article, I saw it quoted in some other Tech forum. Most of the people argue that AMD only said that PD will not be the last CPU for AM3+, they could have been referring to Centurion or a derivative of Warsaw(PD). AMD never claimed SteamRoller, the tech journalists have made an assumption.
Also that article is almost a year old now, AMD has recently made a official Roadmap press release of their Server components, it doesnt mention SteamRoller all throughout 2014. Why wouldnt AMD plan to use a superior upgraded architecture for its servers? Its usually the trend to release first for servers(since AMD generates lots of revenue in the server segment) and then for mainstream CPUs.

AMD Unveils Server Strategy and Roadmap

Also the recent 2013 roadmap for Desktops mentions Steamroller for APUs but not for Performance segment.
*www.cpu-world.com/news_2013/images/L_AMD_desktop_roadmap_2013.jpg


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## Cilus (Jul 23, 2013)

Buddy, You are misinformed. AMD has a very little footprint in Server market compared to Intel and Bulldozer comes 1st into desktop and then came for Server. AMD is foucing more on their HSA implementation on Server rather than normal Processor release. And why you are claiming that Steam Roller is not in their Server roadmap. Did you check the *APU named Berlin*? It will be having steam Roller Cores along with GCN graphics + Heterogeneous System Architecture with HUMA support. Once they release their desktop Steam Roller cores, the high end steam roller modules will come next to it.

Read it here: *www.amd.com/us/press-releases/Pages/amd-unveils-2013june18.aspx


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## guru_urug (Jul 23, 2013)

Cilus I know are more knowledgeable, Im just reiterating what I have been reading up 

Berlin is an APU for server clusters. I was talking about the Mainstream Servers. This is an indication that steamroller could very well be APU only.

Anyway I think we should continue in PM. My apologies for taking this OT.

EDIT:
You are right about the misconception I had regarding AMDs server strategy. I read it up in detail now, thanks


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## Cilus (Jul 23, 2013)

Any discussion which shares knowledge is welcome here and no need for your apology. The discussion is fine IMO and I think we can continue. I have answered your PM BTW.

Regarding APU for server, don't get the misconception that APU is not going to be used in Mainstream server market. Kost of the servers use cluster of processing units instead of single very powerful processor due to the parallel nature of server environment. In the next generation APUs are gonna play a huge role due to the implementation of HSA and HUMA. Already OpenCL and OpenGL, two best open source languages for compute and Graphics, have released their specification for the new versions and they are now providing specific optimizations and functions directly targeting the HSA platform. You can check it here: AnandTech | Khronos @ SIGGRAPH 2013: OpenGL 4.4, OpenCL 2.0, & OpenCL 1.2 SPIR Announced

It enables the normal programming languages like Java, C++ to use the advanced HSA features with minimal modifications, hence encouraging the developers to optimize their code for it. The best example will be redirecting the chunk of Floating point Executions to GPU cores which are far faster than today's most powerful x86 CPU available through coding. In this kind of scenario, an budget APU server can easily excels a CPU only server by huge margin.


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## darkther (Jul 24, 2013)

AMD PROCESSOR FX 9590 BLACK EDITION

Well, that was a fast arrive.


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## vkl (Jul 25, 2013)

Well mostly a show off,price won't justify it for most.Advertising this as a 5GHz chip is like intel advertising i7 3770k as 3.9GHz processor.
As far as mobile processors are concerned AMD doesn't have much performance for now.
A10 5750m can't do that well against an i5 3xxxm as far as the CPU performance goes.i7 3517U has much lower base clocks than i5 3xxxm processors.
There were some designs that did quite well(like a8+hd7670m) but they need to cover broader base.There could have been more different designs.
Kaveri,steamroller parts should bring a good improvement and arrive in time to compete well.Kaveri should get more design wins in notebook market to get as much as possible.


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## topgear (Jul 25, 2013)

I'm wondering if AMD FX-9590 is going to hold some world record with sub zero cooling -- as the main purpose of this beast is to showoff AMD better perform well on this


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## harshilsharma63 (Jul 25, 2013)

^ so when are you starting the test 

^ so when are you starting the test


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## topgear (Jul 26, 2013)

nah, only if I had that much privilege but someone will do it for sure though.


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