AMD FX or Phenom 2 Strategy games

tomrupp

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May 18, 2012
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I noticed on Newegg the AMD FX series are 10% off and I'd be willing to pick one up at those prices. My question is should I get one of the fx 4, 6, or 8 cores and what frequency, or should I get a cheap Phenom like 965 BE and wait till Piledriver. I presently have an Asus Sabertooth 990fx, 8GB 1866MHz RAM, and Corsair Force 3 SSD. Also I was planning on getting the AMD 7870 graphics card for my build with plans of second one once it is necessarily. The system will be used for Gaming including Supreme commander FA, Civilization BTS, Civ 5, C&C First Decade, and other Strategy games which are CPU intensive. Finally I am willing to overclock and have done it before.
 
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I would just by the Phenom II X4 965. The FX series generally performs a little worse in games and also consumes more power.

PileDriver is likely going to be just 10% faster than Phenom II / FX so upgrading to PileDriver is going to be a waste of money. Assuming it can achieve a 10% increase in performance over Phenom II / FX, then PileDriver will likely be as fast as the 1st generation Core i3/i5/i7 CPUs. In order to catch up to Intel's 3rd generation Core i3/i5/i7, PileDriver needs increase performance by 30% over Phenom II / FX.

If you plan on upgrading to PileDriver, then you might as well consider paying up front for a system based around either the Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge CPUs. In the end it will cost you just as much money...
Overall the Phenoms are stronger but if you can get a good deal on a FX 6100 or better it may be worth the while. Possibly a 6100 as Piledriver is on the way and the 6100 is cheap enough to sell off without to much of a loss. I have read that RTS is CPU dependant but I have played a few to know that RAM is also a key proponant, the Phenoms have rather slow memory bandwidth so the FX may help a bit in that department, Also a SSD does help RTS.
 

tomrupp

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May 18, 2012
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Sorry, but that comment really doesn't help me in any way, as I already own the board and for the price Intel wasn't competing for my money. Also I've owned both Intel and AMD and at my price range and what I play I've seen little difference. Finally I believe AMD said they would no longer compete at High end desktop market, which if I understand correctly would be in the i7 range.
 
I would just by the Phenom II X4 965. The FX series generally performs a little worse in games and also consumes more power.

PileDriver is likely going to be just 10% faster than Phenom II / FX so upgrading to PileDriver is going to be a waste of money. Assuming it can achieve a 10% increase in performance over Phenom II / FX, then PileDriver will likely be as fast as the 1st generation Core i3/i5/i7 CPUs. In order to catch up to Intel's 3rd generation Core i3/i5/i7, PileDriver needs increase performance by 30% over Phenom II / FX.

If you plan on upgrading to PileDriver, then you might as well consider paying up front for a system based around either the Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge CPUs. In the end it will cost you just as much money or less and you will have better performance. It might take AMD another 2 or 3 years to catch up to the performance level of Ivy Bridge CPUs.
 
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tomrupp

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May 18, 2012
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10,510
There is a third option were I don't buy any and wait until piledriver comes out and see the prices of everything. Also I know the Phenom is better at most games but I find it very hard to find benchmarks for the games I play. Since most are for FPS, which I don't play on my computer. Another question is whether the memory improvements over phenoms is worth the lose in CPU performance?
 

wr6133

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Feb 10, 2012
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Are you just spamming this comment everywhere you can today?
 

wr6133

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Feb 10, 2012
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OP

Personally I would get the Phenom as the FX wont really do any better than it but will cost more. The Phenom OC'd will be a good socket filler till PD or if PD is also cr@p should give a decent run in itself.

*edit* I jst read your config you already have a 960T why get anything else you would be sidegrading..... Just OC the one you have