FX 4300 or Phenom llx4 BE?

[dcard1869]

For gaming, which processor is actually better? I see so many reviews at both ends of spectrum of liking/hating fx series. Ive read reviews that said fx is no faster than older phenoms, others say they are faster. Im running a8 3870 with HD7870 now, so is either of these processors any better than what I got now? I can run most new games except crisis 3 on ultra settings without AA and still get minimum 35 fps up to 60+. I plan on 2nd HD7870 to crossfire, but this apu is at 40-70% in most games (Crysis 3 90%) with one 7870, so I don't know if this apu will cut it.

 

[EarthDog]

Same stuff different piles in this case. The APU wont cut in CFx environment in that it wont allow 2 7870's to stretch its legs as it could.

 

[RGone]

Which processor depends on the motherboard to be used. Cheap often crappy boards for handling any FX processor make the experience with FX processor less than desirable. OEM cooling need not apply either in general and most certainly no OEM cooler if one wishes to overclock.

So what processor is not such a simple, one size fits all answer.
RGone...

 

[EarthDog]

The quads have the same problems as the Octo's with power and heat ehh? I did not know that..

 

[dcard1869]

I was looking at Gigabyte AM3+ 990FX UD3 for a mobo. I have CM Hyper 212 plus for cooling. OCZ 750w psu. CoolerMaster 430 case w/6 fans (4 in-2 out). Are you saying fx series needs a great board to work well?

 

[EarthDog]

I am regurgitating that low end boards and overclocking the FX CPUs is not a good mix. I'll will step aside though and let the AMD people, who KNOW, fill in the blanks.

 

[trents]

I think a good motherboard with a Deneb X4 overclocked to about 4.0 ghz would be your best bet but you would need good cooling.

 

[RGone]

This link comes from a thread in the AMD mobo section. It lists the boards for overclocking an FX processor by their known ability to do so. He also adds that the listed boards in order are also awesome for any AMD heavy duty overclocking. You will see how far down the list the Giga UD3 series falls.
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7404903&postcount=5
ssjwizard recommended FX boards or heavy overclock.

Now if you listen to 'trents' and have NO earthly intention to ever put an FX processor in the motherboard you could get by with a 4 core Deneb processor and your CM 212 and this Asus mobo that we all KNOW how it works with Deneb, but NO FX. ASUS M5A97 R2.0 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131873
That board will say it has support for FX processors like many of the crappy boards for FX say, but it is a joke if you get to the point you want to be able to have some control over an FX processor.

 

[dcard1869]

If I go the deneb and m5 mobo itll only cost $200. My only concern is how well does it crossfire with that mobo/cpu? And one more important question..What is the difference in a mobo that says (in regard to pci-e 2.0 x 16) ands cheap boards show x16,x4...whereas a good mobo will be dual x 16? Does one card act as slave and run slower in x4? I appreciate you people taking time to reply.Thank you.

 

[trents]

If I go the deneb and m5 mobo itll only cost $200. My only concern is how well does it crossfire with that mobo/cpu? And one more important question..What is the difference in a mobo that says (in regard to pci-e 2.0 x 16) ands cheap boards show x16,x4...whereas a good mobo will be dual x 16? Does one card act as slave and run slower in x4? I appreciate you people taking time to reply.Thank you.

PCI-e lanes come in x16, x8, and x4 data path widths. Think of these data lanes like highways with 16, 8 or 4 traffic lanes. Rush hour traffic will flow faster on a 16 lane road than on an 8 lane road and faster on an 8 lane road than on a 4 lane road. High end motherboards have two and even three x16 PCI-e lanes. Upper mid range boards have one x16 lane and one x8 lane so that the second video card (if it's a very high end card) may find a little bottleneck under heavy gaming. Less expensive motherboards have one x16 lane and one x4 lane and will definitely create a bottleneck for the second card when the cards are high end and in Crossfire or SLI.

 

[RGone]

Okay I will say that I might have gotten lost a little in this crossfireX thing. You have a 7870 Vid card on an A3850 APU board nOw and you want to know if you go to a 4 core denenb processor AND another 7870 Video card and a motherboard and power supply capable of supporting all the power >> will you get more performance? Yes you should. Do you also want a motherboard with at least x8/x8 pcie lanes for the video cards? Yes you do if at all possible.

Because of the way questions are written, most of us ASSUME you want to be able to move to a later type of AMD processor such as the newest line of FX processors at some time. So we start thinking in terms of FX processors. They do not like to be overclocked on cheap motherboards. IF you go into the AMD Cpu Forum section right now you will see users with cheap board and FX processors that are not even able to run the FX stock on the cheap board and not have some odd FPS slow down. You need to know what your are looking at as fully as you can. No guessing here. It will bite you.

So right here to the best of everything I have come to understand watching users and their own self-inflicted hell with cheap boards I would suggest you purchase any one of the boards in this list and get all the PCIe lanes you need and have a sno-balls chance of running an FX processor without needing to buy another motherboard.

Asus Crosshair V formula/z
Asus Sabertooth R2.0 Gen 3(not yet released)
Asrock Fata1ity 990FX
Asus Sabertooth R2.0 and Asus Sabertooth 990FX
Gigabyte 990FX UD5 or UD7
Asus M5A99X Evo (x8/x8) or M5A99FX pro

Normally this list would have these three other boards at the end of that list.
990X, 990FX UD3 these all use the same VRM << However I did NOT include them in the list since the latest REV 3.0 versions of those boards are not acting the same way as the PRE REV3.0 boards worked. They are not wanting to be easily and logically overclocked as the Non REV 3.0 boards did. Not so far anyway.

So now you have a current as can be list of good mobos to choose from and will run the two 7870s and a deneb 4 core processor and overclock that deneb 4 core with good processor cooling AND be able to run very well any of the current crop of FX processors with good cpu cooling as a look for a future upgrade path.

Other than that just get you another 7870 and slap it on your APU thing if it has two long PCIe lanes and see what the heck happens. You say you are going to buy the 7870. SO do It. If the two 7870s do not work well on your current stuff...then you know what you can do next with better mobo and deneb processor. Then YOU know what is what and is what I would have done to begin with and nOt asked anyone anything.
RGone...

 

[dcard1869]

Thank you guys for clarifying these things for me. I try to read other posts first before I write anything but I have spent time trying to find an answer and come up still not sure. I think I'll take your advice and get a good mobo. Thanks again.

 

[trents]

Thank you guys for clarifying these things for me. I try to read other posts first before I write anything but I have spent time trying to find an answer and come up still not sure. I think I'll take your advice and get a good mobo. Thanks again.

The other thing to keep in mind is that along with having more lanes in the second and third PCI-e slots, it is likely the powerphase components in general will be stouter on the higher end boards, even if only in subtle ways, and probably will give a better overclock. So there is value in buying the better board even if you don't need all those PCI-e lanes but just want the best overclock possible of the CPU.

 

[dcard1869]

I am definitely getting a good mobo, like crosshair v or something. This first build is learning experience. This next one is going to be what I want, and this first build Ill put back as A8-3870/6670 and give it to my kid.