Which fx processor to get.

[franzn258]

Im looking at getting an fx processor. I know people say they are bad but I already have an am3+ board (970 extreme3) and anything I get is going to blow my computer away. The cpu's I'm looking at are either a 4100/4170 or an 8120 and overclocking it. I also have an antec kuhler 620 so cooling shouldnt be a problem.


1) Which should I get.
2) would the 8120 run better than the 4xxx's if i disabled half the cores and let 4 cores each have a whole module.
3) If I should get the 4xxx's which one because I have no idea how to overclock but dont mind trying to figure out how. Im just worried if I got the 4100 i wouldnt get it to perform as well as the 4170

 

[hijaxhfx]

The FX-4170 is better for gaming than the 8120, higher stock frequency and well no games uses 8 cores that i know of and well it is cheaper then the 8120

 

[mace200200]

Not sure but I think the extreme3 has a core unlocker, so you could buy a quad core and unlock it to six if you wanted.

 

[franzn258]

You cant unlock the fx processors

 

[nekulturny]

The FX-4170 is better for gaming than the 8120, higher stock frequency and well no games uses 8 cores that i know of and well it is cheaper then the 8120

The 4170 is only better because its clocked higher. Since the 8120 has the same exact modules, just twice the amount of them, there is a "*" to your statement. An 8120 can effortlessly be clocked up to match the speed of the FX-4170 (4.2GHZ) and it can be done with the stock heatsink/fan assembly.

The FX CPUs cannot be unlocked for the record.

My advice however would be to get a Phenom II 965 if you need an AMD CPU TODAY for gaming, as they have more consistent performance, and wait for the end of the year for PileDriver (FX-8320s or 8350s)

Phenom II 965s are still available from both newegg and tigerdirect for $120

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2372719&CatId=4433 (OEM model, no fan, 30 day warranty only)

 

[davemaster84]

None man. Please do not missunderstood me, I am a huge AMD fan, but since bulldozer had so little improvement compared to the previous generation, I would say hang out a little bit and wait until piledriver is released. I have a 990fx board too and I am sticking around with my 955be, you can buy a 2nd hand one for a very low price. The 8350 is going to be a very good processor, very fast and competitive at least with SB, of course we´ll have to wait the price tag

 

[nekulturny]

Yea, I figure my Phenom II will get the job done until AMD is done with AM3+, thats what I'll hang out for.

 

[amuffin]

Phenom II X4 965BE.

 

[Hazle]

+1 on the 955BE/965BE for gaming.

if you're running other tasks that utilizes multi-threaded applications and have no interest in gaming, then the the FX-8xxx has it's uses if you're on a budget

 

[amuffin]

I'd rather wait a few months for Piledriver than purchase ANY FX cpu.

 

[nekulturny]

I'd rather wait a few months for Piledriver than purchase ANY FX cpu.

Yea, but you're an intel guy, lets be realistic, you wouldn't buy an AMD processor anyway.

 

[mace200200]

You cant unlock the fx processors

Aww really someone told me you could, I've never owned one myself so just know what others say. But from my own experience spend $10 on a CPU that comes in a box for the 3 year warranty!

 

[nekulturny]

Aww really someone told me you could, I've never owned one myself so just know what others say.

There were some Phenom IIs and Athlon IIs that could be unlocked. For example Phenom II 960Ts, which were basically 1100T/1090T 6 cores with 2 cores locked. You have about a 50-60% chance of being able to unlock the 2 idle cores. Unfortunately, this cannot be done with Bulldozers.

 

[hijaxhfx]

I have a 6100 and at the moment i am not over clocking it. and the thing runs great for any game that i play and any program i run. sure it is not what the hype was about it and its not as good as say an Intel or even other Amd non FX chips when you go by the benchmarks.

But for the price and what it does it is not a horrible or bad Cpu at all.

That being said so far when ever i upgrade i will be going Intel unless Amd creates something on par with them by the time i do

 

[nekulturny]

Thats because the "Anti-AMD" crowd is hyping things too. Gotta love the hypocrisy.

 

[hijaxhfx]

Yeah hard to find anything good about them. from what i can tell you might as well cut a square piece of wood and stick it in there, it prob run about the same

 

[davemaster84]

Yea, I figure my Phenom II will get the job done until AMD is done with AM3+, thats what I'll hang out for.

You are badly mistaken, one thing is rejecting bulldozer due to its relative low performance, and another is to send a whole platform into oblivion. Trinity has already shown some very good result, I am quite sure the new 8350 will be better than the 2500k and probably will be very close to the 2600k, there is plenty of time yet for the 990fx to grow up, AMD is not like intel, they don´t chance sockets like underwear

 

[drixelphobicvids]

GET THE 4100!!!! it has a faster clock speed out-of-box its amazing!!

 

[nekulturny]

You are badly mistaken, one thing is rejecting bulldozer due to its relative low performance, and another is to send a whole platform into oblivion. Trinity has already shown some very good result, I am quite sure the new 8350 will be better than the 2500k and probably will be very close to the 2600k, there is plenty of time yet for the 990fx to grow up, AMD is not like intel, they don´t chance sockets like underwear

LOL, I don't know if I'm "badly" mistaken, I just made an off guard comment. Yes I am quite familiar with AMD's better track record of backward compatibility.

