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AMD FX6100 (at $60) vs FX4100 (at $50) / MSI 970A-G46 (at $70) vs ASRock(at $75)

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R

rollingstoned

New Member
Joined
Jan 8, 2013
Note: The ASRock model is the ASRock 970 EXTREME3.

Things to keep in mind:
My money is very tight, therefore bang for the buck is the be all/end all. I barely game at all. I've been using a 9500GT on my current build for the last 2 years and it's been fine for my needs. I plan to use something of similar scale in this build. If I do game, it's either WoW or Civ or strategy games of the like. The thing I do the most, is I have a ton of apps open at once. I also love to overclock my processors -- again, getting the most bang for my buck.

With the price/performance in mind, what combo would you choose and why? Also, how much of an upgrade will this combo be from a 550 black edition OC'd to 4GHz paired with a Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P? I'd love to hear any and all comments/suggestions.
 
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If your money is that tight, I would buy one of the 955BE or 965BE 4 core Denab processors and a better video card.

The why:
1. I would not recommend the old technology of the Bulldozer processors to anyone buying new parts. You just give away performance on the order of 10 to 15% and a slightly cooler running processor.

2. You are buying so dang cheap parts like the motherboard and apparently have no idea what power the FX processors can pull from a motherboard thru the VRM's and it is likely you don't have a clue how HOT an FX processor can run compared to a 4 core Denab processor.

3. Would not have an MSI AMD mobo and the Asrock 970Extreme3 is not robust enough to really overclock a 6 core or is marginal and the FX-4100 is a stone in many games.

That is just Three issues off the top of my head with you being forced to buy so cheap and get what you no doubt have no real idea of the consequences. Put a good 4 core in your current rig and a better video card and call it done. Save up your money and go at least toward the top of the middle tier of components the next time and do a full upgrade. IMO YMMV. Surely you will get many more ideas, and pay close attention to what they have to say also. RGone...
 
RGone said:
If your money is that tight, I would buy one of the 955BE or 965BE 4 core Denab processors and a better video card.

The why:
1. I would not recommend the old technology of the Bulldozer processors to anyone buying new parts. You just give away performance on the order of 10 to 15% and a slightly cooler running processor.

2. You are buying so dang cheap parts like the motherboard and apparently have no idea what power the FX processors can pull from a motherboard thru the VRM's and it is likely you don't have a clue how HOT an FX processor can run compared to a 4 core Denab processor.

3. Would not have an MSI AMD mobo and the Asrock 970Extreme3 is not robust enough to really overclock a 6 core or is marginal and the FX-4100 is a stone in many games.

That is just Three issues off the top of my head with you being forced to buy so cheap and get what you no doubt have no real idea of the consequences. Put a good 4 core in your current rig and a better video card and call it done. Save up your money and go at least toward the top of the middle tier of components the next time and do a full upgrade. IMO YMMV. Surely you will get many more ideas, and pay close attention to what they have to say also. RGone...
Click to expand...

Wouldn't it be a waste to get a better video card if I don't hardly game at all? I play a game maybe once a month, if that.

Re #2: I've seen reviews on Newegg of the 6100 only reaching 30-35C on load OC'd to 4+GHz with aftermarket air cooling.

Re #3: If given the choice between the 2, would your choice be the ASRock then?
 
RGone said:
If your money is that tight, I would buy one of the 955BE or 965BE 4 core Denab processors and a better video card.

The why:
1. I would not recommend the old technology of the Bulldozer processors to anyone buying new parts. You just give away performance on the order of 10 to 15% and a slightly cooler running processor.

2. You are buying so dang cheap parts like the motherboard and apparently have no idea what power the FX processors can pull from a motherboard thru the VRM's and it is likely you don't have a clue how HOT an FX processor can run compared to a 4 core Denab processor.

3. Would not have an MSI AMD mobo and the Asrock 970Extreme3 is not robust enough to really overclock a 6 core or is marginal and the FX-4100 is a stone in many games.

