AMD FX 8320 Upgrade

chrismonty · Oct 29, 2018

I currently have an AMD FX 8320 and I was wondering if anyone can give me some advice on upgrading it. I don't want to spend much I'm willing to buy a new motherboard and cpu. I was hoping to go for something a little older to perform better than the AMD FX 8320.

feelinfroggy777 · Oct 29, 2018

You are in a bad spot as there is not a good upgrade path. To get into a more modern CPU, you will need a new CPU/Mobo/RAM. You could go with a 4th gen Intel CPU that would be a bump. All you would need is a new mobo and CPU, but they hold their value pretty well and I think would be better off getting a 2600 and b450 mobo.

If you can find a good deal on a used 4790k and mobo combo it may be worth it.

Here would be a decent 2600 build. It is a really good CPU, but may be over budget.

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/pngdxG
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/pngdxG/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor ($159.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - B450M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($69.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $309.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-10-29 14:58 EDT-0400

Here you could save a little money with a lesser CPU, but still better than your 8320. Either way, you gotta have RAM.

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/fQYPKB
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/fQYPKB/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($98.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - B450M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($69.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $248.37
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-10-29 14:59 EDT-0400

Darkbreeze · Oct 29, 2018

There are no upgrades for your CPU that make any sense. Your CPU already performs within maybe 10% of any higher clocked FX8 cpus like the 8350 or 9370. Your best option if you cannot upgrade the whole platform would be to overclock your current CPU but that will require a very good cooler and motherboard, plus at least a fair amount of good airflow via case cooling fans.

chrismonty · Oct 29, 2018

Any older Intel's be any good?

Darkbreeze · Oct 29, 2018

Any Intel platform that is LGA 1150 or 1151, Haswell or newer, will be an improvement over what you have now, so long as you go with an i5 or i7 from those platforms. Any Intel platform that is newer than Haswell refresh will require you to also purchase new DDR4 RAM, as that is the last platform that supported DDR3 like what your current system uses.

chrismonty · Oct 29, 2018

Would an i5 2500k be an improvement?

Darkbreeze · Oct 29, 2018

Not really. Not to any significant degree worth spending money on.

chrismonty · Oct 29, 2018

So best getting something like a i5 4670k?

4745454b · Oct 29, 2018

If you want to go older, I'd look for a 3770 or 4770/4790. They aren't that much slower than the 7700K, can be OC'd to make up the difference, and will allow you to reuse your DDR3 ram. Should be able to find a used combo for $150-$200. Note that the 2200G above is $250, so it wouldn't make much sense to spend $200 on the old and used.

Edit: I would avoid the old i5s. 4C/8T or 6C/6T is what performs better these days. Old 4C/4T isn't going to work for much longer.

feelinfroggy777 · Oct 29, 2018

chrismonty :

Look for a 4790k or 4790 if you are going 4th gen.

Darkbreeze · Oct 30, 2018

I agree with the premise on both these posts. If you go with an older Intel CPU, it would be a very good idea to go with an i7 model AND it would also be seemingly wise to go with an unlocked CPU and motherboard so you CAN overclock to gain a bit more muscle out of it.

Honestly though, I don't think the old platforms are worth investing in. By now many of those systems are beginning to see motherboard failures and the cost of a new motherboard for everything from Skylake back through Sandy Bridge has become more expensive than buying a brand new Z390 board unless you buy used, which lands you right back in the problem of having hardware that probably isn't going to have a long lifespan as it's more than likely been in use for a good long while already.

Haswell and Skylake systems, maybe not to the same degree, but even those have become a lot more scarce.

DSzymborski · Oct 30, 2018

I agree with the thrust of my colleagues here. If you're going old, it's an i7 or bust. We're finally getting to the point that the hyperthreading *does* actually matter in those older chips. While I'm quite happy with my 8700k, the 3770k in my old workhorse rig was still a very solid performer and it only really got replaced because the motherboard started to have some issues.

And it's definitely getting harder to find used ones in the wild. It may actually be more expensive to get a used Sandy Bridge i7/MB than a few years ago.

Darkbreeze · Oct 30, 2018

It is. Sandy, Ivy, Haswell, Haswell refresh and all AM3+ boards have become all but impossible to find new boards for, hard as hell to find used boards for and most of the used boards that ARE out there, have been ridden hard and put away wet, to the point where you are often just trading one motherboard issue for another by buying one. Certainly there are probably some good deals on still decent boards out there, but the majority of them have already degraded from use.

chrismonty · Oct 30, 2018

Ok I will look around for an i7 3770. Another question would an Ryzen 3 1200 be much of an improvement from the AMD FX 8320?

feelinfroggy777 · Oct 30, 2018

chrismonty :

Yes, any AMD Ryzen CPU will be better than your 8320. The 8320 is not a very good CPU.

Darkbreeze · Oct 30, 2018

Eh, it wasn't that bad for it's time. True, it was outperformed by the majority of Intel CPUs, but I had an 8320 overclocked to 4.6Ghz and it had no issues running with my 290x just fine and did a pretty decent job running handbrake and other demanding applications. I didn't upgrade until Skylake came along. So "bad CPU" is not really an accurate assessment IMO.

Then again, that was 4 years ago, so..

andyl49 · Oct 31, 2018

I had this same issue a month ago, i decided to bite the bullet and get a new MB, CPU and RAM! I went with the ryzen 5 2600x, MSI gaming pro carbon (although you can get cheaper boards) and took my luck on some corsair vengeance DDR4 3000mhz from ebay. managed to get it all for £475 in total! Couldn't be happier with it really......GPU is next but because i have the r9 290 tri-x my only decent option path for an upgrade is the 1080....it will be a few months before i get that though!

chrismonty · Oct 31, 2018

Think I'm going to go the same way and start with an Ryzen 3 1200 as this is probably just in my budget. Could anyone recommend a good motherboard and any RAM deals for this?

Darkbreeze · Oct 31, 2018

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($96.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock - B450 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($86.01 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $302.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-10-31 17:26 EDT-0400

This is better. You really don't want 1st gen Ryzen CPUs or motherboards if you can get 2nd gen for even close to the same price, or in this case. less money.

Odyssey_03 · Nov 7, 2018

I've an 8350 and had a look at the various upgrade options.

To provide good advice, what programs/games do you run and what programs/activities do you want to see an improvement in?

Darkbreeze · Nov 7, 2018

Really, it doesn't matter. Any camp you buy into from the three years is going to be a major improvement in ANY area or aspect of computing.

Odyssey_03 · Nov 8, 2018

Some poor advice in this thread.

The 8320 still beats some of the lower Ryzen CPUs in heavily multi-threaded benchmarks/applications.

4745454b · Nov 8, 2018

I don't play/use benchmarks. There might be some random app out there that runs better on the 8350. But overall the Ryzen 1300 will be better at everything. There is a reason AMD killed off the 8350.

Darkbreeze · Nov 8, 2018

Odyssey_03 :

Some poor advice in this reply. No it doesn't.

AMD FX 8320 Upgrade

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