"Upgrade" i7-860 to FX 8120 or stick with cheap 2nd PC

[wildside50]

I normally don't care for the "this processor vs this processor" threads, cause there's a million benchmarks out there to do simple comparisons, but I'm looking for some personal opinions from the community given my sittuation.

My current rig is an i7-860 on an Intel H55 mobo overclocked as far as the mobo will allow (because it doesn't allow voltage changes) despite having liquid cooling to a reasonable but unimpressive 150 mhz FSB or about 3.3Ghz with all 4 cores ablazing. So I reckon it's comperable to an i7-880 stock or i7-960 stock.

I am in need of a second computer almost exclusevely for letting her watch movies; blu rays, dvd's, some ripped ones, etc. But she's gonna grow into doing more on it and it'd be nice if it lasted for awhile. I have 4 gigs of DDR3 ram laying around, and a case and PS and HDD and disk drives. So all I need is a proc and mobo.

The plan was to get a Sandy Bridge Pentium G620 for 50 bucks and a 55 dollar mobo from Microcenter. It would be upgradable to the i3/i5/i7 of sandy or ivy bridge in the future, should the need arise. But then I got to Microcenter and saw a deal that made me pause. Buy a bulldozer FX chip and get a free mobo.

So now I am stuck between 3 choices.

1) Stick with the G620 and mobo and roll with it.
2) Get the FX 4100 for $109, and get the free mobo. The 4100 is faster in almost everything except games for the same price.
3) Get the FX 8120 for $199, get an even better free mobo, make that my primary rig, and give her the i7-860 rig.

I'm torn on if I believe the FX 8120 would be an upgrade from the i7. It wins in Premiere Pro and After Effects, which I use often, but loses so badly in many games, which I also do often. But option 3 gives me 2 very powerful PC's for only a little more money than either of the other 2 options.

So, what would ya'll do in my spot?

 

[podspi]

Couldn't you also build a machine with an 8120 and let 'her' have it? Honestly for movies and basic web browsing, pretty much any of those choices will be good enough.

What types of things is your girlfriend/wife planning on doing besides movies and Web browsing? If you go with a cheap SB + semi decent motherboard, not only can you upgrade to a higher end SB later on, but you should also be able to upgrade to IB.. It's hard to make the argument for AMD unless you are doing something that makes prodigious use of threads

 

[Gikaseixas]

Get the FX 8120 with a free mobo (given the mobo is better), oc it as much as you can and compare results vs the 860. If you happy keep it for yourself, if not give it to her.

$199 for both FX8120 and decent mobo is not bad

 

[daveybrat]

Get the FX 8120 with a free mobo (given the mobo is better), oc it as much as you can and compare results vs the 860. If you happy keep it for yourself, if not give it to her.

$199 for both FX8120 and decent mobo is not bad

I'd go for the FX8120 bundle with the Gigabyte motherboard.

This is the free Gigabyte board it comes with:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128519

Since the motherboard is $109 that means you are getting an 8-Core processor for $90!!

No matter if you keep the i7 or the FX you'll be happy. Personally as long as you use a nice heatsink like a CM Hyper 212+ i'd rather have the FX 8120 to have fun overclocking. That Gigabyte board has a ton of nice OC options in it and you should be able to get over 4GHz with the FX chip.

 

[AtenRa]

Get the FX 8120 with a free mobo (given the mobo is better), oc it as much as you can and compare results vs the 860. If you happy keep it for yourself, if not give it to her.

$199 for both FX8120 and decent mobo is not bad

Yeap, i would do the same. Im sure that if you OC the FX 8120 it will be faster than the 860 at the OC you have today.

 

[wildside50]

Couldn't you also build a machine with an 8120 and let 'her' have it? Honestly for movies and basic web browsing, pretty much any of those choices will be good enough.

What types of things is your girlfriend/wife planning on doing besides movies and Web browsing? If you go with a cheap SB + semi decent motherboard, not only can you upgrade to a higher end SB later on, but you should also be able to upgrade to IB.. It's hard to make the argument for AMD unless you are doing something that makes prodigious use of threads

Haha, I just realized I used a ubiquitous "her". The her in reference is my daughter. She is 2. So I honestly don't see her doing anything other than watching youtube, dvd's, blu rays, or MSpaint in the next year or two.

But my argument for my PC being the AMD is indeed threading, as I do a lot of Photoshop, Premiere Pro, and After Effects work; something the 8120 excells at. That and I have a soft spot for AMD. Probably not enough to warrent the 8120 over my i7, but maybe enough to warrent the 4100 over the g620....

 

[daveybrat]

Haha, I just realized I used a ubiquitous "her". The her in reference is my daughter. She is 2. So I honestly don't see her doing anything other than watching youtube, dvd's, blu rays, or MSpaint in the next year or two.

But my argument for my PC being the AMD is indeed threading, as I do a lot of Photoshop, Premiere Pro, and After Effects work; something the 8120 excells at. That and I have a soft spot for AMD. Probably not enough to warrent the 8120 over my i7, but maybe enough to warrent the 4100 over the g620....

Well, i know at my Microcenter they also have the FX 6100 Hex-Core cpu with free Gigabyte board for $139.00. I'd probably get that over the FX 4100 for $30 more.

My bundle choice in order would be:

FX 8120
FX 6100
FX 4100

 

[RavenSEAL]

Damn it, they need to build a Microcenter in Tampa!

That's a steal OP, I would sure as hell grab that 8120.

 

[Glyphor]

+1 for the 8120. Just got that deal and no regrets. (I would suggest to get a hyper 212+ if you plan to do a mild OC)

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

Switching from an i7-860 to an FX 8120 is a downgrade.

