Considering a 4570, or an amd 8320

[AtenRa]

If you will like to tinker and OC your PC then you can get the AMD FX8320 @ £106.55 + ASUS M5A97 EVO R2.0 @ £67.95 + Alpenföhn Brocken @ £32.99 .

For a total of £207,97 (including VAT) you get an unlocked 8-core FX + one of the best 970 motherboards with 4x USB-3, 6x SATA-6 and nice OC BIOS features. With that setup you can OC to 4.8GHz+ , or you can OC to 4.2GHz with low voltage and have a very cool, efficient and quiet PC.

For an Intel alternative at the same price you can get the Core i5 4570 @ £139.19 + ASRock Fatal1ty B85 Killer @ £65.35

Total = £204,54

For that you get a more power efficient CPU with a nice mobo, but you will not be able to play with it and OC. You get almost the same motherboard features and more performance in a few games like Skyrim, Star Craft etc. You will also get worst Multithreading and Multitasking performance than a 4.2GHz+ 8-core FX and worst thermals and higher noise from the Intel Heat-sink fan.

Personally I would consider the Core i5 with a mini-itx motherboard for a SFF PC, otherwise i would go for the FX because i like to play and OC. But the choice is yours 😉

http://www.ksn-online.co.uk/asrock-fatal1ty-b85-killer-socket-1150b85ddr3s-ata-600atx-p-15762.html

 

[ShintaiDK]

The k would be great, and a nice oc but with cost i was reading alot into amd (&waiting to see what fm2+ had to offer) but then seeing the 4570 very close in £ as a comparison of performance.

Forget the FM2+ when you got a dGPU. Its horrible slow and bad performance/$. You could just as well buy a 50$ Celeron then and save further towards something else.

 

[USER8000]

Nobody has asked what CPU the OP has now?? It could be that a graphics cards update makes more sense ATM.

The OP does need to get a cooler now TBH and they can always get one at a later date if required.

Regarding some parts this is what I would consider:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

The CPU,motherboard,RAM and PSU come to around £283. The alternative is a Core i5 4570 and a B85 motherboard:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-Graph...e=UTF8&qid=1392632391&sr=1-1&keywords=i5+4570
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gigabyte-Mo...rs&ie=UTF8&qid=1392632337&sr=1-1&keywords=b85

However,it will cost around £31 more than the FX8320 and Asus motherboard,cannot be overclocked in the future and it is a mATX motherboard(instead of an ATX one). Also a word of warning - some of the cheaper B85 motherboards tend to have PCBs smaller than mATX,which can complicate things a bit during builds with full sized cases.

The XFX PSUs are made by Seasonic and have a 5 year UK based warranty too. The Seasonic S12II PSUs cost more and AFAIK the XFX PSUs are a derivative of this platform.

However,another thing is if the OP does have an old CPU like Core2 duo,then even any newish CPU should be a massive upgrade.

If you go with an FX6300,smaller PSU and a more limited motherboard for overclocking,you can probably fit in a graphics card too:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/AMD-FX6300-...ie=UTF8&qid=1392629173&sr=1-1&keywords=fx6300
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gigabyte-97...8&qid=1392629378&sr=8-1&keywords=gigabyte+970
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...act_title_6?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE
http://www.cclonline.com/product/55...450W-Power-Supply-Unit-Core-Edition-/PSU0202/
http://www.cclonline.com/product/13...R9-270-2GB-TurboDuo-OC-Graphics-Card/VGA2237/

The total comes to around £355 and includes an R9 270. It would save you waiting a few months for a new graphics card.

You can get the total down to around £340 with an HD7850:

http://www.morecomputers.com/extra....rer=Froogle1&gclid=CNfMj77t0rwCFYMfwwodY3YAnA

Edit to post.

The OP seems to have a £500 budget.

