Finally joined the blue team: i7-5820K

[SketchMaster]

I've been a die-hard AMD fan for years, we're talking since my first computer build using an AMD K6. Every system I've ever created has proudly displayed the AMD logo on it. Bang for buck, they were my CPU of choice. I remember the time I overclocked my Duron from 600MHZ to 800! Tribes 2 was almost playable!

My FX 8350 bit the dust last week so I was in need of a new CPU. With Zen still too far off, and the FX chips being woefully outdated, I knew it was time to make the jump. I went to Fry's and walked out with an i7-5820k, Asus X99-A II, 16Gb of DDR4, and an H110i AIO cooler. I was thrilled when I saw the performance gains in my apps. Adobe Premier sprinted through renders, my games got a noticeable bump in low FPS, and overall I was very happy. It wasn't too long before I started to faff around with the BIOS and got the chip running at 4.5Ghz @1.3v. May see if I can lower the volts, the H110i is pulling its weight trying to keep the CPU at 69C under stress.

I've been tempted to jump over to Intel for a while, but the high prices always scared me off. I'm happy to say that I don't regret one penny I spent on this build, even if my girlfriend did bellow out a few remarks when she saw the receipt.

 

[IronWing]

Congratulations! Have you run any Excel benchmarks yet?

 

[Aikouka]

The high prices will definitely make you wince a bit, but one benefit of that is that the chips do keep their resale value quite well. When I was looking to build some distributed encoding rigs, I had to look back as far as Sandy Bridge to find any decent discounts!

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I agree and I apologize for sounding anti AMD, I really want them to be successful.
I will say my recent AMD purchases have been nothing but problems. Desktop I built a couple of years ago FX 6300
1st motherboard dead ( gigabyte)
2nd motherboard had one memory slot that didn't work
3rd motherboard video died after a few weeks
4th motherboard same thing
Thank god I bought microcenters warrantee
5th motherboard I went Asus for a few extra dollars, onboard video stated it supported 1080p so I assumed it had DVI or HDMI. Nope vga only, so I got an adapter. While changing the CPU I bent a pin so I bought another I know its my fault but I blame AMD's crappy board and specs because you shouldn't have to change your motherboard so often.
Adaptor starts having problems so I get a basic video card.
I've spent more than a proper i3 machine. The 6300 still has problems waking up from sleep too.
My Asus 280x started to act weird after reloading windows and dealing with a bunch of crap turns out the heat pipes weren't screwed on correctly. No cost but frustration.
I am currently done with AMD. I feel they need to keep costs low to survive and that leads their partners to cut corners to keep costs low. Going forward I'll gladly pay $50 more for a video card from NV and $100 more for a CPU/motherboard from Intel.

I'm now going to put my flame proof clothes on and prepare for the assault.

 

[Crono]

I switched from the FX-8350 to the i7-6700K a few months ago, for a new main rig. I've never been anti-Intel or ruled it out entirely, but for my personal desktops I've used AMD exclusively since I started building my own PCs because the price-performance ratio was usually in favor of AMD for budget builds, especially for someone who does (occasional, in my case) video transcoding/editing.

The FX-8350 is still a decent CPU in that regard, given it's age and price - and I still use it without problems in my old build - but I'm happy I got the i7-6700K, in a much more future-proof setup. I would have considered Zen if it were on track to come out earlier this year, but I got the upgrade itch . As usual, though, if AMD prices the Zen chips right I'll probably consider getting a Summit Ridge CPU when it releases or shortly thereafter.

I'm fairly agnostic when it comes to manufacturers and branding; as the long as the performance is good, there aren't any major issues, and the price is right, I don't necessarily care what the "color" is. Blue, red, green... don't care. I'm not on a team. That said, all other things being equal, I'll usually go for the underdog (in this case, AMD) for my minuscule part in helping to keep competition alive.

 

[renz20003]

I'm still using my 2500k that I bought around launch. It was a bit more expensive than the best AMD offering but it's also still decent at gaming and other tasks.

It's worth the extra money for the longevity IMO.

 

[SketchMaster]

I switched from the FX-8350 to the i7-6700k a few months ago, for a new main rig. I've never been anti-Intel or ruled it out entirely, but for my personal desktops I've used AMD exclusively since I started building my own PCs because the price-performance ratio was usually in favor of AMD for budget builds, especially for someone who does (occasional, in my case) video transcoding/editing.

The FX-8350 is still a decent CPU in that regard, given it's age and price - and I still use it without problems in my old build - but I'm happy I got the i7-6700k, in a much more future-proof setup. I would have considered Zen if it were on track to come out earlier this year, but I got the upgrade itch . As usual, though, if AMD prices the Zen chips right I'll probably consider getting a Summit Ridge CPU when it releases or shortly thereafter.

I'm fairly agnostic when it comes to manufacturers and branding; as the long as the performance is good, there aren't any major issues, and the price is right, I don't necessarily care what the "color" is. Blue, red, green... don't care. I'm not on a team. That said, all other things being equal, I'll usually go for the underdog (in this case, AMD) for my minuscule part in helping to keep competition alive.

