# Upgrade AMD or swap to Intel??



## TristanD27 (Feb 26, 2014)

Right, as you can see in my system specs I have an AMD Phenom II X4 960T Black Edition, when I got it, it was a fairly good CPU and being on a budget, AMD was the only option. Now I want to upgrade, my 960T is still playing every game I have tried on max settings but I am going to start doing 3D work and buying more power intensive games like BF4.

My motherboard is fairly new, not amazing but my old one blew and I needed a replacement fast, didn't have time to save for anything better, so considering there is nothing wrong with the motherboard and its fairly decent, am I better getting an AMD FX 8350 Black Edition or AMD FX 9370 Black Edition or get a Gigabyte Killer GA-Z87-G1.Sniper M5 and an Intel CPU i5-4670K.

Now, unlike most people I have more sense then money so don't even mention the i7-4770K because the AMD FX 9370 is not miles behind and is £100 less, having said that, the i5 is £175, plus I would need the mobo which is £144 - the 9370 is £168 and is probably better the i5 meaning the only Intel worth upgrading to is the i7-4770K  but at a price of £260 plus the £144 for the mobo, £404 does not seem worth it when I can just get an AMD FX 9370 for £168 and have money left over to upgrade my GTX 570 to a GTX 770 which is the only GTX worth upgrading to from a 570.

I think I have pretty much answered my own question here, get the AMD FX 9370 and a GTX 770 but if anyway has any other suggestions then please let me know.


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## RCoon (Feb 26, 2014)

While Intel's are great for gaming, the 8350 still holds its own(it's just as good as a 3570K). If money is a factor, then I would advise you stick to your perfectly good 990fX motherboard and buy an 8350. The 9370 is just a binned OC'd 8350 anyways. You're better off financially getting an 8350 and OC'ing it, and getting yourself a shiny new GPU for games and 3D work. The upgrade to a 4670K is not enough of an upgrade for £300+. It wouldn't be value for money at all. A new GPU and 8350 would however be excellent value in comparison to cost.


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## arskatb (Feb 26, 2014)

well intel is way better option but its so much cheaper to upgrade just the processor and AMD is not expensive
want better performance buy Intel 2011 socket
want save money by AMD FX-9590

Biggest minus FX-9590 is TDP=220W
FX8350 TDP=120W


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## RCoon (Feb 26, 2014)

arskatb said:


> want save money by AMD FX-9590



That's not saving money, buying an 8350 and OC'ing to 9590 figures is. Not to mention OP's cooler might not handle 9590 thermal output.


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## TristanD27 (Feb 26, 2014)

Thanks RCoon, it's pretty much what I have been thinking but it is nice to hear from someone more experienced then myself.

I currently have an Arctic Cooling Freezer A30 - in the future when I finally get the much wanted pay rise  I WILL get full watercooling for my whole PC but for now, will that cooler handle an OC'd 8350? Or am I best leaving the OC'ing until I have better cooling. The A30 has done a great job on my current CPU so I would hope it would do the job for the 8350.


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## arskatb (Feb 26, 2014)

RCoon said:


> That's not saving money, buying an 8350 and OC'ing to 9590 figures is. Not to mention OP's cooler might not handle 9590 thermal output.



ye sry, I just ignored that mb, 9590 need TDP 220W supported mb


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## RCoon (Feb 26, 2014)

TristanD27 said:


> Thanks RCoon, it's pretty much what I have been thinking but it is nice to hear from someone more experienced then myself.
> 
> I currently have an Arctic Cooling Freezer A30 - in the future when I finally get the much wanted pay rise  I WILL get full watercooling for my whole PC but for now, will that cooler handle an OC'd 8350? Or am I best leaving the OC'ing until I have better cooling. The A30 has done a great job on my current CPU so I would hope it would do the job for the 8350.


 
I enjoy my 8350, i had far more fun overclocking it than my 3570K when I had it on a full custom water loop. It should be fine to handle a good old OC around the 4.4 mark I imagine. When you push past 4.4 the voltage required spikes a little more than average. It handles games just fine, and drove two 7950's without any issues.


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## Chetkigaming (Feb 26, 2014)

I have i7 4770k, great cpu.


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## pigulici (Feb 26, 2014)

If your 3D software know to work good with multicore cpu and/or CUDA, money wise it is to take fx8350+a gtx770...


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## arskatb (Feb 26, 2014)

With FX-8350 orginal cooler temp in Prime95 are about 52 celc
Overclocking with NH-D14 cooler to 4,8Ghz and running Prime95 Tctl temp is 60celc, i guess thats something around 90celc with orginal cooler(just guessing)
anyway, much better to oc then any Intel Haswell processor


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## vega22 (Feb 26, 2014)

have you tried unlocking your cpu?

only if it is a working hex i am not sure how much of an upgrade that cpu would be anyway really.

keep your eyes open dude and you would be able to snag a 2500k and mobo 2nd hand for less than the price of a 4770k new.

it is where i would spend my money today if i was after a cheap upgrade.

25k still kills for gaming and it lets you drop in a 3770k in a couple of years time for another cheap upgrade should you require it then.


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## RCoon (Feb 26, 2014)

marsey99 said:


> have you tried unlocking your cpu?
> 
> only if it is a working hex i am not sure how much of an upgrade that cpu would be anyway really.
> 
> ...


 
He might want the warranty on the parts he buys though, and an 8350 is slightly better than a 2500K for his 3D programs, if they can use multicore, and performs identically in terms of gaming.


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## TristanD27 (Feb 26, 2014)

I don't like buying 2nd hand, for many reasons, one being that I just like buying new, I like being the first and only person to of used it, makes it truly mine, sounds odd I know but also you are less likely to get problems, you have warranty... I always buy new even if it means saving for a lot longer.

I'd rather get a new 8350 which will fit the board I have then replace my decent, pretty new board with a 2nd hand one and a 2500k


Oh and the 3D program I use is Blender, I have 3Ds Max too but as a beginner it was easier to learn on Blender and have just stuck with it for now, its nothing professional at the moment, just a hobby but the render times on my current system are not great.


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## RCoon (Feb 26, 2014)

TristanD27 said:


> Oh and the 3D program I use is Blender, I have 3Ds Max too but as a beginner it was easier to learn on Blender and have just stuck with it for now, its nothing professional at the moment, just a hobby but the render times on my current system are not great.


 
Blender will use all 8 "cores" on the 8350, so you're safe there. Not much in Blender uses single core anyways anymore. Also there is an edit function in these forums, so you don't have to double post


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## buildzoid (Feb 26, 2014)

the FX 8350 is really really good for 3D rendering the only cpus that are equal or better from intel are 4 cores with hyper threading. If you want an even cheaper option the FX 8320 can be OCed to FX8350 speeds with only a slight increase in power draw. So if I was you I'd get an FX 8320.
BTW the 9590 is a much higher bin of the FX 8350 I've seen FX9590s do 5.3Ghz on all cores on high end air cooling. the FX 9370 is the same thing it will hit 5 to 5.3Ghz on high end air cooling which is something very very few FX8350s will do and no FX 8320 will do.


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## TristanD27 (Feb 26, 2014)

RCoon said:


> Blender will use all 8 "cores" on the 8350, so you're safe there. Not much in Blender uses single core anyways anymore. Also there is an edit function in these forums, so you don't have to double post



That's great to know, so it will be a massive performance improvement for my 3D modelling over my current quad core AMD 
I edited the second post into the first and removed the first, thanks.


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## arskatb (Feb 26, 2014)

buildzoid said:


> the FX 8350 is really really good for 3D rendering the only cpus that are equal or better from intel are 4 cores and hyper threading. If you want an even cheaper option the FX 8320 can be OCed to FX8350 speeds with only a slight increase in power draw. So if I was you I'd get an FX 8320.
> BTW the 9590 is a much higher bin of the FX 8350 I've seen FX9590s do 5.3Ghz on all cores on high end air cooling. the FX 9370 is the same thing it will hit 5 to 5.3Ghz on high end air cooling which is something very very few FX8350s will do and no FX 8320 will do.



not true, u just need right mb for oc, every mb cant do the same.
example: Asus Crosshair V Formula and FX-8350


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## buildzoid (Feb 26, 2014)

arskatb said:


> not true, u just need right mb for oc, every mb cant do the same.
> example: Asus Crosshair V Formula and FX-8320


CB = cinebench r11.5
The FX-8320 air frequency average is 4.6Ghz and the record is 5.4Ghz on 2 cores  validation only, 5.1Ghz in CB, there are 4 CB submissions above 5Ghz out of 16 = 25% above 5Ghz
The FX-8350 air frequency average is 4.7Ghz and the record is 5.3Ghz on 8 cores  validation only, 5.2Ghz in CB, there are 4 CB submissions above 5Ghz out of 16 = 25% above 5Ghz
The FX-9370 air frequency average is 5.2Ghz and the record is 5.6Ghz on 8 cores validation only, 5.1Ghz in CB, there are 2 CB submissions above 5Ghz out of 2 = 100% above 5Ghz
The FX-9590 air frequency average is 5.1Ghz and the record is 5.8Ghz on 8 cores validation only, 5.3Ghz in CB, there are 2 CB submissions above 5Ghz out of 2 = 100% above 5Ghz
So the FX 9xxx series always clocks better. I pulled all the numbers from HWbot's ranking charts so you can expect that most of the submissions were done on reasonably good MBs.


