Why would i not buy a FX-8350?

TwentyBenn · Sep 28, 2016

I have about £600 for a new cpu, case, coolers and motherboard. If there is any left over i will buy an RX480 to use in crossfire.

Looking at reviews i found the i7 6700k to be the best but i found a very attractive looking AMD FX-8350 at a significantly cheaper price.

Why would i buy one over the other? Should i get a better CPU? Whats a good motherboard?

clutchc · Sep 28, 2016

One reason would be if that was all you could afford. The FX-8350 is still a potent gaming CPU, especially since more and more games are capable of greater multi-threading. But be aware that the AM3+ platform is a ten year old platform. The socket is obsolete, meaning AMD has no plans (as far as I know) to upgrade their CPU line for it.

On the other hand, there's this: http://www.tweaktown.com/tweakipedia/58/core-i7-4770k-vs-amd-fx-8350-with-gtx-980-vs-gtx-780-sli-at-4k/index.html

geofelt · Sep 28, 2016

If your pc is primarily used for multithreaded apps like editing/rendering, then a FX8 is a good deal.
If you are primarily interested in gaming, then intel skylake is better.
FX cores are slow and since few games can use more than 2-3 cores, FX8 is not helpful.

For gaming, the i5-6600K overclocked a bit and a Z170 based motherboard is as good as it gets.
If you are budget constrained, then a I3-6100 is a good option and will generally beat out a FX-8370.
Here is a review:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/10543/the-skylake-core-i3-51w-cpu-review-i3-6320-6300-6100-tested

Guest · Sep 28, 2016

Well, it's based on an architecture that is 4 years old. And an architecture that was never really good.

I have the 8150. Same problems. It consumes too much electricity, has poor single thread performance (important for games), and high latency. I do mostly server type loads, so it's ok for me.

If you can, wait for Zen to come out. Even if it's not great, the prices for AMD and Intel chips will be driven down.

If right now, go with the Intel chip. It's a great one, the i7 6700k. The motherboard only matters depending on your needs. If you want multi-gpu, etc. But they almost all have the same performance. For crossfire, you want a motherboard that can handle pcie-3.0 8x/8x, not just one 16x pcie-3.0.

Ecky · Sep 28, 2016

The FX may look attractive because it has 8 cores which are highly clocked, and it's cheap, but each of those cores is very significantly slower than each core on the i7. You get about what you pay for, and it's an inexpensive and relatively low performing CPU.

Ecky · Sep 28, 2016

This is not every game, perhaps not even most, but this is what happens when a game can't utilize all of an FX's (very slow) cores:

TMTOWTSAC · Sep 28, 2016

When you look at every factor, I think the price/performance sweetspot is probably the i5 6500. It's also a good starting point to figure out what you need/want. Check out how it performs in the workloads and games you'd be running. Then you can see how much each tier up would cost, or how much you'd save going down a tier.

mdd1963 · Sep 29, 2016

The AMD fans FX may love to refer to some of the assorted FX models as having 8 'cores', but, it does not, and, certainly does not perform as such anyway. (just as a hyperthreaded i3 is not a quad core, despite how many 'processors' show up within Windows)

mdd1963 · Sep 29, 2016

TMTOWTSAC :

Isn't a 6500K only like $10-$15 more? (Even if one does not intent to overclock, the extra 400 MHz seems worth it for $10!)

TMTOWTSAC · Sep 29, 2016

mdd1963 :

Far as I know there is no 6500k. The 6500 runs at 3.2 - 3.6 GHz. There's a non-k 6600 at 3.3 - 3.9 GHz. There's also 6600k at 3.5 - 3.9 GHz. That may be what you're thinking. Prices fluctuate but right now on pcpartpicker they're listing at $199, $214, and $228 respectively. And don't forget overclocking skylake requires a z170 motherboard so that would be an additional cost.

It all depends on what you're doing with your computer. If the 6500 is too slow, it doesn't matter how much it costs. If it's more than fast enough, maybe you'd save money going with a 6400 or even a 4460. If your workloads are exclusively multithreaded data crunching tasks, the 8350 would be a great bargain, unless your livelihood depends on it, then maybe the 8350 is too slow and you can easily justify a 6900k or Xeon.

burgessanthony · Sep 30, 2016

In terms if pure price/performance, you can't argue against the 6600k, as long as its overclocked. Even with the slight added z170 cost (plenty of decent budget boards), a 6600k at 4.5+ is gaming sweet spot in 99% of cases.

