Worth going 790X/SB750 to 990FX/SB950 for free?

[alkemyst]

my dad is doing an insane upgrade to his rig.

He was running:
Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 now a RIVE

Phenom 955 at 3.2Ghz now 3930K

8GB of ram now 32GB of ultra low latency

1TB Samsung now 512GB 840 SSD and 3TB of data

Keeping his XFX 6870 Double D, but is thinking a 7970

Corsair 650W to Antec HDP-1300

Stock cooler to a H100i

My rig is at http://www.30moons.com/pc_chiapet.php

Basically my dad is handing me his:

Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 and I have just an old GA-MA790XT-UD4P

I think even with my Phenom 955 it would be an upgrade for more USB + 3.0 USB + faster SATA.

It's still a lot of work to do for a good running system.

 

[BUnit1701]

For free, I cant object. It boils down to are the extra features worth the time and effort for you?

 

[alkemyst]

I am going to do the upgrade or go for at least something else. I am planning on adding a Samsung 840 512GB soon and my current board (the GA-MA790XT-UD4P) only has 3GB/s SATA.

Also I have no 3.0 USB nor high power ones...with iPhones this is a big benefit.

Plus I can go to the x6 and add-on to my current RAM (at 8GB now under Win8 64bit)

What I have to decide is do I just go 4670k and be done with it for a lot longer...

I have to decide about my 4890 too. Most games are still good at 1920x1200, but I am not really a gamer.

 

[nenforcer]

What CPU are you coming from on your GA-MA790XT-UD4P?

The 955 or even an X6 still has some life left in it and with a new SSD running at SATA III 6GBps you can stretch it out even further.

The AMD Radeon HD 9000 series is suppose to be announced next Wednesday, September 25th so have your Dad hold off up upgrading his video card until early October and you can then have his 6870 after he upgrades.

I'd definitely give your Dad's old rig a spin before purchasing all new parts.

 

[alkemyst]

my build/rig is in my first post.

It's a 955 at 3.7G

 

[Jabrono]

The Gigabyte board is a good piece of hardware. If you're planning an 8-core FX down the road, the VRM's could give you problems but stick with your 955 on all is good. The early revisions, i.e. 1.0 and 1.1 are most desirable

My secondary rig has a 955 BE @ 4.1GHz in a 990FXA-UD3 rev 3.0.

DO IT!

 

[alkemyst]

I will check on the revisions. Would you say a 8350 is not worth it then?

 

[Ramses]

I went recently from a 955BE@3.8ish, for about two years actually, to a 1090T@4ghz for a couple of months. That was a pretty noticable bump, not dramatic, but the two more cores found a use here and there, and it just seemed quicker that CPU.

Two weeks ago I bought an 8350 on a whim pretty much, and while it's a great CPU, and for $190 shipped after tax I'm not complaining considering how long it will likely last me, it was a waste of money right this moment compared to the x6. If I had to build one again and wanted to AMD-it I think I would shoot for a $75 used x6 and clock it to 4ghz and call it good for awhile. It's worth mentioning that the 8350 is stock, doing its little turbo thing now and again and running quite cool on a Noctua N14, so part of the price buys you not only slightly better performance, but at a stock clock, if that matters to you. I'll eventually overclock it but the CPU is lazing along 98% of the time as it is, I figure why bother at the moment.

I also went from a 790 to 990 just before the x6, and it overclocked better than the 790 fwiw, better power stage seemed less stressed, had USB3, stuff like that. I wouldn't pay as much as I did for it (retail) in retrospect, especially since I paid it twice because I'm a picky SOB, but it wasn't an un-pleasing upgrade.

The speed is hard to argue with for Intel, but having run both since back in the Pentium Pro days off and on, I still like AMD stuff. And it's cheap. Ish.

 

[alkemyst]

thanks