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## BarbaricSoul (Feb 26, 2014)

I pretty much agree with everything RCoon has said.


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## vega22 (Feb 26, 2014)

RCoon said:


> He might want the warranty on the parts he buys though, and an 8350 is slightly better than a 2500K for his 3D programs, if they can use multicore, and performs identically in terms of gaming.




well yes, it is not ideal when you buy something 2nd hand and it fails 3 weeks later no.

you still did not say if you had tried to unlock your cpu?

the 960t is a hex in drag.


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## Vario (Feb 26, 2014)

I'd do an 8320 if it were me.  I don't think the extra clock of the 9370 makes it worthwhile because you will need a substantial cooling system and an expensive motherboard with lots of powerphases.


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## TristanD27 (Feb 26, 2014)

marsey99 said:


> well yes, it is not ideal when you buy something 2nd hand and it fails 3 weeks later no.
> 
> you still did not say if you had tried to unlock your cpu?
> 
> the 960t is a hex in drag.



I had unlocked it on my old asus board but once that went on me I decided not to go back to asus and got a gigabyte which seems to need more to unlock it. The other thing is that until about 1/2 months ago I has stock cooling on my CPU and didn't want to risk unlocking and OC'ing on a stock cooler, not I have the A30 I might give it a go but I did have problems trying to unlock on my current gigabyte, on the old asus it was as simple as flicking that switch, press that button on boot and its done but I wasn't going to go back to a brand that went wrong for me just for ease of unlocking.

Is going to be a major boost if I unlock and OC the Phenom II X4 960T? If so I will need to look into OCing a bit more as I have never done much of it and want to make sure I am doing it as safely as possible.


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## Blue-Knight (Feb 26, 2014)

TristanD27 said:


> Upgrade AMD or swap to Intel?


[ignore]It will depend on your pocket, <$50=Intel, ~$100-$300=AMD, >$900=Intel.[/ignore]


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## TristanD27 (Feb 26, 2014)

Blue-Knight said:


> [ignore]It will depend on your pocket, <$50=Intel, ~$100-$300=AMD, >$900=Intel.[/ignore]



This is pretty much what I have in mind every time I start thinking about new builds and upgrades, I am always on a budget, one day when I have more money then sense, yeah I will go with an Intel but for now while money is a big concern, I will stick with AMD, people are always on about how you should get Intel because you get an extra 5FPS on this and that game, well I don't care, as long as I'm playing on maximum setting with an average of 60 I am happy, my monitor is only 50Hz and my TV is 60Hz so 1) I don't need more then 60FPS and 2) even if I had a display that could handle 10000Hz... I wouldn't need it, anything over 60 and you don't really notice a huge difference, nothing that makes me go "OH WOW!". The only other advantage for me is the 3D modelling and I'm not going to be rendering the next avatar any time soon am I? It's just a bit of fun for a hobby.

In short, I'm not someone bragging about my 120FPS and this useless crap and that useless crap, too many people get hyped up about stuff they dont use on a day to day basis anyway, they do it just because they can and like to brag, so as long as I can play my current games at 60FPS on max settings, do my 3D modelling and future proof a little (not for like 2 years down the line or anything stupid) then I happy.

And to back up my point, lets look at this:




Here we see a 1FPS different between the 8350 and the 4770K... Bet your all glad you spend an extra £100 for 1FPS  I know, I know, that's just one example of many but it still proves my point, people out there who are building PC's just for gaming and spending that extra £100 for better gaming and only getting an extra 1FPS (maybe slightly more on some games, possible not even better at all on others).


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## RCoon (Feb 26, 2014)

TristanD27 said:


> people are always on about how you should get Intel because you get an extra 5FPS



Let me blow that out of the water for you right now. I could get the same FPS on a crappy little AMD 750K on a *stock FX cooler* with a 780 on BF3 as I could on a 3570K OC'd to 4.5ghz on watercooling all on a 1440p monitor. Processors in terms of gaming mean bugger all unless you're playing RTS games like Civ V, SC 2, Total war, but in small exceptions like Crysis 3 the extra cores matter. For everything else, stop listening to people saying a $300 processor is *required* for high end gaming. It isn't, and I've had first hand experience with such things.


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## Blue-Knight (Feb 26, 2014)

RCoon said:


> a $300 processor is required for high end gaming.


Actually, a $999 processor is required for high end gaming. Otherwise it isn't high end gaming at all.


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## TristanD27 (Feb 26, 2014)

RCoon said:


> Let me blow that out of the water for you right now. I could get the same FPS on a crappy little AMD 750K on a *stock FX cooler* with a 780 on BF3 as I could on a 3570K OC'd to 4.5ghz on watercooling all on a 1440p monitor. Processors in terms of gaming mean bugger all unless you're playing RTS games like Civ V, SC 2, Total war, but in small exceptions like Crysis 3 the extra cores matter. For everything else, stop listening to people saying a $300 processor is *required* for high end gaming. It isn't, and I've had first hand experience with such things.



I totally agree and have had first hand experience at this, I have a Phenom II x4 960T right now and although I haven't got BF4 yet I still play BF3, Metro 2033 and everything else I have tried on max settings.


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## RCoon (Feb 26, 2014)

Blue-Knight said:


> Actually, a $999 processor is required for high end gaming. Otherwise it isn't high end gaming at all.


 
I feel stupid for replying to your post, but your cynicism made me laugh


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## TristanD27 (Feb 26, 2014)

Blue-Knight said:


> Actually, a $999 processor is required for high end gaming. Otherwise it isn't high end gaming at all.



Well not really, different people define it in different ways but I don't think you can define "high end" on price alone, its more performance, altough, those who do choose to define "high end" with a price tag say that a PC costing £2000 is high end... but like I say, high end is not a price tag, its about performance.


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## Vario (Feb 26, 2014)

Based on what your sentiments are, you should keep the Phenom II...

Buying an 8320 would be a sidegrade anyway.


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## RCoon (Feb 26, 2014)

Vario said:


> Based on what your sentiments are, you should keep the Phenom II...
> 
> Buying an 8320 would be a sidegrade anyway.


 
4 threads on blender vs 8 threads on blender, essentially *up to* 100% increase in rendering speeds.


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## HD64G (Feb 26, 2014)

FX-8350 slightly OCed. Easy choise.


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## suraswami (Feb 26, 2014)

To OP - please clarify if you mobo is GA-990XA-UD3 or GA-990FXA-UD3 and what revision.  I think plain XA has only 4 phase VRM but FXA has 8 phase.  If you going to OC a 8 core make sure you get the 8 phase one or you need to be very careful in not blowing out the VRMs.

I have 8320 OCed to 4.2 no turbo and I enjoy all games I play with my 7950.  I only spent $150 for upgrade (proc and mobo) from old 790GX board.


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## TristanD27 (Feb 26, 2014)

RCoon said:


> 4 threads on blender vs 8 threads on blender, essentially *up to* 100% increase in rendering speeds.



This is exactly it, if I was just gaming then I probably could just keep the phenom but I want to do a lot more 3D modelling which I really enjoy so it will help with that.



suraswami said:


> To OP - please clarify if you mobo is GA-990XA-UD3 or GA-990FXA-UD3 and what revision.  I think plain XA has only 4 phase VRM but FXA has 8 phase.  If you going to OC a 8 core make sure you get the 8 phase one or you need to be very careful in not blowing out the VRMs.
> 
> I have 8320 OCed to 4.2 no turbo and I enjoy all games I play with my 7950.  I only spent $150 for upgrade (proc and mobo) from old 790GX board.



