FX 8320 vs Xeon 1230v3 for Gaming/Streaming

JOOK-D · Jan 22, 2014

Let me preface this by saying that I already have an FX 8320 and if that were the option to pick I'd get a Sabertooth 990FX for it so that I could get a decent OC. However, don't let money sway your opinion since I would be just fine (monetarily) going with the Xeon option.

I'm looking to see which would be better for my needs - gaming, streaming (OBS+Dxtory) and some occasional video rendering/encoding. I already have every other component, excluding the CPU and mobo (M5A97 R2.0 died on me). Both would be paired with a 7870, pretty mediocre but will do for now.

The Xeon has the superior single-core performance but is limited to 3.7GHz (essentially equal to an i7 3770 if you take into account the minor performance improvements to Haswell), and I believe the hyperthreaded threads would be less powerful than physical cores. However if it already has a higher FPS when gaming, and this is reduced when streaming, but totals higher than the 8320 would (since streaming doesn't really make much of a performance hit) then it might be a better option?

Any opinions, benches and personal experience? All I've found so far is the common Tek Syndicate video but I'm looking for other sources to help me make a decision.

Cheers!

COLGeek · Jan 22, 2014

Finding direct benchmark comparisons may be difficult, but anecdotally, I believe the Haswell based Xeon will out-perform the FX pretty much across the board in most benchmarks.

Going with a Xeon carries some baggage though. First, they won't work in all motherboards. Even if the proper socket is available to physically install, the BIOS must recognize the CPU. Also, forget OCing with the Xeon. That won't be supported.

I game with a Xeon (E3-1230 v1) and I have found it to be an excellent CPU. I also had a FX-8150 based rig before the Xeon and it, too, was a work horse.

Both CPUs will work for your stated needs, but the Xeon is the stronger of the 2 by most measures.

logainofhades · Jan 22, 2014

I don't recall seeing a haswell board yet that doesn't support the 1230 v3. Not sure what kind of overclock it would take to match one on that FX 8320. What exactly is your budget for this? You might be better off getting something like a Gigabyte 970a-ud3p and a better GPU. That board has 8+2 phase and is a nice budget overclocker. Also going from a 970 board to a 970 board should ward off any potential need for a new copy of Windows as well.

Depends on what you were looking to spend on the Xeon rig, though.

JOOK-D · Jan 22, 2014

Yeah, I feel I'll be temp limited to 4.5 on the 8320 (212 evo), I was stuck to around 4.4 on the M5A97.

Budget for the Xeon is the Xeon itself (180) and around 60 or 70 for the mobo, since it doesn't need to be anything crazy. The lower the better. Also Windows isn't an issue, I can get it cheap if necessary.

I'm more interested in what would deliver the better performance for my needs, the xeon or the 8320, disregarding price. Ideas?

Leaning toward the Xeon at this point.

logainofhades · Jan 22, 2014

The Xeon would probably be a bit faster and use a good deal less power in the process. Good luck finding a Xeon 1230 at that price. The 1230v2 is about $225 last I looked.

JOOK-D · Jan 22, 2014

£ not $, should have clarified. :lol:

logainofhades · Jan 22, 2014

JOOK-D :

Yea, that would make a bit of difference there. :lol:

Even then it is a bit over your 160 target. The v2 is about 172 and the v3 is 189.

JOOK-D · Jan 22, 2014

My budget was 180 for the CPU

I'm just gonna go the extra 10 for the V3 and LGA 1150, just in case anything really interesting comes out of the Haswell refresh. Now to look for a mobo with an MCE option in the BIOS so I can get all cores/threads to 3.7GHz.

logainofhades · Jan 22, 2014

I must have seen 160 somewhere else. These 12hr shifts at work are getting to me. :lol:

CTurbo · Jan 22, 2014

I'm a really big fan of the e3-1230v2. I know for a fact that it will outperform a FX 8320 at stock speeds. In fact, I was looking at some benchmarks and it even beats out the FX 9590 in single core performance and most tasks. That tells me that it will still be better than an overclocked FX 8320. And that's the Ivy Bridge version. We all know the v3 is even better.

Maybe I'm just getting old, but I care less and less about overclocking. Quiet, cool, and efficient are more important to me now. That pretty much sums up what the Xeon is about. Sure maybe a super overclocked 8320 can almost equal a stock 69w Xeon, but it's going to use 3-4x more power and then there's the heat and noise that comes with it. It's just not worth it to me anymore. I know this is not the popular opinion.

Lessthannil · Jan 22, 2014

Its not just you. Overclocking on Intel platforms just doesnt make much sense. The stock performance of pretty much the whole Core i series is good enough to game on without problems. Even first generation Core i5s at stock speeds are decent at gaming still.

-K model CPUs have some features stripped away from them compared to non -k models, and then Intel price gouges you for getting a -k series and the Z87 chipset. Z87 cant do much that H87 and B85 cant do other than overclock while costing more. You also have to buy an aftermarket heatsink which will put you at or above $60 just to overclock a CPU that is already great at stock speeds. It seems like its all going towards to epeen because in most games the OC wont make a good enough of a difference to counterract the downsides and the monetary costs.

WhiteSnake91 · Jan 23, 2014

heh, out of those, go with the xeon, I haven't had a need to overclock at all with my 3570k, I could have saved a bit of money by going with a cheaper cpu, and cheaper mobo. I'm not THAT old yet and I'm coming to that realization. It's just epeen pretty much...more trouble to heavily overclock an amd than to just run a good stock clock intel, plus it saves on the power bill for what that's worth, and would need a lesser heatsink.

tbh I think we all overestimate our needs anyway, the consoles are only using 1.6ghz weak amd 8 core cpu with a 7790gpu in the xbox one and a 7850 in the ps4 or maybe 7870

vmN · Jan 23, 2014

Generally streaming FX would win, as it mostly depends on integer instructions and GHz.
But you will also be gaming which then start using other instruction at the same time, this is the part where the xeon would start pulling up.
I think I have read that OBS actually uses less resources on the stream = less integer instruction = better for Intel.

