Hello, I was just wanting to get some help deciding on a processor, I just bought this motherboard recently http://usa.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM3Plus/M5A99X_EVO/ and the build I'm doing is going to be my first , but anyhow I was having trouble deciding on which cpu to get I was wanting a bulldozer, but was wondering if it would be worth the extra money for an 8 core or just go with a quad fx 4170 ? Also I will be using this build primarily for gaming (online and off )and web browsing / streaming.
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SOLVED Just a little adivice
- Thread starter wrsj77
- Start date
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2010
- Location
- Manassas, VA
- Thread Starter
- #3
Damn maybe I should just go for that phenom ii x4 965 on newegg then
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2012
- Location
- Barberton, OH
It's up to you. 
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2011
- Location
- Pacific NW USA
First, what are your goals/ uses for this computer? What's your budget? Where are you from?
- Thread Starter
- #6
Sorry but I did state I was using it primarily for gaming (on and offline) and i'm in the U.S. And my budget for processor is like $160.00 u.s
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2012
good info link knufire.
I wish i had seen that long ago.
I wish i had seen that long ago.
- Thread Starter
- #8
Well I was actually hoping for some people who own the fx chips to give me their impressions of it... maybe that was the question I should have really asked lolIt's up to you.
The FX series are not terrible, they just require high clock speeds to become competitive with the last generation.
I went from a rather feisty 1100T/SLI480 rig to my current FX-4100/7770 rig. I performed a few 4c to 4c tests between the two, and for the most part the older Phenom II was faster in all tasks except for memory bandwidth.
For gaming, the FX's are more then enough, and they get better once you nudge em past 4ghz. They will do 4ghz at very low voltage and in all honesty use far less power then the previous Phenom II's, right up to the point where you pass up 4500mhz, then power draw goes up quickly.
With Piledriver right around the corner, if you have to buy now, and you do not plan to overclock much (if) at all, go with the Phenom II. If you are not shy about pushing out past 4500mhz. Go with the FX.
I went from a rather feisty 1100T/SLI480 rig to my current FX-4100/7770 rig. I performed a few 4c to 4c tests between the two, and for the most part the older Phenom II was faster in all tasks except for memory bandwidth.
For gaming, the FX's are more then enough, and they get better once you nudge em past 4ghz. They will do 4ghz at very low voltage and in all honesty use far less power then the previous Phenom II's, right up to the point where you pass up 4500mhz, then power draw goes up quickly.
With Piledriver right around the corner, if you have to buy now, and you do not plan to overclock much (if) at all, go with the Phenom II. If you are not shy about pushing out past 4500mhz. Go with the FX.
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2012
I have the fx8120 8 core, love the processor, hate fighting the heat from it.
easy to overclock, all you need to do is up the multi and cpu voltage utill..........
about 4.5-4.6 at that point the real work begins.
easy to overclock, all you need to do is up the multi and cpu voltage utill..........
about 4.5-4.6 at that point the real work begins.
- Thread Starter
- #11
Yea I wasn't going to overclock right away which is why I was kinda leaning towards the FX 4170 since it comes stock already over 4ghz, until I get a better cooler which may not be right away since I'm on a limited budget and having to buy a few parts every payday,so I may not have them all till maybe the begining of sept but I was wanting to get my cpu and ram this week and do a test boot to make sure nothing came doa I already have a psu and vga card from my last pc. So when is piledriver coming out ? Everytime I google it I get results from last year and no clear answer it seems.
What that link shows is that some games like Just Cause 2, Skyrim, don't work well on the FX CPU's, while others like Battlefield 3, Dirt 3, Metro 2033... do.
there are plenty of people around here who have FX CPU's who are perfectly happy with them.
If you want to play Just Cause 2 and Skyrim on an AMD 7970 GPU and don't plan on overclocking the CPU you may be better off with something else.
- Thread Starter
- #13
Well one of the games I still play alot is WoW but was also going to be playing skyrim, assassins creed, batman arkham city to name a few
Well, Skyrim is 21 - 27: FX-8120 24 - 32: PII x4 955, 28 - 35: PII 980.
So for your board your best bet is the PII 980. or any CPU and overclock it, The 3.1Ghz FX-8120 will run @ 4Ghz easily on an inexpensive cooler.
As a matter of fact if those are the only sort of games your interested in you might do well with an FX-4170 @ 4.6Ghz as those games only use 1 or 2 threads so an 8 core processor would have a lot of obsoleet cores.
So for your board your best bet is the PII 980. or any CPU and overclock it, The 3.1Ghz FX-8120 will run @ 4Ghz easily on an inexpensive cooler.
As a matter of fact if those are the only sort of games your interested in you might do well with an FX-4170 @ 4.6Ghz as those games only use 1 or 2 threads so an 8 core processor would have a lot of obsoleet cores.
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2010
- Location
- Manassas, VA
WoW is two, but I'm pretty sure Skyrim is threaded for four cores. Not sure about the other games.
AFAIK the 955 and 980 are the same chip, 980 is just at a higher clock speed. Just like the 4100 vs 4170.
AFAIK the 955 and 980 are the same chip, 980 is just at a higher clock speed. Just like the 4100 vs 4170.
Don't know what Skyrim is, but clearly its not codded in the same way as Battlefield 3, Dirt 3, Metro 2033 and the like as it struggles with the FX CPU's while those games don't.
FX-4100 vs FX-4170 it seems an FX-4100 @ 4Ghz to 4.2Ghz (Turbo) yet it is a much later addition to the line up and seems to overclock higher and run cooler than the FX-4100, so may be a some what different chip.
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2012
- Location
- Barberton, OH
Well no, they are the same silicon, but one is binned higher...
It runs higher speeds at stock, who knows if the 4100 would do the same.
Really though it is the same for 8120 and 8150, it is stupid to spend the extra money for the 8150 if overclocking.
As far as the Phenom II X4s, 955/965 are about the same price right now OEM, 965 retail is avail @newegg.
I've had three of these late batch chips and they all do 4.2+ and 2.8+ CPU-NB on air. (H70)
It is not worth looking for or paying a premium for a 975 or 980. 955s can match or beat OC wise. Really, AMD near the end IMO was only binning TDP, the clocks were there.
- Thread Starter
- #19
Well i've heard of some people getting the 4170 to 5ghz!! I'm sure it wasn't on air if I remember correctly