I think mine is the GA-990XA-UD3 rev: 3.0, I did think about what your saying not long ago and wondered if I was going to need a board upgrade, maybe the Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5 or the Asus Sabertooth 990FX, I know the sabertooth is better but, and this may sound stupid, I really really do not like that gold/brown colour, it is hideous. Now, if I look at upgrading the mobo it is going to start raising the point, why dont you get a socket 1150 and get an Intel, well the only Intel worth getting over the 8350 is the 4770K which is still £100 more for something I don't need.


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## Vario (Feb 26, 2014)

Thats kind of a flawed viewpoint, since the i5 is also competitive with the 8350.  I think you should get an 8320, theres no reason to pay more for the 8350 when both processors are unlocked.  Other approach is to buy a used sandy bridge (~$150).  Both of my chips are preowned, not really that big a deal. Used motherboard might be a bad idea but CPUs don't really go bad if the prior owner wasn't crazy.


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## TristanD27 (Feb 26, 2014)

Vario said:


> Thats kind of a flawed viewpoint, since the i5 is also competitive with the 8350. - CPUs don't really go bad if the prior owner wasn't crazy.



Yeah the i5 is competitive with the 8350 but when it costs £30 more for something which is not much difference, there is only one choice.
Yeah but I don't know if he was "crazy" or not and I don't like to risk it. There is also more to it then just, it might go wrong, as I explained before, I just like buying new, for various reasons.


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## suraswami (Feb 26, 2014)

TristanD27 said:


> This is exactly it, if I was just gaming then I probably could just keep the phenom but I want to do a lot more 3D modelling which I really enjoy so it will help with that.
> 
> 
> 
> I think mine is the GA-990XA-UD3 rev: 3.0, I did think about what your saying not long ago and wondered if I was going to need a board upgrade, maybe the Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5 or the Asus Sabertooth 990FX, I know the sabertooth is better but, and this may sound stupid, I really really do not like that gold/brown colour, it is hideous. Now, if I look at upgrading the mobo it is going to start raising the point, why dont you get a socket 1150 and get an Intel, well the only Intel worth getting over the 8350 is the 4770K which is still £100 more for something I don't need.



If your board is this?
http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3901#ov

Then I take back my statement.  Get a 8350 and you are good to go.  Cheaper 8320 and OC to 4.2 also saves you bit more money and gives you OC satisfaction lol!


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## vega22 (Feb 26, 2014)

RCoon said:


> Let me blow that out of the water for you right now. I could get the same FPS on a crappy little AMD 750K on a *stock FX cooler* with a 780 on BF3 as I could on a 3570K OC'd to 4.5ghz on watercooling all on a 1440p monitor. Processors in terms of gaming mean bugger all unless you're playing RTS games like Civ V, SC 2, Total war, but in small exceptions like Crysis 3 the extra cores matter. For everything else, stop listening to people saying a $300 processor is *required* for high end gaming. It isn't, and I've had first hand experience with such things.



not really a shock that considering all games are gpu bound at that res is it?

i mean it is about as shocking as water being wet if you ask me...

i bet the dips in fps where much worse on the amd cpu than the 4.5ghz i5 too, but again that aint a shocker either.

tristan i would test it again, with it unlocked and overclocked if you can, you might find that doing that alone is like a cpu upgrade and you could spend the money on something else?


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## MxPhenom 216 (Feb 26, 2014)

RCoon said:


> That's not saving money, buying an 8350 and OC'ing to 9590 figures is. Not to mention OP's cooler might not handle 9590 thermal output.



If his cooler cannot handle fx9590, then it wont handle 8350 at 9590 clocks.


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## TristanD27 (Feb 26, 2014)

MxPhenom 216 said:


> If his cooler cannot handle fx9590, then it wont handle 8350 at 9590 clocks.



Yeah I thought about that but my cooler will handle the 8350 on stock and then I will upgrade the cooling soon so I can OC.


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## MxPhenom 216 (Feb 26, 2014)

TristanD27 said:


> Yeah I thought about that but my cooler will handle the 8350 on stock and then I will upgrade the cooling soon so I can OC.



Fair enough, I would still try and push for an Intel rig with a 4670k and a decent Z87 board.


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## TristanD27 (Feb 26, 2014)

suraswami said:


> If your board is this?
> http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3901#ov
> 
> Then I take back my statement.  Get a 8350 and you are good to go.  Cheaper 8320 and OC to 4.2 also saves you bit more money and gives you OC satisfaction lol!


Yeah that's the one, thought it was revision 3.0 but maybe not as I cannot find a revision 3.0 of that board.
The 8320 is £30 cheaper so nice little extra but the 8350 can OC to the 9370 (or so I hear on here) and until I get a better cooler for OC'ing the stock speed will be better.



MxPhenom 216 said:


> Fair enough, I would still try and push for an Intel rig with a 4670k and a decent Z87 board.



If all I really want is to just play games on max settings at 60FPS and boost my render speeds then please explain to me why getting a 4670K and Z87 is worth an extra £200? (Sorry if that sounded condescending, I didn't mean it to, I just don't see the justification for spending an extra £200)


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## MxPhenom 216 (Feb 26, 2014)

What are you rendering? 3D modelling, or Videos? What applications are you using for this? Sorry if you have already mentioned it, I just skimmed through the OP and didn't see it.


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## TristanD27 (Feb 26, 2014)

MxPhenom 216 said:


> What are you rendering? 3D modelling, or Videos? What applications are you using for this? Sorry if you have already mentioned it, I just skimmed through the OP and didn't see it.


No prob. 3D modelling, nothing too big at the moment as I'm just starting it as a hobby, doing my first real project at the moment but I'll mainly be doing characters, not for use in games or animation, just for pictures


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## MxPhenom 216 (Feb 26, 2014)

@crazyeyesreaper might be able to help in that regard a bit more then anyone else I think.

Though I think the 8350 would be fine, but the 4670k will be faster in games. Though it might cost more money then you are willing to spend currently.


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## TristanD27 (Feb 26, 2014)

MxPhenom 216 said:


> @crazyeyesreaper might be able to help in that regard a bit more then anyone else I think.
> 
> Though I think the 8350 would be fine, but the 4670k will be faster in games. Though it might cost more money then you are willing to spend currently.


If you look at the benchmark I put up even the 4770k is only 1fps better then the 8350 and correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the 4770k better then the 4670k? That is just one game though so I don't know. To be honest, I'm happy with anything above 60fps, your not going to notice a huge difference higher then that and the 8350 can play bf4 at 97 which most TV's and monitors don't display anyway. I'm not going to lie, if I had more money then I knew what to do with, I'd happily get the 4770k with a Gigabyte GA-Z87-G1.Sniper 5 Intel Z87 Socket 1150 Motherboard but at the moment I have to think logically about what I'm really happy with and can afford.


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## MxPhenom 216 (Feb 26, 2014)

TristanD27 said:


> If you look at the benchmark I put up even the 4770k is only 1fps better then the 8350 and correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the 4770k better then the 4670k? That is just one game though so I don't know. To be honest, I'm happy with anything above 60fps, your not going to notice a huge difference higher then that and the 8350 can play bf4 at 97 which most TV's and monitors don't display anyway. I'm not going to lie, if I had more money then I knew what to do with, I'd happily get the 4770k with a Gigabyte GA-Z87-G1.Sniper 5 Intel Z87 Socket 1150 Motherboard but at the moment I have to think logically about what I'm really happy with and can afford.



That board would be completely unnecessary IMO. you could get away handedly with ~$150 Z87 board.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128671


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## Vario (Feb 26, 2014)

The benchmark you put up does not really matter what CPU you use.  Other games require CPU power.  Clearly BF4 doesn't.  You can cherry pick any benchmark you want but the fact remains you probably don't require more than 4 cores for any task you do and the Intel quad cores are much faster than the AMD modules (AMD uses 4 modules, 8 threads) .  Quick example: Starcraft 2 and WoW...

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/701?vs=697

If you want to get the most for your money, Intel is probably a better choice as it will go obsolete a lot slower due to faster instructions per clock.


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## crazyeyesreaper (Feb 26, 2014)

Depending on the 3d software used the 8350 is comparable to a 4670K most of the time. However in most CPU limited games Intel wins hands down. as mentioned above Starcraft 2 / WOW then add Total War series among others Intel enjoys a massive lead.

For most typical uses however an 8350 is fine. 4670K is more economical in the long run with better feature support.