In my opinion.

jeffredo · Sep 30, 2016

http://www.techspot.com/review/1089-fallout-4-benchmarks/page5.html

I own an i7-4790k, an i5-4690k and an FX-8320E @ 4.3 Ghz. This review is pretty much spot on. I've swapped the same video card between them and on the FX machine I have to turn down a number of quality settings and still get FPS drops that don't happen on the two Intel rigs. While not every game is going to behave like Fallout 4 enough of them do that it would give me pause to purchase an AMD FX process or if it were for my one and only PC.

madmatt30 · Sep 30, 2016

£600 should net you a 6500 .

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£173.00 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus H110M-K Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£47.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (£35.99 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£42.75 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon RX 480 4GB NITRO+ 4G Video Card (£194.99 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Element Gaming HYPERION MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£38.49 @ Ebuyer)
Power Supply: Corsair CXM 450W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£49.56 @ BT Shop)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer (£11.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £594.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-30 10:41 BST+0100

Not including os though.

madmatt30 · Sep 30, 2016

I noticed you only listed CPU, case , coolers, motherboard ??

If so you can obviously do better.

burgessanthony · Sep 30, 2016

^It's an interesting price point. Dropping to the i3 6100 would leave enough for an ssd which overall I reckon would be a better user experience, given the gaming prowess of the i3. Of course, if you really need the true 4 cores....

Sundriedtomato · Oct 4, 2016

I've had both an i5 and currently have an fx 8320, I've noticed no severe dips in performance when playing games like bf4 and witcher 3. The i5 was $220 and the fx 8320 was $90 with about a 4-5 fps drop when I went to the 8320. If you're gaming I doubt you'll see a significant difference especially if you're using an rx 480.

burgessanthony · Oct 4, 2016

Both those games are decently multi threaded. Games which are heavy on one or two cores will see anything from minor to very decent jump going to an i5.

Sundriedtomato · Oct 4, 2016

burgessanthony :

What games are you associating with one or two cores? The ones I play are dota 2 and counter strike, at which point the fps caps out at 120 fps anyways.

burgessanthony · Oct 4, 2016

Far cry 4 famously smashed one core and only really used 3. Of course, these are poorly.optimised.
I know going from a 3570k to 6600k I saw boosts in min frames, NOT average. But that can make all the difference.

Just cause 3 and the wolfenstein games are other examples I've seen.

Sundriedtomato · Oct 4, 2016

burgessanthony :

Cool, just putting it out there that it is possible to still play pretty games without buying a $200+ processor

ac13044 · Oct 4, 2016

skylake all the way future generation and amd as the saying goes is hotter than the stars lmao

Sundriedtomato · Oct 4, 2016

Basically saying the reason you shouldn't buy an 8320 or 8350 is if you have money to spend. You'll get a slight increase in gaming, sometimes more than slight when it comes to single core oriented games. However it is a $100 difference.

burgessanthony · Oct 5, 2016

Thorn in the fx8 for GAMING: i3 6100. Half the power usage for the same or better in quite a few modern games. Has fast ddr4 at its disposal and an upgrade path.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/10543/the-skylake-core-i3-51w-cpu-review-i3-6320-6300-6100-tested/10

The i3 outdoes the fx8370 in almost every normal task and game, uses less than half the power.

Really really struggle to see, if this is your usage, how its not the best option? Even GTA v the fx can't keep up

Obviously, heavy multithreaded stuff. On a budget - fx probably. For all else, not any more.

Sundriedtomato · Oct 5, 2016

Just saying that money is a big factor for most people. You have to take into account that even an i3 entails buying more expensive ram and a more expensive motherboard. And with the 8320e refresh power isn't a huge issue anymore. If you have the money then great spend it on an i5, but spending all the money you can isn't necessarily what you have to do. That is all I'm saying lol.

madmatt30 · Oct 5, 2016

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor (£129.98 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£29.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3P ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£72.00 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £231.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-05 07:25 BST+0100

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£174.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock H170A-X1/3.1 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£80.76 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £255.75
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-05 07:26 BST+0100

£20 more for the i5 setup , can't really see a reason not to.

Actually cheaper if you don't need all the features on the x1board

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£174.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus H110M-K Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£47.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £222.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-05 07:29 BST+0100

Why would i not buy a FX-8350?

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