should I abandon the AMD ship? (Updated)

[Cheesesticksandbeer]

Hello

I am wanting to update my primary rig. AMD FX 6300 @ 4.6ghz, gigabyte 990FXA-ud3, 8gig ddr3 1600, 2x840 evo ssds, Corsair TX750 PSU, and Sapphire 7970 (second in the mail for crossfire).

Basically I am looking at getting a 8350 for 150$ or i5\Z97 combo for 285$ at micro center. My big issue is, with having a solid board, is the 8350 the smart upgrade or would the Intel path be better. No issues with cost, more focused on which purchase would be wiser of the two. I have been looking and watching prices for awhile, I can not decide.

Gaming
Bf4
Thief
Titanfall
Csgo
Dota2
Diablo3
Dayz

I also use 3 monitors, if that matters.

 

[davie jambo]

I would not bother. You'll get 10 frames extra. Just wait.

I had an fx8350 and moved to i7 3770k was not worth it in any way

 

[Cheesesticksandbeer]

Would the fx 8350 upgrade be worth it?

 

[Madpacket]

Would the fx 8350 upgrade be worth it?

Not in your case.

 

[davie jambo]

Buy another 7970 if you really must upgrade

 

[guskline]

Buy another 7970 if you really must upgrade

It appears from his post that is ordered. I'd get the crossfire running and then see.

 

[Roland00Address]

• Buy yourself a nice glass of your favorite form of alcohol.
• Raise your glass and tip all the good times you had with AMD, saluting their past success.
• Drink.
• Have Fun that night
• Go to bed drunk and cry a little mourning what AMD has become.
• The next day move on, and appreciate the good things intel is doing and hope that somehow AMD will pull out a miracle and make an awesome product that is better in every way.

I also use 3 monitors, if that matters.

Or keep your AMD and buy another graphic card to do your eyefinity or surround for 3 monitors is a lot of pixels. Or do a crossfire (except if I recall eyefinity has problems with crossfire due to the copying of the buffer through the crossfire links instead of through the much faster pci express), you might want to look into this since you said you have another one on its way

 

[SPBHM]

upgrading from a 6 core overclocked Vishera FX to an 8 core version doesn't sound that good, in many (or most) games performance is going to be the same...

so I think going for haswell or keeping what you have is the way to go

 

[AtenRa]

Sell that HD7970 and get the R9 290X, it will be much much better for 3x monitor setup now that 290X prices are going down.

 

[Phynaz]

Sell that HD7970 and get the R9 290X, it will be much much better for 3x monitor setup now that 290X prices are going down.

What a horrible suggestion. I take you failed to read he has a second 7970 in the mail.

 

[Phynaz]

For multi-monitor - multi-gpu gaming the Intel CPU lays the AMD CPU to waste.

 

[AtenRa]

What a horrible suggestion. I take you failed to read he has a second 7970 in the mail.

Cant he return the one in mail and buy the R9 290X ??

 

[davie jambo]

Two 7970s in crossfire would be better than a single 290x

 

[Yuriman]

If you're CPU limited in a game with your FX-6300, adding two more cores isn't likely to help, you're lacking single-threaded performance. Admittedly, it's a respectable chip at 4.6GHz, but modern Intel CPUs have considerably higher IPC - around 80% in Cinebench single-threaded, which was the first 1:1 comparison I was able to find in Anand's reviews - so you'd be looking at needing around 8GHz to match a stock i7 or i5 thread-for-thread, not counting the module shared resource hit.

You're not going to see an 80% performance improvement in any game (not even close), but you'll need to look at individual benchmarks for the games you play. I'd expect better minimums and fewer latency spikes in anything CPU bound.

 

[AtenRa]

Two 7970s in crossfire would be better than a single 290x

In absolute fps yes, actual gameplay will be better with a single R9 290X. Unless he needs the highest Image quality possible with 3 monitors using a single R9 290X.

 

[AtenRa]

If you're CPU limited in a game with your FX-6300, adding two more cores isn't likely to help, you're lacking single-threaded performance. Admittedly, it's a respectable chip at 4.6GHz, but modern Intel CPUs have considerably higher IPC - around 80% in Cinebench single-threaded, which was the first 1:1 comparison I was able to find in Anand's reviews - so you'd be looking at needing around 8GHz to match a stock i7 or i5 thread-for-thread, not counting the module shared resource hit.