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## TristanD27 (Feb 26, 2014)

MxPhenom 216 said:


> That board would be completely unnecessary IMO. you could get away handedly with ~$150 Z87 board.
> 
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128671


Oh yeah I just meant if I had money to throw away 



crazyeyesreaper said:


> Depending on the 3d software used the 8350 is comparable to a 4670K most of the time. However in most CPU limited games Intel wins hands down. as mentioned above Starcraft 2 / WOW then add Total War series among others Intel enjoys a massive lead.
> 
> For most typical uses however an 8350 is fine. 4670K is more economical in the long run with better feature support.



Well first of all WoW? I run wow on my current CPU, it's not a power hungry game and the 8350 does 90FPS, as I mentioned before, yeah 90 is great and the FPS from the intel is better but you don't need it, your just over paying for unnecessary power. I'm asking what's better for me? With my current board and budget, for 60FPS on max settings (which the 8350 does) and good 3D modelling capabilities (which the 8350 wins at). I think we are going slightly off the point here, this isn't an Intel vs AMD battle. I still have yet to hear any reason why, in my current situation, for my needs, I would go for an intel, even if I needed to buy a board, I still see no reason to go Intel, I just think proe find it hard to say, AMD is better in this situation, too many people with more money then logic


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## crazyeyesreaper (Feb 26, 2014)

8350 doesnt really win at 3D modeling. Using Autodesk Maya / Max / Blender 3D  Intel wins more often than not even with the extra integer cores on the AMD.

In most situations the 4670K will be equal to or faster than the 8350. AMD route is cheaper but in some situations for rendering memory speed can play a rather large roll and no matter how you slice it AMD has an inferior memory controller.

Cost to Cost 8350 or 4770K i would go with the 8350 if money is a concern.  4670k or 8350 its a wash doesnt matter. 

ANd your talking about average FPS which is worthless what matters is Minimum FPS.

In something like Total War ROme 2 even on low an AMD proc will drop to 11 fps or LOWER while Intel even the cheaper I3s can maintainy 24-25+ minimums. It depends on needs. But you don't have to listen to me or anyone else here honestly do what you wish. I just know having attended college for Computer Animation and Game Design = rendering = rendering means time faster = less time spent rendering and considering the little issues that pop up and you have to go back fix it re render means faster is better. For a hobbyist this won't matter if at all.  That said I will always take greater performance over lower price. Considering in many situations with 3D rendering Intel can pull as far as 30%-40% ahead of AMD it depends on whats important to you.

In your situation it seems AMD is fine. however in multiple games I play applications I use AMD is inferior costs far more to run and in the end just isnt worth it. _*Different strokes for different folks as they say.*_ So go with your gut instinct and again at equal cost 8350 vs 4670k the 8350 is a better fit for what you want to do.


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## Steevo (Feb 26, 2014)

I managed to run 32Gb of DDR3 at 1T with tight timings on a 8350, however their cache latency is horrendous and they should feel bad. Also worth noting it was a matched set and on a Overclocking board.


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## Cybrnook (Feb 26, 2014)

Just to throw it out there, Microcenter has the 8320 for $99 (Nothing a little overclock won't fix, same architecture as 8350 for $100 less)

http://www.microcenter.com/product/401796/FX_8320_Black_Edition_35GHz_AM3_Boxed_Processor


EDIT: This is such a hard question to ask, you are going to get Fanboys from both sides flaming the other side. Basically just go with what YOU feel will suit your needs.

Intel is always has a "Better" CPU as Intel has more R&D cash, but half the features the CPU's have you will never use.

AMD has always been the best bang for the buck.

Either one will perform great under the right circumstances.


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## Chetkigaming (Feb 26, 2014)

yeah as crazyeyesreaper mentioned, amd is bad for gaming, unbelievable fps drops, ridiculous really. Intel or suck. 4670k doubled minimum fps against 9350.


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## TristanD27 (Feb 26, 2014)

crazyeyesreaper said:


> 8350 doesnt really win at 3D modeling. Using Autodesk Maya / Max / Blender 3D  Intel wins more often than not even with the extra integer cores on the AMD.
> 
> In most situations the 4670K will be equal to or faster than the 8350. AMD route is cheaper but in some situations for rendering memory speed can play a rather large roll and no matter how you slice it AMD has an inferior memory controller.
> 
> ...



Now this is what I wanted, someone who can clearly justify why the Intel is better and just throwing out some pointless benchmarks with average FPS as if it matters, which it doesn't as long as it is over 60, and that is not just me, take at look at this: http://www.cameratechnica.com/2011/11/21/what-is-the-highest-frame-rate-the-human-eye-can-perceive/ - "Human perception response drops off at 60fps".

The point about minimum FPS is very good and what is more important to me is the rendering speed but as you say, I'm a hobbyist so the 8350 will do fine. So, with all of that said, if I decide not to upgrade my motherboard, I will stick with the 8350 but as someone pointed out, I won't be able to OC greatly on my board as I run the risk of blowing the Vram when OCing an 8 core, so I may need to upgrade the mobo anyway, in which case I guess I am better spending the extra £25 on the 4670k? Or is the 4670k not as good? "at equal cost 8350 vs 4670k the 8350 is a better fit for what you want to do." Or where you just saying that because of my current board?


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## Chetkigaming (Feb 26, 2014)

Intel is best cpu`s for gaming and not only, in the market, you can go 4670k and be happy with it clearly. Human eye sees big difference between 120hz and 60, all gamers who have 120hz monitor can admit it. So 60 fps is minimum, no point for buying some cpu that cant afford it at hard game times.


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## crazyeyesreaper (Feb 26, 2014)

TristanD27 said:


> Now this is what I wanted, someone who can clearly justify why the Intel is better and just throwing out some pointless benchmarks with average FPS as if it matters, which it doesn't as long as it is over 60, and that is not just me, take at look at this: http://www.cameratechnica.com/2011/11/21/what-is-the-highest-frame-rate-the-human-eye-can-perceive/ - "Human perception response drops off at 60fps".
> 
> The point about minimum FPS is very good and what is more important to me is the rendering speed but as you say, I'm a hobbyist so the 8350 will do fine. So, with all of that said, if I decide not to upgrade my motherboard, I will stick with the 8350 but as someone pointed out, I won't be able to OC greatly on my board as I run the risk of blowing the Vram when OCing an 8 core, so I may need to upgrade the mobo anyway, in which case I guess I am better spending the extra £25 on the 4670k? Or is the 4670k not as good? "at equal cost 8350 vs 4670k the 8350 is a better fit for what you want to do." Or where you just saying that because of my current board?



In 3D rendering the 4670K is on par or slower in the general benchmarks depending on what you do for modeling characters or rendering a single scene the 8350 will be better when adding physics objects fluids dynamics intel will be a bit better usually. 

for gaming AND 3D a 4770K or a used 3770k on Z77 make far more sense with a used 3770K being a good deal cheaper.  Of if you can find a Microcenter near you or someone you know lives near one the 4770K + Mobo option can be pretty damn cheap.

for just slap in performance aka set it forget it the 8350 is the better bet.

Essentially if you have to buy a new motherboard for the 8350 to overclock your better off getting an entry level Z87 board and a 4770K 

The 4670K while great for gaming will cost you more for the same performance to get the best of both worlds the 4770k or 3770k if you need save some cash are where you should look.

Take it from someone that went from a 940BE to a 965BE at 4GHz to a 2500k at 4.4 to a 3770K then to a 3960x and 4960x  the 2500k was great for gaming in terms of my 3D work the 3770k was far better noticeably better.

When it comes to gaming and minimum FPS Intel usually wins hands down. Skyrim with mods and ENB and shadow teaks can sent even an Intel chip down to 20 fps AMD can barely stay afloat at 5-10 depending on settings even with high end GPUs.  Shogun 2 Total War has the 8350 min fps sitting around the SAME as your 960T at about 11-14 while the newer Intel chips average 24-30.

Again it all depends on what you want. Where are you located / Buying from is the key question now as a higher end Intel build may be possible without breaking the bank. IF you really need to save money maybe check and see if your 960T has unlockable cores because the Phenom II architecture when 6 cores are present tend to give the 8320 / 8350 a run for their money. So if your chip unlocks you should see nice gains. Granted I have not read the entire thread so if thats been tried disregard that line of thought.


