Asus M5A88-V EVO - Help choosing suitable CPU

[dimster]

Hello

I want to buy a new CPU for this motherboard. This mobo has 880G chipset which is old, but with BIOS updates it supports the latest 8core E cpus.

I also know that it has 8+1 power phase which is good right?

What I want is to get the maximum possible value for a gaming build. I am not an expert by no means so please correct if I am talking crap.

So after some research I see that FX 6300 is the best value cpu for gaming among the amd cpus. But to get the value from this cpu you need to overclock it right? So will this mobo be able to handle this task?

Also looking at benchmarks I see that up to AMD r9 280x there is no bottleneck for AMD cpus. Above this GPU it is a waste of money to use Amd cpus and people should go with Intel.


Also how about the new FX 8320E cpu? Are they overclocking well or it is too early to say? I suspect in the newest reviews AMD could possible gave some good cpu samples to the reviewers.

I cannot find much info from actual users regarding FX 8320E stock and overclocking performance.

-I have a Scythe Mugen 2 Rev.B cooler so I am planning to use that (still better than stock AMD cooler right?)
-Thermaltake toughpower 500W

Any information is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Gaming build, I'd go with the FX-6300 or FX-6350.
With your cooler you should be able to get around 4.5GHz pretty easily for daily usage.

 

[don256us]

I'm using this board myself in my 2008 SBS. I presently have an x3 CPU unlocked to x4. It's a great board, very reliable and many OC options that I don't use.

I also use the Scythe and love it so much that I have three in total in my household. It's a great cooler.

I loke to compare CPU's using the following link to Tom's hardware. There you will be able to compare perfomrance/$$$ and so forth.

 

[RGone]

Well let us try and be serious...

...and maybe as straight forward as possible.

You have an older version motherboard and your focus seems to be on gaming. Right? If that were completely and totally accurate, I would suggest either a 955BE or a 965BE 4 core Phenom2 processor clocked to about 4.0Ghz which the good Phenom2 cpus do fairly regular on a good motherboard. That would be 4 cores working with a higher IPC than the later FX series of cpus is able to function. Easier to cool and probably quicker in most games today than an FX at stock speeds.

Now to get to the FX series of processors on an older platform. The motherboard maker says the M5A88-V EVO supports a number of FX processors. That means they will work in the motherboard as AMD designed the cpu to operate. But that does not mean the board can be used to overclock the crap out of an FX processor. Those are two different ambitions for the M5A88-V EVO.

There are hardware changes on the later 9xx series of motherboards to more readily use the later FX processor in a WFO mode to overclock it. Settings in bios like the newer version of APM to enable or disable. HPC enable or disable in bios. The availability of those two settings in bios makes a 'great' difference in whether the cpu will throttle the multiplier up and down when pushed. Good and very overclockable motherboards have those settings in bios or the CPU may well throttle down in speed when pushed. A working CPU_LLC is also just about a must for FX processor use and that may not be available on older platforms since it was a physical change that allowed it to be implemented on the newer 9xx chipset boards for FX processors. Are those three major items available in your older motherboard with a bios claiming support for some FX processor AND that same processor overclocked? No way for most of us to know and answer. We have not tried to push FX on 'that' older motherboard platform. You would have to really search that out likely in older posts on the net and maybe in some Asus oriented forum type.

Now that some of the changes are known that are in fact present in later 9xx chipset boards for pushing FX processors I would suggest if you are not going to get a good phenom2 . 4 core processor and overclock roughly to 4.0Ghz, that you certainly get the FX-6350 since it has the "highest" stock cpu speed of all the supported FX processor for the M5A88-V EVO motherboard. In gaming cpu speed is still the freeken king even against more cores in most cases with all but a few modern games.

The M5A88-V EVO
FX-6350(FD6350FRW6KHK,3.9GHz,6C,125W,rev.C0,AM3+) PCP >> ALL
Bios Version >> 1502 or higher/later.