Oh and look I have an AMD processor so you fanboy criers can kindly shut up.

 

[Rvenger]

Switching from an i7-860 to an FX 8120 is a downgrade.

Oh and look I have an AMD processor so you fanboy criers can kindly shut up.

If he is playing games like BF3, the 8120 would outperform the i7-860.

OP, go for the 8120. The FX CPUs are no slouch. They show up slower in many benchmarks but I can honestly say that this FX6100 I have is a pretty nice CPU and has absolutely no issues in games. I switched my GTX 560 into the FX6100 and my minimums in BF3 multiplayer increased. I run a ton of apps in the background so that is probably why my 2500k is choking too.

 

[Sunburn74]

I'm not so sure about the bulldozer rig. Don't those things suck down power like crazy when oced?

Would you consider buying a new board for your 860 and OC that to its true potential. Then buying a replacement chip (something dual core, low power, etc) for your old h55 board which is better suited for your daughter (doesn't need an integrated graphics card, etc etc).

There is also the option to sell the 860 on ebay and get a decent value, buy a low power chip for the h55 board (for the daugter) and buy any mobo and any chip of your liking. I'm basically saying, you're not tied to the 860. You can sell it.

 

[Jman13]

For a 2 year old, get an old Core 2 Duo off eBay and let it ride. Heck, I'll sell you my C2D and MSI motherboard with RAM for $40. I just don't see the point in building a new machine for a toddler. It's going to take her years before she's doing anything that will tax the CPU.

My daughter's almost 4 and the most she can do with a computer is type her name.

 

[mrcool63]

Switching from an i7-860 to an FX 8120 is a downgrade.

Oh and look I have an AMD processor so you fanboy criers can kindly shut up.

That is not at all true.. 8120 has many improvements compared to 860.. on the anandtech benches the 8150 beats the 860 in all benchmarks except few sysmark ones.. the 8120 is just a few ghz less than 8150 so the comparision is apt.. further the 860's have been discontinued long long ago.. you would be buying an extinct and outdated architecture for the more money than a newer, updated and better architecture..

If he is playing games like BF3, the 8120 would outperform the i7-860.

OP, go for the 8120. The FX CPUs are no slouch. They show up slower in many benchmarks but I can honestly say that this FX6100 I have is a pretty nice CPU and has absolutely no issues in games. I switched my GTX 560 into the FX6100 and my minimums in BF3 multiplayer increased. I run a ton of apps in the background so that is probably why my 2500k is choking too.

i definitely agree.. 8120 is the way to go.. why buy an outdated processor??

 

[amenx]

Switching from an i7-860 to an FX 8120 is a downgrade.

Oh and look I have an AMD processor so you fanboy criers can kindly shut up.

Agreed. If the only thing you do on your PC is BF3 gaming (not that the 8120 is faster, probably an anomaly if so) and use 7-zip, then by all means go for it. The 860 is no slouch (4c/8t). And only in rare instances will you likely find the 8120 'slightly' besting it. But if budget is your top concern and the overall mobo/CPU package is significantly less, then I would understand.

 

[Denithor]

Would you consider buying a new board for your 860 and OC that to its true potential. Then buying a replacement chip (something dual core, low power, etc) for your old h55 board which is better suited for your daughter (doesn't need an integrated graphics card, etc etc).

Best suggestion I've seen yet. Just grab a better board for the i7, OC it properly, and grab an i3 cheap for the H55 for your daughter.

Profit from the power savings versus the FX.

 

[blckgrffn]

The power savings is only going to be under full load, I am guessing at idle the FX is going to be at least as good as that 860, if not better. This could be one of those scenarios so often seen in mobile computing - what costs more power? Hitting a task hard and getting it down more quickly or letting a less powerful CPU work at the task for longer? My bet is that power costs here are going to be a wash.

I was going to say consider getting the 960t and the Asrock 970 board ~($160 or so), unlock and enjoy, but if you are really pushing the threaded workloads then the 8120 all of a sudden makes more sense

There is that Antec H2O cooler for $50 as well... it'll make a nice companion for a 4.0 ghz FX

It's too bad you missed out on the 2600k for $230 + discounted mobo, but than again so did I. Doh.

 

[nyker96]

I don't think this will be much of an upgrade. In most daily tasks 860 will seem even faster than 8120. If you want a upgrade, just wait for Ivy or even Haswell if you can wait, get a new board with it.

 

[BD231]

If you're going 8120 you're moving backwards in IPC and as others have stated you're not getting as much as you could out of that 860. A good deal on a motherboard that can OC your chip to its true potential is indeed probably the better option as I'm sure any dual core athlon 2 and a sub par graphics card would suffice for a 2 year old. I see you're trying invest in better parts for yourself if its affordable and profit from the gains, however the 8120 is not anywhere near a substantial upgrade. If you're mainly thinking with yourself in mind its a pointless move, as you could buy a simple AM3 board with integrated video and a dual core Athlon two for $100.

I'd say take that extra hundred and get a good deal on a motherboard, either way you're investing in outdated CPU tech so you might as well stick with the better overall product.

 

[beginner99]

i7-860 ->FX 8120 = downgrade

Hence it makes no sense to buy a FX CPU that wastes tons of energy that a cheap SB Pentium can do too.

And if you actually have $199 to spare I would ANY DAY buy the Pentium and invest the remaining like $99 in an SSD. We can discuss about CPUs all day but for simple everyday tasks, they are idling most of the time anyway and the bottleneck is by far the HDD.

 

[Puppies04]

OP the answer seems simple to me....


Buy a proper 1156 mobo and actually OC that 860, take your old 1156 mobo and buy a cheap second hand dual core to slap in it for your daughter and build her a rig around that.