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## MxPhenom 216 (Feb 26, 2014)

Chetkigaming said:


> Intel is best cpu`s for gaming and not only, in the market, you can go 4670k and be happy with it clearly. Human eye sees big difference between 120hz and 60, all gamers who have 120hz monitor can admit it. So 60 fps is minimum, no point for buying some cpu that cant afford it at hard game times.


No, just no.


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## TristanD27 (Feb 26, 2014)

Chetkigaming said:


> Intel is best cpu`s for gaming and not only, in the market, you can go 4670k and be happy with it clearly. Human eye sees big difference between 120hz and 60, all gamers who have 120hz monitor can admit it. So 60 fps is minimum, no point for buying some cpu that cant afford it at hard game times.


Clearly an Intel fanboy here. At the end of the day, even with some drops which yes, are worse on the AMD the average is still more then enough on the AMD. You stop noticing a big difference over 100FPS so yeah you'll see a diffence between 60 and 120 but your only really seeing a 40 fps difference and AMD can pull 90/100 average. There isn't really a maximum FPS the eye can see as the eye does not see in frames, it is just on all the time but anything above 100 and the average person wont see much, if any, difference.

Anyway, if you want to debate Intel vs AMD then find another thread, that is not what this thread is about. Why can't you talk about processors without people starting a war over AMD vs Intel.



crazyeyesreaper said:


> In 3D rendering the 4670K is on par or slower in the general benchmarks depending on what you do for modeling characters or rendering a single scene the 8350 will be better when adding physics objects fluids dynamics intel will be a bit better usually.
> 
> for gaming AND 3D a 4770K or a used 3770k on Z77 make far more sense with a used 3770K being a good deal cheaper.  Of if you can find a Microcenter near you or someone you know lives near one the 4770K + Mobo option can be pretty damn cheap.
> 
> ...



So if I needed to upgrade my board (which also gives me PCI 3.0 to get the most out of the GTX 770 I would get) would:
This: GIGABYTE GA-G1.SNIPER Z87 Intel Socket 1150 Motherboard
+
This: i5 4670K
be the best idea? No way am going to afford the 4770K 

I am located in Birmingham, England and buy from scan.co.uk

I also want to add that there may be one or two boards that would be a little better for a bit more money which isn't the problem, I love the look of the sniper boards and I'm sorry to say but the appearance of my rig is pretty important to me so unless another board would give significantly better performance I would like that one, oh and no no red, I hate red rigs, too overused and just not a big fan of red.


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## crazyeyesreaper (Feb 26, 2014)

give me a few minutes to poke around you do not need a high end board the SNiper board is overpriced for you need

G1 Sniper + 4670K = $108 + 168 = $276
GA-Z87 HD3 + 4770K = $78 + 240 = $318

Thats just through Scan.co.uk
Aria PC has 1 in stock for $229
http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Other products/Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail ?productId=55835&source=skinflint

Add in the mobo from Amazon for $69
http://www.amazon.co_uk/dp/B00CUYOWMG/?tag=tec053-21

$229 + 69 = $300 comes down to $25 difference.   You lose the option for SLI but if your debating between AMD and Intel and plan to go multi GPU shoot yourself now if you do it on the 8350 as its not gonna be good.

Simply put by shopping around you can get a 4770K + Z87 and a board that allows for overclocking for $300 just $24 more than what you were looking at if you dont really plan to overclock get the 4770 non K and save another $10-15 dropping the cost down to 216 or $13 thus $283 thats just $7 more than you were gonna spend total. At which point its possible to pick out a different mobo with better features in the H87 lineup and probably save a few more dollars there as well. Up to you honestly. http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Other products/Intel Core i7-4770 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail ?productId=55833&source=skinflint

So lets break this down

your idea
G1 Sniper + 4670K = $276
Ga Z87 HD3 + 4770K = $300
GA Z87 HD3 + 4770 non-K = $283
8350 + 990FX Sabertooth R2 = $260

$40 is insignificant honestly for the overall improvement in performance / lower power draw etc.


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## TristanD27 (Feb 26, 2014)

crazyeyesreaper said:


> give me a few minutes to poke around you do not need a high end board the SNiper board is overpriced for you need
> 
> G1 Sniper + 4670K = $108 + 168 = $276
> GA-Z87 HD3 + 4770K = $78 + 240 = $318
> ...



I am actually stuck with scan as I will be trying to get it on finance so I can get it all together and pay it off, which is why I'm on a tight budget so it's a £50 difference. Thinking about it, one thing I had on the list of things to put into this upgrade is an SSD for my OS, if I knock that off for now (I don't mind waiting an extra few seconds for boot-up), I could go for the 4770K and the Sniper (future-proof and to be frank, I love the look of that board, always wanted one).


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## Vario (Feb 26, 2014)

^get the third on the list.  GA Z87 HD3 + 4770 non-K = $283

No need to overclock with Haswell.  Its fast to begin with!

K series chips lack VT-D  if thats a feature you want...  useful for VMs.  Not sure if motherboard supports that though.


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 26, 2014)

If you go intel you have to change your entire setup and also reformat your drives. If your motherboard is AM3+ READY and supports FX cpus the minimum id suggest is the FX6300, 8320 and 8350 are worthy upgrades, only thing ud have to maybe do is update the bios and motherboard drivers without a system format.

by the way flamebaiters need to leave


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## TristanD27 (Feb 26, 2014)

Just saw your edit after posting. I thought of one more problem, I currently have an arctic a30 cooler and if I went for a 4770K or even 4770, it would be foolish to use the stock cooler so I would need new cooling which either means an extra £90 for a H100i or an extra £30 for the not as good Arctic Cooling Freezer i30.

When I sit back and look at this logically, this whole thing started as just a CPU upgrade, now its a CPU, board, cooler... is it too much just for what I want? For a nice steady 60FPS on high setting and decent 3D modelling and rendering, no physics, its mainly just character modelling, not for games or animation, just pictures, that's all, do I even need to upgrade my board so I can OC the 8350 or do I just get an 8350, not OC it and be happy with that? Remember that I am getting a PNY GeForce GTX 770 2GB too... hmmm.

It's £200 more to get a new board and Intel chip then it is to settle with just an 8350, I could get the SSD and still be talking lower costs.

In fact, for less then the 4770, mobo and cooling I can get:
Gigabyte Motherboard GA-990FXA-UD3 (which allows OCing without worries of blowing the vram)
AMD FX 8350 Black Edition
Samsung 840 EVO 120G
and still have change...


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## crazyeyesreaper (Feb 26, 2014)

Also if you plan to overclock the 8350 and push it to rather high speeds the cheap a30 will probably not be sufficient so youll still be buying a better cooler unless sticking to lower overclocks at which point even with high overclock a better cooler new board the 8350 ends up on par with the stock 4770 and it took more effort to get there. Simple put expect a TDP of around 200-250W depending on the quality of your chip when a large overclock is applied.

Also in terms of  mobos you wont find much in the looks department either only the Sabertooth 990FX 2.0 springs to mind as an updated motherboard. The rest are old tech. These are things to keep in mind.

To put it bluntly AMD has pretty much abandonded the AM3+ platform in favor for the APUs and FM2+


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## HammerON (Feb 26, 2014)

Edited one post already for language. Keep it clean and stay away from you are a "AMD/Intel faboy" terms. This thread has about served it's purpose...


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## FX-GMC (Feb 26, 2014)

TristanD27 said:


> This is pretty much what I have in mind every time I start thinking about new builds and upgrades, I am always on a budget, one day when I have more money then sense, yeah I will go with an Intel but for now while money is a big concern, I will stick with AMD, people are always on about how you should get Intel because you get an extra 5FPS on this and that game, well I don't care, as long as I'm playing on maximum setting with an average of 60 I am happy, my monitor is only 50Hz and my TV is 60Hz so 1) I don't need more then 60FPS and 2) even if I had a display that could handle 10000Hz... I wouldn't need it, anything over 60 and you don't really notice a huge difference, nothing that makes me go "OH WOW!". The only other advantage for me is the 3D modelling and I'm not going to be rendering the next avatar any time soon am I? It's just a bit of fun for a hobby.
> 
> In short, I'm not someone bragging about my 120FPS and this useless crap and that useless crap, too many people get hyped up about stuff they dont use on a day to day basis anyway, they do it just because they can and like to brag, so as long as I can play my current games at 60FPS on max settings, do my 3D modelling and future proof a little (not for like 2 years down the line or anything stupid) then I happy.
> 
> ...



