Whether to upgrade 6yr old sys. GA-970A-D3 (rev. 3.0)

bobhowell

Member
Aug 5, 2007
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I see I can get a nice new processor ;
AMD FX-8350 Black Edition Vishera 8-Core 4.0 GHz (4.2 GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 125W FD8350FRHKBOX Desktop Processor

For $79 from Newegg.

I have lost touch with latest developments and don't really know how far I can stretch this MB. A new vid card cured many issues and with this price I am wondering if another processor would be worth it.

Win 10
32 mgs ram
lots of hd space.

Use this for surfing webb and email. Nothing else heavy.

Thanks for any advice you may have.
 

Markfw

Moderator Emeritus, Elite Member
May 16, 2002
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No, just NO. With the Ryzen line, the cheapest Ryzen will beat that. What is the budget ?
Also, you don;t want to put any money into a dead platform, forget AM3+
 

whm1974

Diamond Member
Jul 24, 2016
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No, just NO. With the Ryzen line, the cheapest Ryzen will beat that. What is the budget ?
Also, you don;t want to put any money into a dead platform, forget AM3+
I'm not sure if I would buy an entire system using that CPU to use for that much.
 

amd6502

Senior member
Apr 21, 2017
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32 mgs ram
lots of hd space.

Use this for surfing webb and email. Nothing else heavy.

32 MB of ram would not be enough these days to surf the web, but 32 GB would be very nice.

I've made usable www surf machines with 4 GB but unless you configure it well, I think 6gb is far better and 8gb is comfortable and standard.

An 8350 would be overkill for this use but quite future proof. Excellent multithreading CPU. (I have the lower powered 8300 which is similar.)

I believe firefox (or chrome) will by default use all threads available (8) unless you manually specify otherwise. This makes it faster but has some memory overhead. If you're running on under 4gb of ram you might want to lower this to something like 3 threads.

To answer the question of if it's worth it, the missing info is what CPU you're upgrading from. If it's a phenom x4 or fx-4100 the answer is yes. If upgrading from a phenom x6 or fx-6100 it really depends or maybe not.
 
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NTMBK

Lifer
Nov 14, 2011
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An 8350 would be a bit better than your Phenom II for web browsing, but not massively better. Here's some benchmarks comparing the two on a bunch of different tests: https://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/697?vs=102 The 8350 is consistently faster, especially on tasks that make good use of all 8 cores.

It's a decent step forward, but still miles behind a modern CPU. Up to you whether that's worth $79, or if you'd rather save for a new board.
 
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mikeymikec

Lifer
May 19, 2011
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I wouldn't be surprised if the lowliest Ryzen would generally give an 8350 a spanking, maybe get edged out with heavily threaded workloads.

IMO @bobhowell your current rig is fine, and by the sounds of things you agree. +1 other suggestion for an SSD, they make a huge difference to performance, a far greater difference to the basic workloads you describe than an 8350 would (the 8350 TBH IMO would make zero difference to your workloads). I also think the 8350 is blatantly over-priced considering it's what, 5 years old now?

An SSD (assuming you don't buy the absolute cheapest thing you can find, go with a decent manufacturer and model) is a good solid long-term investment (ie. I'd use it again when eventually you need to replace cpu/mobo), whereas I'd only vaguely consider the 8350 in your circumstances if you were planning on trying to do heavily threaded workloads on the tightest of budgets (though I'd still question whether it's worth holding on to your PhX4 and continue saving for a proper, bigger upgrade when you can afford it).

Uh, @bobhowell , do you have 16 or 32GB RAM? I mean, either is massive overkill for browsing and e-mail (I have customers doing that with 4GB and no complaints, 8GB is pretty safe IMO unless you're a massive tab junkie, leaving a multitude of tabs open for days on end).
 

scannall

Golden Member
Jan 1, 2012
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This very basic build will run rings around what you already have.

Very Basic ElCheapo

Edit: Updated the ElCheapo build for current prices and products.
 
