AMD FX6300 Black Edition 6 Core (3.5/4.1GHz, 8MB Level 3 Cache, 6MB Level 2 Cache, Socket AM3+, 95W, Retail Boxed)

Last year I previously purchased an AMD FX6100 CPU, not unhappy with that choice at all, but a re-build of another PC gave me a chance to try the newer 6300 processor, so I'll compare that to the older one. The old FX was also good bang per buck (initial price was too high) With recent price cuts the 6300 moves into a bargain price bracket for a hexacore processor The updated piledriver processors, are revisions of the original bulldozer processors and initially I didn't expect a notable gain in performance overall, however real world it's proved quite a strong processor even more so than the 6100. My pros and cons list: Pro's + Bang per buck, in the sub £100 CPU category this is unmatched in terms of performance at this price point + Easy to overclock, even more so than the 6100 (slightly better power consumption) unlocked as all FX cpu's are + Single threaded performance improved over bulldozer (in some cases quite a bit but Intel still rule here) + Faster than a 125w 6200 CPU, yet with lower clock speeds! In some cases it beats the old 8120 FX cpu + Undervolts very well (if you are into quiet computing) + Excellent multi threaded performance + Easy to cool (but get a better heatsink/fan) Con's - Standard stock cooler is actually identical to the Athlon II 65W CPU's, and a fair bit smaller than the original 6100 FX cooler, plan on getting another heatsink/fan if you're overclocking - Still mixed performance in low threaded applications (though improved over the first FX series) I'm personally much more interested in real world results than running benchmark tests suites. I do photo and video work quite often, so I dropped a HD video file into handbrake for conversion to MP4. Both the 6100 and 6300 were running at 3.5GHz. 6100 did the conversion in 9:20, 6300 in 7:38, whilst I expected a boost that was bigger than I imagined. I found Lightroom 5 to be quicker and an uptake of around 20% in exporting raw files, again at the same clock speed. The CPU seems to cope well with image editing in a number of applications, even with larger image files of 16-24mp the FX6300 feels fast and responsive. Games also showed an improvement, whilst I still suggest looking at the GPU first, all my games showed an improvement in fps and played smoother on the newer CPU. Passmark was around 6520 score. 7zip showed an improvement over the 6100 also around 10% So what changed with bulldozer to piledriver? The design of the CPU is the same as older ones, but the extra year has given AMD the chance to refine a few areas. + Improved branch prediction and prefetching + Support for AVX1.1, FMA3, F16C, Bit Manipulation and Trailing Bit Manipulation instructions + Larger L1 Translation Lookaside Buffers and L2 efficiency improvements + Improved FPU and integer scheduling, and better branch prediction and prefetching + Turbo core 3 All this sounds great but does it show up in the real world? Well so far I have to say yes it does. Some areas such as the new instructions supported might not matter right now, but down the road it could have quite an impact. AMD's FX might have had mixed receptions from some review sites, but real world you want to build a pc/upgrade to a CPU that doesn't cost a ton, has a good performance for heavier tasks. As I said in my FX6100 review, you want the performance there mostly in multi threaded software. As so few applications are single threaded nowadays it doesn't make sense to mark a CPU down that does very well for more intensive multi threaded tasks. At this price range you can buy the FX6300 or an Intel Core i3 3220. Intel have a good processor which is well designed and efficient, but it actually costs a bit more than the AMD processor and when the meat hits the grinder the i3 is still stuck with a dual core design which just can't match the FX6300 in intensive applications. Even at stock speed it's quite a difference, the unlocked AMD is really a much better choice for bang per buck wise. Factor in the cost of an AMD board and it becomes an even more appealing choice. This isn't the fastest CPU out there, it's a mid level processor that's got a fairly hefty upper cut and punches well above it's weight. I've made the mistake of buying very expensive processors in the past (£200-£300+), today really in this price range I can't imagine many people being anything but very pleased with the performance of this CPU even when you are doing more demanding work. If you're building an office pc then you'll be fine with a Sempron or Athlon II dual core (plenty fast enough for that type of PC) The FX CPU is for those looking to do more demanding tasks, but not breaking the bank either. The FX8320 would be the next step up with an extra module (2 cores) that's also a good CPU at that price too. The Intel i5's are very good but fairly expensive and they're not massively faster for some tasks (video work the 6300 runs them pretty close at times) I'm a bit puzzled with the FX4300 CPU, it's only about £5 cheaper and with 4v6 threads just doesn't add up value wise (the CPU is fine but it's just priced all wrong) So this now gets my double thumbs up, if you want to extract the most pound of flesh for your cash then the FX6300 is unbeatable right now.

