Decisions, Decisions. Should I ditch my newish AMD build for an intel one? You decide!

HarrisonDystar · Jun 26, 2014

Alright guys,
I recently built my first mid range gaming rig with the following specs:
AMD 6300FX (3.5 GHZ)
MSI 970A-G43
MSI Radeon R9 280 (OC)
EVGA 600W ATX12v/EPS12v
Team Vulcan 2x8GB ram DDR3-1600
I use the cooler master 212 evo to keep my processor cool as well.

I was excited to put this thing together, and I booted it up on the first try. At first I was very satisfied with the overall gaming performance. I get over 60 fps in Borderlands 2 (and most other GPU focused games). However, for most CPU intensive games my CPU seems to bottleneck my Graphics card, and I know for a fact I'm not reaching my full potential when it comes to what my Video card can put down (Overclocked it surpasses most 7970s). I get close to 30fps in far cry 3 and a little less then that on Crysis 3. I know my motherboard isn't the best for over clocking as well, as most reviews state that the vrm cooling is pretty poor. My question is this. Should I spend more money on an AMD board in order to get the highest possible over clock? Or would it benefit my overall gaming performance to get a good i5 processor that can last me a while and unlock my graphics card's full potential?

Rationale · Jun 26, 2014

I'm surprised you're getting that low of performance in FC3. My specs are in my signature, and I keep 30+ fps in Far Cry 3 on ultra settings, 1080p, HBAO, enhanced alpha to coverage, 2xAA. Then again, if your CPU is the bottleneck and my GPU is the bottleneck, it's conceivable we'd be getting similar performance.

I've spent quite a lot of time on these forums recommending i3s over FX-6300s at the same price point. It's pretty simple math; AMD may compete when all cores are being used, but in games using 4 cores or less (most new ones, and absolutely all older ones) the FX-6300 is cut to 66% power and a 4th gen i3 is firmly ahead.

I might recommend you get an AMD board to OC, since it'll be cheaper than replacing a CPU, if only the short term was important. However, the AM3+ socket is a dead end now, and I suspect the strongest FX CPUs will start hitting their limits in a couple years, even overclocked, since I've been seeing a lot of threads like this lately. With the future in mind, I think you'd end up paying less in the long run switching to an H97 or Z97 motherboard and an i5 now, rather than buying a new board with an old socket just for overclocking a weaker CPU, and having to switch in a year anyway.

That's if you can afford it, ofc. Swapping the whole motherboard and CPU gets expensive.

HarrisonDystar · Jun 26, 2014

Rationale :

I'm surprised you're getting that low of performance in FC3. My specs are in my signature, and I keep 30+ fps in Far Cry 3 on ultra settings, 1080p, HBAO, enhanced alpha to coverage, 2xAA. Then again, if your CPU is the bottleneck and my GPU is the bottleneck, it's conceivable we'd be getting similar performance.

I've spent quite a lot of time on these forums recommending i3s over FX-6300s at the same price point. It's pretty simple math; AMD may compete when all cores are being used, but in games using 4 cores or less (most new ones, and absolutely all older ones) the FX-6300 is cut to 66% power and a 4th gen i3 is firmly ahead.

I might recommend you get an AMD board to OC, since it'll be cheaper than replacing a CPU, if only the short term was important. However, the AM3+ socket is a dead end now, and I suspect the strongest FX CPUs will start hitting their limits in a couple years, even overclocked, since I've been seeing a lot of threads like this lately. With the future in mind, I think you'd end up paying less in the long run switching to an H97 or Z97 motherboard and an i5 now, rather than buying a new board with an old socket just for overclocking a weaker CPU, and having to switch in a year anyway.

That's if you can afford it, ofc. Swapping the whole motherboard and CPU gets expensive.

Thanks for the reply man

at this point I'm considering just getting a 3570k and a cheaper motherboard (I probably won't need to overclock it yet) to future proof my build as much as possible. Does that sound like a good idea?

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