Recommended System Requirements | ||
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Game | Core i7-6800K 6-Core 3.4GHz | FX-8320E |
Cyberpunk 2077 | 44% | 10% |
Hitman 3 | 24% | 48% |
Assassins Creed: Valhalla | 24% | 48% |
The Medium | 3% | 88% |
Resident Evil 8 | 38% | 22% |
FIFA 21 | 47% | 3% |
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War | 45% | 6% |
Grand Theft Auto VI | 8% | 80% |
Genshin Impact | 57% | 17% |
Far Cry 6 | 11% | 73% |
In terms of overall gaming performance, the Intel Core i7-6800K 6-Core 3.4GHz is massively better than the AMD FX-8320E when it comes to running the latest games. This also means it will be less likely to bottleneck more powerful GPUs, allowing them to achieve more of their gaming performance potential.
The Core i7-6800K 6-Core was released over a year more recently than the FX-8320E, and so the Core i7-6800K 6-Core is likely to have better levels of support, and will be more optimized for running the latest games.
Both CPUs exhibit very powerful performance, so it probably isn't worth upgrading from one to the other, as both are capable of running even the most demanding games at the highest settings (assuming they are accompanied by equivalently powerful GPUs).
The FX-8320E has 2 more cores than the Core i7-6800K 6-Core. 8 cores is probably excessive if you mean to just run the latest games, as games are not yet able to harness this many cores. The cores in the Core i7-6800K 6-Core is more than enough for gaming purposes. However, if you intend on running a server with the FX-8320E, it would seem to be a decent choice.
The Core i7-6800K 6-Core has 4 more threads than the FX-8320E. The FX-8320E has one thread per physical core, whereas the Core i7-6800K 6-Core uses hyperthreading and has 2 logical threads per physical core.
Multiple threads are useful for improving the performance of multi-threaded applications. Additional cores and their accompanying thread will always be beneficial for multi-threaded applications. Hyperthreading will be beneficial for applications optimized for it, but it may slow others down. For games, the number of threads is largely irrelevant, as long as you have at least 2 cores (preferably 4), and hyperthreading can sometimes even hit performance.
More important for gaming than the number of cores and threads is the clock rate. Problematically, unless the two CPUs are from the same family, this can only serve as a general guide and nothing like an exact comparison, because the clock cycles per instruction (CPI) will vary so much.
The Core i7-6800K 6-Core and FX-8320E are not from the same family of CPUs, so their clock speeds are by no means directly comparable. Bear in mind, then, that while the Core i7-6800K 6-Core has a 0.2 GHz faster frequency, this is not always an indicator that it will be superior in performance, despite frequency being crucial when trying to avoid GPU bottlenecking. As such, we need to look elsewhere for more reliable comparisons.
Aside from the clock rate, the next-most important CPU features for PC game performance are L2 and L3 cache size. Faster than RAM, the more cache available, the more data that can be stored for lightning-fast retrieval. L1 Cache is not usually an issue anymore for gaming, with most high-end CPUs eking out about the same L1 performance, and L2 is more important than L3 - but L3 is still important if you want to reach the highest levels of performance. Bear in mind that although it is better to have a larger cache, the larger it is, the higher the latency, so a balance has to be struck.
The FX-8320E has a 6656 KB bigger L2 cache than the Core i7-6800K 6-Core, but on the other hand, it is the Core i7-6800K 6-Core that has a 7 MB bigger L3 cache than the FX-8320E. In this case, the L2 size is probably what counts, so the FX-8320E is likely superior in this area.
The maximum Thermal Design Power is the power in Watts that the CPU will consume in the worst case scenario. The lithography is the semiconductor manufacturing technology being used to create the CPU - the smaller this is, the more transistors that can be fit into the CPU, and the closer the connections. For both the lithography and the TDP, it is the lower the better, because a lower number means a lower amount of power is necessary to run the CPU, and consequently a lower amount of heat is produced.
The FX-8320E has a 45 Watt lower Maximum TDP than the Core i7-6800K 6-Core. However, the Core i7-6800K 6-Core was created with a 18 nm smaller manufacturing technology. Overall, by taking both into account, the FX-8320E is likely the CPU with the lower heat production and power requirements, but there really isn't much in it.
CPU Codename | Broadwell-E | Vishera | |||
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MoBo Socket | LGA 2011/Socket R | Socket AM3+ | |||
Notebook CPU | no | no | |||
Release Date | 01 Jun 2016 | 01 Sep 2014 | |||
CPU Link | GD Link | GD Link | |||
Approved | ![]() | ![]() |
CPU Cores | 6 | vs | ![]() | 8 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
CPU Threads | 12 | ![]() | vs | 8 | |
Clock Speed | 3.4 GHz | ![]() | vs | 3.2 GHz | |
Turbo Frequency | 3.6 GHz | vs | ![]() | 4 GHz | |
Max TDP | 140 W | vs | ![]() | 95 W | |
Lithography | 14 nm | ![]() | vs | 32 nm | |
Bit Width | 64 Bit | ![]() | vs | ![]() | 64 Bit |
Max Temperature | 105°C | ![]() | vs | - | |
Virtualization Technology | no | vs | no | ||
Comparison |
L1 Cache Size | 384 KB | ![]() | vs | ![]() | 384 KB |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
L2 Cache Size | 1536 KB | vs | ![]() | 8192 KB | |
L3 Cache Size | 15 MB | ![]() | vs | 8 MB | |
Max Memory Size | - | ![]() | vs | - | |
Memory Channels | - | ![]() | vs | 2 | |
ECC Memory Support | no | vs | no | ||
Comparison |
Graphics | |||||
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Base GPU Frequency | - | vs | - | ||
Max GPU Frequency | - | vs | - | ||
DirectX | - | vs | - | ||
Displays Supported | - | vs | - | ||
Comparison |
Package Size | - | vs | - | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Revision | - | vs | - | ||
PCIe Revision | - | vs | - | ||
PCIe Configurations | - | vs | - |
Performance Value | ![]() |
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Mini Review | Core i7-6800K 6-Core 3.4GHz is an Enthusiast Processor based on the 14nm, Broadwell MicroArchitecture. It offers 6 Physical Cores (12 Logical), initially clocked at 3.4GHz, which may go up to 3.6GHz and 15MB of L3 Cache. Among its many features, HyperThreading, Turbo Boost 2.0 and Virtualization are activated and the processor has its multiplier unlocked. The processor DOES NOT Integrated any Graphics and has a rated board TDP of 140W. Performance not known yet. | FX-8320E is an energy efficient CPU based on the 32nm Piledriver architecture. It offers 8 Physical Cores (8 Logical), initially clocked at 3.5GHz, which may go up to 4.0GHz and 8MB of L3 Cache. Among its many features, Turbo Core and Virtualization are activated and the clock multiplier is unlocked, meaning it can be overclocked easily. The processor DOES NOT integrated any graphics. and has a rated board TDP of 95W. Its rank and specifications are still predicted. |
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