That chart is for single player (so it's pretty much worthless).  Multiplayer shows greater variance between processor.

This is closer to what you will see:


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## TristanD27 (Feb 26, 2014)

crazyeyesreaper said:


> Also if you plan to overclock the 8350 and push it to rather high speeds the cheap a30 will probably not be sufficient so youll still be buying a better cooler unless sticking to lower overclocks at which point even with high overclock a better cooler new board the 8350 ends up on par with the stock 4770 and it took more effort to get there. Simple put expect a TDP of around 200-250W depending on the quality of your chip when a large overclock is applied.
> 
> Also in terms of  mobos you wont find much in the looks department either only the Sabertooth 990FX 2.0 springs to mind as an updated motherboard. The rest are old tech. These are things to keep in mind.
> 
> To put it bluntly AMD has pretty much abandonded the AM3+ platform in favor for the APUs and FM2+



Well with that in mind, how does this look:
Gigabyte G1 Sniper A88X FM2+
AMD A10 7850K Black Edition

Don't really know much at all about the FM2+ series, didn't realise they have a sniper board ;D but I would also need new cooling then as I doubt the A30 would fit and suffice.

Maybe an 8350 with no OC with do what I need...



HammerON said:


> Edited one post already for language. Keep it clean and stay away from you are a "AMD/Intel faboy" terms. This thread has about served it's purpose...



Sorry, I just didn't appreciate people using my thread to voice their personal opinions about amd vs intel, that is not it's purpose but I will bare that in mind, sorry. Also, as far as it's purpose is concerned, I think the help I am receiving from crazyeyesreaper is still proving very helpful.


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 26, 2014)

Honestly you dont have to oc to get great performance. Now tbh stock intel and amd coolers do suck in noise dept though and you really dont need a wc setup. Scythe Ashura, Thermaltake NiC, Xigmatek Blackhawk, Prolimatech Genesis, Coolermaster Hyper, all perform well without blocking ram slots either.

by the way your existing motherboard supports the fx4000-83** Series. So it be better as an upgrade without breaking the bank on an entire new setup


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## TristanD27 (Feb 26, 2014)

eidairaman1 said:


> Honestly you dont have to oc to get great performance. Now tbh stock intel and amd coolers do suck in noise dept though and you really dont need a wc setup. Scythe Ashura Thermaltake NiC, Xigmatek Blackhawk, Prolimatech Genesis all perform well without blocking ram slots either.


So would I be ok with the 8350, no OC, the old board and upgraded cooler?


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## suraswami (Feb 26, 2014)

Once you start to compare you won't be happy at anything you got.  If I were you I would just get a 8350 keep it at 4.2 all cores use the same cooler, get a 770, stop arguing, get into gaming and don't look back!


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 26, 2014)

TristanD27 said:


> So would I be ok with the 8350, no OC, the old board and upgraded cooler?



read my previous post.

by the way you can research your existing cooler and see if it is compatible with the 8350. If it is then you just only have a cpu to purchase.


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## TristanD27 (Feb 26, 2014)

suraswami said:


> Once you start to compare you won't be happy at anything you got.  If I were you I would just get a 8350 keep it at 4.2 all cores use the same cooler, get a 770, stop arguing, get into gaming and don't look back!


To be honest, I am happy with what I have but wouldn't mind a bit more speed for the 3D modelling/rendering and gaming when I get newer ones.



eidairaman1 said:


> read my previous post.
> 
> by the way you can research your existing cooler and see if it is compatible with the 8350. If it is then you just only have a cpu to purchase.


Sorry, didn't see the edit, I know my board supports the FX series which is why I wondering if that was better then a new mobo and an Intel. I also know that my cooler will fit as its the same board but it might not be up to the job with a new higher end CPU.



FX-GMC said:


> That chart is for single player (so it's pretty much worthless).  Multiplayer shows greater variance between processor.
> 
> This is closer to what you will see:



97 average with a min of 75.... when all I want is 60.... yup, that'll do.


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## Steevo (Feb 26, 2014)

FX-GMC said:


> That chart is for single player (so it's pretty much worthless).  Multiplayer shows greater variance between processor.
> 
> This is closer to what you will see:




If we are looking for cheapest than this graph depicts a i5-760 or FX-6100 would meet the requirements for 60FPS gaming. 

We are looking for cheapest rendering HP.


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 26, 2014)

Tristan ill provide links to see your cooler in action. Iirc the 8350 is cooler than the 8150

but in due honesty the 6300-83** are worthy upgrades to be considered in performance and overall cost of upgrades. 

I highly believe your existing cooler can handle the 8350.


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## TristanD27 (Feb 26, 2014)

eidairaman1 said:


> Tristan ill provide links to see your cooler in action. Iirc the 8350 is cooler than the 8150
> 
> but in due honesty the 6300-83** are worthy upgrades to be considered in performance and overall cost of upgrades.
> 
> I highly believe your existing cooler can handle the 8350.


Thank you for that, I think I will just get the 8350 then, I most likely wont OC it because as you said, it doesn't need to be OC'd to get good performance and like I said before, it is far better then what I currently have and even my Phenom II is running everything I have tried on max settings at decent FPS, combined with a 770 I think the 8350 will do me perfectly fine, I'm happy at 60FPS and to be honest, I can handle the render times, anything better is just nice but not necessary, I work full time anyway so if needs be I can render stuff while I'm out.


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## Vario (Feb 26, 2014)

TristanD27 said:


> Thank you for that, I think I will just get the 8350 then, I most likely wont OC it because as you said, it doesn't need to be OC'd to get good performance and like I said before, it is far better then what I currently have and even my Phenom II is running everything I have tried on max settings at decent FPS, combined with a 770 I think the 8350 will do me perfectly fine, I'm happy at 60FPS and to be honest, I can handle the render times, anything better is just nice but not necessary, I work full time anyway so if needs be I can render stuff while I'm out.


Save some cash and get the 8320 then! Its the same processor and its cheaper.  Just set its clock to the same as the 8350 since you weren't gonna overclock it and then enjoy a fatter wallet!


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## suraswami (Feb 26, 2014)

If this is the cooler u have,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186059

then it says it supports upto 320W.  So you should be good.

Trust me going from PII X6 @ 3.2 to FX 8320 @ 4.2 gave me a nice grin!


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## TristanD27 (Feb 26, 2014)

Vario said:


> Save some cash and get the 8320 then! Its the same processor and its cheaper.  Just set its clock to the same as the 8350 since you weren't gonna overclock it and then enjoy a fatter wallet!


Yeah I think ill do that, although it's still 8 cores and if I OC it to the speed of the 8350 won't I have the same issue as OCing the 8350? I was told earlier in this thread that OCing an 8 core on my board might result in blowing the VRAM, if that's not the case then I would OC the 8350.



suraswami said:


> If this is the cooler u have,
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186059
> 
> then it says it supports upto 320W.  So you should be good.
> ...


Yup that's the one. Glad to know you had one better then mine and was still very happy with the upgrade


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## Xzibit (Feb 26, 2014)

TristanD27 said:


> Yeah I think ill do that, although it's still 8 cores and if I OC it to the speed of the 8350 won't I have the same issue as OCing the 8350? I was told earlier in this thread that OCing an 8 core on my board might result in blowing the VRAM, if that's not the case then I would OC the 8350.
> 
> 
> Yup that's the one. Glad to know you had one better then mine and was still very happy with the upgrade



The arctic freeze a30 is more then enough.  It has 4x8mm DC pipes. No need to buy a different one.

Keep it and if need be switch the fan for ease of mind or better performance when you Overclock with a Noctua NF-F12 or Cougar
CF-V12HP improving performance while maintaining silence.


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## suraswami (Feb 26, 2014)

TristanD27 said:


> Yeah I think ill do that, although it's still 8 cores and if I OC it to the speed of the 8350 won't I have the same issue as OCing the 8350? I was told earlier in this thread that OCing an 8 core on my board might result in blowing the VRAM, if that's not the case then I would OC the 8350.
> 
> 
> Yup that's the one. Glad to know you had one better then mine and was still very happy with the upgrade


 
Your board is good for OCing.

Check the VRM database

http://www.overclock.net/t/946407/amd-motherboards-vrm-info-database

Just stick 2 x 40mm fans on the VRM sink like I did or stick a 80mm fan if you can, best bet would be Antec spot cool.

8320 will save you few bills and will OC to 4.2 with ease (I have even undervolted the chip), 8350 will OC with ease to 4.4 no issues.

