Phenom 980 or FX 8350???

[grimpr]

For gaming undoubtly but in MT the 8350 can have as much as 50%
better perf than the 3570K.

http://techreport.com/review/23750/amd-fx-8350-processor-reviewed/13

Of course , as times goes by you can expect thoses 15% to shrink
since games are progressively improved MT wise....

They are already, Far Cry 3 spawns as much as 8 threads in game for parallel loading of textures etc, the 8 integer cores make a difference there, games and apps load faster, windows boots faster since it uses parallel loading etc.

 

[JimmiG]

I have been bashing my head against the wall for 3 weeks now. ( and boy my head hurts. bah dum dum! lol) Here are my current system specs. (I am sure many of you have had to answer this question over and over again so sorry in advance, but I could really use the help.)

Phenom II X 4 980 3.7 gig
Asus Sabertooth 990 FX mobo
16 gig Corsair vengance 1600 mem
1tb WD Caviar Black 64mb cache
Gigabyte GTX 670 Windforce GPU
Thermaltake 850 watt PSU
Win 7 pro 64

Ok so the question is...Should I upgrade to the FX-8350 or keep what I have? It seems with the more CPU intensive games my system lacks punch. I don't think adding another video card will change that. I think the bottleneck is in the CPU. Could I be right? I was thinking about going Intel but the price is just too much. Any suggestions?

Kind of similar specs here but DDR2 RAM and a lesser GPU. I'm holding off until Haswell comes out. Don't see a point in getting anything new from AMD. Might as well have gotten a 2500K in early 2011 then, and enjoyed better performance for the last two years.

Of course you can just pop a new CPU into your mobo without replacing anything else. I'd say go for it, unless you feel like building an entirely new (Intel) system. There might be a small performance jump.

 

[Redemption 77]

That is true, but first the OP says intel plus a new mb is too expensive: ok, I can accept that. But then he says, what if I did it "for argument's sake". If he already has made the decision, what is the point of bringing up theoretical arguments? Plus considering the OP can afford a GT670, I seriously doubt the 20 dollars extra for the 3570K plus maybe 100 dollars for a mb would make him "go broke".

I am trying to gather as much data as possible to make an educated decision. Just because I have a GTX 670, doesn't mean I could afford it. It took me months to work to pay back the loan I got to buy it, hence the reason I a bit bullish about spending money I don't have too. I would rather have theoretical arguments than lose real world money. I checked through several online sites, Newegg (my favorite) Tiger Direct, and Amazon and there was no $100 mobo worth buying. Just because I am on a budget, doesnt mean I want cheap product either. I have had my Phenom and Sabertooth ever since they came out so this is the first true upgrade I will make in a while. I know the FX is pretty competitivly price wise with the i5 but the cheapest motherboard I would consider getting is the Asus Sabertooth Z77. Not a brand loyalist, but it is a damn good board that would last me another 3 years.

 

[Redemption 77]

They are already, Far Cry 3 spawns as much as 8 threads in game for parallel loading of textures etc, the 8 integer cores make a difference there, games and apps load faster, windows boots faster since it uses parallel loading etc.

Funny you mention FC3! I bought it the day it came out and have been unable to play it smoothly. I know most of it is the game needing patching, butstill more and more games are using more cores and I dont want to go into 2013 lagging behind.

 

[Redemption 77]

Does anyone have recommendations on the best Intel Mobo /CPU combo sub $500? Mobos are real important to me, thats why I try not to cut too many corners. I figure I need to get at least 2 CPU changes out of it. So about 3-5 years. I know nothing is truely future proof, but if I can play BF3, Crysis 2, Secret World maxed out today and also BF4, Crysis 3, Star Wars 1313, Watchdogs, and all of the new Unreal engine 4 stuff over the next couple of years, I will be happy.

 

[guskline]

Redemption 77: Please look at my specs for rig 3. Almost identical to yours except I have the FX 8350. I had a 965BE and the 8350 is faster and smoother. If you were building a new rig, Intel might be the way to go but if you can snag the 8350 for under $190 I think you will be very pleased. Especially since you have the Corsair H100 (same as me). It really gives you cooling overhead to OC the 8350. BTW, here is the Anandtech benchmark link comparing the 980 to the 8350:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/362?vs=697

 

[grimpr]

Funny you mention FC3! I bought it the day it came out and have been unable to play it smoothly. I know most of it is the game needing patching, butstill more and more games are using more cores and I dont want to go into 2013 lagging behind.

For your information, before the 1.04 patch FC3 had huge bugs that caused gpu temperature meltdowns, bsods and slow performance. 1.04 fixed the majority and now the game plays fine with the resolution toned down ofcourse, its engine is fully multithreaded, it uses 4 threads for simple scenes or walking around but spawns up to 8 when in heavy firefights and loading new textures from the ssd, an 8 threaded cpu makes for a much smoother experience in game.

 

[lehtv]

Sell the X4 980 and Sabertooth 990FX for about $220-250 (estimate based on eBay completed listings) and buy i5-3570K + Asrock Z77 Pro3 for $297 (-$15 promo gift card). Overclock to 4.2-4.4GHz using a cooler like Hyper 212 Evo. That will net you about a +60-70% boost in CPU performance at the cost of some motherboard features like SLI/Crossfire.

