Upgrading From AMD Athlon X4 860K

[rafsystems]

I have:

AMD Athlon X4 640 (Quad Core) 3GHZ
GigaByte GA-770T-D3L
8GB DDr3 RAM

im looking to upgrade to a faster model. what is the best one for budget of £200 max for all three (CPU (+heatsink), MBRD and RAM)

Ive seen the AMD X4 860K which has a good review and score on CPUBoss.

Then Im looking at FM2+ motherboard but I got my eye on a few not sure which one. Im trying to go for the standard ATX ones.
Gigabyte F2A88X-D3HP
Gigabyte F2A68HM-HD2

But I like the features that MSI boards have like auto driver updates etc..

Whats the best low budget FM2+ board for this AMD CPU

 

[trents]

I have used both the X4 630 and the X4 860k. I have also overclocked them both. To be honest, there's not a lot of performance difference between the two. The 860k will give you a modest boost in benchmarks but you probably won't notice it much in everyday computing. They are architecturally similar in the sense of being quad cores but neither have virtual core threading ability (called "hyper threading" in the Intel world) and neither have L3 cache. The X4 860k does have turbo boost technology, however.

So I would urge you to look at spending some money on good aftermarket cooking and just overclock the X4 640. With a good cooler you should be able to get it to 3.5 ghz or so.

 

[rafsystems]

whats the big differenc you will see with going to intel....i was considering it.

for example if i was encoding a video using Movie Maker on my PC a 30 min video could over 20mins....would this speed drastically decrease using intel. I know generally intel core cpu perform faster but according to cpuboss site the amd 860K gets a better pverall score than alot of the i5 and i7 processors.

About overclocking my existing cpu it is over 5 years old aswell as the motherboard...would it be a good idea? Ive never overclocked i think....i just use the core boost on the gigabyte easy tune utility and then increase the FSB from 200 to 210 i noticed the cpu speed go up a bit.

If you have overclocked this amd cpu what settings do you advise based on my board. i heard gigabyte generally good for overclocking.

 

[ssjwizard]

Agree with Trents overclocking the chip you have now is probably the better solution given your budget.
Second option would be to try and grab a Phenom-II chip which would have L3 Cache, and potentially an unlocked multiplier to allow for better overclocking.

A quick look on amazon UK and I found a couple of 1055, 1090, and 1100T CPUs all of which are going to be 6 core Thuban based Phenom-IIs that will work with your current motherboard.

If you really want a more modern platform I would either go with a mid range Intel setup or wait until mid January for the release of AMD Zen lineup, but be prepared to spend a lot more than 200 on something worthwhile.


As to the settings unfortunately with your CPU FSB overclocking is going to be the only option. Fortunately AMD of that era handle FSB changes quite well. Dolk wrote a good guide to overclocking those chips let me find the link and Ill be right back.

Give THIS a read to better understand overclocking your CPU

 

[rafsystems]

thanks guys.

theres lots of intel cpus and im not good at knowing the best ones i am going by reviews online.

I just increased the FSB using Easy Tune software from 205 to 215 and got a BSOD crash

 

[ssjwizard]

There are a ton of variables involved with BCLK overclocking. Please take the time to look through the guide I linked to you. Memory, HT Link, and a number of others are affected by this. It may have also been a temperature related crash. You need alot more than eztune to properly overclock a system.

If you want to stick with a software overclock I would recommend you download at a minimum AMD Overdrive, and HWMonitor. Get HWMonitor regardless of whether you overclock in the BIOS or in software.

 

[rafsystems]

the 860K is 3-4 years newer than the latest phenom X6 one and seems to perform better on a single core level
http://cpuboss.com/cpus/AMD-Phenom-II-X6-Black-1100T-vs-AMD-Athlon-X4-860K

 

[ssjwizard]

In the end its your money and none of can tell you what to do with it but heres some reasons I would not go with that upgrade.

Athlon series - alot less features than the Phenom/FX series equivalent.

Athlon 860lk is at its core really just a very fancy 2 core CPU that can run 4 instructions at a time unless you need to calculate floats then it becomes a 2 core chip.
Kaveri core CPUs are almost as fast clock for clock than Thuban core CPUs(the older x6 phenoms). IE slower in single thread performance than the older chips.
FM2 socket is really intended for the APU market. If you are considering an APU rather than a CPU its not a bad choice. The top model A10 processors when partnered up with a dual graphic capable GPU are actually pretty decent gaming machines.
Athlon 860K is comparable to an Intel Pentium series chip. Pentium series is the second from the bottom series CPU at Intel. Celeron -> Pentium -> i3 -> i5 -> i7. You would get more performance out of a i3 for similar cost to upgrade.
Kaveri coire is the last core to be released based on AMD Bulldozer architecture, and has no upgrade path in the future.

My recommendation is to save up a bit more money and buy in the spring and shoot for a middle of the road level system. However, until then you can spend just a few $ on a cooler and OC what you have, or spend 1/3 of your total budget and get a newer CPU thats compatible with your current MB/RAM setup.