I bought this as part of a budget pc re-build where I still need a decent amount of cpu power, and as the old fried motherboard already had 8gb ddr3 installed and a decent Xigmatek AM3 air cooler which i didn't want to waste, I decided to go with this fx6300 cpu to upgrade the old phenom II X4 955 that had served my family so well for over 6 years. At first I was worried that it may not be a worthy upgrade due to all the hate online for AMD's FX chips, however I have been blown away by the difference, especially in video encoding, where as with my old Phenom it would take me around 1x play speed of a blu-ray film to mp4 encode, the fx6300 literally halves the time!! and amazingly I am still able to work online and perform all daily tasks while this is happening without incurring any performance hit!! Hmm I can see why you would hate a £69 processor that has all that power........? a second hand beet up old i5 costs twice what this does new Plus the best upgrade is the running temp, where as the good old Phenom 955 at 3.2Ghz stock would hit over 50c while encoding full mp4's this FX 6300 at it's 3.5Ghz with 4.1Ghz turbo barley exceeds 35c!! on the exact same 6yr old air cooler...why do the haters say that it runs hot? I suppose if they overclock it within an inch of it's life for an extra 2fps haha. So in short if you need a dependable workhorse pc, but don't have too much cash to spare, this even in 2017 is a solid choice, ok if you want 240fps in gta 5 and haven't desovered ps4/xbox one then it's probably not for you :) just remeber to sell your car to buy that nice new i7.

This is just a quick review probably not very helpful at the moment. But after Christmas I will update. As this cpu is part of my Xmas pressie for a new build. Firstly it came wrapped in bubble wrap. But as it came with other part in the main box.The box had ripped down the corner. I did notice that the cpu is in a different box than advertised and it's all in Japanese Chinese well that language anyway. Except on back of box where it mentions it comes with a heatsink fan. The box did seem a bit tacky bit bruised. After peeling off a sticker I did notice a label saying black edition so I have the right one. Update 04/01/15 After opening the box all was ok. The procesor seemed in good nick. After reading other reviews saying there was grease and some bent pins I was a tad worried. But it wasn't the case. Installed easily it the AM3+ socket.I havn't used the stock cooler or aka HSF. As ive brought a upgraded fan. A artic freezer 13. Much bigger and will help cool the cpu down. Though I have no plans on overclocking the machine. The cpu for me was a good buy. It seems pretty fast and gained a 7.4 on my windows rating program. Though my hdd has let the whole computer down. Ive not played any games as the one i'm downloading is taking its time.

I installed this yesterday morning. installation was a breeze as is not my first time installing. so far so good. not much difference on simple stuff compared to the 6100. this is a 95 watt cpu but runs hotter than 6100 on 30c idle under my Arctic 7 freezer pro. i am not worried as i have 5 case fans working in my case. the cpu is fine. what I do have a problem with is that when i opened the box, i expected to see a brand new cpu. i was shocked to find that it had grease scuff marks on the corners and slight discolouration/ scuff marks in the middle of the cpu (not on pins, top surface). i am not sure who is at fault here Amazon or AMD. the box was sealed with the AMD seal unbroken. or is it a replacement vendor seal? That ticked me off. when i buy something and the description says new it better be new. when i bought the fx 6100 there was no dirt on the cpu or signs it was used before. i will raise this with Amazon but I am not sending back the cpu. it works fine and it is a lot of hassle. print this print that and take here and there and then refund in 5 working days (that is quick compared to some sellers) It is stupid to mention this in the review as we want to know how this plays games, performs when editting videos and photos on high performance guzzling software and hardware combinations. i play basic games on PC. Deus Ex, AvP 2010, Hard Reset and Sniper V2 elite. not much to help with on those but i will test this on high settings. it will do the job. the 6100 plays all three at 1080 p combined with 1gb hd asus eah 6670. loading Itunes is 2 seconds faster with the 6300 compared to the 6100. windows 8 loads as fast as before. I guess i will notice in future how fast or how efficient this cpu is. i plan to get a good game card. I guess Xbox and Ps4 will not be bothered with making their new machines backward compatible. PC games are cheap. but pc components to play the games are ridiculously expensive and at times the best set up may not play a certain game for more complex issues that require stupid modding or a series of updates or expensive upgrade. so one must be aware of they want with every pc upgrade for gaming or you suffer wasting money. only time will tell if i decide to go for PS4. i will wait in the shadows - watching. studying. waiting for the right console to lure me in for a long while. i will update you later on performance

