FX-8350 or just keep my Phenom II X4 955be @ 4.0Ghz?

[ichimaru]

Hey,

So now that they've been released is the 8350 worth the buy? Figures and speeds have definitely improved but is it significant enough to out perform my current CPU in say, games?

I bought my Phenom for £90 just over a year ago and the 8350 is £150 from Aria. Price-wise it seems decent but what do you guys think?

 

[skitz9417]

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/102?vs=697

 

[wr6133]

Yes I think it's actually a viable upgrade

but

I wouldn't right away, does your current setup do what you need? If it does do what I plan to do with my AMD setup and wait a few months prices only go down, don't be an early adopter paying top whack to deal with teething issues unless you have too.

 

[ichimaru]

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/102?vs=697

Thanks,

The figures seems decently higher, although mine is OC'd but I'll end up OCing the 8350 anyway so the figures displayed should be similar.

 

[Wisecracker]

Pretty much what wr6133 said ...

Hold out as long as you can - you do have the right rig to clock that new FX-8350 to the moon.

It also seems the FX-6300 is a slam-dunk to go 5GHz (especially with your motherboard). I'm not sure how that will 'play' but we will likely find out over the next few weeks as folks give it a test drive.

 

[stevexsticks]

was actually planning on doing the same upgrade. I've my 965BE clocked from 3.2 up to 4.2ghz and it's still pissing me off. My initial plan was to rip out my motherboard for an i7 chipset.

This new amd cpu seems decent enough tho, for the price anyway.

 

[ichimaru]

was actually planning on doing the same upgrade. I've my 965BE clocked from 3.2 up to 4.2ghz and it's still pissing me off. My initial plan was to rip out my motherboard for an i7 chipset.

This new amd cpu seems decent enough tho, for the price anyway.

I'm in the exact same position, I was strongly thinking of migrating to Intel then I saw that it was fairly cheap and pretty decent for the price.

 

[scottfree1_01]

I'm torn on this to, x955@3600 and a 8320 no oc appears to to only pickup a few fps transcoding which is the most demanding thing I do, I bit the bullet and lost the ddr2/sata2 dino upgraded mobo to a 140w/am3+/sata3/usb3 and thought yeah! new CPU! And now I'm thinking wahhh.. new cpu..

 

[stevexsticks]

I'm in the exact same position, I was strongly thinking of migrating to Intel then I saw that it was fairly cheap and pretty decent for the price.

funny man, i as actually going to get that same mobo you have only the intel version. Is it a good board? the dust covers look cool with the Armour effect.

I'm going to wait for more reviews on this new chip and see how it goes, but I feel this phenom II aint enough for my SLI GTX570's

 

[ichimaru]

funny man, i as actually going to get that same mobo you have only the intel version. Is it a good board? the dust covers look cool with the Armour effect.

I'm going to wait for more reviews on this new chip and see how it goes, but I feel this phenom II aint enough for my SLI GTX570's

Yeah buddy it's a good board for OCing as stated by Wisecracker. And I get the same feeling here, I have a 670 OC Power Edition and I don't feel my CPU is giving me the best I can get although it probably isn't bottle-necking me insanely, but it's doing it nonetheless.

 

[brisa117]

Hate to sound like a broken record... but the system in my signature says it all. I'm running a 955be at the small overclock of 3.5ghz and I ALSO upgraded from my old ASUS 790 chipset board (M4A79-T deluxe) to the sabertooth. I was looking for sata III for my SSD, but I also wanted USB 3.0 and the amazing components and 5 year warranty set well with me.

I was planning on upgrading to a fx-8150 when it came out, but its performance really bummed me out. I'm seriously considering grabbing a fx-8350 through. Even if the performance isn't all around as good as some Intel part, it's still tremendously better than the 955be. Plus, I actually use several of the "well-threaded" applications that all the reviews are raving about.

I've had my 955be for about three and a half years now (May '09 -- as best I can remember, I payed $250). I think it may be time for it (and my graphics card) to get upgraded.

 

[stevexsticks]

I was planning on upgrading to a fx-8150 when it came out, but its performance really bummed me out. I'm seriously considering grabbing a fx-8350 through. Even if the performance isn't all around as good as some Intel part, it's still tremendously better than the 955be. Plus, I actually use several of the "well-threaded" applications that all the reviews are raving about.

yeah seems like games run a lot better on the 8350. Fair enough, it isnt near the 200 fps the intel chips offer but would we really notice a difference? it's still in the 100s.

i think for what it's worth it could offer a ton more performance than the old phenom chips. I've had two of these already, and honestly overclocking makes no difference to me anyway.