That Asus supported FX cpu is only bested in default speed by the FX-8350 at 4.0Ghz. I see no reason to get two more cores for 0.1 more Ghz when we already think the board may have some issues getting an FX processor to overclock well because of plain physical changes in boards made with the 9xx chipsets. What you do want is the very fastest default speed availble for gaming and n0t dependent on getting an overclock to 4.5Ghz or so, in order for the FX processors to keep up with the Phenom2 955BE or 965BE when clocked up to 4.0Ghz.

Those are actual reality checks that come to my mind after dealing with these FX processors from their release some 3.2 years ago. There are some of the reality checks that I don't see most of us being able to give an honest answer to unless somone just happens to come into the forum that actually ran older boards with later FX processors AND was able to overclock the FX processor without cpu speed throttling. I do know a few that used an earlier 8xx chipset CHlV motherboard early on with the FX processor and they had to locate and utilize a crutch to get around the throttling. No idea if that crutch is workable any longer on say Win 8.1 which many have moved to for their O/S.

Now you should fully know why I would most likely find a good 955BE or 965BE 4 core Phenom2 processor for the older platform, even though it is said supported but meaning as AMD intended the cpu be used and not taking the need to get an FX to at least 4.5Ghz to equal a good Phenom2 at 4.0Ghz.
RGone...ster.

 

[caddi daddi]

Rgone has said all that really needs to be said on this matter.
get a 965 or 955 for that board and some 1600 ram and it's a powerhouse!!!!
I have gamed with all the combos he mentioned, but on much better boards, he's just right.

 

[trents]

These will often unlock to 3-4 cores and are pretty cheap. I recently unlocked one to a quad and was able to overclock it a little as well, to 3.7 ghz on an Asus 8+1 board.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMD-Phenom-...777?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item25987c9a69

X4 955 and 965 CPUs can be hard to find at a decent price.

 

[RGone]

That ain't a bad price for that cpu Mr. T. It has to be overclocked by the FSB though since it is not a BE? Or not.

It looks like they still have good prices if you can wait out 10 or so days for shipping. I have a grandson that buys out of China all the time with good success. I have not tried to do so myself.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/271690811982?lpid=82
AMD Phenom II X4 955 3.2 GHz Quad-Core CPU Processor HDZ955FBK4DGM

EDIT: More
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/291310877324
AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE 3.4 GHz Quad-Core C3-Stepping AM3 CPU > USED.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B002TQYUAE/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used
This is a bunch of used 955BE cpus thru Amazon com with two of them having the heatsink and all if that is issue.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/351242307997
ebay site in the Usa it seems. 965BE > US $82.34
END EDIT.

 

[dimster]

Thank you all for the replies.

Regarding Phenom 2 I am not really fond of this idea. I mean yeah great chip (I use one ATM HEKA 720BE) but buying a used 4+ yo CPU sounds like a risk for me.I pressume the previous owner has really stressed this chip with overclocking.

As I said I have no experience with FX cpus so I am skeptical about all of this. Besides I saw some gaming benchmarks comparing FX and X6 phenoms and the Phenoms were always behind in newest games but wining in some Video trans coding tests. Anyway, I am thinking about Fx 6350...

It is hard to find info regarding overclocking and this mobo. I search the internet and I found this dude from Russia I guess. He used fx8320 and overclocked it. Here is a translated version

http://translate.google.de/translat...materinskoj_plate_ASUS_M5A88-V_EVO/&sandbox=1

 

[Mandrake4565]

If you're really set on going with an Fx and it's for gaming get a Fx 6300/6350 it will stress the mobo less and doesn't need huge cooling when overclocking. I have both a Fx 6300 and Fx 8350 and when gaming I do not see any difference between the two.

 

[RGone]

After extensive googling...

...next to no inforamtion on FX cpu and your mobo. Not the great search results if FX and that board were poplular even 2 years ago.

Ok I did a rather extensive search of Asus M5A88-V Evo Motherboard and anything related to overclocking. I used the original FX processors like the FX-4100, the FX-6100 and so forth since those were the first FX processors to come out and more likely to be used with a hold-over type platform and not the FX designed 9xx chipset boards that came out for FX before FX actually went retail.

