AMD Phenom X3 8750

Rounding Up

AMD’s triple-core Phenom X3 8750 is an interesting, but weird proposition – three cores just aren’t ‘normal’ in the world of computing and there is evidence of problems with some applications getting their heads around the idea of a three-core processor. SiSoft Sandra is normally a long stay in our test suite, but it’s unfortunately missing this time around because we had to throw out all of our results in light of the fact that only the latest version of the software actually runs on the X3 8750. And what’s more, even 32-bit versions of Windows Vista have trouble understanding the concept of these new triple-core processors.

AMD informed us that another application that has problems is Windows Media Encoder, because the current version is designed to only run with one, two or four threads. During our brief experiments with this test (we don’t have comparative data), the Phenom X3 8750 never exceeded 67 percent load during the encoding process and one core was left sitting twiddling its thumbs. It’s being fixed, but it’s another example of how this concept is considered a bit weird in our industry.

When AMD first announced the triple-core concept, it sounded interesting but we were sceptical given the company’s inability to get product out of the door at that point – it was already talking about more new products, even though the first batch of quad-core Phenom processors hadn’t been released to the market. Could it be that AMD was having yield issues, or something along those lines? At the time it certainly seemed that way, even though the company denied that poor yield was the reason it was releasing triple-core Phenoms.

Since then things have changed on a number of fronts – not only has AMD released its pretty good B3 stepping, but also Intel hasn’t stood still. 45nm Core 2 Duo processors are fairly widely available now and the E8200 is not only cheaper than the X3 8750, but also faster in many applications, including two out of our three video encoding benchmarks. Of course, there are occasions when the new AMD triple-core processor shows its muscle, but it’s dwarfed by the Core 2 Quad Q6600 (which is selling for just £7 more than the X3 8750).

This makes it hard to recommend the X3 8750 to anyone building a new system today – Intel has been the way to go ever since the launch of the original socket AM2 processors and that isn’t about to change with this launch. But, there are of course people out there that have already invested in socket AM2 or socket AM2+ and it’s for these people that the Phenom X3 8750 may be attractive.

Unfortunately though, AMD’s own quad-core Phenom processors aren’t a great deal more expensive than the X3 8750 and you have to wonder if sacrificing a core is really worth it if you’re saving just £10 over an X4 9750—never mind the X4 9850 Black Edition that retails for around £150. Given the data we’ve obtained here, we don’t believe that it is worth sacrificing that extra core and you’d be better served in the long run with a quad-core processor.


Applications will eventually start to catch up with the hardware on the market and threading will start to become a bit more pervasive than it is now. Once that happens, the case for the Phenom X3 8750 at its current price is even less compelling, but that’s not to say it’s a poor processor – far from it in fact, we just think it’s wrongly priced at the moment.

The tipping point will come when the chip hits around £100 to £110 (inc. VAT), as then it’s starting to get into the price range where you’re getting what you’re paying for. Of course, there are applications where the triple-core Phenom X3 8750 looks great against the quad-core Phenoms, but these are few and far between – mostly, you’re looking at gaming and such so if you want to save some money and spend it on graphics, maybe a triple-core Phenom is just what you’re looking for.

Final Thoughts…

AMD’s Phenom X3 8750 is a good processor in isolation and one that overclocks incredibly well based on our experiences. However, the sad fact is that the three Phenom cores aren’t fast enough to see off the competition from Intel’s higher-clocked (and sometimes cheaper) dual-core processors and the sucker punch for AMD really is the Core 2 Quad Q6600.

In applications where the triple core Phenom has the potential to show its muscle, the Core 2 Quad Q6600 waltzes in and mops it up in quite spectacular fashion. It’s a shame, because we were expecting the Phenom X3 8750 to be a good value proposition for the enthusiast. However, if you’re looking to upgrade a current socket AM2 system, we’d recommend spending that little bit more and getting a quad-core Phenom – it’s absolutely worth it.

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