So,going with the FX6300 and a R9 270,you can probably get the entire PC for around that price:

http://www.cclonline.com/product/72...rd-Drive-7200rpm-SATA-64MB-Internal-/HDD1319/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-SH-...=UTF8&qid=1392630474&sr=1-2&keywords=sata+dvd
http://www.cclonline.com/product/11...Microsoft-Windows-8-1-64-Bit-DVD-OEM/SFT0434/

The total comes to £477.31 including postage.

What case do you have OP??

If you don't have a decent one I would get this one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/BitFenix-Me...0985&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=BITFENIX+MER+ALPHA

The Bitfenix Merc Alpha can take long graphics cards,and with a new case the total comes to £510.21 including postage.

 

[Aroundthebend]

If you will like to tinker and OC your PC then you can get the AMD FX8320 @ £106.55 + ASUS M5A97 EVO R2.0 @ £67.95 + Alpenföhn Brocken @ £32.99 .

For a total of £207,97 (including VAT) you get an unlocked 8-core FX + one of the best 970 motherboards with 4x USB-3, 6x SATA-6 and nice OC BIOS features. With that setup you can OC to 4.8GHz+ , or you can OC to 4.2GHz with low voltage and have a very cool, efficient and quiet PC.

For an Intel alternative at the same price you can get the Core i5 4570 @ £139.19 + ASRock Fatal1ty B85 Killer @ £65.35

Total = £204,54

For that you get a more power efficient CPU with a nice mobo, but you will not be able to play with it and OC. You get almost the same motherboard features and more performance in a few games like Skyrim, Star Craft etc. You will also get worst Multithreading and Multitasking performance than a 4.2GHz+ 8-core FX and worst thermals and higher noise from the Intel Heat-sink fan.

Personally I would consider the Core i5 with a mini-itx motherboard for a SFF PC, otherwise i would go for the FX because i like to play and OC. But the choice is yours

Hey AtenRa! Yea those were the two main builds of amd/intel i was considering&torn about performance with amd being overclockable&intel being stock (the evo board, after reading was my 1st choice with the 6+2 phases). My case is a mid tower so could fit either of those parts in it. If i did go for the amd, it would be my first time overclocking 😛

Forget the FM2+ when you got a dGPU. Its horrible slow and bad performance/$. You could just as well buy a 50$ Celeron then and save further towards something else.

Hey ShintaiDK! Yeah, that's cool. I waited to see what amd had planned for fm2+ but when it released realized it wasn't for me (i think the 760k+7770 etc, was cheaper&better performance for the price):thumbsup:

Nobody has asked what CPU the OP has now?? It could be that a graphics cards update makes more sense ATM.

The OP does need to get a cooler now TBH and they can always get one at a later date if required.

Regarding some parts this is what I would consider:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

The CPU,motherboard,RAM and PSU come to around £283. The alternative is a Core i5 4570 and a B85 motherboard:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-Graph...e=UTF8&qid=1392632391&sr=1-1&keywords=i5+4570
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gigabyte-Mo...rs&ie=UTF8&qid=1392632337&sr=1-1&keywords=b85

However,it will cost around £31 more than the FX8320 and Asus motherboard,cannot be overclocked in the future and it is a mATX motherboard(instead of an ATX one). Also a word of warning - some of the cheaper B85 motherboards tend to have PCBs smaller than mATX,which can complicate things a bit during builds with full sized cases.

The XFX PSUs are made by Seasonic and have a 5 year UK based warranty too. The Seasonic S12II PSUs cost more and AFAIK the XFX PSUs are a derivative of this platform.

However,another thing is if the OP does have an old CPU like Core2 duo,then even any newish CPU should be a massive upgrade.

If you go with an FX6300,smaller PSU and a more limited motherboard for overclocking,you can probably fit in a graphics card too:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/AMD-FX6300-...ie=UTF8&qid=1392629173&sr=1-1&keywords=fx6300
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gigabyte-97...8&qid=1392629378&sr=8-1&keywords=gigabyte+970
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...act_title_6?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE
http://www.cclonline.com/product/55...450W-Power-Supply-Unit-Core-Edition-/PSU0202/
http://www.cclonline.com/product/13...R9-270-2GB-TurboDuo-OC-Graphics-Card/VGA2237/

The total comes to around £355 and includes an R9 270. It would save you waiting a few months for a new graphics card.