I would just go with the FX-8350. The i5s and i7s won't make a difference that you would actually notice. Benchmarks yes but general use probably not. And a hell cheaper than switching mobos

 

[ocmusicjunkie]

+1 more on the "upgrade my overclocked Phenom X4" bandwagon here. I have two machines running X4 965's @4.2ghz and 4.0ghz. I couldn't justify the cost for the 8150, but I see enough upside (especially after tuning a good OC config) to make it worth doing. AMD gets a lot of credit from me for sticking with the same AM3/AM3+ socket for this long- being able to just swap out the Phenom for the newest FX is a relief. It should be a good way to encourage current customers to stay on their side of the fence instead of jumping over of Intel from scratch.

I will say though, for the $90 you can buy it for today on Newegg or Amazon, the X4 965 is still a monster of a value if anyone was just building a snappy home office type system today.

 

[noob2222]

I have to concur with wr6133. right now vendors are price gouging because people are buying them at the inflated price. Its supposed to be $199, but right now at newegg and microcenter they are running $219.

Actually microcenter lowered theirs today to $199.

 

[gam0reily]

I think that the 955 BE can still hold it's own in the gaming arena. If u're money is really itching you, it would do u well towards buying a kickass GPU (gtx 660 or HD 7870), assuming u already dont have one.

 

[Wisecracker]

Are you booting from an SSD?

If you have an upgrade itch that's the way to go as the Vishera chips settle a bit in price. A 60GB OCZ Agility 3 is around $60 -- the 240GB is $170 on eBlast today. The woods are full of 120GB SSDs at great prices.

If you buy the less-expensive one a Vishera price drop would come close to paying half of it --OR-- you could launch a bunch of games from that 240GB.

 

[ocmusicjunkie]

I hadn't seen the system profile in your sig when I first replied. I 100% agree with the comments above about an SSD before the CPU upgrade if you are running the system off the 1.5TB HDD. You'll see much more benefit and you can wait the first price drop on the CPU. I'd suggest grabbing a Samsung 128gb 830 for $89 or whatever they are going for at the moment- that's enough room for the OS+apps. Otherwise, I think with that motherboard and PSU, you aren't getting the full potential out of the overclock using the 8gb of 1600mhz memory listed. If you went with 16gb of 1866mhz or even 2100mhz RAM, you could probably kick both the NB and CPU numbers up another notch and get a noticeable result....

 

[Wisecracker]

I hadn't seen the system profile in your sig when I first replied. I 100% agree with the comments above about an SSD before the CPU upgrade if you are running the system off the 1.5TB HDD. You'll see much more benefit and you can wait the first price drop on the CPU. I'd suggest grabbing a Samsung 128gb 830 for $89 or whatever they are going for at the moment- that's enough room for the OS+apps. Otherwise, I think with that motherboard and PSU, you aren't getting the full potential out of the overclock using the 8gb of 1600mhz memory listed. If you went with 16gb of 1866mhz or even 2100mhz RAM, you could probably kick both the NB and CPU numbers up another notch and get a noticeable result....

This is actually a really good idea.

Buy some 2133MHz (or, 1866MHz will do--and the price has dropped--but you lose a bit of flexibility) to partner down the road with your Piledriver. Then start tweaking on that Ahhhh-Seuss mobo.

CPU at 16x250MHz=4GHz
IMC/NB at 10x250MHz=2500MHz
RAMs at 8x250MHz=2000MHz
HT at 8x250MHz=2000MHz

Be certain that your RAMs speed does not exceed your HT. Keep your HT around 2000MHz. For each 10% you increase the speed of the IMC/NB above stock 2000MHz, memory bandwidth is increased 3-4% and latency is reduced 3-4%. It can have quite a positive impact on your FPS.

Don't be afraid to get freaky [:lutfij:4] and don't rely on 4GHz as a *perfect spot* to get your freak on :lol:

CPU at 15x260MHz=3.9GHz
IMC/NB at 10x260MHz=2600MHz
RAMs at 6.67x260MHz=1734MHz
HT at 7x260MHz=1820MHz

IMC/NB? Check. RAMs at 6.67x260MHz may seem crazy (especially with DDR3-2133) but you will be able to drop your timings like crazy. Some chips really like this and bandwidth will take-off like a MF'er.

