AMD FX9590 (5ghz) Review (w/ Gigabyte 990FXA-UD5)

After spending the last week with this system we can make an educated guess that AMD simply wanted to be first to release a 5ghz processor. There seems to be no logical reason why the release of the FX9590 processor makes any sense in today's market. AMD can  sometimes stand behind questionable marketing campaigns, such as when they promoted the FX8150 as the first processor to hit 7ghz, then 8ghz.

Many people didn't realise at the time that 6 of the 8 cores were disabled to achieve the overclock. Its a meaningless chase for bigger numbers, translating to absolutely nothing in the real world. You show me an enthusiast user who buys an eight core processor to run with six disabled and ill show you a psychiatric hospital.

There is no doubt that the FX9590 is interesting, after all it has been a talking point now online for quite some time. We all want AMD to become competitive in the high end again, to recapture the glory days of their earlier FX processors.

Sadly, back in the real world the FX9590 is frequently beaten by the Core i7 4770k and this is before we even look at the higher cost 3930k and 3960x/3970x models.

The main sticking point with the FX9590 is obviously the pricing. AMD have had such a strong position in the low end now over the last twelve months, offering a range of fantastic, competitively priced processors.

Our Facebook page has been full of shared reader systems featuring low cost AMD processors now for months. The flagship AMD FX8350 is a good buy also, at only £149.99 inc vat. ARIA even sell a complete system based around the FX6300 6 core processor for only £304.79 inc vat. Add a sub £150 video card into that system and you would have a decent little gaming system, all for less than £500.

Based on AMD's reputation for low cost designs we would therefore hope a new flagship processor at £700 would be competitive against Intel Core i7 parts.

It isn't.

Sure, we could say that fanatical AMD overclockers will love the FX9590, but unless you have money to burn we can think of better ways to spend that £700. When up against the Core i7 4770k or 3930k/3960x it is seriously outgunned. This is probably why AMD aren't sampling the part directly to the press, aiming it at system builders. Again, we can't imagine a system builder will want to cool this monster long term, while offering a warranty. There is only a 1 year warranty on the FX9590 too, so that is worth bearing in mind.

As a gaming processor the FX9590 is very capable however very few game developers are utilising more than three cores for their games, so with a FX9590 there are generally four or five cores idle in the background. A 3570k or FX8350 is a much more cost effective gaming processor in my opinion.

The AMD FX9590 is a solid processor for 3D rendering, but Intel have made a lot of strides in the last couple of generations, and we found that even the Core i7 4770k is a much more effective design on a core per core basis, even with four less physical cores. The 3960X/3970X is still the mainstream flagship for this task, but in fairness we can't imagine too many people will complain with a FX9590 @ 5ghz rendering their scenes.

It proves very difficult to score the AMD FX9590 as it is a seriously niche product. The price alone drops the overall score several points. If AMD brought it out around the £300 mark then it would have made a lot more sense, but at £700 there is no possibility for a recommendation. If you are a wealthy AMD overclocker then you are likely to have one already on pre-order, but everyone else will be longing for an affordable processor from AMD which can challenge the £260 Intel Core i7 4770k.

Pros:

• 5ghz, yes 5ghz!
• decent performance.
• good for 3D rendering.
• hand picked for maximum frequencies.

Cons:

• needs high end cooling.
• puts a lot of strain on the motherboard.
• runs hot.
• high power drain.
• struggles to compete.

Kitguru says: An interesting release from AMD to target system builders, but we can't help but feel it is a little like bringing a knife to a gunfight.

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