Coming over to the 'dark side'

[Munny]

Hey guys, I have finally decided to jump off the "other" ship after 15 dedicated years and climb aboard the AMD express. I am actually quite anxious to get my build done but I have a few questions first.

My new comp will be used for gaming, general light business/home duties and possibly setting up a dedicated VoIP server. I also would like a solid base that can be upgraded for the next year or 2. I will also be OC'ing my comp mildly in the future.

With that in mind here goes my build ( I will be using my existing case, 2 raptor hard drives and my blueray player) :





MOBO: ASUS SABERTOOTH 990FX R2.0 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

*mobo comes with 8gb (2x4) of gskill ram.

PS: Antec High Current Gamer Series HCG-750 750W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V v2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply

GPU: SAPPHIRE 100352-2L Radeon HD 7950 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

CPU cooler: ZALMAN CNPS5X Performa 92mm FSB (Fluid Shield Bearing) Powerful Cooling Performance CPU Cooler




My major road block is which CPU to go with.

A.) AMD FX-6300 Vishera 3.5GHz (4.1GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 95W Six-Core Desktop Processor FD6300WMHKBOX

B.) AMD FX-8350 Vishera 4.0GHz (4.2GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 125W Eight-Core Desktop Processor FD8350FRHKBOX

I have read the 6300 coupled with the 7950 should be more than ample to handle any game thrown at it. So my thinking was get that for now and upgrade the cpu down the road as needed. Would the 8350 outperform enough to justify the extra 100 as it stands now? I won't be doing any major video editing or crunching nasa algorithms with it so saving 100 would allow me to buy a few drinks or take the wife out for dinner lol.

What would you recommend?

 

[RGone]

CPU cooler: ZALMAN CNPS5X Performa 92mm FSB (Fluid Shield Bearing) Powerful Cooling Performance CPU Cooler < You might as well run the stock cooler as to run that weak thing.

Overclocking the FX series is a heat generating process.

 

[Munny]

CPU cooler: ZALMAN CNPS5X Performa 92mm FSB (Fluid Shield Bearing) Powerful Cooling Performance CPU Cooler < You might as well run the stock cooler as to run that weak thing.

Overclocking the FX series is a heat generating process.

Roger, nuff said. Any advice for cpu cooler?

 

[Aldakoopa]

Cooler Master Hyper 212 is pretty much the best bang-for-your-buck when it comes to coolers.

 

[RGone]

If you have a sensible overclock in mind of say 4.2 to 4.4Ghz and your case is about 8 inches wide across the top measured from one side cover to the other, then you could get by with a fairly inexpensive Cooler Master 212 EVO. There must be good air-flow in the case with ANY air-cooler. You just don't know how hot these FX cpus run when really pushed.

There are better air-coolers but if you are not trying for 4.5Ghz to 4.8Ghz then the 212 EVO is less costly.

 

[Munny]

This is my current case, hence why I am choosing to reuse it.

COOLER MASTER HAF X RC-942-KKN1 Black Steel/ Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case

My Oc'ing will be mild at best until I feel confident enough to dive into how far I can push it.

Still can't decide on my CPU.... on shoulder says the 6300 and a night out with the wife, the other says go for the 8350 and throw a steak on the grill for her lol.

 

[Aldakoopa]

Steaks are always good...

 

[Hicksimus]

You should have no issue putting a 212 in that case.

So far as the CPU is concerned, there isn't much in the gaming world currently using 8 cores, or even 6 for that matter.

Which leads to an important question or two. What games are you going to be playing and are you sure it's a good time to jump ship especially if you are only gaming?

 

[walldow]

welcome to the dark side! we have cookies and milk! lol i dont think yull be disapointed amd makes a solid chip, always have. dont care what the intell fan boys say. for the $ Vrs performance stand point, u cant go wrong. why pay $4-600 for a chip when u can pay $200ish for one that runs just as good if not better. enjoy!

 

[Munny]

You should have no issue putting a 212 in that case.

So far as the CPU is concerned, there isn't much in the gaming world currently using 8 cores, or even 6 for that matter.

Which leads to an important question or two. What games are you going to be playing and are you sure it's a good time to jump ship especially if you are only gaming?

I have never had any issues with intel, but at this time I feel the cost to performance ratio is on AMD's side. I am having hard time staying loyal as they seem to have inflated prices at the checkout counter. I would rather take the extra cash and spend it on my hunting hobby

 

[Munny]

Steaks are always good...

sounds like something I would say.

 

[Hicksimus]

Fair enough. But just as a fair warning Intel is killing AMD in performance per core. Depending on what you are playing and in some cases how well optimized it is there can be instances where the AMD 8 core or 6 core will be limiting the performance of the 7950 while an Ivy/Sandy Intel processor won't.