So its upto you now.

I can see you are pulling out your credit card and waiting to hit the Order now button! 



Here is my build log,

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/xpredator-x3-devil-red-build.187335/#post-2953958

Ofcourse the video card is no longer 6970.  Also I added that chipset fan to get better temps on the NB.


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## Vario (Feb 27, 2014)

8320 and 8350 are the same thing basically.  The 8320 8350 9370 and 9590 are all the same chip, but at different speeds.  Since the 8320 has an unlocked multiplier, you can set it to equal the speeds of a stock 8350, possibly as high as a 9370 depending on how lucky you are.  You might even get 9590 speeds.  Every chip is different, but AMD has essentially "hand selected" the better cpu's that come off the assembly line to go into the 9590 and 9370 product lines.

The reason the 8320 requires less power is because it is set to a lower speed. If you set a 8320 to the same speeds as a 9590 (and it somehow worked because you were incredibly lucky with the silicon lottery) you would use the same power as a 9590.

Because the 8320 is cheaper than the 8350, and you aren't a hardcore overclocker, you should get the 8320 over the 8350.  I would venture to say that most 8320 should be able to reach the same clock speeds as a stock 8350 (4.0ghz with 4.2ghz turbo).  The 8320 is 3.5 ghz with 4.0ghz turbo.  If it is unstable at 4.0ghz its likely a pretty bad 8320.


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## newtekie1 (Feb 27, 2014)

Agreed with Vario.  I've built several systems around the 8320, and every single one of them has been able to hit 8350 clocks with no voltage increase with the stock cooler.  I'd go with that.  IMO, the 9370 and 95900 aren't worth it for normal consumers.  They are really just there for the extreme overclockers that know how to take advantage of the better silicon, or the people that are dead set against overclocking and want a 5GHz AMD FX.


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 27, 2014)

8320 i can suggest its considerably cheaper than the 8350 n suraswami thx for info. I got busy earlier with grocery shopping. You wont be disappointed on either 8320/50, best part you dont have to swap any other hardware or format.


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## -1nf1n1ty- (Feb 27, 2014)

I thought I read something about you using blender on here, I'm an animator so I use maya frequently throughout the day. Even try rendering and what not every now and then. If you can find a cheaper intel 3770k or a 4770k then I would go with that because if you also play video games then thats a plus. My personal opinion regardless that I have a 4770k now, I would still go for AMD cause like everyone is saying, it's cheaper the extra money could go to a new tablet for photoshop or something. I saw some benchmarks AMD vs Intel when it came to photoshop and Intel pretty much blew it away :http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/697?vs=836

But if I were you I'd go with the cheaper option, cause honestly rendering takes a long as time regardless and unless you have a render farm then don't worry about it lol. My vote goes towards the 8350: the cheaper solution.

ALSO, I read that Autodesk actually makes use of AMD's cores, however I have looked everywhere but I haven't found any benchmarks. Now I dont know if thats true but if it is that is pretty ridiculous. So +1 for AMD

TLDR Both about the same I am guessing go with cheaper option

http://www.behardware.com/articles/880-7/amd-fx-8350-review-is-amd-back.html

AMD 8350 running 3DS Max

MORE EDITS!








 guy has a 8350 and a FirePro W5000


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## Rock N Roll Rebel (Feb 27, 2014)

i like amd my self but if you want to be able to upgrade in the future you be better going with intel because amd is not going to put out any more 86x cpu's they are only doing apu's so intel is the only kid on the block in the future.


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Feb 27, 2014)

Dude save your money and just upgrade your cpu. You have a good board and the right memory to run the 8350, So why not? You may have to set the memory to 1866 manually in the bios. I run a 8350 on a Gigabyte 990FXA UD3 with 16gb of 1866 memory and love it.


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 27, 2014)

Apus are x86 units smh...


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## arskatb (Feb 27, 2014)

http://techreport.com/review/23750/amd-fx-8350-processor-reviewed/12
http://techreport.com/review/24879/intel-core-i7-4770k-and-4950hq-haswell-processors-reviewed/13

read and choose for yourself what you want, FX is good enought


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## Melvis (Feb 27, 2014)

suraswami said:


> Trust me going from PII X6 @ 3.2 to FX 8320 @ 4.2 gave me a nice grin!



This is very true as I went from a PII 965 to my 8350 and the performance increase in multi threaded games nearly doubled. 

When it comes to encoding or anything in that nature again the 8350 just blew the rest of my CPU's out of the water (PII 965, PII 1050T, i7 940) the only CPU I have now that just beats the 8350 in encoding is my i7 970, but only by 15fps at most.

You will see a good performance increase from the 8350 for sure


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## RCoon (Feb 27, 2014)

OP, you talked about finance. This is when I get serious, and think you should pretty much ignore everything said in this thread regarding any upgrades except your CPU. Buy within your means. Your motherboard has support for the 8350, and it will provide what the CPU needs. It will run at 4Ghz on that board without any problems, and it will render faster than the 960, and play games faster than the 960. It will make you proud, it will server your purpose in your current situation, and I can pretty much guarantee, as long as you don't play Total War games, you'll be sat on very good average FPS above or around 60.

Yes Intel is faster at gaming
Yes it has lower power draw (but this arguement is total BS, because the price difference in electricity is about £10-20/year, so people can shove that arguement elsewhere)
Point is, you're buying on finance. For this reason alone, just buy an 8320 or an 8350, and you will be happy. I could quite happily remove my 780 from my 4670 system, drop it into the 8350 that's sat next to it, and notice almost no difference at all. I'm pretty neutral when it comes to Intel and AMD processors, but in light of the information in this thread, I see the Intel choice being a foolish idea.


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## TristanD27 (Feb 27, 2014)

Thanks to everyone for the time and help you've given me. I'm going to go for the 8350, it's £30 more then the 8320 but it's not too bad and even without OCing it's 4.0Ghz. That combined with a gtx 770 and an SSD for the OS will show massive improvements on a system that I'm still happy with so I won't be able to complain. Thanks RCoon for suggesting the Samsung Evo SSD, it's only £1 more then the PNY and as you say, there's not many reviews for the PNY but very good ones for the Evo.


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## HammerON (Feb 27, 2014)

Good call
You should be really happy with your new rig once it is complete. Post some pics when you get it together


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## RCoon (Feb 27, 2014)

HammerON said:


> Post some pics when you get it together



Most important part of the thread


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## TristanD27 (Feb 27, 2014)

I will do guys, for now I can show you the before shots I have lying around, the first few are the old board and stock cooler, also have one not great picture of the new board and A30.
http://s518.photobucket.com/user/ttmaster4444/slideshow/PC


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## RCoon (Feb 27, 2014)

TristanD27 said:


> I will do guys, for now I can show you the before shots I have lying around, the first few are the old board and stock cooler, also have one not great picture of the new board and A30.
> http://s518.photobucket.com/user/ttmaster4444/slideshow/PC


 
Damn son, nice clean case you got there. Reminds me of the Rosewill Thor V2. Post your PC pic *> here <*
TPU also has free image hosting @ http://www.techpowerup.org/
Just put your picture URL into [image][/image] brackets


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## TristanD27 (Feb 27, 2014)

RCoon said:


> Damn son, nice clean case you got there. Reminds me of the Rosewill Thor V2. Post your PC pic *> here <*
> TPU also has free image hosting @ http://www.techpowerup.org/
> Just put your picture URL into [image][/image] brackets


Thanks, I love white cases, they look clean and futuristic, think of every sci-fi film you've ever seen, the white weapons, big white rooms, white clothes.. I love it.
Thanks for that, didn't realise they have image hosting, I will upload the upgrade pics there.
What do you think of my cable management, took me about an hour to sort out. I might replace the blue cold cathodes with white LED strips, and when I eventually upgrade the board I'll get a black one and try to get some white RAM. One small thing I am going to include in my current upgrade is some white braided extensions for the 8pin CPU, 2x8pin GPU and two sata power splitters one for the blur-ray and dvd and one for the HDD and SSD, just need to find some white sata data cables and a white 24pin extension and I will be happy.


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## Vario (Feb 27, 2014)

Shelf makes me nervous.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4904560&csid=_61
or
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009O7YU56/?tag=tec06d-20

*8320 $150*


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## suraswami (Feb 27, 2014)

@MC 8320 is $99 and I think the sale ends either tomorrow or this weekend.  Of course OP can't buy (since not in US) but others who are watching this thread and interested can jump on to this deal.

