I've not long had the privilege of using the AMD 8150 FX which is of course AMD's fastest 8 core processor, today I'm going to review the 8120 FX which is pretty much the same as the 8150 FX but its clock speed is only 3.1 GHz.

Well I've recently decided to build a new system and was under a slight budget so I couldn't splash out for the 8150 which was a joy to use; this left me with pretty much only one choice which was the 8120. I'm going to bullet point some of its key features for you.

* AM3+ socket.
* 3.1GHz clock speed.
* 8 cores.
* Turbo speed of 4.0GHz.
* L2 and L3 cache of 8MB.

This isn't a bad processor on paper and I was rather keen to get it unpackaged and to test it out. When it did come it was exceptionally packaged in a nice tin box, the CPU itself was protected in a plastic case which kept all of the pins secure. This of course fits in an AM3+ socket, you can place this in AM3 sockets but you won't get maximum power from the CPU rendering it almost useless.

When I got this installed into my system and switched it on I was impressed with how much it could actually handle, even when you take it to its 3.1GHz the CPU automatically increases its speed up to 4.0GHz which is a really nice feature on this product. I really liked that this was automatic and you don't even know it's happening unless you're watching a speed checking program.

The AMD FX series has taken a lot of negativity since its release and this seems to be from hard core Intel fan boys, yes these CPU's don't compare to the high end Intel products but you are paying a fraction of the price. For the price itself this is a fantastic product and works well in every task I have done on it, this includes web browsing, gaming, and programming. When it comes to the gaming I run battlefield 3 with a GeForce 560 Ti on a very firm very steady 60 FPS and it never dips.

So after a couple of months of using this product at stock speeds I was more than impressed with it, but me being me I wanted to overclock the thing and see how much more I could get out of it. Using the Antec khuler H2O 920 I pushed this to a 4.5GHz speed, it runs at this speed steadily and remains stable. I have run it slightly higher than this but I lost stability. At this speed several software's place this CPU high up in the list.

So overall I'm really happy with this product, I picked mine up for around £170 but I believe they go around £150 now which is a really good buy if you ask me. Even if you don't overclock it this will be more than enough to do your tasks and more. If you are looking for a relatively cheap but powerful CPU then look no further guys you have it right here.