After a little upgrade Help - AMD AM3+

Hi folks
I've been struggling with what to do on this for quite a while, I've been limping along gaming on this rig for quite a while now, turning down to medium and /or limiting the eye candy. But with the release of some new games and how poorly my much loved “triggers Broom" performs in modern CPU heavy titles I think the time has finally come to replace it

I currently have the following

MOBO > M5A99X EVO Rev 1 - running an old bios 0402 , probably should update
CPU & Cooler > Phenom II X4 945 @ 3.2 @ 1.32V cooled by Corsair H60 (will do 3.4 but noisy)
MEMORY > 12GB, 2000 Mhz DDR3
POWER SUPPLY > Corsair HX 650W
VIDEO CARD > 1 X 6870 – probably due for an update
HDDs/Optical drives > No Raid 128 SSD for Os and games Swap
Various Spinning rust for cold storage
SOUND DEVICE > Onboard & USB Headset
USB > Usb Devices Plugged to Mobo? Nope
O/S > Win? SP? Linux? Windows 7 Enterprise X64
Case > Brand/Model/Fans Installed? Cooler master Silencio
Monitors 2x 1080 24 inch ASUS panels via hdmi

I started putting together specification on a new… Intel system but the cost was pretty staggering because if I’d going to do it I’d want to do it right.
Does anyone think I can salvage my much loved AMD box, with one of the new AMD FX-8370E‘s or similar. I’m aware the 990X chipset should do it but I’m concerned about the fact that my board is an older revision and doesn't have the support listed on the support site.
I’m aware it’s not going to trade blows with an I5-I7 system but it might tide me over another year until I’m ready to finally go traitor and join team blue

If you run the cpus as AMD designed...

...then all should be okay but not sure of a huge increase in performance when gaming.


AMD's FX refresh is bringing three new processors into the 8-core arsenal: the 125W TDP FX-8370, which runs at up to 4.3GHz in lightly loaded scenarios and 4GHz when running multi-threaded applications; and the energy efficient FX-8370E and FX-8320E, which both have a 95W TDP, further reducing the power profile to a point well below the 220W TDP we see on the flagship FX-9590. As you might expect, the drop in TDP also hits the core clock speeds with the FX-8370E running at 3.3GHz and up to 4.3GHz when running single-threaded lightly loaded applications. The FX-8320E runs at 3.2GHz and up to 4.0GHz in the same usage scenarios. Although I wont be looking at the FX-8320E, it's worth mentioning that this chip is part of the launch today.

My real suspicion is you don't spend too much to get an FX-8370E and try it. Then if it
is not enough...go get your Intel rig as I am suspicious you may have to do anyway.
RGone...ster.

You should probably try replacing the Gpu 1st that card is getting a bit old especially with 1G of Vram. If you are playing games that are really cpu bound then if your board supports one of the newer chips you shouldn't have an issue running one on it. I have that board and it is a pretty good one, though it will not overclock the Fx 8xxx chips to the moon it should be good for around 4.4-4.5ghz. Another idea is getting a Fx 6300/6350 which should save you some money and you will also not have to deal with the heat of the Fx 8xxx chip.

My main reason for thinking its the CPU rather than GPU here is that my partner has the same GPU in her box i used to run Xfire until her gpu gave up , the ghost and i was obliged to donate it to her machine. She has a sandybridge based I5 non OC'd as shes squimish as hell ( xmas gift from me ) which runs rings around mine on things like WoW , which i know heavily favors Intel , but its one of the few games we really can compare on she is even pushing a pair of 22 panels , at the same resolution .

I'm looking at about a hundred pounds so around 171 in USD to get one of the 8320e's compared to full rebuild.

Perhaps i shall upgrade the GPU as it probably needs it anyway for balance but my fear is that it would just be massively bottle necked by what is essentially a cpu from 2009 , another reason for upgrading my 945 would be because of its crippling ammount of cache , im not sure how big a deal this is these days but a new chip would have 8X the layer 2 mine does.

Like mandrake says , he and I have had those boards, you're likely to get a higher OC from a 6 core than an 8 core CPU. These FX pull a lot of power and create a lot of heat. For CPU intensive game ( read heavily favours intel) you need clockspeed to compensate for that. Which I feel you'd be more likely to get with a 63xx CPU VS the 83xx, the only caveat to that is if WOW is heavily multithreaded but IIRC it isn't, it runs mainly on 1 or 2 cores.

Johan45 said:

Like mandrake says , he and I have had those boards, you're likely to get a higher OC from a 6 core than an 8 core CPU. These FX pull a lot of power and create a lot of heat. For CPU intensive game ( read heavily favours intel) you need clockspeed to compensate for that. Which I feel you'd be more likely to get with a 63xx CPU VS the 83xx, the only caveat to that is if WOW is heavily multithreaded but IIRC it isn't, it runs mainly on 1 or 2 cores.

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I concur!

Mandrake4565 said:

I concur!

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Jeppers. +1 ^

Johan45 said:

Like mandrake says , he and I have had those boards, you're likely to get a higher OC from a 6 core than an 8 core CPU. These FX pull a lot of power and create a lot of heat. For CPU intensive game ( read heavily favours intel) you need clockspeed to compensate for that. Which I feel you'd be more likely to get with a 63xx CPU VS the 83xx, the only caveat to that is if WOW is heavily multithreaded but IIRC it isn't, it runs mainly on 1 or 2 cores.

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Don't forget Johan you can disable cores in the BIOS if you'd need to and it would be the same as having a 6 or 4, 2 - even a single core if you'd like. In the end they should get what they want and I'm just saying this in case they really want an 83xx chip, I mean it can be made to work.

Dr. McCoy said:

Don't forget Johan you can disable cores in the BIOS if you'd need to and it would be the same as having a 6 or 4, 2 - even a single core if you'd like. In the end they should get what they want and I'm just saying this in case they really want an 83xx chip, I mean it can be made to work.

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I realize there are ways to "make" it work Bonsey , I just got the impression the OP would prefer an Overclocked plug and play system and felt with the H60 and the M5A the 6 core would be the "easier" CPU to set and forget.

When 'they' say or ask...

...

synthaside said:

Does anyone think I can salvage my much loved AMD box, with one of the new AMD FX-8370E‘s or similar. I’m aware the 990X chipset should do it but I’m concerned about the fact that my board is an older revision and doesn't have the support listed on the support site.

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One thing needs knowing and that is I have "never", "not ever" posted in a forum asking about what upgrade path to follow. But I have seen way too many to count posts like 'synthaside' has that ask what it is we think or they or somebody thinks about an upgrade direction.

Now my real inclination is that he needs an Intel cpu to ensure the cpu is not an issue. That is my very first thought. When one starts talking about bottle-necked by the cpu there is no for sure cure but Intel. No other for sure way as I read and understand the situation.

Then there has been a statement made over the course of the almost three (3) years of FX processors and that is that where Intel turns OFF the cores; AMD FX can only IDLE unused cores. The unused cores are never fully off. That bangs around within my peanut brain thing and bothers me. Still gettting some form of heat? Not OFF? Just puts me personally off my brain games.

Anybody got an FX-8370E in their rig? The new cpus are surely unknowns. New for sure. NoT on the Asus compatibility list for the M5A99X EVO Rev 1 is so far for real.

I think that actually leaves us at this juncture:
1. Really too early to know what will be the situation with an FX-8370E. If one wants to be an early adopter before any reports are in, then GO for it. But we cannot begin to suggest the outcome. We have no data.

2. Or we are at the point where we know the majority of FX-6350s haul booty. For me I don't have to answer the question of are the cores Idled or Off when I drop down to a 6 core from an 8 core. Ultimately the 6 core FX processors seem to run much cooler. We have seen the M5A99X EVO Rev 1 or Rev 2.0 can be clock limited by experience of actual forum users when pushing 8 cores.

3. Or buy what the OP asks about and then see what the outcome might be.

4. Or go Intel for actual assurance of an outcome when the game of choice seems cpu oriented.

H*ll no most folks will not even have heard of the Off/Idled thing that until today still gives me questions. That is me since I am AH oriented. Hehehe. When I suggest something, it is what I myself would use if I were to think to go a particular direction. IF I would not use it...then I would not suggest it. If I would not recommend something to my buds, then I will not suggest it in a forum either. But hey this is just one ole AH oriented faht.
RGone...ster.

Hey Synthaside. I would recommend getting an fx-6300/6350. The AMD 8 cores are good if you will actually take advantage of the multi-threading capability, or are attempting to run a multiple GPU setup, so you need to reduce bottleneck. Before my fx-9370, I had an fx-6300. They overclock very well, and use less power overall than the 8 cores. Ran my fx-6300 @ 4.5 ghz on a hyper 212 evo cooler before going underwater and running 5.0ghz for a little. I was maxing out games with a single gtx 670, and later, had no bottleneck hen I added a 2nd card. I understand AMD is releasing a 95w tdp 8 core, but keep in mind, all they did was lower the clock rate of the processor. You're going ot have to overclock to get the single core performance you want for gaming. Regardless of what chip you get, if you want even decent single core performance, you're going to have to overclock. Simple as that.

P.S. Running any of the AMD fx CPU's at anything above 4.7-4.8ghz is poiintless. Really nothing more than bragging rights. My fx-6300's sweet spot was 4.6ghz. Then it started to require stupid voltage.

I can vouch for the fx6300 I currently have does great I have not found a game yet that I could not max out. I aslo found the same 4.6Ghz sweet spot as Infinite66 just using an H80 to cool it.