You can get the total down to around £340 with an HD7850:

http://www.morecomputers.com/extra....rer=Froogle1&gclid=CNfMj77t0rwCFYMfwwodY3YAnA

Edit to post.

The OP seems to have a £500 budget.

So,going with the FX6300 and a R9 270,you can probably get the entire PC for around that price:

http://www.cclonline.com/product/72...rd-Drive-7200rpm-SATA-64MB-Internal-/HDD1319/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-SH-...=UTF8&qid=1392630474&sr=1-2&keywords=sata+dvd
http://www.cclonline.com/product/11...Microsoft-Windows-8-1-64-Bit-DVD-OEM/SFT0434/

The total comes to £477.31 including postage.

What case do you have OP??

If you don't have a decent one I would get this one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/BitFenix-Me...0985&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=BITFENIX+MER+ALPHA

The Bitfenix Merc Alpha can take long graphics cards,and with a new case the total comes to £510.21 including postage.

Hey USER8000! The cpu i have currently is pretty bad (lga 775) Pentium. I was mainly going for a cooler now so i could get out of the way&not think about it when i needed to oc. The Xfx psu's i was reading into quite abit, being made by Seasonic (at the time the 550w was around £55 and the Seasonic was/is £58) and also read xfx could be a bit of a pain if needing to rma, so thought i'd go with Seasonic. The corsairs (apart from the cx) were always a bit more.:hmm:

Yeah i had seen a few mobo's that came up just short of atx (the sniper a88x i think was like that too) That was my main reason of asking, as the 8320/cooler&mobo was pretty much the same as the (albeit) locked i5, thinking if the oc'ed chip gave greater, equal or worse performance (as with the 4570 aswell at stock) then started to think about the higher tdp with the oc for the lecky bill.

I was looking at the 6300, but i was using the m5a97 evo (+£20) mainly for the 6+2 phases&greater oc when i needed to (i was unsure of alot of gigabyte boards, due to the throttling even on some of the higher boards/rev numbers-made me concerned on being throttled if i oc'ed to 4.3/4 ish) When i priced up a cooler (withe asus board) it was about £20 or so from the 8320 (&4570) so thought i should really try for a 8 core. It's good to know on being able to in-cooperate a 270 with that build too :thumbsup:

I did look at the 450w xfx, but was concerned it wasn't enough juice for the95w tdp + oc, and the gpu too :hmm: It would be great to get a gpu included too (was looking at the Sapphires aswell)


The case i have is a Fractal Arc midi v2 (i saw it on sale months ago so went for it was £69 at the time) I probably shouldnt have spent as much, but the feature, build qaulity and price sold me it long before i finalised this build. Though at least i have a nice case to upgrade in (my current case has the front panel missing, side panel hanging off&cost £30 way back in 2005😛) that was my 1st and only case, so this would be the 1st time i have owned a nice one 🙂

Thank you though for your msg/reply! Looking into so many parts!

I have been reading so much, it makes it harder to pull the trigger&procrastinating!

I hope im making sense, haven't had much sleep today! 😱😛

But thank you for all of your replies, i've really appreciated it all! I have a few tough decisions to make (since oct 😛)

Apologies for the huge reply!

 

[sequoia464]

Hey sequoia464! That's cool&good to know! I would probably use just 1 ssd, and the rest mechanical for games/music. How did you find the comparison from the amd chip to the intel i5?

:

Really hard to say - when I moved to Windows 8 and then 8.1, I have one (my main) work program ( a blueprint takeoff and estimating program) that didn't play well on W8 - worked perfectly on the same hardware in W7. This on my AMD system -8320 with an Asus Sabertooth.