As an example:

Battlefield 3 will run well on the 6 core and 8 core and Intel at a level where you likely won't notice the difference between the 3 when all 3 are overclocked.

Planetside 2 on the other hand is quite noticeable. Sony chose to use 1 core to feed the video card and the load is so high that while you want more than 1 core to handle the smaller loads you ultimately get bottle necked by that 1 very busy core to the point where an Ivy/Sandy Intel makes a noticeable difference.

And then there is your power bill.....

 

[Hicksimus]

Double post!

I want to be clear that I'm not saying don't buy the AMD, I'm just highlighting some things that people tend to overlook so that you know what you're buying. I've been on an AMD streak myself lately.

From current to oldest:

1045T - FX-6100 - X4 955 - X4 940 - X3 720 then some Intel stuff.

 

[tdog2005]

I am running the fx 8350 and a 7950 , this setup will run everything great. Most of my cpu's have always been AMD and I will always stick with them as long as there around, performance per dollar value is better with AMD. The current intel chips do offer better performance but if its really needed now is the question

My current setup on unigine heaven benchmark averages 70fps max all options and the system is not overclocked.

 

[Munny]

Fair enough. But just as a fair warning Intel is killing AMD in performance per core. Depending on what you are playing and in some cases how well optimized it is there can be instances where the AMD 8 core or 6 core will be limiting the performance of the 7950 while an Ivy/Sandy Intel processor won't.

As an example:

Battlefield 3 will run well on the 6 core and 8 core and Intel at a level where you likely won't notice the difference between the 3 when all 3 are overclocked.

Planetside 2 on the other hand is quite noticeable. Sony chose to use 1 core to feed the video card and the load is so high that while you want more than 1 core to handle the smaller loads you ultimately get bottle necked by that 1 very busy core to the point where an Ivy/Sandy Intel makes a noticeable difference.

And then there is your power bill.....

Very good synopsis there, made me double think my choice. After further review I have decided to stick with AMD this round. Reason being for a comparable price/performance from Intel I would would be slotted with a 2500k, or a 3570k. That would put me into the LGA 1155 socket for a mobo. As it looks Intel's next gen chips are based on the LGA 2011 socket. Which, leads me down the road of a new mobo/cpu combo when it is time to upgrade to the next gen.

Where as with the AMD FX line they seem to have chosen the same socket for their next gen (Vishera) and maybe the next after that..? That alone will help ease the burden of upgrading as needed.

Not to mention have you seen the prices of the 2011 next gen intel chips and a corresponding mobo? Just those 2 pieces alone are as much as my complete swap including the 7950....

Hard to stay loyal when you look at the big picture.

 

[trents]

I would think if your are going with the 8350 you would want to go with no less than the Corsair H100 if you will be overclocking.

If you are going with the APU then the Hyper 212 evo would probably be fine for a fairly decent overclock.

 

[RGone]

Munny, if you did not mean this when you said it: "I will also be OC'ing my comp mildly in the future.", and if you did not read and are going to use that 4.2 to 4.4Ghz overclock speed as okay with the CM 212 EVO, then you need to go H-100 and it is NOT enough cooler to push a super good 8350 as high as it could go.

If we keep on pouring the cooling on and that adds dollars, I am going to be thinking Intel might be better. I mean we are at one point doing pretty good on the dollar value, but that number can get out of hand quickly.

 

[Arbiter Odie]

I would think if your are going with the 8350 you would want to go with no less than the Corsair H100 if you will be overclocking.

If you are going with the APU then the Hyper 212 evo would probably be fine for a fairly decent overclock.

This. My experience with bulldozer is that a Noctua D14 or H100 are the starting point in cooling, provided you are overclocking.

 

[tungureanu]

+1 RGone

I went from a 600 euro build to a 1300 euro build in about 3 months. Altho only 300 euros was spent on cooling after the innitial 600. But i am a very happy bunny.

PS: better go for a "cheaper" wc custom loop. i wish i did that.....

 

[RGone]

Oh well that did not last long...

Munny, if you did not mean this when you said it: "I will also be OC'ing my comp mildly in the future.", and if you did not read and are going to use that 4.2 to 4.4Ghz overclock speed as okay with the CM 212 EVO, then you need to go H-100 and it is NOT enough cooler to push a super good 8350 as high as it could go.

If we keep on pouring the cooling on and that adds dollars, I am going to be thinking Intel might be better. I mean we are at one point doing pretty good on the dollar value, but that number can get out of hand quickly.

I wrote the above earlier as regards a sensible overclock because 'munny' had said he would mildly overclock. Then I find he had written this >> " My Oc'ing will be mild at best until I feel confident enough to dive into how far I can push it.". Well that moves from a sensible amount of HEAT to dissipate to temps that even an H-100 cannot fully handle on an 8 core FX processor when you push it as far as it will go.