Let me revise my statement then. There is nothing I do on my computer that requires anything more powerful than my Phenom II. Obviously I bought an expensive, high quality mobo with a 5 year warranty for a reason. I did this knowing that AMD is good about using sockets for awhile. When the P II starts to feel sluggish to me, I'll put whatever the best 8 core AMD has at the time, if it be PileDriver so be it, maybe Steamroller or whatever else it is.

 

[Guest]

LOL, I don't know if I'm "badly" mistaken, I just made an off guard comment. Yes I am quite familiar with AMD's better track record of backward compatibility.

Let me revise my statement then. There is nothing I do on my computer that requires anything more powerful than my Phenom II. Obviously I bought an expensive, high quality mobo with a 5 year warranty for a reason. I did this knowing that AMD is good about using sockets for awhile. When the P II starts to feel sluggish to me, I'll put whatever the best 8 core AMD has at the time, if it be PileDriver so be it, maybe Steamroller or whatever else it is.

you'll be fine for a bit longer:

The eight-core FX-8350 will still use socket AM3+ and will be manufactured using a 32 nm process, but it carries the hope that AMD will deliver on its promise to achieve a 10 to 15 percent performance increase over the previous Bulldozer design

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/cpu-fx-piledriver-cpu-amd,16175.html

but you know i am only replying to crack on how short lived the FM1 socket is/was :lol:

 

[ohyouknow]

Im looking at getting an fx processor. I know people say they are bad but I already have an am3+ board (970 extreme3) and anything I get is going to blow my computer away. The cpu's I'm looking at are either a 4100/4170 or an 8120 and overclocking it. I also have an antec kuhler 620 so cooling shouldnt be a problem.


1) Which should I get.
2) would the 8120 run better than the 4xxx's if i disabled half the cores and let 4 cores each have a whole module.
3) If I should get the 4xxx's which one because I have no idea how to overclock but dont mind trying to figure out how. Im just worried if I got the 4100 i wouldnt get it to perform as well as the 4170

1) If you do not want to wait till Piledriver is released and it has to be an AMD FX. I'd say 8120. Overclocking is relatively painless and mine is currently running undervolted @4.2
2) In gaming, the FX processor's clock speed is what makes the biggest difference not modules. The FX 4100 ran quicker than the 8120 in tom's sub 200 gaming cpu article.
3) It's really easy to overclock these cpu's. Couldn't find the article I usually refer to, but as long as you play it smart and don't crank up the voltage to get an aggressive overclock you'll be fine.

Cheers.

 

[nekulturny]

you'll be fine for a bit longer:

The eight-core FX-8350 will still use socket AM3+ and will be manufactured using a 32 nm process, but it carries the hope that AMD will deliver on its promise to achieve a 10 to 15 percent performance increase over the previous Bulldozer design

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/cpu-fx-piledriver-cpu-amd,16175.html

but you know i am only replying to crack on how short lived the FM1 socket is/was :lol:

Yea, I know lol. Hopefully they don't start a trend, AMD has to fight tooth and nail for every customer they get, between the legitimate gripes and blatant stupidity of Intel fanboys, their backwards compatibility is one of their strong suits.

 

[SmartGeek]

Im looking at getting an fx processor. I know people say they are bad but I already have an am3+ board (970 extreme3) and anything I get is going to blow my computer away. The cpu's I'm looking at are either a 4100/4170 or an 8120 and overclocking it. I also have an antec kuhler 620 so cooling shouldnt be a problem.


1) Which should I get.
2) would the 8120 run better than the 4xxx's if i disabled half the cores and let 4 cores each have a whole module.
3) If I should get the 4xxx's which one because I have no idea how to overclock but dont mind trying to figure out how. Im just worried if I got the 4100 i wouldnt get it to perform as well as the 4170

Hi franzn258,

At this point of time, buying a Bulldozer processor isn't worth it. AMD's Piledriver, the next generation of Bulldozer, will be released later this year and early benchmarks have shown a 15% performance improvement.

So, I recommend you to wait for Piledriver as it will better than Phenoms and will closely match-up with Sandy Bridges too.

However, if you don't want to wait, then you should buy AMD FX-4100 instead of FX-4170 because the latter is just a pre-overclocked model with a higher price tag. You can overclock the FX-4100 to 4.2GHz yourself without any hassle and it will start to deliver equal performance just like the FX-4170. But, if you don't play games and do other multi-threaded tasks like video converting, encoding, etc., then the FX-8120 will be best for you.

Regards,
SmartGeek

 

[Guest]

Yea, I know lol. Hopefully they don't start a trend, AMD has to fight tooth and nail for every customer they get, between the legitimate gripes and blatant stupidity of Intel fanboys, their backwards compatibility is one of their strong suits.

i was going to upgrade from a 775 to an AMD set up just for that reason until i saw what an sandy i3 could get me. but i'll get accused of being a intel fan boy because i will call someone out who blatantly bashes intel strictly out of hate. hey i had a 586-133 and was all stoked it would get me the performance of a pentium90 for half the cost (yes i am slightly dating myself)
but when i see the gobbledygook that a Llano can be a budget gaming system, when the first thing i see happen is people dumping the igpu for a discrete, it has me wondering if AMD isn't shooting themselves in the foot and reinforcing the stereotype that they put out inferior products when they try to market a gloried HTPC like that.

 

[Guest]

So, I recommend you to wait for Piledriver as it will better than Phenoms and will closely match-up with [strike]Sandy Bridges[/strike] Lynnfield/Bloomfield too.

fixed that for ya