Even using the earlier FX processors in the search for anything related to your mobo and overclocking...found oh so very little.

The two links below did catch my eye since in the first thread by user of your board and an FX procesor, the results were not stellar exactly.

The second thread linked below had your board I believe and both a 6 core Thuban processor and a 4 core FX-4100 as the cpus used and that user was not happy at all. I found him on at least two other forums seeking help for a fix that he never found it seemed back then.

This is thread in these OCF forums from about April of 2012. Could be a fluke of the mobo but read over on page #3 what happened and why we normally do not suggest earlier platforms for the FX processor. The starter of that thread never even got to overclocking.
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/...ut-Asus-M5A88-V-Evo-Motherboard-Bios-Settings

Asus M5A88-V Evo Motherboard
AMD FX 8120 Eight Core CPU

Feb 2012:
http://forums.tweaktown.com/asus/47557-asus-m5a88-m-evo-proplem.html
Asus M5A88-M EVO problem
Phenom II X6 1095, FX4100 has the same problem.
Asus M5A88-M EVO.
Stock CPU Cooler and Coolermaster TX3 CPU Cooler.

It seems most likely that the faster FX-6350 is going to be your only 'best-bet' since I can find no great number of posts about overclocking success with the FX processor and the Asus-M5A88-V-Evo board. The FX-6350 has the fastest default speed of most any of the supported processors for your mobo.

I actually suspect you will be on your own with that older board and later FX type processor since none of us that try and help have run one nor intend to do so. Having spent so many years dealing with customers when I worked for a motherboard manufacturer, I know what it is to try and remain inline with what is known to most generally work. That is why my first motherboard for an FX type processor was the most well regarded Asus CHV. It has performed exactly as expected. Awesome.

So just get you the cpu that strikes your fancy and see how it works for you. That is the blind canyon you seem to be traveling into. Best of luck to you.
RGone...ster.

 

[bob4933]

Thank you all for the replies.

Regarding Phenom 2 I am not really fond of this idea. I mean yeah great chip (I use one ATM HEKA 720BE) but buying a used 4+ yo CPU sounds like a risk for me.I pressume the previous owner has really stressed this chip with overclocking.

As I said I have no experience with FX cpus so I am skeptical about all of this. Besides I saw some gaming benchmarks comparing FX and X6 phenoms and the Phenoms were always behind in newest games but wining in some Video trans coding tests. Anyway, I am thinking about Fx 6350...

It is hard to find info regarding overclocking and this mobo. I search the internet and I found this dude from Russia I guess. He used fx8320 and overclocked it. Here is a translated version

http://translate.google.de/translat...materinskoj_plate_ASUS_M5A88-V_EVO/&sandbox=1

FX cpu's are aging as well mate, around 4 years old for the bulldozer models, with the FX6300 being released in 2012.

Just because "some guy" on a website said its ok, does not make it so. After toasting a few mother boards, I have to suggest you get the phenom as well.


Re-reading your posts, it rather sounds like you already made your mind up about the whole AMD thing. Its your money, do what you will.


Edit: when THIS is your test rig, you may want to reconsider your sources.

 

[dimster]

FX cpu's are aging as well mate, around 4 years old for the bulldozer models, with the FX6300 being released in 2012.

Just because "some guy" on a website said its ok, does not make it so. After toasting a few mother boards, I have to suggest you get the phenom as well.


Re-reading your posts, it rather sounds like you already made your mind up about the whole AMD thing. Its your money, do what you will.


Edit: when THIS is your test rig, you may want to reconsider your sources.

For your information I went for fx8320E with this mobo and running at 4.4Ghz plus an Msi Gtx 970, evga b2 750w, 8gb 1600 . I am ok with it. Everyone who has the same mobo should be fine.
Thank God I did not go for Phenom. I would have not hear at your suggestion anyway. So now my friend I guess there are two random Internet guys with Vishera use on this board.
Peace!

 

[Alaric]

LOL