New AMD CPU... Is it worth it?

harrystam · Nov 6, 2016

I have a AMD FX 6300 and I'm thinking of an upgrade. I was doing some searching, though to find that the newer AMD (AM3+) cpu's pull atleast 95 watts some taking up as much as 225 watts! Some aren't even that much better than my 6300. They all come stock clocked at around 3.3 - 4.5 Ghz. I would need a new PS if I were to upgrade.

So is it worth it?
If you think it is worth it what would you go with?

Thanks,
Harrison

Gam3r01 · Nov 6, 2016

No, there really is no worthwhile upgrade from the 6300 still on the AMD platform. You have to make the switch to intel if you want a meaningful performance increase.
What makes you think you would need a new PSU though?

harrystam · Nov 6, 2016

Gam3r01 :

I have a XFX Radeon R9 pulling alot of power. I'm pretty sure i'm skimping by on a 650 watt right now.

TJ Hooker · Nov 6, 2016

What kind of R9? 650W is enough for any single graphics card PC as long as it's a good quality PSU.

harrystam · Nov 6, 2016

I'm (trying) to do some video editing. and on this cpu it is just taking unspeakably long to finalize files after only cutting up video.

harrystam · Nov 6, 2016

TJ Hooker :

XFX R9 390. Not the 390X. the X was only marginally better.

harrystam · Nov 6, 2016

TJ Hooker :

Cooler Master HAF 922
ASUS M5A97R2.0
AMD FX 6300
16GB Fury RAM
XFX R9
390 Creative SoundBlaster ZX
EVGA 850 G2

I had to read my own specs to refresh my PSU memory

Gam3r01 · Nov 6, 2016

You will not need a new PSU by any means.
The 390 pulls about 300 at peak, even if you had the 220w processor on there, you still have 300 more watts headroom. You are easily in the clear.

If you are mostly rendering consider something like a Xeon 1231v3 or similar for a cheap upgrade, as opposed to the 6700k.
A solid i5 such as a 6600k would still be a sizable upgrade, but more so for gaming.

harrystam · Nov 6, 2016

Gam3r01 :

I'm on a AM3+ AMD chip setup. so a intel switch wouldn't be cheap. lol.

I do alot of gaming, but I also edit my game recordings. Would a 8 core AMD chip be better than my current 6 core FX 6300?

Gam3r01 · Nov 6, 2016

"better" yes, worth it? No.
A Xeon processor wouldnt be too expensive, obviously more than an 8320 etc, but it is actually a real upgrade.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($78.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $318.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-11-06 22:50 EST-0500

harrystam · Nov 6, 2016

Gam3r01 :

I had my eyes on this AMD chip. I wasn't thinking about building a new pc.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113347

Gam3r01 · Nov 6, 2016

The 9590 is a horrible processor.
Not only does it offer marginal performance increases compared to other FX processors, it draws far too much power along with generating too much heat.
Not to mention the motherboard can only support 125w processors (8350 at most).

Any FX series processor wont be helpful. They all carry the same IPC, so single core performance would remain the same (clock speeds are marginal, and easily made up by OCing) and I doubt you could make use of the extra two cores.

A new processor and motherboard is very easy, not really a new PC.

harrystam · Nov 6, 2016

Gam3r01 :

I need a right proper class in over clocking. i have my 6300 hitting 4.43 Mhz with turbo core controls. But I don't want to weld my cpu to my mobo. with manual overrides.

Gam3r01 · Nov 6, 2016

You really dont have much to gain from OCing anyway, I would leave it be and look for an upgrade.

Karadjgne · Nov 6, 2016

Cheapest solution right now would be a 8370E. You'll not see much if any improvements in most apps, a small amount in some games that'll have use for the extra 2 cores, but there will be some improvements in rendering times as 8 cores will do more work than 6.

Is it worth it? Not really sure on that answer, generally no, it's not, but with frequent rendering use, even chopping off 10mins here and there might be worth it to you.

A move to Intel would be best, a Xeon or i7 would be a serious upgrade in render times, anything from a 1230v2 or i7-3770 to a v3 or skylake cpu will work wonders. Ivy Bridge or Haswell would be cheaper than skylake or waiting on Zen as you'll be able to use your existing ram, Skylake / Zen requiring ddr4

Ecky · Nov 6, 2016

I agree 100% with Karadjgne. An 8370e would offer a bit of extra performance, but even the best FX CPUs don't match an Intel Core i5 in basically anything. The 8370e would be an inexpensive upgrade to hold you over for a little while longer, but it's still going to be slow compared with Intel's offerings.

Karadjgne · Nov 8, 2016

As you can see, AMD's best (the A10 being better than the FX), you are looking at 169seconds vrs 304. If a render took a 4770k an hour, for your FX you'd be looking at closer to 1¾—2 hrs for the same amount of productivity. Time is money or in the case of Intel vrs amd, money spent is time saved.

TJ Hooker · Nov 9, 2016

@Karadjgne a modern A10 may be AMDs best in terms of IPC and single threaded performance, but in multi threaded applications (ie rendering) an FX 83xx will absolutely perform better.

Karadjgne · Nov 9, 2016

Hmm, could be, the fx isn't shortchanged the way the APU's are. Still, there's a considerable discrepancy between Intel 8thread and Amd 8thread render times.

ac13044 · Nov 9, 2016

amd hahahhahhahahahhahhhahhaa

TJ Hooker · Nov 9, 2016

Karadjgne :

Difference isn't that huge, at least based on PovRay. Looks like an 8350 is around the same performance as 4770k. Obviously Skylake would widen the gap a little bit, but nothing major.
http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/graph7189/56744.png

Karadjgne · Nov 12, 2016

Hah, wild, according to Anand, the 8350 does better than my 3770k in PovRay. Considering they are same gen cpus, I'm wondering if testbeds didn't play a role in those scores. It's about the only time I've ever seen an fx beat an i7 that I can remember

HOkay · Nov 14, 2016

I agree with the advice given so far, there's little point getting an 8 core FX now. Your best bet is to start saving for Q1 next year when Zen should appear, leaks so far make it look like it'll be competitive with Intel's slightly older stuff (3770k ish) but if they bring them out at £200 then that should be a winner for budget rendering builds like you want

Please AMD, make this a good release, you're definitely due one!

Karadjgne · Nov 15, 2016

With a supposed boost in IPC speed of approximately 40%, Zen FX should be up somewhere at Haswell levels of performance. For amd, that'd be huge. Zen+ will be better.

TJ Hooker · Nov 15, 2016

Yeah, really looking forward to seeing what Zen can do. I had been planning my PC build for fall 2015 since early 2014 (was in school at the time, didn't want to spend the money), at the time I think Zen was rumored for a late 2015 release along with Skylake, was hoping to see how they matched up and buying accordingly. As it was, Skylake was the only smart option when I built.

New AMD CPU... Is it worth it?

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