Just happened to see the I5 and a nice Z87 board on sale so thought I'd try an Intel system, just in the bizare event that it might be an issue with my hardware - it isn't. I have to boot into W7 to use the program for the couple of remaining jobs that I'm finishing up.

That said, I have not really used the I5 for anything CPU intensive so I can't really comment on that, but overall I'm happier with the Intel board. Nice using the stock cooler for sure.

Only downside now is I used to be able to set my coffee cup on top of the case to keep it warm, can't do that now 😛

 

[USER8000]

The Asus M5A97 EVO is a solid overclocking motherboard for an FX6300(and even an FX8320),the Gigabyte I mentioned is not so orientated for overclocking but will be fine with an FX6300 with a milder overclock IMHO. BTW,an FX6300 and a R9 270 would be a massive upgrade over what you have now. Since the case is sorted already you could do the whole shebang including the Asus M5A97 EVO,for around £500 and a better cooler at a later date. One of my mates has an FX6350 and a GTX650TI Boost 2GB and another has a FX6300 and an HD7870LE. TBH they seem to be fine with the dozens of games they play(everything from PS2,SWTOR,WoW,etc). They have not mentioned any problems(sturttering,etc) when playing,so I assume the framerates are good enough.

Of course something like a Core i5 4670K or Core i5 3570K will be faster,but for their price range the FX6300 CPUs are not bad at all IMHO.

I only suggested such a build,as it avoids you needing to wait months for a new graphics card.

 

[Aroundthebend]

Really hard to say - when I moved to Windows 8 and then 8.1, I have one (my main) work program ( a blueprint takeoff and estimating program) that didn't play well on W8 - worked perfectly on the same hardware in W7. This on my AMD system -8320 with an Asus Sabertooth.

Just happened to see the I5 and a nice Z87 board on sale so thought I'd try an Intel system, just in the bizare event that it might be an issue with my hardware - it isn't. I have to boot into W7 to use the program for the couple of remaining jobs that I'm finishing up.

That said, I have not really used the I5 for anything CPU intensive so I can't really comment on that, but overall I'm happier with the Intel board. Nice using the stock cooler for sure.

Only downside now is I used to be able to set my coffee cup on top of the case to keep it warm, can't do that now 😛

Hey sequoia464! Ah that's cool, it's a bummer you have to switch for finishing up you're work! I never thought of that... keeping the mug of tea warm😛

The Asus M5A97 EVO is a solid overclocking motherboard for an FX6300(and even an FX8320),the Gigabyte I mentioned is not so orientated for overclocking but will be fine with an FX6300 with a milder overclock IMHO. BTW,an FX6300 and a R9 270 would be a massive upgrade over what you have now. Since the case is sorted already you could do the whole shebang including the Asus M5A97 EVO,for around £500 and a better cooler at a later date. One of my mates has an FX6350 and a GTX650TI Boost 2GB and another has a FX6300 and an HD7870LE. TBH they seem to be fine with the dozens of games they play(everything from PS2,SWTOR,WoW,etc). They have not mentioned any problems(sturttering,etc) when playing,so I assume the framerates are good enough.

Of course something like a Core i5 4670K or Core i5 3570K will be faster,but for their price range the FX6300 CPUs are not bad at all IMHO.

I only suggested such a build,as it avoids you needing to wait months for a new graphics card.

Hey USER8000! No worries at all, i fully appreciate you suggesting me parts&you're advice! 🙂 I do like gigabyte (have one in this) just those horror stories kept freaking me out for a few of their boards (msi's 970 board aswell😛) Then read up on the Evo (which seems really hard to come by in the u.s?) I did see a new gigabyte board the 970-ud3p (with the added p) but couldn't find many reviews, a few on newegg but pretty sparse otherwise.