I do believe intel should pull ahead, but we could be talking about 5 frames (so might not even be visual noticeable).

JOOK-D · Jan 23, 2014

Seems the Xeon is the popular option, as I expected. I was doing some calculations and a Xeon 1230v3 and a capable motherboard will be about 250. The same would go for an FX 8320 and a nice 990FX board for OC and maybe a CM Hyper 212 EVO. That should result in around 250 too. If you were starting from scratch I don't see why you wouldn't choose the intel option, in all honesty other than to play around with OC settings.

It seems that the Xeon will be my route; if it's not a major performance improvement then just to be the first intel system I've had in a while. After selling some components I have lying around it will only cost me around £80 anyway.

Thanks for the replies. Any more opinions?

Comgen · Jan 23, 2014

If you choose the Xeon processor, do not buy an IB v2, Haswell v3 is only 5-10% faster than Ivy, but the boost can increase up to 65~70% with the new instruction set extension (AVX2).
As well as with the Haswell's TSX technology (if there is a multi-threading efficiency issue, it can make a difference) etc. so there are some changes that should help in many cases.

About the FX and single thread performance, it is true that there is no FX CPU that can compete against a Xeon E3-1230 v3, not even with OC. without mentioning that the power consumption of the Xeon is much lower. (if you care about it)
On the other hand it all depends on how much you want to spend and your expectations, and in any case the AMD FX Processor 8320 is good (especially with OC and a solid board)
the decision is up to you.

P.s. I do not know if you've already written, which motherboards will you use in both cases? RAM?

logainofhades · Jan 23, 2014

Lessthannil :

Generally, you have to go Z87 if you want proper SLI and CF support. H87 on down tend to gimp the second slot with a PCI-E 2.0 running @ x4. Only reason I ended up with a 3570k was Microcenter motherboard bundle deal. I was originally just going to buy a Pentium G or i3 and board for my file server. I couldn't pass the 3570k deal up though. So my file server got my i5 2400 @ 3.5ghz and I put the 3570k in my gaming rig.

JOOK-D · Jan 23, 2014

Comgen :

Thanks for the info, the V3 was the one I was looking at and power costs are constantly increasing so yeah it's a concern. :lol:

For the 8320 I'd be using a Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 but my OC would probably only reach around 4.5 on the 212 EVO. For the Xeon I've yet to decide, something inside a £60-70 budget, probably H or B series. I already have some Kingston HyperX 1866 (can run at 1600 if that's all the board supports) genesis lying around (2x4).

logainofhades · Jan 23, 2014

An Asrock Z87 pro3 would probably work for you. It is only a single GPU board, but has a fair number of SATA ports, supports raid, and has an Intel lan chipset. It sux that you are in the UK. I would be interested in that FX 8320 possibly, otherwise. :lol: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-z87pro3

JOOK-D · Jan 23, 2014

Cheers, I was eyeing that one too. Single GPU is not an issue as I'm not interested in CF/SLI.
Anyway to tell if it has Multi-core enhancement in the BIOS (can't find anything about it anywhere)? I'd like to run at 3.7GHz on all cores if poss.

And my 8320 is going to my parents as they're still running LGA775, and I can't bear it when I go and visit! :lol:

Comgen · Jan 23, 2014

JOOK-D :

the Z87 Pro3 has this feature since bios version 1.60, there will surely be the option.

JOOK-D · Jan 23, 2014

Comgen :

Thanks! Can I ask how you know? (for future reference)

logainofhades · Jan 23, 2014

JOOK-D :

My mother still has my E8190 @ 3.2ghz. It does OK.

Comgen · Jan 23, 2014

JOOK-D :

knowledge, mostly because I'm into OC (therefore bios and so on) also lately I dealed with a bit of ASRock boards, and for my build.

P.s. but why choose this board with Z87 chipset? leave it to the K series CPU.. plus you're not interested in CF/SLI
if I were you I'd take a good H87 board and also Micro ATX (if you like this format). you could build quite a powerful and compact PC.

JOOK-D · Jan 23, 2014

Comgen :

JOOK-D :

knowledge, mostly because I'm into OC (therefore bios and so on) also lately I dealed with a bit of ASRock boards, and for my build.

P.s. but why choose this board with Z87 chipset? leave it to the K series CPU.. plus you're not interested in CF/SLI
if I were you I'd take a good H87 board and also Micro ATX (if you like this format). you could build quite a powerful and compact PC.

If you can suggest one with MCE, I'm all ears

Comgen · Jan 23, 2014

JOOK-D :

Comgen :

JOOK-D :

knowledge, mostly because I'm into OC (therefore bios and so on) also lately I dealed with a bit of ASRock boards, and for my build.

P.s. but why choose this board with Z87 chipset? leave it to the K series CPU.. plus you're not interested in CF/SLI
if I were you I'd take a good H87 board and also Micro ATX (if you like this format). you could build quite a powerful and compact PC.

If you can suggest one with MCE, I'm all ears

even if the Z87 Pro3 it is only a single GPU board, I think it is wasted to pay a premium for a Z87 chipset that you will never use properly (even for the limits of the board)
Where are you from?

FX 8320 vs Xeon 1230v3 for Gaming/Streaming

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