At this point we are basically throwing out blind suggestions. If you have us a bit more detail on what you use your PC for and what you are trying to make faster we can give a more specific recommendation.

 

[trents]

thanks guys.

theres lots of intel cpus and im not good at knowing the best ones i am going by reviews online.

I just increased the FSB using Easy Tune software from 205 to 215 and got a BSOD crash

Did you give the CPU cores in extra voltage? Did you lower the memory speed divider to compensate for the fact that memory speed increases in lockstep along with FSB, as do the HT Link and CPU/NB frequencies? If any of those gets too high without voltage support it will cause instability, as well core temps and socket (CPU) temps getting too high. Read the sticky. It seems daunting at first but with persistence and patience and guidance from experienced overclockers you can do it.

Some of these parameters can only be adjusted in bios. We don't recommend using software to overclock.

 

[rafsystems]

does crashing when doing overclocking damage HD board etc...

Ok
I use PC for internet browsing, work. desktop software for developement, graphics and music production.


My current build over last year has had lots more bsod and crsahing. i can use the pc fine but certain things crash the pc. the main culprit is Youtube and FLash videos. Il be watching a video on Youtube while working and then the mouse starts laggin badly then the screen freezes, then you get that annoying frozen noise type sound, which makes you almost jump out your skin. Then it just stays like that or sometimes after a few minutes shows the BSOD screen and restarts.

How long should my motherboard last with daily usage (4-6 hours per day)?

The idea of OC'ing seems dauting and too technical (im sure I could do it but only if it results in SIGNIFICANT results otherwise i got too much to do and maybe just easier buying an overclocked cpu/board bundle)

 

[trents]

does crashing when doing overclocking damage HD board etc...

Ok
I use PC for internet browsing, work. desktop software for developement, graphics and music production.


My current build over last year has had lots more bsod and crsahing. i can use the pc fine but certain things crash the pc. the main culprit is Youtube and FLash videos. Il be watching a video on Youtube while working and then the mouse starts laggin badly then the screen freezes, then you get that annoying frozen noise type sound, which makes you almost jump out your skin. Then it just stays like that or sometimes after a few minutes shows the BSOD screen and restarts.

How long should my motherboard last with daily usage (4-6 hours per day)?

The idea of OC'ing seems dauting and too technical (im sure I could do it but only if it results in SIGNIFICANT results otherwise i got too much to do and maybe just easier buying an overclocked cpu/board bundle)

Most likely A problem with the Adobe Flash Plugin. It's been problematic off and on for years. Try disabling hardware acceleration.

https://forums.adobe.com/thread/891337

You should also run this command from command prompt with admin privileges: sfc /scannow

And this command from command prompt with admin privileges: chkdsk /f /r

The second one can take several hours to complete and it seems to get stuck on 10% but it's not.

I would also download and install the free version of Malwarebytes and scan for malware.

 

[rafsystems]

thanks done that and updated to latest nvidia driver and software. watched a few youtube videos and no issues. Then watched two youtube video at the same time after a few minutes. that annoying noise again, frozen screen and then it went black, maybe resetting (not restarting windows..) then it worked again.

 

[trents]

Ending the problem application with Task Manager (ctrl alt delete in Windows 10) might also be an effective approach and less hassle than resetting? restarting? Windows.

 

[Mr.Scott]

Nothing wrong with overclocking your 640. Quality of board and cooling method will be your limiting factors. The processor clocks quite well.

 

[trents]

What board and what cooler were used or that oc Mr. Scott?

 

[Mr.Scott]

That is on a Rev.1 Sabretooth 990FX and average water cooling.
The Propus cores don't run that hot. I've never seen over 45c on this setup no matter what I run.

 

[rafsystems]

wow at 4.2ghz on 640 if i just use the standard cooler how high can i go and does it have to be overclocked in bios settings or can i use software...waht settigns you advise on my board?

 

[trents]

wow at 4.2ghz on 640 if i just use the standard cooler how high can i go and does it have to be overclocked in bios settings or can i use software...waht settigns you advise on my board?

The electronic components (particularly the VRM) are not nearly as rugged as the board Mr. Scott used to get that high overclock. Notice that he used 1.572 on the vcore. Your board won't come close to handling that much juice without going up in flames. He also was using water cooling.

No one can give you settings that will work for your situation. Every chip is different with regard to it's overclocking ability, even if it's the same model. You just have to experiment. Make changes to one setting at a time. Stress test, monitor for temps and make more adjustments. Repeat that until you find he highest frequency of the CPU that is stable.

Concerning cooling, don't expect much of an overclock on the stock cooler.

 

[Theocnoob]

Upgrading from what you have to an 860 is not a good way to spend money, especially if you change the board too.

Might be better to find a used Haswell i5 and used H97 board. You can re-use your DDR3 that way.

 

[trents]

Upgrading from what you have to an 860 is not a good way to spend money, especially if you change the board too.

Might be better to find a used Haswell i5 and used H97 board. You can re-use your DDR3 that way.

I would agree with that analysis.