Which CPU to buy?

Mtt

Member
Apr 22, 2010
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I am thinking of buying an AMD cpu.

Here are the candidates I am considering,
FX-8300,FX-8320,FX-8350,FX-9370

I read that they are all the same except that the more expensive ones are cherry picked.

The question is, how much better is each one comparing to the other? I only care about OC potential not the stock speed. Say if I buy FX-9370, would it have more OC potential than FX-8350? And how much more?

I have a corsair H80i cooler and I am expecting the one I buy will be able to overclock to about 4.7Ghz. Btw power consumtion is not of a concern for me, as long as it can stay stable.
 

inf64

Diamond Member
Mar 11, 2011
3,884
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FX8320 is best bang for the buck (due to lower price). Newer batches should clock similar to what 8350 could do from the start (~4.5-4.7Ghz max. achievable OC on good air or WC).

8300 is best perf./watt probably but has a higher price than 8320 (I think).
8350 is also very competitively priced, especially if you can get a combo deal(similar goes for 8320 ;) ). Basically maybe +100Mhz more than 8320 in OC terms and +15-20% better stock vs stock performance.

9370 is niche part, granted you get 4.4/4.7Ghz guaranteed SKU. It comes at higher power draw tho (in load, idle is pretty much the same). Also price is therefore higher. Performance wise it is between 3770K and 4770K in modern desktop application workloads(multiply 8350's score by 1.1x and you will see where 9370 lands). OC potential is probably a bit better than 8350, I'd say +100Mhz to 200Mhz maximum which does not warrant such a price premium (maybe for those looking solely at stock performance vs 8350 it does). So maybe you could get a stable 4.9Ghz or even 5Ghz out of it but 5Ghz stable 83xx are very rare. From 9950/9370 reviews so far only 9950 was OCed to 5Ghz and it was done on WC setup (basically they set the Turbo clock to be "stock").
 

Arkaign

Lifer
Oct 27, 2006
20,736
1,379
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Examine the benches carefully before making this move.

Do you have a mobo already? That makes the 8320/50 very attractive if that's already in place and compatible.

Otherwise, depending on your uses, a different processor may make more sense to you. For some things the 8320/50 are VERY good. Others, well .. not so much. It really comes down to a user by user basis.

To get 4.7Ghz, your best bet will be 8350 for sure. They are just binned better, that's been confirmed ad nauseum. It's not that the 8320 is bad, I think it's a better value due to 4.5Ghz being virtually indistinguishable from 4.7Ghz in actual use (E-peen value only!), while offering dramatically lower temps/voltages and being easier to get prime stable.

My advice is get the 8320 if you want one of these, and shoot for 4.5 instead. That said, it's just advice, do what you will. 200Mhz isn't going to amount to anything though other than bragging rights.