You're not going to see an 80% performance improvement in any game (not even close), but you'll need to look at individual benchmarks for the games you play. I'd expect better minimums and fewer latency spikes in anything CPU bound.

Looking at single thread CPU performance in Cinebench tells you nothing about gaming performance especially with 3 monitors.

 

[davie jambo]

In absolute fps yes, actual gameplay will be better with a single R9 290X. Unless he needs the highest Image quality possible with 3 monitors using a single R9 290X.

Gameplay would be the same. Best upgrade he can do is add the other card he's ordered anyway. In some games his frames will go up 40%

 

[AtenRa]

For multi-monitor - multi-gpu gaming the Intel CPU lays the AMD CPU to waste.

You mean something like that ???

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6934/choosing-a-gaming-cpu-single-multigpu-at-1440p/5

 

[Yuriman]

Looking at single thread CPU performance in Cinebench tells you nothing about gaming performance especially with 3 monitors.

Having a faster CPU doesn't matter if you're not CPU limited, yes. Most games are not heavily CPU limited. OP needs to look at benchmarks for individual games.

 

[AtenRa]

Having a faster CPU doesn't matter if you're not CPU limited, yes. Most games are not heavily CPU limited. OP needs to look at benchmarks for individual games.

Gaming
Bf4
Thief
Titanfall
Csgo
Dota2
Diablo3
Dayz

I also use 3 monitors, if that matters.

Except perhaps of Diablo 3, i dont believe the rest need more than a FX6300 @ 4.6GHz CPU with 3 monitors.
Another recommendation to consider is to sell the HD7970, return the second 7970 and buy 2x Custom R9 290. That will be even better than a single 290X and it will not cost him that much more.

 

[Vesku]

Would the fx 8350 upgrade be worth it?

Having gone from a Phenom II 1090T@3.6GHz to a i5-3450@3.8GHz my suggestion is wait for Black Friday or Cyber Monday and go to an i7 setup that fits your budget and needs. I believe the Devil's Canyon K chips have more complete feature sets than previous K series chips if you are interested in virtualization and security features.

Edit: If your goal is mainly to game on 3 monitors I'd prioritize on getting whatever is the best overall GPU upgrade during November holiday sales weekend.

 

[SPBHM]

Except perhaps of Diablo 3, i dont believe the rest need more than a FX6300 @ 4.6GHz CPU with 3 monitors.
Another recommendation to consider is to sell the HD7970, return the second 7970 and buy 2x Custom R9 290. That will be even better than a single 290X and it will not cost him that much more.

Dayz is horrible with any CPU, but I think haswell i5 would be a clear improvement.

 

[Ramses]

I agree with researching benchmarks for specific applications(games). And don't mistake finicky crossfire for a lack of CPU. The single 290x recommendation has merit imo after recently getting into crossfire myself. I've been very pleased with the 8350 and a pair of 280x's but I'm only single 1080p, and they are still.. finicky.. at times. I'm happy with AMD overall(just bought a 9590 for giggles), but I wouldn't spend money on anything but GPU right now if I were you unless it's just for the hell of it.

Also, buy my 8350.

 

[Ramses]

You mean something like that ???

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6934/choosing-a-gaming-cpu-single-multigpu-at-1440p/5

I love how the old 1100T is still in there and plenty playable.

 

[Cheesesticksandbeer]

Thanks for all the replies. Correct I have a 7970 on the way, got a direct refurb on eBay for 125$. I must say 325 total for my 2 7970s in CF which does beat 290x is hard to beat and will keep this setup for awhile.

For more depth, I am concerned about bottleneck, and I will have to bench to truly find out. That said, I have been happy with my 6300 @ 4.6 sub 1.4v 24/7 stable.

The issue is the upgrade bug, just like tinkering with my setup and I know better is available for not much coin. Also believe the i7/Z97 combos at micro center for around 380 might be viable.

I have been an exclusive AMD user for 10+ years based on value. Besides a Q6600 dell deal I got a few years ago.

Ramses got a price on that 8350?