Yea, that's cool... i think nearly any upgrade mentioned would be a huge improvement, this is on it's last legs! Having a 270 slot right in does sound tempting!😛 I was originally looking at the 6300, before i thought about the 8 core (being pretty cheap on amazon £106-£111) The main reason i started looking at the locked i5 was when it seemed so close to the 8320:hmm: Its good to know on how things run!

I have looked at that xfx psu again (before it was £3 less than the Seasonic & was a bit concerned if 500w odd was enough for either the 83xx or 63xx (but AtenRa has helped clear that up!😀)

I was also wondering, would it be more beneficial to upgrade my gpu before a screen, or a screen then the gpu? I've had this screen for so long 😉

Yea the 4670k is a nice cpu, but is a bit out of my price range really. I was really hoping kaveri was going to blow me away.

Thanks though, i appreciate all you've said&taking it all in! At least i don't have to buy a case now though😛


Apologies if i'm confusing, only got a couple of hours sleep!

 

[escrow4]

There is zero reason to go FX now. Its a dead platform and a bleh CPU. A locked 4570 and a B85 would be it. Or wait for Broadwell.

 

[gammaray]

if you haven't made your decision yet, let me help you. I got a 8320 OC on a asus m5a99x and a 4670 on a msi GD65 at home, yes i got both. i paid around 270 for the former and around 400 for the latter. If what you mostly do is play video games, then there is no reason to hesitate. the 4670 will give you constant better (better is a small word, more like kick ass over ok performance for the 8320) FPS, in all the games i play anyways. The difference is huge sometimes.

now if you are going to keep your system for the next 3 years, think about it, 130$ more is like 4$ a month to have the ultimate gaming experience...

for example in WOTanks 4670 gives 90-120fps and 8320 gives 35-65 fps. and yes the difference is highly noticeable with human eyes, everything is more fluid, sharp and crisp. it's just better. i did the test using the same video card, a gtx770.

 

[USER8000]

Hey USER8000! No worries at all, i fully appreciate you suggesting me parts&you're advice! 🙂 I do like gigabyte (have one in this) just those horror stories kept freaking me out for a few of their boards (msi's 970 board aswell😛) Then read up on the Evo (which seems really hard to come by in the u.s?) I did see a new gigabyte board the 970-ud3p (with the added p) but couldn't find many reviews, a few on newegg but pretty sparse otherwise.

Yea, that's cool... i think nearly any upgrade mentioned would be a huge improvement, this is on it's last legs! Having a 270 slot right in does sound tempting!😛 I was originally looking at the 6300, before i thought about the 8 core (being pretty cheap on amazon £106-£111) The main reason i started looking at the locked i5 was when it seemed so close to the 8320:hmm: Its good to know on how things run!

I have looked at that xfx psu again (before it was £3 less than the Seasonic & was a bit concerned if 500w odd was enough for either the 83xx or 63xx (but AtenRa has helped clear that up!😀)

I was also wondering, would it be more beneficial to upgrade my gpu before a screen, or a screen then the gpu? I've had this screen for so long 😉

Yea the 4670k is a nice cpu, but is a bit out of my price range really. I was really hoping kaveri was going to blow me away.

Thanks though, i appreciate all you've said&taking it all in! At least i don't have to buy a case now though😛

I do think the Asus motherboards have the edge for overclocking though,but I was showing you a build which can be done within budget now. The GA-970A-UD3 was not a bad motherboard but lacked LLC which limited overclocking. AFAIK,the UD3P adds the Gigabyte equivalent of LLC.

The FX8320 is a nice CPU for the price,but when you are on a budget,that extra £26 is significant and can be the difference between a mediocre graphics card and something much better.

The Core i5 4670K is nice indeed but you are paying for the extra speed. Its the same with graphics card. Ultimately you can get better by spending more,but that is the same with anything though IMHO,and I think it is important people don't pressurise others into spending more than they can(we can see how that has worked out with the debt problems over here).You can easily spend hundreds of quid more on computer parts and it can be like a black hole. I have been there and done that.