That is just Three issues off the top of my head with you being forced to buy so cheap and get what you no doubt have no real idea of the consequences. Put a good 4 core in your current rig and a better video card and call it done. Save up your money and go at least toward the top of the middle tier of components the next time and do a full upgrade. IMO YMMV. Surely you will get many more ideas, and pay close attention to what they have to say also. RGone...
Click to expand...

+1. Well +2/3, I actually happen to like MSI motherboards :D

I was in pretty much in the same situation as you, OP. wanted a lanbox as cheap as possible. This was a few months ago before Piledriver came out, but everything I read said to go with the slightly older Phenom IIs over the newer Bulldozer FXs. Cheaper, benchmarks showed them as faster in many cases, and cooler. So I went with a 965BE and haven't had a problem with it. (Wouldn't go with the 760GM-P34 though as much as I like MSI. Only got it because it was on sale and the the price difference between it and the next cheapest board allowed me to grab an SSD.)
 
freakdiablo said:
+1. Well +2/3, I actually happen to like MSI motherboards :D

I was in pretty much in the same situation as you, OP. wanted a lanbox as cheap as possible. This was a few months ago before Piledriver came out, but everything I read said to go with the slightly older Phenom IIs over the newer Bulldozer FXs. Cheaper, benchmarks showed them as faster in many cases, and cooler. So I went with a 965BE and haven't had a problem with it. (Wouldn't go with the 760GM-P34 though as much as I like MSI. Only got it because it was on sale and the the price difference between it and the next cheapest board allowed me to grab an SSD.)
Click to expand...

Where are the benchmarks that the Phenom's are beating out Bulldozer? I keep seeing this in forum threads, but when I go to benchmark sites, I'm seeing the FX6100 ahead of those.
 
On a budget of "As cheap as possible" I would absolutely suggest a Deneb over a Bulldozer. The first generation FX chips are very lack luster and power hungry. A 6100 is capable of bringing the average motherboard VRM to its knees, and a 4100 is not to much better on that front. If you cant afford a Vishera look to Phenom II its the better part.

As to motherboard the Asrock extreme 3 is a decent board if high overclocks are not on your list of TO DO. The VRM is 4 phase analog and lacks a heatsink. A Deneb will not push it as hard as a Bulldozer does but its still not ideal for big overclocks.

Unless you are going PD on such a tight budget youd probably be better served with a 8xx series chipset board can probably bring a higher overall quality at the same price as a 970 board.

Edit. Looking at newegg seems like older boards are in short supply, IF you can find an AM3 board with an 880 chipset or something for the same price I would probably go that route, but they may not be available anymore.
 
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rollingstoned said:
Where are the benchmarks that the Phenom's are beating out Bulldozer?
Click to expand...

Here is a link to a 3.8 GHz Piledriver quad core up against a 3.7Ghz Phenom II quad core. Keep in mind that sometimes a lower bar is better and that Piledriver beats bulldozer by about 7% on average per clock performance.

AnandTech Compare

If I had to pick between any equal core+equal clock speed Phenom II or Bulldozer I'd side with the Phenom II unless the Bulldozer is cheaper and/or you do a lot of file encryption.
 
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ssjwizard said:
On a budget of "As cheap as possible" I would absolutely suggest a Deneb over a Bulldozer. The first generation FX chips are very lack luster and power hungry. A 6100 is capable of bringing the average motherboard VRM to its knees, and a 4100 is not to much better on that front. If you cant afford a Vishera look to Phenom II its the better part.

As to motherboard the Asrock extreme 3 is a decent board if high overclocks are not on your list of TO DO. The VRM is 4 phase analog and lacks a heatsink. A Deneb will not push it as hard as a Bulldozer does but its still not ideal for big overclocks.

Unless you are going PD on such a tight budget youd probably be better served with a 8xx series chipset board can probably bring a higher overall quality at the same price as a 970 board.

Edit. Looking at newegg seems like older boards are in short supply, IF you can find an AM3 board with an 880 chipset or something for the same price I would probably go that route, but they may not be available anymore.
Click to expand...

I might actually go with a 1045t, since I already have one in my possession and would wind up costing me about 55bucks. What would be the best board for a high overclock with that chip(4GHz+)? Keep in mind, I don't care about things surrounding graphics at all, like SLI and the like. The main thing is I want a great overclock out of my MB.
 
rollingstoned said:
I might actually go with a 1045t, since I already have one in my possession and would wind up costing me about 55bucks. What would be the best board for a high overclock with that chip(4GHz+)? Keep in mind, I don't care about things surrounding graphics at all, like SLI and the like. The main thing is I want a great overclock out of my MB.
Click to expand...

The 1045T is not a BE type chip and therefore does not have an upward unlocked multiplier above the default multiplier. That means you have to overclock it with the FSB/CPU frequency raising method. That understood what "ssjwizard" has already mentioned about overclocking the older style cpus comes dead to front and center. The best boards to FSB clock a 'locked-multiplier' Thuban processor would actually be an 8xx chipset motherboard. However knowing that, here in the Usa, all the REAL good 8xx chipset boards that FSB clock like a bandit are out of production. Been out of production for likely two years. All that are left of that 8xx chipset are mostly the left-over entry level motherboards. That is from what " I " see when looking at the Major E-tailers in the Usa.

In many situations 'knowing' where a poster/user lives and where he will buy from is a big, ginormous help. No sense in us suggesting a mobo that is only available used today. But if we have the website a user is actually going to do his buying at....well then we can look and make suggestion where he will actually buy from. It is a thought.
 
I'm on my phone so its a pain to check, but is your current board from the first post working? If so, anybody know how it will respond to the bus OC of his 1045?
 
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"Hicksimus", he shows in first post to have currently a >> Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P, if that helps in your digging. RGone...
 
I noticed, I was just on my phone and didn't feel much in to searching :).

Well, the 1045T is on the support list for that board and on HWBot several people submitted reference clocks of 300 and 320, 1 was able to get 361.

So that board has support for your 1045T, it may be capable of the bus speed required to push your 1045T beyond 4GHz, and it would seem to have a VRM capable of dealing with the demands.

So assuming you have that board and a capable 1045T+heatsink then you'll probably do pretty well and certainly gain a lot of performance over a 550.
 
Phenom II > Bulldozer in core speed, but Piledriver is much better. I agree with the others, find a X4 955 or 965.
 
RGone said:
The 1045T is not a BE type chip and therefore does not have an upward unlocked multiplier above the default multiplier. That means you have to overclock it with the FSB/CPU frequency raising method. That understood what "ssjwizard" has already mentioned about overclocking the older style cpus comes dead to front and center. The best boards to FSB clock a 'locked-multiplier' Thuban processor would actually be an 8xx chipset motherboard. However knowing that, here in the Usa, all the REAL good 8xx chipset boards that FSB clock like a bandit are out of production. Been out of production for likely two years. All that are left of that 8xx chipset are mostly the left-over entry level motherboards. That is from what " I " see when looking at the Major E-tailers in the Usa.

In many situations 'knowing' where a poster/user lives and where he will buy from is a big, ginormous help. No sense in us suggesting a mobo that is only available used today. But if we have the website a user is actually going to do his buying at....well then we can look and make suggestion where he will actually buy from. It is a thought.
Click to expand...

I'm from the US. Just out of curiosity, do you recommend not buying a used motherboard? I actually had good results in the past buying a used one on eBay.
 
rollingstoned said:
I'm from the US. Just out of curiosity, do you recommend not buying a used motherboard? I actually had good results in the past buying a used one on eBay.
Click to expand...

I was not really speculating about used vs new, just that new good 890 chipset boards are not really available. I seldom buy anything used and not if I can find it new. Well if it was something from within the group of my buds and I knew the parts history. YMMV.

Somebody in this forum section found a NOS (new old stock) CHlV mobo in the box for $80.00 and now that; IF in my sight would have been scooped up and run in a heart-beat. Probably one of the best 890 chipset boards ever made. But I seldom find such good deals. Once or twice in my lifetime. Hehehe.
 
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