If performance/price is an issue, just get this, there isn't anything more cost effective right now and there hasn't been for a while. I get solid performance in all my tasks and games, it plays well with my r9 280 and rarely do i see my framerate drop below 60fps including bf4 multiplayer which only ever drops when there is serious explosions and firepower going on, but only down to 50 for a second or so. All other tasks are good to go, running several windows, tabs, some music or a film and torrents without any trouble. 6 cores is plenty, 99% of the time a module is parked so only 4 is maximum being used except in stress testing, games with other things open too or specific programs which can take advantage of that many cores. Overclocking is a great advantage to the fx series, and while I've hit 5ghz just to see if it can do it, it's not advisable. Checking with guides is a good way to know roughly what to expect but I have 4.4ghz without problems, though I use a CM Hyper 212 Evo. The stock cooler isn't suitable for o/c but it can do the job for regular use which is what I'm basing the review upon. I only monitored temps after getting the 212 evo, where (AMD have a different way of monitoring temps so I can only comment from the thermal margin on amd overdrive) i seem to average 50 Celsius with regular use and 30 under stress. This basically tells me I have 50 degrees headroom before the cpu throttles back to help passively cool itself under regular use. I think that is well within safe

The fx 6300 is just completely out of this world awesome, i got this cpu as i wanted to have something that was good under pressure and good for gaming. Yes there is alot of mixed reviews for this but most are just about how it runs hot or from intel fanboys that think the i series is completely awesome. Easy fix to the running hot problem is just buy a corsair h60 or h100 but make sure its the 2013 model to avoid the trapped air in the pump issue people have, The h60 combined with the fx 6300 means you can run her at a very nice temp and also have the advantage of water cooling which means if you feel like it you can also over clock it. from my setup of the fx 6300,asus m5a99x evo, corsair vengence 8 gb dd3, asus hd7770 ghz edtion and the h60 i can run anything at a good temp and frame rate including planet side 2 which as most people know is a cpu intensive game and it runs perfect on this so anyone looking for a cpu thats good for a budget and runs good all out should consider the fx series as the goods run very good and the bads well apart from the heat problem which ive sorted isnt any more bads :P so enjoy it like i am p.s. THE SPEED OF IT IS JUST COMPLETELY INSANE SHE GOES BRILLIANTLY DOING NORMAL TASKS AND GAMES Edit, At the time it was a good little cpu But I noticed it can not really multi task thst great. If you want it as a general day to day then it's great but if you want it for anything a little bit more demanding then I'd advise not to

I believe a processor should always be reviewed in the light of the other components present in relevant build. Therefore I am including the specs of my entire system. Highly recommended for casual games. Works perfectly in my rig - in conjunction with 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM and a GeForce GTX 260 core 216 on an HP w22 monitor using a DVI to DVI cable to the graphics card. PSU - ModXtreme Pro 600W. The hard drive is not SSD though - it is SATA 7800 rpm. Case - Strike X Advance White. Motherboard - M5A78L/USB3 Easy to install but for those who have never built a PC before and this is their first time, like it was for me - take care if you need to take this processor out - gently twist and tilt the heat-sink, otherwise the processor might come out stuck to the heat sink. If that happens it can be remedied by using IPA to separate them. I am playing Saints Row: The Third on Ultra settings and it is brilliant. I have also tried Need For Speed Most Wanted 2012, it is great on high settings. A task that you can really test it on is encoding - on my previous rig, this was using nearly 100% of the processing power of my old Intel E6750, with this processor it is only using nearly 40%. I think I am now in love with AMD and will not go back to Intel, as you can get brilliant performance for less price with AMD.

This is much, MUCH better than expected, the thing runs like a beast! I'm running it on a gigabyte GA-970a-D3 revision 3.0 motherboard, and no BIOS update is required for the CPU to work correctly, it'll work right out of the box. It's a very snappy CPU, I plug something in, and it's instantly recognized. I do a lot of multitasking, I normally have Photoshop CS6 open along with other programs like 3dsmax, and so far this is making very short work of both programs, there's no sign of freezing, jitter, or anything. It runs very cool, which i was surprised at, as my old Phenom processor ran quite warm, it also has a higher maximum critical temperature, allowing for more headroom for an overclock if need be. but currently, this is fine on the 3.5ghz stock clock. when Gaming, it's excellent, you can't fault it, other than maybe it's efficiency but it will run perfectly otherwise If you are strapped for cash, and you need a good processor, get this, it's excellent!