Amd Fx 6100 Bulldozer good replacement for Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 @ 3.00ghz?

[astig129]

Hey guys I'm new to this forum and forums in general but I was hoping I could get a little help here. The purpose for my building of a new system is that my parents need a separate computer for business and stuff,so instead of buying them those ultra low end cheap builds,I convinced them that they could have my current computer,if they gave me funds for a new build.So they reluctantly agreed.However I'm on a budget so funds are limited.about 600-650$ for the system unit.Currently I only plan to be replacing the cpu,the mobo,the ram, the hard drive, case, and custom cooling.
Here is my proposed build
Amd FX 6100 Bulldozer(to be overclocked to 4.0ghz-4.2Ghz)-$130
Asrock 990FX Extreme 3 Mobo-$ 152
2x8Gb G Skill 1600 Ram - $ 130
Some Western Digital or Seagate HDD at 500gb -$ 58
MAYBE an Intel 60gb SSD for OS Drive- $ 70
Some Cool looking Mid tower Case,Probly Raidmax -$ 40
Thermaltake Water Performer 2.0 - $ 77

Is this a good build? I COULD maybe get an I5 but the price isn't really doing it for me.I will only use it for gaming anyways, I'm not a productivity type of guy lol.I don't really see any merit in spending on extra horsepower that I'm probly not gonna use anyway.Another note is that It maybe a piledriver Fx-6300 or 8350 if I can find it here.I live in the Philippines so parts availability is limited here,especially where I live.plus I'm only a student so I don't really have any income.Oh and I game on 1080p,and try to get as close to ultra settings as possible 35-55 fps is acceptable to me.I'll be playing all types of games from Fps to Racing to Strategy to Whatever the hell the total war series hha.So was your take?any help would be appreciated,Thnx in advance

 

[logainofhades]

Are you able to get Phenom II 965's or the any of the black editon x6's where you are from? If so, I would go that route if an FX 6300 cannot be found. Black Edition Phenom II's are better cpus than Bulldozer.

 

[guanyu210379]

1. Intels I5 are better is gaming, I would rather choose i5 over AMD for gaming.
2. It is better to drop the 60GB SSD. 60GB is small...SSD is luxury and you can always add the SSD anytime you want in the future.
3. You can also bring the RAM down to 8GB. For gaming, 16GB is only nice to have.
4. You might want to use Tt Hyper 212 instead of that water cooler to save money.

 

[8350rocks]

Are you able to get Phenom II 965's or the any of the black editon x6's where you are from? If so, I would go that route if an FX 6300 cannot be found. Black Edition Phenom II's are better cpus than Bulldozer.

Or, for OC'ing a Phenom II x6 1045/1055/1060 wouldn't be bad, though they are probably a bit more money than a Phenom II x4 965...they would likely fall inline with the FX-6300 price point.

 

[astig129]

Unfortunately though there aren't any of the old phenom 2's left here,is fx 6300 a good upgrade to my cpu though?

 

[ifreestylin]

Unfortunately though there aren't any of the old phenom 2's left here,is fx 6300 a good upgrade to my cpu though?

Yes the FX 6300 would be a good upgrade Check out these benchmarks
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/699?vs=89

 

[burritobrownie]

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/AMD-Phenom-II-X4-Black-980-vs-AMD-FX-6300
Don't be fooled.
I upgraded from 785g chipset and phenom 9500 to a FX-6300 Feb 4th. For $505 USD (including tax) I got a Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3 board (159.99) , FX-6300 (129.99) , Crucial Ballistix ddr3 1866 2x4 gigs ram (52.99) , Hyper 212 Evo (34.99) , and a Samsung 840 series 120gb Sata 3 ssd (99.99). I reused the CM Elite case , P/S , DVD drive , Radeon 6770 and case fans. I have overclocked it to 4821 mhz with little effort. For a budget system with an older video card I am extremely impressed and could not imagine needing a faster cpu for many years. Plays any game I throw at it at max settings with the cpu totally stock. I thought about 16 gigs of ram also but 8 gigs works just fine for what I do. (web , gaming , hd videos)

 

[burritobrownie]

1. Intels I5 are better is gaming, I would rather choose i5 over AMD for gaming.
2. It is better to drop the 60GB SSD. 60GB is small...SSD is luxury and you can always add the SSD anytime you want in the future.
3. You can also bring the RAM down to 8GB. For gaming, 16GB is only nice to have.
4. You might want to use Tt Hyper 212 instead of that water cooler to save money.

3. and 4. are great points. As for 1. I am just wondering what games an FX cpu will not play as good as an Intel cpu? I have a FX-6300 stock clocks and all power saving features enabled , a Radeon 6770 stock clocked at 850/1200 and can play any game out there at max settings with 35 fps min and 75-80 fps max. As for 2. Why do a complete upgrade and have to re-install your o/s and all your programs and games later on with a new ssd? I geuss you could clone the drive though........

 

[cmi86]

I just upgraded one of my rigs from a Q6600 @3.0Ghz To an FX-6300 stock and I immediately noticed a difference in overall system responsiveness and performance. People will tell you to buy an intel or whatever but the bare bones fact of it is a sandy/ivy chip from intel is 15% faster than Piledriver FX architecture on a good day. Find me a 6 core intel chip that doesn't cost at least 4X more the the 6300, you cant. For the price of the 6300 you will get a little i3 dual core. An SSD is always a great system upgrade that adds tons of speed to the system. I agree with the 8GB ram as I highly doubt you will ever use more than that. Also closed loop cooling systems are more often than not a total waste of money that will be out performed by a good air cooler like the Hyper 212+ or Evo that cost half as much as a water cooler. Hope this helps.

 

[astig129]

Hmm I guess I could just get 1 8gb stick of ram first and just buy another one later.What's your take btw on the Thermaltake Frio?Oh and yeah I think i'm gonna drop the ssd for now.If I could sell my Gtx 560ti,I could spend the money on a new gpu.I saw a powercolor HD 7970 for $450 and I think that's a real great deal considering

 

[guanyu210379]

3. and 4. are great points. As for 1. I am just wondering what games an FX cpu will not play as good as an Intel cpu? I have a FX-6300 stock clocks and all power saving features enabled , a Radeon 6770 stock clocked at 850/1200 and can play any game out there at max settings with 35 fps min and 75-80 fps max. As for 2. Why do a complete upgrade and have to re-install your o/s and all your programs and games later on with a new ssd? I geuss you could clone the drive though........

It is not that the games will not run.
FX6300 will preform also still better than the old Q6600.
It is just that most games still prefer faster cores rather than more cores.
Intels i5 processors are faster but AMD FX processor have more cores in the same price class.
FX series also tend to consume more power compared to Intels i-series although this is not disturbing at all.

60GB is not much, you will need at least 128GB. You will need to put not only your OS but also your programs and games in the SSD or you will not gain the full benefit of the SSD. For that...60GB is simply to small.
SSD will make your PC more responsive from the loading and writing side e.g. loading in games and booting.
An SSD will however not give any extra FPS.
This is why I said SSD is luxury. It will optimize your system but not a must have.
Your PC will run without any problems without an SSD.
..and...Yes, you can clone an HDD.

HD6770 can not play all games all in max with fullHD, there are some high-end games such as bioshock 3, Crysis 3, etc. you might want to get something more powerfull than HD6770. At least HD7850.
Yes, HD7970 is a good choice if you can afford it.
Just watch out for your PSU, for example 450W is not enough....you might need a new one...check your PSU first.

 

[burritobrownie]

[/quotemsg]
It is not that the games will not run.
FX6300 will preform also still better than the old Q6600.
It is just that most games still prefer faster cores rather than more cores.
Intels i5 processors are faster but AMD FX processor have more cores in the same price class.
FX series also tend to consume more power compared to Intels i-series although this is not disturbing at all.

60GB is not much, you will need at least 128GB. You will need to put not only your OS but also your programs and games in the SSD or you will not gain the full benefit of the SSD. For that...60GB is simply to small.
SSD will make your PC more responsive from the loading and writing side e.g. loading in games and booting.
An SSD will however not give any extra FPS.
This is why I said SSD is luxury. It will optimize your system but not a must have.
Your PC will run without any problems without an SSD.
..and...Yes, you can clone an HDD.

HD6770 can not play all games all in max with fullHD, there are some high-end games such as bioshock 3, Crysis 3, etc. you might want to get something more powerfull than HD6770. At least HD7850.
Yes, HD7970 is a good choice if you can afford it.
Just watch out for your PSU, for example 450W is not enough....you might need a new one...check your PSU first.
[/quotemsg]

I'm sorry , I should have said for me at 1600x900 w hdmi cable it plays anything I have tried at max settings. I don't play bioshock/crysis or skyrim kind of games so I totally was not thinking about those. The 6770 probably would not play those type of games much higher than med. settings. Good catch and explanation! Who would buy a new 6770 now , they are still $90-$130. 7850's that I looked up were $180-$230 , much better investment than a re-hashed 5770.

 

[guanyu210379]

HD7850 and HD7870 is actually my favorites right now looking from both price and performance.

 

[ifreestylin]

HD7850 and HD7870 is actually my favorites right now looking from both price and performance.

Yeah HD7870 is a great

 

[logainofhades]

HD7850 and HD7870 is actually my favorites right now looking from both price and performance.

The tahiti based 7870's (Sapphire 7870 XT) are great price/performance too.