Do I need an i5 4670k?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
W

Whatisgoingonherethen

Honorable
Oct 8, 2013
714
0
10,990
So my current pc build brings me to £995 but cutting my processor back to an AMD FX 8320 saves me about £60 and make the overall price that bit more encouraging for my parents to allow to to buy.
Here's the thing, I'm not sure if cutting down on the processor will result in bottle necking in the system. Of course if I change the cpu I will also have to change the Mobo. So here it is:
CPU- i5 4670k
RAM- 2x4gb vengeance low profile corsair
GPU- r9 290 tri-x
MOBO- Gigabyte z97 hd3
HDD- Caviar blue 1tb
PSU- XFX 650w semi-modular bronze.

So here is a list of what I want to know:
1) Will down grading from an i5 bottleneck my system?
2) Can anyone recommend a motherboard for the fx 8320 that is about the £60-£70 mark and is capable of overclocking and crossfire?
If it isn't capable of crossfiring then dont recommend it.
Thank you.
 
Solution
burdenbound
I am guessing you are running a standard 1080p monitor, if that is the case I recommend keeping the 4670k and dropping down to a r9 280x. You will still be able to play with high/ultra settings with extremely playable frame rates. It's easier to upgrade the GPU down the road than the CPU.

Like previous poster stated if your interested in crossfire look for a 750W-850W PSU.
Sort by date Sort by votes
photonboy

photonboy

Titan
Jun 20, 2006
21,567
13
85,015
Yes, you will bottleneck your system by using the FX-8350 for many games. Here's one example:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/fx-8350-vishera-review,3328-14.html

I'll put together a system, including Windows 8.1 64-bit which is the best OS (but get Start8 as well for $5 USD).

Not sure why you are set on AMD graphics cards, but okay.

*Your budget for the motherboard is pretty LOW for anything that is Crossfire capable. I'll see what I can do.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
W

Whatisgoingonherethen

Honorable
Oct 8, 2013
714
0
10,990


Like I said the budget is tight and I will upgrade in the future but at the minute I want to get the foundation laid so to speak to allow me to build on it in the future
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
burdenbound

burdenbound

Splendid
Aug 9, 2011
3,225
0
22,960
I am guessing you are running a standard 1080p monitor, if that is the case I recommend keeping the 4670k and dropping down to a r9 280x. You will still be able to play with high/ultra settings with extremely playable frame rates. It's easier to upgrade the GPU down the road than the CPU.

Like previous poster stated if your interested in crossfire look for a 750W-850W PSU.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
W

Whatisgoingonherethen

Honorable
Oct 8, 2013
714
0
10,990

Why wouldn't I be set on the r9 290 which is £270 and out performs other cards which hover around the same price bracket?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
photonboy

photonboy

Titan
Jun 20, 2006
21,567
13
85,015


His point was you'd have to turn around and REPLACE that power supply if you go Crossfire.

AMD has still not fixed some of the Crossfire issues though such as runt frames in DX9 that cause sluggish performance because the main card draws a full frame, the second card draws almost nothing so you get 30FPS perceived when running at 60FPS. That's why I still can't recommend Crossfire.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
burdenbound

burdenbound

Splendid
Aug 9, 2011
3,225
0
22,960


I thought AMD fixed their skipped frame issue some time last year. http://www.tomshardware.com/news/AMD-Catalyst-13.8-beta-microstutter,23776.html
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
ekagori

ekagori

Honorable
Feb 9, 2013
407
2
10,960
The i5 is better than the 8320 for gaming. Here's a build with the newer 4690k i5.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£167.94 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.25 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£87.60 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£62.69 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£59.99 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£36.00 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 290X 4GB Tri-X Video Card (£359.99 @ Aria PC)
Case: BitFenix Shinobi ATX Mid Tower Case (£48.02 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX 850W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£79.99 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer (£14.89 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £941.36
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
photonboy

photonboy

Titan
Jun 20, 2006
21,567
13
85,015
Photonboy's build: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/x2K6qs

*My build includes the cost of WINDOWS 8.1 and comes just over 900 pnd. I assumed the total cost was to include Windows.

Quick notes:
- the case is just a placeholder since chances are you'll want a different one. Do some research, make sure it supports front USB3 and has at least one fan and good reviews.
- make sure the Power Supply supports the C6/C7 Haswell (4th gen) low power state. Google for more info.
- *You do not want to skimp on the motherboard. I don't recommend anything less than the one I chose

The main parts I chose for quick reference:
- i5-4690K (Devil's Canyon Haswell refresh CPU)
- Z97-A Asus motherboard
- Noctua NH-U12S cooler

- 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3
- R9-290 Sapphire
- W8.1 64-bit
- 1TB HDD
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
photonboy

photonboy

Titan
Jun 20, 2006
21,567
13
85,015
burdenbound,
That link about Crossfire you gave about metering does help the runt issue, but as I said I don't think they've yet fixed it in DX9. Look again and note it only applies to DX10/11.

"But support for frame pacing is limited to DirectX 10- and 11-based games on one monitor at resolutions up to 2560x1600. That means it doesn't work in DirectX 9 games, OpenGL-based games, or in multi-monitor arrays. Compatibility with those APIs and technologies will follow in a phase-two driver, though there's no estimate for its arrival..."

As of February 2014 with the Catalyst 14.1 beta the problem has STILL not been addressed:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7729/amd-catalyst-141-beta-drivers-now-available-mantle-frame-pacing-more

"One thing to note with phase 2 is that like phase 1, these frame pacing improvements are solely for Direct3D 10+. Direct3D 9 and OpenGL are not covered by phase 2 under single-monitor or multi-monitor configurations, and as such still use AMD’s old frame pacing algorithms. AMD will ultimately be releasing a phase 3 driver to handle these APIs, though AMD isn’t providing a schedule for phase 3 at this time..."

*So as of today, it's a BAD IDEA to run a DX9 game using Crossfire, and there are lots of DX9 games.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom