BestConfigs Poll - High-End AMD Gaming PC

Which build do you like best?

  • Mjmj's No Microstutter AMD Rig

    Votes: 32 32.7%
  • AMD "Magic" Build

    Votes: 10 10.2%
  • AMD Till Death Do Us Part

    Votes: 14 14.3%
  • g-unit1111's Build

    Votes: 33 33.7%
  • Serekos Ready to OC machine

    Votes: 9 9.2%

  • Total voters
    98

jpishgar

Splendid
Overlord Emeritus
It's time to vote on your favorite build for this category!

Please see below for a list of the choices available.

Mjmj's No Microstutter AMD Rig

Processor: AMD FX-8320 180$
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD7 AM3+ 195$
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LP 16gb (4gbx4) 1600mhz 75$
Graphics Card: GIGABYTE Radeon HD 7950 3GB 300$
Graphics Card: GIGABYTE Radeon HD 7950 3GB 300$
Graphics Card: GIGABYTE Radeon HD 7950 3GB 300$
Hard Drive: Seagate 1tb 7200rmp 50$
SSD: Samsung 840 250gb 180$
Case: Cooler Master Storm Stryker 130$
Power Supply: Seasonic X-Series 1050w 200$
Cooling: Cooler Master TPC 812 65$
DVD Burner: LG 24x DVD Burner 17$

Total=1992$

AMD "Magic" Build

Processor: AMD FX-8350 Vishera 4.0GHz - 219.99 @Newegg
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD5 AM3+ AMD 990FX - $164.99 @Newegg
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 $Free.99 @Newegg
Graphics Card: EVGA 04G-P4-3687-KR GeForce GTX 680 FTW+ w/Backplate 4GB - $549.99 @ Newegg
Graphics Card: EVGA 04G-P4-3687-KR GeForce GTX 680 FTW+ w/Backplate 4GB - $549.99 @ Newegg
Hard Drive: SAMSUNG 840 Series MZ-7TD120BW 2.5" 120GB SATA III TLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - $99.99 @Newegg
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200 RPM Hard Drive - $79.99 @Newegg
Case: COOLER MASTER CM Storm Series Trooper - $144.99 @Newegg
Power Supply: CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX850M 850W 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Semi Modular Power Supply - $139.99 @Newegg
Cooling: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - $29.99 @Newegg
DVD Burner: Lite-On DVD Burner - $17.99 @Newegg

Total: 1997.90

AMD Till Death Do Us Part

Processor: AMD FX-8350 $219.99
Motherboard: ASUS M5A88-M AM3+ 880G $109.99
RAM: SAMSUNG 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) MV-3V4G3D/US $34.99
Graphics Card: EVGA 04G-P4-2690-KR GeForce GTX 690 $999.99
Hard Drive: Crucial M4 CT256M4SSD2 2.5" 256GB SATA III $199.99
Hard Drive: Western Digital WD Green WD10EARX 1TB $69.99
Case: SilverStone Temjin Series TJ08B-E Micro-ATX case $99.99
Power Supply: SeaSonic SS-660XP 660W 80 PLUS PLATINUM $149.99
Cooling: Prolimatech PRO-MGH-C Megahalems Revision C CPU Cooler $69.99
Cooling Fan: COUGAR CF-V12HP $13.99
DVD Burner: LITE-ON DVD Burner iHAS124-04 $17.99

Grand Total: $1986.89

g-unit1111's Build

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($80.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus SABERTOOTH 990FX R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($189.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($37.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: OCZ Vertex 4 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($235.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB Video Card (CrossFire) ($454.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB Video Card (CrossFire) ($454.98 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Phantom 410 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case ($109.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk II 950W 80 PLUS Silver Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($22.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $2006.84
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

Serekos Ready to OC machine.

CPU: AMD FX 8350 4GHz - 4.2GHz Turbo $219.99 @Newegg.com
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty 990FX Professional $159.99 @Newegg.com
RAM: G.Skill Sniper 8GB (2*4GB) 1866MHz $49.99 @Newegg.com
Graphics Card: Sapphire Radeon HD7970 3GB X2 $813.94 @Newegg.com
Solid State Drive: Mushkin Enhanced Chronos 240GB Sata III $164.99 @Newegg.com
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 7200RPM $149.99 @Newegg.com
Case: NZXT Phantom 410 Orange/Black $109.98 @Newegg.com
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast TX850M - 850W 80 PLUS Bronze $139.99 @Newegg.com
Cooling: Corsair Hydro H80 $95.91 @Newegg.com
Blu-Ray burner: LG Black BD-RW $74.98 @Newegg.com

Total Price: $1979.75
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
 


There isn't a significant difference between the FX-8320 and the FX-8350 for overclocking as far as I'm aware, so I'd have to disagree on what you said about the Trifire build.
 

redeemer

Distinguished
May 30, 2004
2,470
0
19,960



The FX 8350 will be better binned than the 8320.

You will be able to get the same clocks as the 8320 but with a lower voltage. Less vcore=less heat, most AMD user know that the 8320 requires more voltage at the same overclock as the 8350...so there you go!

Oh sorry for the edit but you will need to overclock to feed that tri fire config
 


I don't have numbers for the Vishera models, but the Zambezi FX-8120 and FX-8150 overclocked to the exact same range of frequencies at the exact same range of voltages. There was no binning difference. Maybe that's changed with Vishera, I admit that someone once said that they thought it did to me, but the same was true for many AMD chips before them, so without proof, I wouldn't think so.
 

redeemer

Distinguished
May 30, 2004
2,470
0
19,960



http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=722267
 


Your link is full of posts saying that the FX-8350 is at best slightly better and at worst no better with only a single post saying they have a significant difference and even that post basically said that it's difficult to quantify the advantages of the 8350 over the 8320 in real-world performance anyway. Do you have any other examples?
 

redeemer

Distinguished
May 30, 2004
2,470
0
19,960



Why dont you just google it man ..really its not like all the stuff you post have a backing to it!! Take for example the 2600k vs 2700k? I never said the 8350 was better only that it clocks higher with less volts!! In real world performance as you put it there is no difference between even between the 8350 and an i7 3770k!!


http://www.overclock.net/t/1318995/official-fx-8320-fx-8350-vishera-owners-club

if you check the chart under "Stable Overclocks Specifications" the 8320 requires more voltage than the 8350 to reach those overclocks, AMD definitely picked the better silicon for the 8350!
 

calmstateofmind

Distinguished
What's up with the "AMD Till Death Do Us Part" setup? MicroATX board and a case so small, the EVGA card probably wouldn't even fit...and only a 660W PSU?

Spending $200 on SSD storage when half of that could be used to get a better, ATX mobo, a full sized tower, another 8GB of RAM and at least a higher watt PSU.
 


GTX 690 and Radeon 7990 are far too overpriced. One of them is about half the budget for performance that can be bested by around $600 with two well-overclocked Radeon 7950s, albeit not bested by much. Two of the dual-GPU cards would have been the whole budget.
 
Mjmj: $900 of GPUs to play games???
"Magic:" Up to $1100 for GPUs now? Really?
AMD Till Death: Obsolete 880G mobo. Only one PCIe X16 slot. $1K GPU???!
G-unit1111: Some niggling, but if you must spend this kind of money on graphics cards, it would be easy to do worse.
Serekos: Also some niggling, but I'm not ready to risk another Sandfarce SSD.

Reluctantly (because I could not justify the expense, just to play games), I'd go with g-unit111's build, niggled a little.
 

northwestpc

Honorable
Jan 18, 2013
1
0
10,510



In manufacturing, we use elements to produce other elements, and use molding and injection molding, etc, for basic manufacturing, like in welding, not all welding bonds are as strong as others, well all elements are not as pure as others, so what CPU companies do, is use the purist DIE waffers for the higher end CPU chips, because it will give them the best chances of achieving those blue prints of that specific high end CPU. They do in the highest end CPU line ups like the extreme edition and FX series, is use there highest purest waffers, i know thats not exactly regurgitated properly, but gives you a understanding of how it works on a deeper level.
 

98octane

Honorable
Jan 30, 2013
8
0
10,510
none of them sud get the vote, my present config is better than most of them if not all , i don even think it can compete with best amd rigs out there.

MINE
fx8350 BE
asus crosshair v
corsair vengeance 8x4 1866
sapphire vapor x 7970 6gb variant (getting 2nd one next month after saving some money lol)
psu EVGA 1500 for the gpu, gpu cooler and the future gpus in CF
LEPA 1600w for everything else
rosswill blackhawk supertower (may be will go for mountain modders if have the money )
NHD-14 cpu cooler
crucial 256gb ssd
2x 1 tb WD caviar blue 7200
lots of fans (case had 8 , i put 6 more)
sony double layer dvd burner
74 in 1 card reader
also a lot of cheap and handy crap as the case still have a lot space and i want to fill it all up someday.
customised liquid coolin on its way from mountain modder as they say in between 4th to 7th feb..
i think i sud get all the votes lol
 


Two PSUs each that powerful are an unsafe choice with how little they are each loaded up and the 6GB variants of the Radeon 7970 are usually so expensive that they're not worth buying. As of right now, that build would be beaten in gaming performance by every build in this thread simply because a single Radeon 7970 is not enough to compete with two or three Radeon 79xx cards or GTX 660 TI and up cards. Memory capacity is not directly tied to performance whatsoever and it's difficult to justify going beyond 2GB, let alone 3GB, without three 2560x1440 displays or a similar extreme configuration, so the 6GB variant holds no water over two 3GB variants. Not even two of them will best three Radeon 7950s overall despite probably being far more expensive.

Also, 32GB of RAM is incredibly wasteful in a gaming machine. Going from 4GB to 6GB is generally only a small difference for system memory and going beyond 6GB doesn't do anything for gaming. It helps some other things such as advanced photo editing in many cases, but not gaming.