Relevancy of FX-series octo-"core" CPUs, for gaming in 2019?

[VirtualLarry]

I just saw a YT video from ScienceStudio, and they refurbed an FX-8350 based PC, and benchmarked it, and basically said, DON'T build a PC with this CPU (unless it only costs $20).

Which I found interesting, since I had just built an FX-8320E rig a week before, with 16GB RAM and a GT1030 2GB GDDR5 for my friend. I put Win7 64-bit on it.

If I upgraded the video card (which one?), how viable would this PC be for gaming?

My friend that I built it for, didn't want it, so I'm giving it to someone else, but I thought that I would ask if it needs a video card upgrade to be viable.

The end recipient will be a grand-child (Edit: of a friend, not mine) so I don't know if he will be playing any demanding titles on it or not. If I do upgrade the video card, that would be an extra cost for them. The base PC (as built), I'm offering as a freebie.

 

[whm1974]

The Rx 560 maybe depending on price?

 

[VirtualLarry]

The Rx 560 maybe depending on price?

Not a bad suggestion. Which would play games better, the GT1030 2GB GDDR5, or an RX 560 2GB GDDR5? I'm guessing the RX 560. I actually have both cards, as factory refurbs, and they were both around $70 + tax. I could swap the RX 560 in easily, if I cared to unbox the PC at this point. The person that I'm giving it to, said that they can't pick it up right away, so I may do that.

 

[whm1974]

Not a bad suggestion. Which would play games better, the GT1030 2GB GDDR5, or an RX 560 2GB GDDR5? I'm guessing the RX 560. I actually have both cards, as factory refurbs, and they were both around $70 + tax. I could swap the RX 560 in easily, if I cared to unbox the PC at this point. The person that I'm giving it to, said that they can't pick it up right away, so I may do that.

If the 560 you have had 4GB of memory instead of two then it would be a no brainer.

 

[whm1974]

@VirtualLarry Personally I wouldn't buy a dGPU with only 2GB of memory or refurbished in 2019. Here is something for $100 w/4GB of vram:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814930003

 

[VirtualLarry]

That's an ASRock Phantom Gaming RX 560 4GB GDDR5 single-fan card for $100, for those watching at home.

 

[ao_ika_red]

You can stick 1080 on it and it will still play any game decently. It's just a matter of how you define decent gaming experience.
For me, anything more than 30 fps is quite decent already.

 

[whm1974]

You can stick 1080 on it and it will still play any game decently. It's just a matter of how you define decent gaming experience.
For me, anything more than 30 fps is quite decent already.

But why would you want to stick a recent high end card into a rig that old instead of something newer and with much higher ST performance?

 

[ao_ika_red]

But why would you want to stick a recent high end card into a rig that old instead of something newer and with much higher ST performance?

Well, Larry asked viability of FX rig on 2019 for gaming, hence my answer. What I want to say is, you can stick best and latest video card you can have but your fps would be lower (much lower, tbh but still playable, for me at least) than when you use the card with latest gen of CPU.

 

[mopardude87]

Just nope to the 8350 and just nope to anything with less then 6gb of vram for gaming if your even remotely serious about gaming.A used 1070 would be choice honestly.One of my buddies had a 8350 and moved to a 7700k and even at 4K on his 1080ti he swears there is a difference.The 8350 is sitting in my closet right now mainly cause the motherboard crapped out.Did pull out 8gb of the 16gb installed on it and put it into a i3 2100 rig for another friend.I guess that is a benefit of the busted motherboard lol. Not even sure if its even worth $50 or whatever a new board would cost to revive that 8350.Living room computer has my old i5 4460 and 8gb and its capable enough.

If i did revive the 8350 it may be to see how it performs in BF1/BF5 but from various youtube videos i have seen yeah even with all those threads its gonna run like a dog.

 

[dainthomas]

I guess I'll never sell my old 8350 rig (for enough to be worth it) if they're in that low esteem. Oh well, I was thinking of turning it into a Chrome box for the kids anyway.

 

[crashtech]

I would think that a smaller Nvidia card like a 1060 6GB would incur less CPU overhead than other cards with similar VRAM and therefore provide a better experience in a CPU bound situation. They can be had for $150 or even less if you find a deal.