By comparison, FX-83xx would results in a rather marginal increase in gaming performance.

 

[guskline]

Also if you notice, I have 2 2500k rigs and the 8350 stays with them. Yes on artificial gamemarks the 2500ks @4.5 Ghz score slightly higher than the 8350 but the 8350 beats them in Cinebench 11.5 etc.

 

[Redemption 77]

Redemption 77: Please look at my specs for rig 3. Almost identical to yours except I have the FX 8350. I had a 965BE and the 8350 is faster and smoother. If you were building a new rig, Intel might be the way to go but if you can snag the 8350 for under $190 I think you will be very pleased. Especially since you have the Corsair H100 (same as me). It really gives you cooling overhead to OC the 8350. BTW, here is the Anandtech benchmark link comparing the 980 to the 8350:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/362?vs=697

Wow! Thanks for the link! I was just thinking, what do I have to lose buy giving the FX a try. If I don't like it, I could just sell it paired with the Sabertooth and then go Intel this summer. Thanks all for your input! I will let you know how I fair!!!

 

[lehtv]

A lot of time and some money is what you have got to lose. By going with Intel now you wouldn't have to mess around only to find out that your framerates are largely the same as before.

 

[guskline]

Wow! Thanks for the link! I was just thinking, what do I have to lose buy giving the FX a try. If I don't like it, I could just sell it paired with the Sabertooth and then go Intel this summer. Thanks all for your input! I will let you know how I fair!!!

I will frankly tell you that the Intel rig will be a little faster BUT with what you have already adding a FX8350 AND OCing will give you a solid machine. BTW, your Thermaltake 850 PSU is PLENTY. I have an Antec 750W gamer and is has plenty of power for my rig three. I have 4 fans running on the Corsair H100 (I'm a cooling freak), have the FX8350 Oc'd to 4.6Ghz(clearly uses more power but outstanding performance) and I have an EVGA GTX670 FTW running with an Intel 80G ssd for the OS and a WD Blue 500g hdd for the data. Also have 16G Of Gsklil DDR3-1866 ram in a CM HAF 932 Advanced case. The PSU never is overtaxed so you are in great shape with a Thermaltake 850. I have an Asus Sabertooth FX990 Rev1 mb with the latest BIOS so if you get the 8350 and need hints on BIOS settings for OCing the 8350 let me know.

 

[grimpr]

Here's a screenshot of FC3 just idling by the sea. It spawns 6 threads.

 

[guskline]

A lot of time and some money is what you have got to lose. By going with Intel now you wouldn't have to mess around only to find out that your framerates are largely the same as before.

My dear friend Lehtv: I notice in your sig a 3770k which is @$100 more than a FX8350. Have you owned and used a FX8350 to compare to an Intel like I have? No one will argue that the 3770k is faster but in multi-core gaming the 8350, properly OC'd IS faster than the 980BE. Please check the Anandtech link I posted for Redemption 77. Thank was stock 980BE vs stock 8350.
In fairness to you and your point, here is the comparison between the stock 8350 and the stock 3770k:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/697?vs=551

 

[inf64]

Here's a screenshot of FC3 just idling by the sea. It spawns 6 threads.

Check your CPU usage bar. It's around 45% which means it uses less than 50% of your 8 threaded chip. That's around 4 fully loaded cores. Game can spawn 10 threads and it won't mean much if the overall usage is less than 50% of the available CPU resources(cores).

 

[grimpr]

Check your CPU usage bar. It's around 45% which means it uses less than 50% of your 8 threaded chip. That's around 4 fully loaded cores. Game can spawn 10 threads and it won't mean much if the overall usage is less than 50% of the available CPU resources(cores).

You're right but the game is gpu bound anyway and the 8 threads makes for a more smoother experience.

 

[parvadomus]

I am trying to set myself up for the games of 2013 like Star Wars 1313 and watchdogs. I would like better BF3 performance as well.

I dont know about the other games but for BF3 FX8350 are probably on par with 3570K, the same for FC3.

Spoiler

It seems more and more games are moving to more threads and FXs are looking better every day.

 

[frozentundra123456]

I am trying to gather as much data as possible to make an educated decision. Just because I have a GTX 670, doesn't mean I could afford it. It took me months to work to pay back the loan I got to buy it, hence the reason I a bit bullish about spending money I don't have too. I would rather have theoretical arguments than lose real world money. I checked through several online sites, Newegg (my favorite) Tiger Direct, and Amazon and there was no $100 mobo worth buying. Just because I am on a budget, doesnt mean I want cheap product either. I have had my Phenom and Sabertooth ever since they came out so this is the first true upgrade I will make in a while. I know the FX is pretty competitivly price wise with the i5 but the cheapest motherboard I would consider getting is the Asus Sabertooth Z77. Not a brand loyalist, but it is a damn good board that would last me another 3 years.

I still am confused by the direction of your post, but despite the title, I will assume that you are willing to consider intel.

In any case, we have again been steered to selective benchmarks which favor AMD. There are some games that the 8350 is equal to an i5, notably BF3 and perhaps FC3.