**Increasing the speed of the IMC/NB is very important** Lookee here --->>>

The impact of the IMC/NB more than doubled the increase in frames from just the OC itself.

AND FINALLY you may save up to 8 different setups in your BIOS. Use it!

You will find some games run better with 2 (or 3) cores. That's just the way it is. Some games just run better with 2 cores sharing the L3 cache, as opposed to 4 cores.

You will be tested later

 

[stevexsticks]

agreed then. I'm buying one of these for christmas. Good upgrade since my fatal1ty mobo already supports up to 8cores.

How do you permanently disable/enable cores? if you do this by task manager you need to do it each time you enter a game. However in my BIOS there is options for core settings

 

[Wisecracker]

I was talking about the 955BE :lol:

Tweak now
Then, SSD ... RAMs. And finally, the FX-8350.

Finding the sweet spot on your 955BE IMC/NB clock is whatcha need to do.

 

[merlin21502]

I am in the same boat...running a 980 be o/c to 4.2. I just upgraded my GPU to a 670, and running COD Black Ops 2, getting steady 60fps at 1080 res. I think with the 8350 comes down in price, I would most like jump on it, but for what they are asking right now, not worth it yet. They did get the ICP up a bit, but not a 'huge' difference in the test results I have seen to justify the price for me...YET!

 

[theeejohnnyv]

I may be a little behind on this but I'm a first time builder and I only know a little info about computers.

I've got like an $800 budget and idk if I want to go with the phenom II x4 or the fx 8350, either way id go with the sabertooth mobo and maybe like a 560 or 660 depending on money

or should i go with the i5 3570k w/ p8z77 mobo and then just get a low budget card for now?

 

[kakanutto]

I have Phenom II 955 3.6Ghz 2400Mhz NB right now... with a HD 4890 attach ^_^
I´m planing to get a 660ti and wait since there is no reason to upgrade at the moment unless you do starcraft II video cast or play planetside 2 [[ I´m finding problem with my rig ]]...
I recommend you wait until some new amd solution arrives since you won´t get much improvement in games...
I will probably stick with my PC since there is a lot of thing pc need to upgrade in the future since SSD allready has bottleneck with the sata 3 solution motherboard provides, and think 3k/4k monitors will arrive some day and gpus are not enough to handle games right now so wait at this point is a good way to get better features later saving some money.
If you have the money just get a i72600k and OC to 4.5Ghz a gtx 670, a 360GB SSD and you have hell of a pc for the year we live.

 

[kakanutto]

I may be a little behind on this but I'm a first time builder and I only know a little info about computers.

I've got like an $800 budget and idk if I want to go with the phenom II x4 or the fx 8350, either way id go with the sabertooth mobo and maybe like a 560 or 660 depending on money

or should i go with the i5 3570k w/ p8z77 mobo and then just get a low budget card for now?

660ti and fx 8350 all the way...perhaps you like some review about intel vs amd check this on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4et7kDGSRfc
My favorite review off all...

 

[keana6]

+1 more on the "upgrade my overclocked Phenom X4" bandwagon here. I have two machines running X4 965's @4.2ghz and 4.0ghz. I couldn't justify the cost for the 8150, but I see enough upside (especially after tuning a good OC config) to make it worth doing. AMD gets a lot of credit from me for sticking with the same AM3/AM3+ socket for this long- being able to just swap out the Phenom for the newest FX is a relief. It should be a good way to encourage current customers to stay on their side of the fence instead of jumping over of Intel from scratch.

I will say though, for the $90 you can buy it for today on Newegg or Amazon, the X4 965 is still a monster of a value if anyone was just building a snappy home office type system today.

Hey ocmusicjunkie, I think we both have the same board and chip....965 and Asus board. I need some help fine tuning or clean overclocking. I think perhaps its my memory holding me back. My system is
965 @ 4.1ghz
Mem Adata 4gigs @ 874 or 1650+mhz
timings 8-9-8-24-40 previously had 6-8-7 20-27 but couldnt keep it balanced...will try again
FSB 328
NB 2623
HT 2296

as for my voltages i think its off...(still learning)
with my previous board(MA97R2.0)...cpu was good at 1.475 for 4.1

now
1.53v @ 4.1
cp-nb 1.45
Ram 1.85


I can post and boot and even use most apps at 4.2ghz but cant bench...are u air or water cooling...
Also im not sure of setting in DIGI+power control

Any help will be appreciated.
oh i have rb-c3 stepping too