AMD Releases FX-Series Bulldozer Desktop CPUs

AMD has finally lifted the lid on their new FX-Series "Bulldozer" desktop CPUs, but how well do they work under Linux?

AMD's most impressive FX CPU that launched this morning is the FX-8150, which is an eight-core CPU with a base frequency of 3.6GHz, a 3.9GHz base Turbo frequency, and 4.2GHz for its maximum Turbo frequency. Yes, a Bulldozer 8-core CPU that can operate naturally above 4GHz. These CPUs also come unlocked for those wanting to push the hardware even further. The AMD FX-8150 has 8MB of L2 cache and a TDP of 125 Watts. What makes this top-end CPU interesting as well is the price tag, which is only $245 USD.

The other FX Bulldozers coming out today are the FX-8120, FX-6100, and FX-4100, but most of the media attention today is all about the FX-8150.

These new AMD FX processors look quite interesting, but unfortunately there aren't any Linux results to deliver today. Again, Phoronix wasn't supplied with any engineering samples in advance of today's public launch. Hopefully I'll be able to get my hands on any of the Bulldozers in the near future or at least manage to gain remote access to an AMD FX system from a third party. Until then, here's a few related resources for those interested in more information from AMD's big launch today:

- The AMD FX product area.
- A few videos about the FX CPUs from an AMD blog.
- AMD Bulldozer dual-Interlagos benchmarks coming from OpenBenchmarking.org from pre-release hardware earlier in the year.
- Early information on AMD Trinity APUs, where they are already running Linux.
- Reviews of the AMD FX-8150 as found by OpenBenchmarking.org from many different publications, but all of the benchmark results are from under Microsoft Windows.
- Other Linux CPU reviews at Phoronix.

The AMD FX CPUs just require an AM3+ motherboard, most of which are well supported under Linux already, so there shouldn't be any issues in terms of Linux compatibility. With recent AMD CPUs working fairly well at launch recently, and AMD Trinity APUs already running on Linux plus the Bulldozer-based server CPUs, there shouldn't be any fundamental problems there either. What will be interesting under Linux though is how the AMD FX Bulldozer performance compares to that of Intel's Sandy Bridge CPUs. Until I have access to some FX CPUs, you can at least check out the extensive reviews, benchmarks, Linux driver analysis, and other articles for Intel Sandy Bridge CPUs.