BTW like OP I have the X3 Predator Black and Red combination case and it looks awesome.


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## TristanD27 (Feb 27, 2014)

Vario said:


> Shelf makes me nervous.


Try sleeping with your head under it, it is not a light PC, but it's pretty sturdy, might put an extra bracket or two on though for piece of mind.


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## suraswami (Feb 27, 2014)

TristanD27 said:


> Try sleeping with your head under it, it is not a light PC, but it's pretty sturdy, might put an extra bracket or two on though for piece of mind.


 
If you are in Earthquake prone zone, then its not a good idea, you need to strap it to the wall!  Even then its not a good idea!


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## TristanD27 (Feb 27, 2014)

suraswami said:


> If you are in Earthquake prone zone, then its not a good idea, you need to strap it to the wall!  Even then its not a good idea!


No I'm in the UK, rarely get any and and if we do it's barely anything. I have a loop bolt on either side with string going around the front but it's that heavy it's not going to get knocked forward accidentally, more likely the shelf with break then the PC will fall off.


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## eidairaman1 (Feb 28, 2014)

Hey Man Great Minds Think Alike- You have my Case, (Mines the same but Evil Blue Edition)



TristanD27 said:


> Thanks, I love white cases, they look clean and futuristic, think of every sci-fi film you've ever seen, the white weapons, big white rooms, white clothes.. I love it.
> Thanks for that, didn't realise they have image hosting, I will upload the upgrade pics there.
> What do you think of my cable management, took me about an hour to sort out. I might replace the blue cold cathodes with white LED strips, and when I eventually upgrade the board I'll get a black one and try to get some white RAM. One small thing I am going to include in my current upgrade is some white braided extensions for the 8pin CPU, 2x8pin GPU and two sata power splitters one for the blur-ray and dvd and one for the HDD and SSD, just need to find some white sata data cables and a white 24pin extension and I will be happy.


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## TristanD27 (Feb 28, 2014)

eidairaman1 said:


> Hey Man Great Minds Think Alike- You have my Case, (Mines the same but Evil Blue Edition)


The blue on looks really cool too. There was a video on youtube, I'll see if I can find it, someone had moded the white so it was PURE white and got custom parts, every little thing was white, it was beautiful!! Even a sabertooth board with custom white shielding so the whole board was white. 

The video has gone private now  It has a custom white cover for the GPU, white liquid in the watercooling, white braided cables, white cover on the RAM it was the most crisp, clean looking PC I have every seen.


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## TristanD27 (Feb 28, 2014)

Payday, woop! Everything is ordered now, should be here tomorrow, Monday latest. I'll post pics up when it's done and benchmarks if anyone's interested? Thanks again everyone  so happy and it's not even here yet.


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## Vario (Feb 28, 2014)

TristanD27 said:


> Payday, woop! Everything is ordered now, should be here tomorrow, Monday latest. I'll post pics up when it's done and benchmarks if anyone's interested? Thanks again everyone  so happy and it's not even here yet.


Sure, you should bench quite well with a 770 and a 8320!


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## suraswami (Feb 28, 2014)

TristanD27 said:


> Payday, woop! Everything is ordered now, should be here tomorrow, Monday latest. I'll post pics up when it's done and benchmarks if anyone's interested? Thanks again everyone  so happy and it's not even here yet.



What did you finally order?


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## TristanD27 (Feb 28, 2014)

suraswami said:


> What did you finally order?


EVGA GTX 770 2GB Overclocked, AMD 8350, 120GB Samsung EVO SSD, a few white braided extension cables and two white LED strips to replace the the two blue and two UV cold cathodes.

What's the best benchmarking software to use? Never really bothered before but I think I should now


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## Vario (Feb 28, 2014)

3dmark11, 3dmark (the new one with firestrike, its just called "3dmark"), Unigen Heaven and Unigen Valley, Wprime, superpi


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## TristanD27 (Feb 28, 2014)

Vario said:


> 3dmark11, 3dmark (the new one with firestrike, its just called "3dmark"), Unigen Heaven and Unigen Valley, Wprime, superpi


I see you've done this once or twice  I think I used unigen valley once, any particular and/or popular one you'd suggest out of those?


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## Vario (Feb 28, 2014)

They are all free so I'd recommend em all! I like 3dmark11 because it is a great way to see how your system stacks up to others.  Wprime is great for testing CPU performance.  Unigen Valley is nice for testing videocard overclock because it can be run on a loop and the scenery is very pleasing to watch.


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## suraswami (Mar 1, 2014)

Use IBT (Intel Burn Test) to test CPU stability, will help when you OC or when you want to under volt.

I use Samsung Magician to benchmark SSDs.

If you are not aware you need to do bunch of things (OS settings) for your new SSD to perform at its best, when you are ready I can point you to a guide.

Actually here is the guide.

http://www.tech-forums.net/forums/f128/ssd-tweak-guide-236563/


Your Magician software does the same changes, but I like to do it myself so I know what I did lol!

And Oh welcome to the 'FX' club!


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## HammerON (Mar 1, 2014)

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/3dmark-2013.179767/
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/new-3dmark-11-compilation.135908/
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/unigine-heaven-4-0-benchmark-scores.190386/
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/unigine-valley-benchmark-scores.183712/

You can compare your scores against others here at TPU when you get your sysytem up and running


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## TristanD27 (Mar 1, 2014)

Thanks vario, I think I'll try 3Dmark11, Wprime and unigen valley, I remember seeing unigen on a video and thought, damn, that's a nice looking game, then realised it was a benchmark so tried it but I'll get much better scores today.

Also thanks suraswami for the guide, I wasn't aware of that, I'll definitely to it once I'm up and running. Oh and, it's good to be here 

And thanks HammerON, I'll post them all up when done, first lot will probably be without OCing, need to do a bit more research into the best way to OC, never done much before, don't want to push it too far, I don't need to, but a nice safe OC would be nice


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## TristanD27 (Mar 1, 2014)

Got everything!!! But... I forgot one very important thing... Thermal paste, off to town I go to get some >.<


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## BarbaricSoul (Mar 1, 2014)

TristanD27 said:


> Got everything!!! But... I forgot one very important thing... Thermal paste, off to town I go to get some >.<


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## TheoneandonlyMrK (Mar 1, 2014)

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhggh chocolate half 
Price woot


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## TristanD27 (Mar 2, 2014)

Got everything in and working, SSD is damn fast but do I need to re-install all of my program's and game or just drag a shortcut from the HDD to to the start menu? Maybe I can just drag all the files from the start menu folder on the HDD to the start menu folder on the SSD and just change the first letter of the file destination on each file to the new letter assigned to the old HDD? I can do most things but never had a fully functioning HDD and then put a new SSD in as the boot up and set it all up, I don't want to have to start copying files here there and everywhere, I have 800GB of files and nowhere to temporarily store then so if I can just change a few settings and have it all working like before I'll be happy.


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## Dent1 (Mar 2, 2014)

TristanD27 said:


> Got everything in and working, SSD is damn fast but do I need to re-install all of my program's and game or just drag a shortcut from the HDD to to the start menu? Maybe I can just drag all the files from the start menu folder on the HDD to the start menu folder on the SSD and just change the first letter of the file destination on each file to the new letter assigned to the old HDD? I can do most things but never had a fully functioning HDD and then put a new SSD in as the boot up and set it all up, I don't want to have to start copying files here there and everywhere, I have 800GB of files and nowhere to temporarily store then so if I can just change a few settings and have it all working like before I'll be happy.



To benefit from the SSD the actual applications has to be installed directly onto the SSD.

If you just put the shortcut on the SSD, the main files will remain on the regular HDD so you will get no benefit.


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## RCoon (Mar 2, 2014)

Just reinstall the software, to ensure registry keys are installed properly. It's a sacrifice you have to make when you make the switch to SSD for the first time, or when you reinstall windows.


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## TristanD27 (Mar 2, 2014)

Dent1 said:


> To benefit from the SSD the actual applications has to be installed directly onto the SSD.
> 
> If you just put the shortcut on the SSD, the main files will remain on the regular HDD so you will get no benefit.


Yeah I know that but most program's will be installed on the HDD, the SSD is mainly for the OS and a couple of regularly used program's.



RCoon said:


> Just reinstall the software, to ensure registry keys are installed properly. It's a sacrifice you have to make when you make the switch to SSD for the first time, or when you reinstall windows.


Oh yey -_- it's going to take a week to sort it all out, maybe more


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