When I was a teen I'm sure I was an indignant little turd when it came to brand loyalty. Then in my early 20's I was just too broke to afford anything else but AMD. Now I'm lucky enough to be able to get an enthusiast level build and not cringe too much at the final cost.

The FX 8350 was a great little chip. Built a ESXi VM/Gaming box by using PCI-E passthrough to mount the GFX card, USB, and sound card to a VM that would turn on after boot. I could carve off 4 cores to the VM for gaming, and still have 4 more for any VM that I wanted to spin up; the only limit was RAM (16GB that I never got around to upgrading). My system was a server and a gaming rig in one!

I may see if the MB is still good and rebuilt the system into another rig for my GF to use. An AMD chip would be plenty for her needs.

 

[uclaLabrat]

My i7 6700K gets here saturday. My i7 920 rig shutdown two weeks ago with the dreaded puff of smoke coming out the back. I had just upgraded the video card to an amd 390, decided to not throw good money after bad troubleshooting and fixing up an 8 year old system.

 

[evident]

You're not gonna complain years from now that your CPU was $100 more, but you'd complain every day if your machine is slow as balls.

 

[brianmanahan]

i used to buy AMD CPUs, but i've been using intel since the C2D's came out

and i used to buy ATI/AMD GPUs, but i finally just purchased a geforce 1070

 

[HumblePie]

Wife still has an 8350 fx chip in her rig with a 290x vid card. Runs everything she needs to run just fine. My last few personal builds for my main rig have been Intel though. Q6600 -> I7 2600K -> I7 6700K. I will say I tend to use AMD chips for lower budget less demanding rigs like my HTPC for example.

I've been happy with all my chip buying decisions. I can build a decent htpc/web surfing/light gaming machine with an AMD setup for cheap. CPU + mobo + plenty of ram for under $150 usually. They aren't the most powerful builds, but I don't need them to be. For machines I need power I buy Intel. Yah the wallet sting hurts, but the resell as mentioned before made up for it as I got good deals initially. I've gotten 90% of the original price I paid for every Intel chip when I've resold them several years later.

Now I tended to purchase ATI cards more often than not in the past. Although the last two GPUs for my main have been Nvidia. I have a 1080 GTX now and had a 970 GTX previously. Wife has a 290x in her system and does quite well with it. Last Nvidia GPU I had before the 970 GTX was an 8800 GT. After that 8800 GT it was a few ATI cards before the 970 GTX.

I feel I am a typical consumer that goes for bang for the buck with no brand loyalty when it comes to pcs.

 

[Markbnj]

I'm still using my 2500k that I bought around launch. It was a bit more expensive than the best AMD offering but it's also still decent at gaming and other tasks.

It's worth the extra money for the longevity IMO.

I still have a 2500K running my linux dev box. The windows machine is running a 3770. I have been pricing out upgrades recently as its feeling like time. I think the 3770 will become the new dev machine, and the windows machine will get a new asus mobo, a 6800 and a 1080 Titan.

 

[Oyeve]

I only use AMD/ATI Gpus. I did buy one AMD cpu, a 3800X2. Still use it today but not as my main system. Back in the day I used the AMD system in SLI playing GTA:San Andreas. It was a beast back in the day.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

I only use AMD/ATI Gpus. I did buy one AMD cpu, a 3800X2. Still use it today but not as my main system. Back in the day I used the AMD system in SLI playing GTA:San Andreas. It was a beast back in the day.

I loved that chip. I went 3800x2 > i7 860. It's been almost 7 years now since my last real build..

 

[HumblePie]

I loved that chip. I went 3800x2 > i7 860. It's been almost 7 years now since my last real build..

860 is quite a bit long in the tooth in terms of performance and really bottlenecks modern GPUs. Even that 290 of yours list in your sig is more than likely losing performance.

Anything 2600K gen or later though for Intel is still very relevant today. I had one up until I switched to my 6700K, but it really wasn't that big of an upgrade. I only did it because I got a good deal on a 6700K and sold my 2600K setup for nearly what I was buying the 6700K setup for. Sold old setup for $400 and paid $480 for new setup. So the $80 was worth it I think. The 2600K I also had for 5 years.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

860 is quite a bit long in the tooth in terms of performance and really bottlenecks modern GPUs. Even that 290 of yours list in your sig is more than likely losing performance.

Anything 2600K gen or later though for Intel is still very relevant today. I had one up until I switched to my 6700K, but it really wasn't that big of an upgrade. I only did it because I got a good deal on a 6700K and sold my 2600K setup for nearly what I was buying the 6700K setup for. Sold old setup for $400 and paid $480 for new setup. So the $80 was worth it I think. The 2600K I also had for 5 years.

I keep it at 3.8-4ghz OC and play at 4k so I don't really notice any major bottleneck and slowdowns. I've been considering grabbing some upgrades but with stupid DD4 it'll put me at 400-500 right now.

 

[HumblePie]

I keep it at 3.8-4ghz OC and play at 4k so I don't really notice any major bottleneck and slowdowns. I've been considering grabbing some upgrades but with stupid DD4 it'll put me at 400-500 right now.

