AMD v Intel build help

Sprouts2013

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Jun 21, 2016
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Been away from field for a bit and I'm not up on current CPU and mobo tech and my rig just took a shit last night. I figured since I need to at least get a new CPU I might as well up grade my mobo as well so I can get a newer higher performing CPU. any help would be appreciated.

Basic overview:

**Air cooled
**640w PSU (larger possible but only if 100% necessary
**must be mATX so that I can utilize the brand new case I just bought before my rug died last night
**Must be DDR3 and able to utilize RAM up to DDR3-12600

I am not gaming so I do not need an amazing GPU. more of less an on-board hdmi and/or DVI are all that I require. and I'm trying not to kill myself in the wallet. I have all the other HDD and RAM already and would like to be able to reused all the new parts I just bought I have more cabbage for my CPU and mobo.

Thank you in advance.
 

Sprouts2013

Commendable
Jun 21, 2016
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would and Intel i5 be a more worth while upgrade from and Athlon ii X2 245 Regor? Or should i stick with an AMD BE? my board is old anyway and it doesnt have many options as far and AMD BE chips that it accepts. So thus im thinking of simply getting an entirely new board and cpu.
 

Barty1884

Retired Moderator


The Phenom doesn't have integrated graphics, so going that route would require a discreet GPU.

You're not gaming - but what are you actually planning on doing with it?

If this is just to browse the web/watch videos etc, a new(er) i3 sounds perfect. There's even Skylake board options that can utilize your DDR3.....although it should be low voltage.
 
There are AM3+ MBs with graphic onboard although not very strong.
I still feel that combination with let's say A10-6800K and a micro ATX is best combination. After all, there's 4 cores to i3's 2 and much more potent GPU + using ordinary DDR3 memory already at hand.
 

Sprouts2013

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Jun 21, 2016
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it serves as my main rig that houses all my stored movies and files that i can access from anywhere in the house as well as controls my security system and a resource heavy stock software for my stock market trading. my OCed Athlon ii x2 945 was doing fairly well 90% of the time but the newer programs sometimes bottlenecked on me but it was stable at 3.8 GHz. i was hoping to upgrade a bit further than this and have something that i can continue to OC and upgrade RAM and GPUs for several years to come and it still work considerably better than the Athlon that i just lost.
 


4 cores are better in that case when you have a lot of multitasking.
 

Sprouts2013

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Jun 21, 2016
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how much better or worse are the AMD FX series compared to the APU A10 or say a Phenom ii X6?? I have made up my mind to stick with AMD. it has always served me well in the past and they do run cooler which is a plus seeing as i have a mATX case so room is limiting factor for cooling especially if i want to OC the dang thing. AMD is also much cheaper. of those 3 AMD series/families would you suggest. im also not opposed to an Athlon quad core or higher. i havent been keeping up on the tech for several years now as i did not have access to the information. i trying to get back into it but it has gotten so much more complicated than it was 10-15 years ago
 

Barty1884

Retired Moderator
I don't think it's as cut & dry as "A10-6800K" is 'better'. I still feel a new (Skylake) i3 would serve you just as well (if not a little better) than the A10.

The i3-6100 has HD Graphics 530, vs the 8670D in the A10, so the A10 has the 'win' there - but for the OP's uses, I'd say either fit the bit pretty well.

Generally speaking, 4 cores are 'better' than dual + hyperthreading, but that's only part of it. There's efficiency of the cores etc too. Considering the Athlon x2 was operating 'fairly well 90% of the time', I'd say HT is all that's needed here.

Also looking at newer/more efficient tech with the i3. The A10 was released in Q2 '13 vs Q3 '15 of the i3. Even released in 2013, the architecture used is even older than that. Realistically, you're looking at 4-5 year old architecture compared to the (relatively new) i3.

Either way, both will serve the purpose better than the Athlon X2, but for longevity I'd recommend the i3.
I wouldn't even contemplate investing money in an AMD CPU at the moment. Zen offerings, quite possibly, but near 5 year old architecture? A total waste of money IMO.



Sorry, you were posting as I was replying, so just saw this now.

First off, AMD run cooler? That's definitely news to me. Never heard of an AMD chip running cooler than it's Intel counterpart - at least not in recent times anyway (heat doesn't really bother me much, so it's not a factor - but I've certainly never heard the argument for AMD in the 'cooler' corner).

AMD options are much cheaper. They're slightly cheaper over time but, when they haven't released a truly 'new' offering in a few years, the price keeps getting lower. Still viable, yes. But not worth investing in.

