Landing a Piledriver

As a primarily PC gamer, I build my own machines.  While the process is one for another day, since I don't have a picture-based tutorial ready, I do feel the need to weigh in on AMD's latest release, the Piledriver CPUs they've been delaying for a year.

Disclosure: Both of my most recent builds have been AMD.  I am interested in replacing a computer every 2 years, rather than 4, and power consumption does not bother me due to how my current utility bills are set up.  I give AMD a hint more leeway than I do Intel, in part because I feel that they won't screw the consumer in favor of profit, where Intel certainly does (holding back developments, locking processors, making you upgrade motherboards to upgrade CPUs).
Both Anandtech and Tom's Hardware have weighed in with reviews after extensive testing on the Vishera platform.  The result is as expected: the 8350 is a clear shot across Intel's bow, hitting in the under $200 range and providing performance slightly better than Intel's i5-3570K.  In fact, AMD appears to have the edge on Intel's current-gen processors at everything but the extreme low end.  It especially has the edge when you consider the ease of overclocking and the ultimate effect: the 8350 can clock safely up to almost 5 GHz, and per Tom's, you want to make sure it runs under the most severe workload at 70 degrees Celsius.  If you plan on overclocking, you want a good cooling system to go with it.
At the end of the day, that overclocking is expensive, power-wise.  When you're aiming for under 120 watts, Anandtech's overclocked 8350's 294 watts is jaw-dropping.  Depending on utility pricing, this might deter me in my next build, but we'll see.
The bottom line is that AMD delivered a solid hit to Intel, gained about 10-15% in terms of power over its last line, and had much more realistic aim at the mid-range, rather than the Zambezi that billed itself as a top-end killer.  This is the AMD we're used to (as opposed to the one from the last round that had a glass jaw), and I hope they keep it up.