However, in some games such as Civ 5, Skyrim, SC2, and a lot of MMOs, the i5 is much faster than the FX. So overall, the i5 is a much more balanced processor for gaming. Pretty much equal in certain games and clearly ahead in others, while using less power.

In your particular case though, I would think since you already have a MB that will take the 8350, that is probably the best option, especially if you are strapped for cash. If you happen to live near a Microcenter however, they have very good deals on CPU/mb combos.

 

[squirrel dog]

a large fast ssd drive would make your present system feel like a new computer.

 

[guskline]

I still am confused by the direction of your post, but despite the title, I will assume that you are willing to consider intel.

In any case, we have again been steered to selective benchmarks which favor AMD. There are some games that the 8350 is equal to an i5, notably BF3 and perhaps FC3.

However, in some games such as Civ 5, Skyrim, SC2, and a lot of MMOs, the i5 is much faster than the FX. So overall, the i5 is a much more balanced processor for gaming. Pretty much equal in certain games and clearly ahead in others, while using less power.

In your particular case though, I would think since you already have a MB that will take the 8350, that is probably the best option, especially if you are strapped for cash. If you happen to live near a Microcenter however, they have very good deals on CPU/mb combos.

I agree with the Microcenter suggestion! You can buy a 3770k/mb combo for @$300 so if you clear $100 selling the Sabertooth FX990 and 980 BE you are ahead of buyiing a 8350 for @$200 ( with the exception of re-installing the OS for the 3770k/mb combo).

I saw an estimate of $220-250 for selloing the Sabertooth/980BE combo. In my opinion that's high when you factor in shipping, ebay fees etc. Ithink you would probably clear closer to $150-175 for the sale of those.

Redemption 77: What is the most $$ out of pocket you can spend?

 

[Abwx]

buy i5-3570K + Asrock Z77 Pro3 for $297 (-$15 promo gift card). Overclock to 4.2-4.4GHz using a cooler like Hyper 212 Evo. That will net you about a +60-70% boost in CPU performance

Increasing frequency by 20-30% result in 60-70% boost in perfs..?...

 

[frozentundra123456]

Increasing frequency by 20-30% result in 60-70% boost in perfs..?...

Obviously he is comparing the overclocked i5 to the Phenom the OP has now. That estimate seems accurate.

 

[lehtv]

My dear friend Lehtv: I notice in your sig a 3770k which is @$100 more than a FX8350. Have you owned and used a FX8350 to compare to an Intel like I have? No one will argue that the 3770k is faster but in multi-core gaming the 8350, properly OC'd IS faster than the 980BE.

I got the 3770K only for the price of a 3570K and I'm actually running it with HT off just to OC it further, at 4.7GHz currently.

I have not owned an FX8350 but all the evidence from CPU performance benchmarks points to the fact that it is much inferior in gaming compared to 3570K, and only a marginal upgrade over an X4 980 except in heavily multithreaded games of which there are few.

Please check the Anandtech link I posted for Redemption 77. Thank was stock 980BE vs stock 8350.

I posted that very same link in post #33. It shows a marginal increase in CPU-heavy gaming performance, only 10-15%. 3570K shows a 40-50% improvement. Would you rather pay $100 net for a 15% boost or $100 net for a 50% boost? That's what it comes down to when you factor in the value of the used hardware. It's a no brainer, and becomes even more so when you include Intel freebies such as integrated backup graphics and low power consumption.

 

[HydroSqueegee]

Intel for some, AMD for others!

its really just preference at this point. going Intel over AMD may get you some performance increase, minimal, but some. No matter what you get, it will be smoother and faster. Not sure why some people insist the 8350 doesnt play games well. if you're getting 55fps with your intel setup and im only getting 50fps with my amd, well good for you. still plays nice and smooth.

In fact, im just waiting a bit to build up some cash to get an 8350. Already have the mobo and ram (christmas gift and works with my phenom 2 550). The gigabyte mobo was $80 and 16gigs of gskill ripjaws was free with it. So pop in a $190 processor and im all set for a grand total of $270. weeee! sure it uses more power and isnt quite as fast. but who cares? ittl still be blazing fast over my current setup and last me a good number of years like my last one.

 

[AtenRa]

By comparison, FX-83xx would results in a rather marginal increase in gaming performance.

I have not owned an FX8350 but all the evidence from CPU performance benchmarks points to the fact that it is much inferior in gaming compared to 3570K, and only a marginal upgrade over an X4 980 except in heavily multithreaded games of which there are few.

Core i5 3570K to FX8350 have the same marginal increase in most of the current games (except a few DX-9 games like StarCraft and Skyrim).

I posted that very same link in post #33. It shows a marginal increase in CPU-heavy gaming performance, only 10-15%. 3570K shows a 40-50% improvement.

FX8350 is faster than Phenom II 980 from ~13% in StarCraft and up to 17,3% in Dawn of War.

980 vs FX8350
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/362?vs=697

Then FX8350 to Core i5 3570K is a MARGINAL increase as well, thank you very much :biggrin:

FX8350 vs 3570K
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/697?vs=701