If you're adamant you want to stick with AMD, then that's fine (I'm not pro or anti either team), but I would highly recommend you wait for AMD's Zen offerings to hit the market before purchasing.
 
Problem with FX processors is that they don't have GPU included so you either need a discrete GPU or would have to contend with lousy onboard on some MB's. Best APU processor from AMD is A10-7890K which is relatively expensive. Next one down that makes sense is A10-7860K which may be best deal. Providing it's on a good MB, it's possible to OC it good too which ups the performance of GPU part too.
 

Sprouts2013

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Jun 21, 2016
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my Athlon ii x2 945 OCed to 3.8 runs between 34-44C under normal operating conditions, 22-28C at idle and i have yet to see temps get above 52C when running a load test after my last OC adjustment. i am limited on the number and size of the fans i can use. and my case has a limited room for the HS so the cooler the cpu runs the better. ive been pricing out the APU A10s and both i3/i5 and the price gap is quite large. you say wait for the new AMD Zen CPUs.....do they utilizer DDR3 ram? as i said i am out of work right now due to injury and i do not have income coming in. i wasnt planning on building a PC right now but being my Athlon decided that it had had enough i am being forced to do something and it just seems to make more sence to upgrade the MB and CPU rather than just get another Athlon ii X2. however i was considering getting an Athlon ii x3/x4 or Phenom ii x3/x4/x6/x8 being they are realy cheap right now and i already have an MSI board for it to go in. at least until i can get back to work and have some flow saved up for something better.
 

Sprouts2013

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Jun 21, 2016
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and that was with the stock HS and fan with only one additional 120MM exhaust fan and an 80MM intake fan. and i would rarely hear the fans speed up when my trading software was being a little piggy and demanding more from the CPU and RAM
 


Neither are in any way better than the other. The FX series is geared towards enthusiasts while the A series is geared towards the people who want an all in one solution, hence the integrated GPU.

In all honesty, nothing AMD has right now CPU wise is worth the money. Not in the slightest. They don;t have anything competitive and the current socket is now dead and will die off completely once AM4 is released leaving anyone with a AM3+ board without any upgrade path at all since they are not backwards compatible.

Now to be fair, you are not wrong nor right about AMD running cooler. AMDs CPUs have a much lower thermal top than Intel. I.E. A FX 8 series CPU, per AMDs site, has a thermal limit of 61.1c while an equivalent Intel i7, per Intel site, has a thermal limit of 74.04c yet the FX CPU is a 125w CPU and the Intel i7 is a 88w CPU. Intel does also use less power and in a smaller environment Intel is better due to that.

If you plan to overclock then a FX series CPU needs a high end air or liquid cooler and will increase power consumption by quite a bit:

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2012/11/06/amd-fx-8350-review/7

And that is vs a older i7. Both stock and under the same overclock speeds it uses quite a bit more than the Intel counterpart.

That said, if you have made up your mind to stick with AMD then it is not worth buying a CPU from them today. Honestly it is only worth waiting for Zen and AM4. Unless you plan on investing in higher end cooling for your overclocking efforts and upgrading your system much sooner due to a platform that will no longer receive any new CPUs.
 

Sprouts2013

Commendable
Jun 21, 2016
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i cant wait that long to get my rig back up and running. right now i had to resurrect my old Phenom QuadCore 9850 and i dont like it compared to the Athlon.

im not exactly sure what went wrong with my last one. i woke up the other morning and the system was off and when i tried to reboot it everything turned on like normal except the CPU. im not sure if the chip finally died or if the MB died right now.

I was running an MSI M2N32-P33 v1.3 MB with 8 GB of DDR3-12800u Ram and a 650W PSU and an old Geforce graphics card just because i had it and it allowed me to run multiple monitors which helped with my stocks.

bottom line i guess is that i need to keep the cash flowing out low right now. i only need a rig that will last maybe 2-3 years tops. i plan on building a monster during that time so that when the one i am attempting to piece together now takes a shit ill have a serious beast ready to go. and at which point i would probably be using a water cooler system and depending on what has been released i will have a budget of about $3K where as right now even $200 is pushing it. i have already come to grips with the fact that i am going to have to buy a used CPU because of the simple fact that i cant afford them brand new which is why i am shying away from the i5/i7 plus i want to be able to use the 16GB DDR3 RAM i bought. o rdered 8gb and i didnt realize it was bogo so i got 16gb in all.