AMD FX 8350 vs Intel i7 3770

thatoliverguy · Apr 3, 2016

My current rig is:
CPU: fx 8350 (stock)
Mobo: m5a78l-m/usb3
ram: 8gb ddr3 1600
GPU: R9 290x
PSU: 750w.

Right now there is someone selling an i7 3770 (non-k) for $160. It comes with a mobo and heatsink. All I know about the mobo is that it has two SATA 3.0 connectors and a PCI-e 2.0 x16 slot. I think I could probably sell my cpu/mobo combo for around the same price as this new combo. What I'm wondering is if I will notice an improvement in games and multithreaded applications with the upgrade and if it would be worth the hassle and potential price deficit of selling my cpu/mobo.

Thanks for you input!

tothergnome · Apr 3, 2016

So few things to consider. Are you playing games that aren't optimised for AMD. If they aren't optimised then get the I7. Also check if the games you play don't use much cores. Also are you going to do some video editing?

thatoliverguy · Apr 3, 2016

I play some games such as League of Legends and Minecraft that aren't very well optimized for the AMD. I'm also considering getting skyrim soon and I have heard that it doesn't work too well with AMD. These games should be able to run on either config alright, but if I try to do some modding I'm pretty sure the 8350 would fall behind quickly. I like to have several applications running while I'm gaming, but nothing too extreme. I'm into game development so while I don't necessarily plan on too much video editing I will definitely be using various applications that take advantage of multiple cores/threads. I'm also considering getting some triple-A games such as BF4 and Crysis 3 etc. How would these sorts of games fair with the different cpus?

GuillaumeM · Apr 3, 2016

The benefits of the i7 are lower power consumption, less heat, better single core performance and it has a built in (bad) GPU.
The fx 8350 is better in all core performance(since it has double the cores and higher clock speed that can be overclocked easilly), but has about double the power consumption. Also, the AMD is a bit newer then the i7 (only a few months though). In real world tests, they operate about the same. Last advantage of the 8350: it has way more cache memory. This memory helps your RAM to decrease the bottleneck in speed. If you know how to overclock a CPU, I'd say just overclock it, and you'll get better performance then the i7. As for an example mine is clocked at 4.8GHz and mostly is just under the 4770K in benchmarks.

geofelt · Apr 3, 2016

Both processors have 8 threads.
The FX-8350 has a passmark rating of 8949(when all threads are fully utilized) and a single thread rating of 1504.
The i7-3770 has a passmark rating of 9341 and a single thread rating of 2059.
With a good overclock, your 8350 can improve, but will not likely match the i7 single thread performance.
Most games will depend on a fast master thread.
Since the cost to you is equal, I think the i7-3770 will be better for games, and comparable elsewhere.

thatoliverguy · Apr 3, 2016

I would consider just overclocking, however I kinda cheaped out on my motherboard and so I doubt I would be able to get a stable oc. The added price for a better mobo and cooling didn't seem worth it at the time and I got a good deal on the m5a78l-m/usb3.

It sounds like the 3770 might be slightly better. Do you know what I'd be able to sell my cpu/mobo for on craigslist? I would think that $150 might get it to sell quickly.

GuillaumeM · Apr 3, 2016

According to other threads on tomshardware, overclocking on the m5a78l-m/usb3 is perfectly possible. Just make sure you don't run the AMD stock cooler since it is simply terrible. Also, make sure the nb doesn't run too hot (that means at the point where you can't touch the heatsink for longer then 3seconds or about 75+°C. If you have a warn nb, just re-apply the thermal paste, that decreases temps by about 10-20°C already. (at least on my boards)

The CPU can be sold for around $110, the mobo around $50. Those seem like fair prices to me

thatoliverguy · Apr 3, 2016

Since I'm looking into the 3770 (non k) I won't be doing any overclocking and the default thermal paste should be good enough to keep it running at stock.

I'm starting to lean towards just keeping the 8350 for now and waiting for a higher end cpu to go on sale. Maybe I'll wait until I can get a good price on a 4790k. Overclocking the 8350 now doesn't seem like the best idea. The mobo only supports up to 140w and the 8350 stock uses 125w stock. This leaves not much room for OCing and I would have to get heatsinks for the VRMs if I wanted to get any noticable performance increase. The cost of this and a better cooler doesn't seem rational as I wouldn't see much improvement in games and I'm looking to upgrade from the 8350 down the road anyways.

Tradesman1 · Apr 3, 2016

The 3770 (if in good shape is the better of two) the 8350 canstay with it in multithreaded operations if OCed fairly well, otherwise it's the 3770 hands down at everything

geofelt · Apr 3, 2016

If your current 8350 is doing the job, there is little reason to change.
On the other hand if it is no, then you have a very good reason to start looking.

My thought is that it is easier to tolerate longer batch run times from multithreaded apps than it is to have stuttering or other inconsistencies suffered while gaming.

But... how to tell if you need a better gpu, or more core speed.
Here is one generalized approach to finding more about that.

------------------------------------------------------------
To help clarify your CPU/GPU options, run these two tests:

a) Run YOUR games, but lower your resolution and eye candy.
If your FPS increases, it indicates that your cpu is strong enough to drive a better graphics configuration.
If your FPS stays the same, you are likely more cpu limited.

b) Limit your cpu, either by reducing the OC, or, in windows power management, limit the maximum cpu% to something like 70%.
Go to control panel/power options/change plan settings/change advanced power settings/processor power management/maximum processor state/
This will simulate what a lack of cpu power will do.
Conversely what a 30% improvement in core speed might do.

You should also experiment with removing one core. You can do this in the windows msconfig boot advanced options option. You will need to reboot for the change to take effect. Set the number of processors to less than you have.
This will tell you how sensitive your games are to the benefits of many cores.

If your FPS drops significantly, it is an indicator that your cpu is the limiting factor, and a cpu upgrade is in order.

It is possible that both tests are positive, indicating that you have a well balanced system, and both cpu and gpu need to be upgraded to get better gaming FPS.
-------------------------------------------------------------

GuillaumeM · Apr 4, 2016

Thatoliverguy, if you only play video games, it's not really worth it to change to the i7. Since the i7 series is made for bigger uses like mathematics or small servers or other big tasks. Ingame you will barely notice an improvement if you use the i7. My friend has the i7 4770K and I have the 8350, we both have the same GPU and our FPS are almost exact the same. Also, since newer games are optimized to use every single core they have available, the fx8350 might process your games faster then the i7.

In my opinion it is not really worth changing the parts, since they are both getting 4 years old this year. Upgrading to a newer series of Intel would give you a bigger improvement then just upgrading to a Ivy Bridge cpu.

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