Is there any reason to use FX CPUs right now?

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DrMrLordX

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
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Yuriman said:
DrMrLordX, I'd like to add to the "if you are okay with HD4600" thought:

Where the FX shines is not in games, but in heavily threaded apps that are not GPU accelerated, as Abwx as suggested. I'm assuming a system made for useful productivity will not be overclocked. Because of that you're looking at $240 FX-9590 + cooling solution ($30 Evo should suffice?) + motherboard ($100 should be fine?) + video card ($45 minimum for something bottom-of-the-barrel from the last 2 generations), compared to a $322 4790K + $70 H97 motherboard.

Comes out to $415 vs $392, because of the need for a video card.

OTOH, if you're buying a high-end video card already, you're using the FX-9 outside of its optimal-use scenario.

I'm sold that the FX chips do have a place, but my use-case (personally) would not be well suited to one.
Click to expand...

I don't know that I'd trust an Evo to a 9590, but you could try it. You could definitely undervolt/underclock it if you had to.

Regardless, your numbers or mine, the 4790k comes out looking much better than the 9590. And yeah you can stick a 4790k in an H97 board, or even this thing. $320 CPU in $40 mobo, will wonders never cease.
 
TheELF

TheELF

Diamond Member
Dec 22, 2012
4,027
753
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Ramses said:
Yep, works a lot better than it used to but it's not perfect. I asked and tried to find an even semi-simple way to find out what program was running what thread(s) on what core but nobody could come up with anything.
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It's called thread migration and it's around for years.

This "some usage" on all cores is this,bouncing around of the threads by windows,a thread will always run as fast as possible so everytime you see cores that are not at 100% it's almost always thread migration going on.
 
R

Ramses

Platinum Member
Apr 26, 2000
2,871
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81
Yeah sounds like it, been getting better over the years. 8 seemed to run nicer on my FX's than 7 did, with or without the patches they released early on. More seems to be the merrier.
 
TurtleCrusher

TurtleCrusher

Lifer
Apr 20, 2008
10,067
990
126
TheELF said:
With quick sync the impact is ~5-10% for the celeron which has the slowest current cores,depending on the capture software used, and since almost no game can utilize 100% of even a dual core the impact is even lower than that,
with faster cores the impact is even smaller.
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Pump the brakes! Almost every game makes use of 3 or more cores now. Battlefield 4 multiplayer I'm hitting 75% or more depending upon how much is going on. That's at least 6 cores. Even Left 4 Dead 2, Dirt 2, Fifa, NBA, anything Unreal engine 3 or newer, and a sea of new games utilize 3 or more cores. If all you play is MMOs or RPGs I can see that core counts might not be that high as the production value is more on character dev and not visuals or gameplay.
 
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S

schmuckley

Platinum Member
Aug 18, 2011
2,335
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svarog19 said:
...and? FX chips are for desktops and Xeon's are for servers, Xeon 5650 is a far more expensive chip than FX 8350. Xeon 5650 is 483$ compared to FX 8350 which is 180$ on Newegg if you want unused. If you don't want to bother with overclocking FX 8350 then FX 9590 which is 240$.

Unused motherboard for Xeon 5650 is 200$ at minimum...



It is not clear if AM3'+ is dead or not for sure and its more alive since FX Piledriver has instructions that Xeon 5650 does not have such as TBM, AVX, XOP, FMA3-FMA4, F16C, SSE4a, Advanced Bit Manipulation, 128 SSE instructions, etc.. F16C, FMA4 and XOP are SSE5.


Reverse is also valid... :awe:

If you live in USA and can use some of rebates then you can get this under 600$ rather than go cheapo and buy used from potentially shady people that could con you and in the end you end up spending more money. Except of course you have a friend/family member that is selling his old hardware

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/DFM6xr
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Mobo: $210 http://www.ebay.com/itm/ASUS-P6X58D...261?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cf17ab3e5

CPU: $81 http://www.ebay.com/itm/BX80614X565...702?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cdbcae016

Total: $291

Typical OC for one of those chips:
1195305.jpg
 
R

Ramses

Platinum Member
Apr 26, 2000
2,871
4
81
It'd be a deal if the board was half that price. Even at that, no M. 2, no sateE, few usb3, few sata3, old audio, it's just old. It's cool and all but not when two hundred bucks buys a lot of z97.
 
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MongGrel

MongGrel

Lifer
Dec 3, 2013
38,466
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Have a X5680 that beats that I picked up for $135 but I all ready had the Mobo.

Still haven't really tweaked it.

Haven't stuck the X5650 in the Mobo I bought awhile back for the same amount more or less in the bedroom I guess.

The sister in law been lookiing for an upgrade, still have an L5639 will through that way for free if wants to pick up a Mobo.
 
R

Ramses

Platinum Member
Apr 26, 2000
2,871
4
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So we've gone from comparing FX to current i7's that it has no business being compared to, onto comparing it to five year old thousand dollar Xeons it has no business being compared to? lol

I love the FX if for no other reason than what a polarizing force it has been among PC enthusiasts.
 
frozentundra123456

frozentundra123456

Lifer
Aug 11, 2008
10,451
642
126
Well, the 8310 will normally be compared to chips that come with a cooler, such as locked intel i5 models, so it does make the price seem lower than it really is. I can understand not including a cooler with something like the 9590, which probably will require water cooling anyway, or at least a high end air cooler, but for something like an 8310 it seems like a strange choice. Even the "higher end" 8350 comes with a cooler.
 
TurtleCrusher

TurtleCrusher

Lifer
Apr 20, 2008
10,067
990
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Phynaz said:
Why aren't you using a $50 mb?
Click to expand...

I actually am. The Biostar ATX TA-970 that's usually $49, but it's out of stock at the moment on Newegg. If I didn't care about dedicated and internal sound/network/DTV tuners, that motherboard would be an option.
 
frozentundra123456

frozentundra123456

Lifer
Aug 11, 2008
10,451
642
126
Yea, 8310 plus 20 dollar cooler = 135.00. That is only 50.00 cheaper than a locked i5. And H97 motherboard should run around 80.00, so total difference is more like 80.00 instead of 125.
 
R

Ramses

Platinum Member
Apr 26, 2000
2,871
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And I probly have a stock 8350 cooler in the shop for free if anyone actually wants it.
 
TurtleCrusher

TurtleCrusher

Lifer
Apr 20, 2008
10,067
990
126
frozentundra123456 said:
Yea, 8310 plus 20 dollar cooler = 135.00. That is only 50.00 cheaper than a locked i5. And H97 motherboard should run around 80.00, so total difference is more like 80.00 instead of 125.
Click to expand...

For many system builders that $80 is a huge part of the budget. As reasonable as my wife is and we totally had the money at the time, I was able to swing spending $250 on a CPU/MOBO/RAM/HSF combo, and it has to last me years. If it was $330... good luck getting that by her. Many people are in the same position. They look at what will give the the most acceptable performance at the lowest price. At the time of purchase I had to choose between an i3 or the 8350 at the $125 price range. What will be future-resistant for the next 4 years, a $125 i3 or the FX-8350? That was an easy call especially since it's a console replacement system.

I'd also hate a chip I couldn't overclock. An unlocked i5 was way out of my price range and a dual core Pentium is far too weak and not enough cores for modern and future games. I may have been swayed by an overclockable Haswell i3, but that's not on the market.

The FX line has it's place and fills the budget enthusiast niche very well. It's also rounded enough to be in the same conversation as an i7 to an i3 depending upon the use but below an i3 price. It might not be for you but for many it's the best choice at an affordable price.
 
2

2is

Diamond Member
Apr 8, 2012
4,281
131
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I'd never buy one personally. If I can't afford an i5 I'd simply save more money. Money being tight is a reason not to go AMD because you'll need the system to last. I don't want to blow my budget on an inefficient chip and an aging platform that only works well when all its cores can be utilized. I'll save the extra $80 that's necessary to build an i5 setup on a more modern platform that does everything well.
 
AtenRa

AtenRa

Lifer
Feb 2, 2009
14,003
3,362
136
2is said:
I'd never buy one personally. If I can't afford an i5 I'd simply save more money. Money being tight is a reason not to go AMD because you'll need the system to last. I don't want to blow my budget on an inefficient chip and an aging platform that only works well when all its cores can be utilized. I'll save the extra $80 that's necessary to build an i5 setup on a more modern platform that does everything well.
Click to expand...

Fair enough but not everyone thinks like you though. It is why AMD, Intel, and every other company has so many choices of SKUs. Other wise they would only make and sell a single CPU ;)
 
R

Ramses

Platinum Member
Apr 26, 2000
2,871
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81
Different strokes and all that.
If I can't afford an i7 I'd simply save more money.
Or buy an FX. :)
 
A

Abwx

Lifer
Apr 2, 2011
11,885
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136
Yuriman said:
Since then, AMD has not released a new FX-based architecture on AM3, only a 2-module/4 core APU on FM2 called Steamroller, while Intel has released Haswell, which included another single-threaded performance improvement and efficiency bump, and is relatively close to releasing Broadwell, Haswell's successor. .
Click to expand...

Actualy Haswell was a step back in efficency compared to IB, this allow the FX to compete with this gen, moreover given that softs get obviously more multithreaded, unfortunately AMD didnt get a smaller process that would had rendered relevant a Steamroller based FX, too bad since numbers suggets that Broadwell DT parts wont be more efficient than HW and hardly higher clocked.
 
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