FX-8320 + HD 7870 VS i5-3470 + GTX 660

[Sret43rg]

I heard that the 1155 socket will be replaced soon which means that if i am going to upgrade in the future, then i will need to buy a new motherboard too, so i decided that it would be better to go with AMD with their AM3+ socket as they stated that they will keep on using this socket for atleast another generation before replacing it, is this a good choice? Also, the FX-8320 is cheaper, so it allows me to change my GTX 660 to a HD 7870, the main question is will there be a huge difference in gaming between the FX and the i5?

 

[zared619]

If you are only worried about gaming, the 7870 and the fx will probably be better. The i5 is a superior CPU in many applications, but in gaming, there won't be a huge difference. The 7870 can also overclock really well, so if you get into that, you can get a lot better performance compared to the 660.

 

[twelve25]

These combos are close enough that it doesn't really matter. GTX660 overclocks well, too. Although the i5-3470 doesn't, so that would probably make the AMD a little more fun.

Honestly, flip a coin and you'll be stoked with either build.

 

[rene13cross]

Agreed. The FX will do a fantastic job for gaming and is a great combo along with the 7870 and both can be OCed for additional performance. In the other combo, your GTX 660 will most likely be the bottleneck and neither the i5 or GTX 660 can OC (very well).

 

[Sret43rg]

Will i be able to OC my FX-8320 with its stock cooler? as my budget is COMPLETELY maxed and i cannot afford to buy an aftermarket cooler..

 

[twelve25]

Why do people always say the GTX 660 can't overclock well? It can overclock into GTX660 TI performance with no problem. You can go 1200mhz easy.

No you can't overclock much with the stock cooler on the CPU, but that doesn't mean you won't want to have that capability for the future. You might find an extra few bucks for a good cooler in 6 months and want to give it a go.

 

[zared619]

The 660 can overclock well, just the 7870 overclocks even more. It can easily get to 7950 levels. The 660 is still a great card, just not as good. You are capable of overclocking with the stock cooler, but I would wait until you can spend $30 and get an EVO 212.

 

[dudewitbow]

Why do people always say the GTX 660 can't overclock well? It can overclock into GTX660 TI performance with no problem. You can go 1200mhz easy.

No you can't overclock much with the stock cooler on the CPU, but that doesn't mean you won't want to have that capability for the future. You might find an extra few bucks for a good cooler in 6 months and want to give it a go.

because reviewers deemed it to not overclock well

When it is all said and done overclocking the new GeForce GTX 660 (GK106) is not as impressive as overclocking the GTX 660 Ti, GTX 670, or GTX 680 (GK104) video cards. In fact, it is downright miserable thanks to the low obtainable Power Target setting of +10% over the base power. It simply isn't enough to realize high overclocks of 1.2GHz or beyond.

Source

TL;DR. pushing for a single six pin for a card of this caliber basically cannot give it enough power to overclock


an example i will sorta point out like on the amd side

for this generation your think power between cards is like: "~ means a bump in strength maybe like 5 fps"

7750~7770~~~~7850~7870~~7950~7970

when where cards of the same gen are about the same power but really is closer to:

7750~7770~~~~7850~~7870~~7950~7970

because that's where it switches from one pin to 2 pin to deliver power to overclock for the gpus needs.

 

[Sret43rg]

Which combination would give better gaming performance at 1920x1080?

 

[dudewitbow]

Which combination would give better gaming performance at 1920x1080?

extremely game specific. most games will like intels single threaded ability. but games that either: don't like the 660 bus(albeit you shouldn't run into them much unless you push it past the recommendation settings) or can use alot of threads, the amd cpu can see performance gains in general. both should be fairly similar though.

 

[sfvirgo86]

Will i be able to OC my FX-8320 with its stock cooler? as my budget is COMPLETELY maxed and i cannot afford to buy an aftermarket cooler..

maybe an fx6300 with a hyper 212 evo or v6 gt might fit into the budget... u should b able to oc that a bit

 

[ben123a9]

Yea the 7870 is better than a 660 but if your budget is that tight, keep in mind that the 7870 require's 2 6 pin's connectors.
Not that I like the 660 more than the 7870, but just kepp that in mind