I did the combo that bh video had awhile ago for the 6700K and MSI g5 motherboard for $400. Tossed in 32GB of DDR 4 Gskill modules from newegg they had on sale about the same time for $80. Again, I sold my old setup for $400 total for cpu + motherboard + memory.

You can go with much less memory than 32GB and do fine though. There are more than a few deals still floating around for an okay mothboard + 6700K for around $400. So yah it will put a total of $400+ for everything, selling your old stuff should still net you about $300 pretty easy. So the entire upgrade shouldn't cost that much overall.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

I did the combo that bh video had awhile ago for the 6700K and MSI g5 motherboard for $400. Tossed in 32GB of DDR 4 Gskill modules from newegg they had on sale about the same time for $80. Again, I sold my old setup for $400 total for cpu + motherboard + memory.

You can go with much less memory than 32GB and do fine though. There are more than a few deals still floating around for an okay mothboard + 6700K for around $400. So yah it will put a total of $400+ for everything, selling your old stuff should still net you about $300 pretty easy. So the entire upgrade shouldn't cost that much overall.

Did you sell locally or Ebay?

 

[slag]

I'm still using my 2500k that I bought around launch. It was a bit more expensive than the best AMD offering but it's also still decent at gaming and other tasks.

It's worth the extra money for the longevity IMO.

Me too. at 4.5 ghz, it still does everything I want it to. It has lasted longer than any other cpu I've owned.

 

[HumblePie]

Did you sell locally or Ebay?

A guy in a gaming guild that needed to upgrade since his computer was a much worse and older Dell computer.

Although typically I sell on either this site, hardforum, craigslist, or ebay. I tend to get more traction here or hardforum though.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

I've been a die-hard AMD fan for years, we're talking since my first computer build using an AMD K6.

Same here. When I saw Sandy bridge, then Ivy come and go without a response from AMD I knew it was time to say goodbye to an old friend. Sure we still played some Left for Dead, Fallout 3, or Team Fortress every so often.....but the time between calls started measuring in weeks, then months. Good Old Phenom got passed down a few times, fell on hard times, and ended up in a box on the street.

I think I saw Old Phenom on ebay lately. Time hasn't been kind and it looks like he's aged 20 years. People from third world countries keep trying to buy him for pennies. Sigh......

 

[Uppsala9496]

I agree and I apologize for sounding anti AMD, I really want them to be successful.
I will say my recent AMD purchases have been nothing but problems. Desktop I built a couple of years ago FX 6300
1st motherboard dead ( gigabyte)
2nd motherboard had one memory slot that didn't work
3rd motherboard video died after a few weeks
4th motherboard same thing
Thank god I bought microcenters warrantee
5th motherboard I went Asus for a few extra dollars, onboard video stated it supported 1080p so I assumed it had DVI or HDMI. Nope vga only, so I got an adapter. While changing the CPU I bent a pin so I bought another I know its my fault but I blame AMD's crappy board and specs because you shouldn't have to change your motherboard so often.
Adaptor starts having problems so I get a basic video card.
I've spent more than a proper i3 machine. The 6300 still has problems waking up from sleep too.
My Asus 280x started to act weird after reloading windows and dealing with a bunch of crap turns out the heat pipes weren't screwed on correctly. No cost but frustration.
I am currently done with AMD. I feel they need to keep costs low to survive and that leads their partners to cut corners to keep costs low. Going forward I'll gladly pay $50 more for a video card from NV and $100 more for a CPU/motherboard from Intel.

I'm now going to put my flame proof clothes on and prepare for the assault.

Opposite luck for me with AMD.
Still have my AMD 1090t running on my main box (bought it 10/31/11). Used to do a lot of DC with it (was aggressively overclocked), so am super pleased with how long it has lasted.
A few months ago decided to get a laptop for the wife to use as her main computer instead of upgrading the 1090. I'll keep using it until it dies. Have a spare 1090 sitting around since I stopped doing DC about 2 years ago. Guess I can swap parts if anything happens.
My fx8350 is also still running well - lent it to my dad to use when his machine died.

 

[dainthomas]

Still have an 8350 in my main rig. All I really do on it is internet and ripping the occasional bluray-dvd-cd and it's good enough for that. Hardly ever game any more (as my 6750's in crossfire would attest).

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Still have an 8350 in my main rig. All I really do on it is internet and ripping the occasional bluray-dvd-cd and it's good enough for that. Hardly ever game any more (as my 6750's in crossfire would attest).

Yeah that's sort of my issue. I still play games but its like an hour to two a day. Hard for me to justify the investment so it's just more of a "just cause I want it" buy. Heck, the only reason why I even upgraded my video card from the 5870 it was originally was cause of the bit-mining boom and I got $300 for it and this 290 was like $250.

 

[renz20003]

Me too. at 4.5 ghz, it still does everything I want it to. It has lasted longer than any other cpu I've owned.

It's the longest lasting cpu I've ever had. I usually buy steam sale games that are older so they run great.

The only new games I've bought are gta v and fallout 4 and both ran good enough for me.