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Insert_Nickname

Diamond Member
May 6, 2012
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Agree with the other posters, an SSD would be a better investment. You can also reuse it in a future build.

I wouldn't bother upgrading to anything BD related today. Zen(+) or (2) or bust. Even a lowly Athlon 200GE would likely match your Phenom II.

But if he's already invested in 32GB of DDR3 RAM?

The day the OP upgrades his platform, it should at least have a decent resale value. An alternative would be if the OP can find a first gen SKL board with DDR3 support. But those only go up to 4 cores, but still provide a tremendous upgrade from a Phenom II.
 

escrow4

Diamond Member
Feb 4, 2013
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From CPUbenchmark (which isn't exactly that accurate sure but as an indicator)

- 8350 - Just under 9000 marks
- Phenom 965 - Just over 4000 marks
- Athlon 200GE - Just under 5000 marks
- i3 8100 - Just over 8000 marks

I'd be more worried about that mobo. You could spend $79 and then if it dies you are stuck with a dead obsolete system. The 8350 is also a power pig and dumps a lot of heat. That said I wouldn't use a dual core so that leaves either a 2200G or i3 8100 building new which would use literally half the power. Your choice OP.
 

amd6502

Senior member
Apr 21, 2017
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But if he's already invested in 32GB of DDR3 RAM?

I totally agree (that 32GB alone would cost over $200 if moving to DDR4, and a board and CPU that can keep up with the multithread of the FX almost another $200). That board and memory is so underutilized by the Phenom x4 (which is also missing some pretty important encryption instructions).

Yes the Phenom can serve for browsing. Browsing has a very wide range of application. For a lite browsing and email machine for mom the x4 is quite decent. However the Phenom is far from ideal for someone on the opposite spectrum, using well over 8GB and probably browsing with loads of tabs. Some websites can be very CPU intensive, while others are not. The Phenom lacks some important frequently used modern encryption instructions while the 8350 (despite its age) is pretty up to date, and the multithread loads from browsing fit very well with the capabilities of the 8350 (which was designed as a server chip).

$80 is a very small amount to spend for that sort of upgrade that in my opinion will make miles of difference. It might be more of a question of do you want to spend time opening up the case and swapping the processor.

Now supposedly thermal paste lasts 5 to 10 years and then starts drying out. So that would be an excuse to upgrade.
 
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VirtualLarry

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Aug 25, 2001
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$80 is a very small amount to spend for that sort of upgrade that in my opinion will make miles of difference. It might be more of a question of do you want to spend time opening up the case and swapping the processor.
Agreed. I read the OP as he already had the 32GB of RAM. If he DOES NOT, and wanted to buy 32GB of DDR3, to do this upgrade, then I would advise against buying too much older tech. But if he already has the board and RAM, then sure, drop in the chip.
 
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CluelessOne

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Jun 19, 2015
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OP stated he already has an SSD. Instead of spending the $80, why not migrate the OS first to the SSD and see if it met his expectations first? If it is still lacking, then proceed to buy that processor. It takes only less than one hour to install the SSD and migrate the OS.
 
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amd6502

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Apr 21, 2017
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I think after that upgrade any perceptible latencies will not be CPU related. It will all be network limited. If it isn't already running on ethernet, I would consider switching from wifi to ethernet, assuming OP has a pretty fast ISP.

OP stated he already has an SSD. Instead of spending the $80, why not migrate the OS first to the SSD and see if it met his expectations first? If it is still lacking, then proceed to buy that processor. It takes only less than one hour to install the SSD and migrate the OS.

Migrating systems is a pain; I'm always loath to get into that unless I have to. Maybe you have some tricks.

Once a machine has finished booting there really isn't too much drive access. Not from the browser anyway. And there is so much free ram I think windows will likely have a large ramdisk. While booting and opening apps may be worlds different I think the browsing experience will be unaffected by moving to an SSD.
 
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