How to convince first-time builder of gaming system to stay away from AMD FX-8320

[frozentundra123456]

The FX-8xxx series don't hold back anything but the very highest-end GPUs, though. In almost all cases you're going to be, in this order, GPU-bound and then threadbound.

He should get the 8370(E) if he's going to go AMD though. And for that price he can get an i5-6500, which in most respects will be better, assuming the mainboard and RAM are about the same price. Four real cores is enough to handle games for now, and Skylake's higher singlethread performance versus Orochi R2 will come in handy.

That depends on the game I think, and I suppose how you define a "highest end" dgpu.

 

[whm1974]

The 1080 or Titan X 2016?

 

[escrow4]

The FX-8xxx series don't hold back anything but the very highest-end GPUs, though. In almost all cases you're going to be, in this order, GPU-bound and then threadbound.

He should get the 8370(E) if he's going to go AMD though. And for that price he can get an i5-6500, which in most respects will be better, assuming the mainboard and RAM are about the same price. Four real cores is enough to handle games for now, and Skylake's higher singlethread performance versus Orochi R2 will come in handy.

Minimums suck with the FX. Put an FX against an i5 and game for 8 hours, which one will dip more? Not the i5. Plus you are buying outdated tech. The FX is primitive compared to a Skylake setup no matter how much you bolt-on to a 2009 era chipset.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Even if a 2016 Mitsubishi Lancer was thousands less wouldn't you rather spend more for a 2016 Honda Civic? The Lancer gets the job done, but its terribly outdated and inefficient by comparison. That's a reasonable analogy to an FX vs. i5. If it meant saving another month or two I'd do it.

Depends, are we talking Evo vs Si? Potentially bad analogy here.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Can get off lease towers with i5 3570 in them for around $350.- Swap in a new PSU and a 1070 GPU and you have a gaming monster for under $700.-

 

[frozentundra123456]

Do you mean a 1060? You arent going to get a new PSU and 1070 for 350.00. Still a good plan if one can actually find the off lease 3570 for 350.00.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

^ yeah what he said!

 

[AtenRa]

Instead of spending $350 for a used 3570 with a obsolete mobo/Chipset , I would go for a new H110 + DDR4 + Core i3 6100 for less.

 

[nerp]

Instead of spending $350 for a used 3570 with a obsolete mobo/Chipset , I would go for a new H110 + DDR4 + Core i3 6100 for less.

Exactly. And if it isn't your first build, you might have case handy already, etc.

I would only get a prebuilt dell or Lenovo box to stick in a GPU if it were for someone I loathe to imagine helping after the fact and if it comes with manufacturer warranty so if there is problems the original PSU can be popped in and the video card can get yanked for the service call.

 

[jardows]

Instead of spending $350 for a used 3570 with a obsolete mobo/Chipset , I would go for a new H110 + DDR4 + Core i3 6100 for less.

What's up with recommending a H110 for a gaming machine? Only 1 DIMM per channel, so will be very restricted on memory bandwidth. The B150 and H170 motherboards are not much more, and offer much better features/performance.

 

[AtenRa]

What's up with recommending a H110 for a gaming machine? Only 1 DIMM per channel, so will be very restricted on memory bandwidth. The B150 and H170 motherboards are not much more, and offer much better features/performance.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231941

2x 8GB = 16GB DDR-4 3200MHz for only $80

I dont believe you will need more for the next 2-3 years. If you are on a low budget that is more than enough.

 

[Phynaz]

$350 complete i5 system - just add video card and OS. Even includes an SSD.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Combo...cables-_-na-_-na&ItemList=Combo.3049269&cm_sp

 

[svenge]

What's up with recommending a H110 for a gaming machine? Only 1 DIMM per channel, so will be very restricted on memory bandwidth. The B150 and H170 motherboards are not much more, and offer much better features/performance.

Agreed. It's funny how much the B-series chipsets get overlooked, despite having everything necessary for a stock-clocked CPU and a single GPU to run well at a significantly lower cost.

 

[AtenRa]

$350 complete i5 system - just add video card and OS. Even includes an SSD.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Combo...cables-_-na-_-na&ItemList=Combo.3049269&cm_sp

Excellent, add a RX 470 Red Devil and you got a nice Low budget Gaming system.

 

[Phynaz]

Excellent, add a RX 470 Red Devil and you got a nice Low budget Gaming system.

470 is way over priced. If it had been $149 like you predicted it would have been worth it. But for $200 you can get a GTX 970.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Even if a 2016 Mitsubishi Lancer was thousands less wouldn't you rather spend more for a 2016 Honda Civic? The Lancer gets the job done, but its terribly outdated and inefficient by comparison. That's a reasonable analogy to an FX vs. i5. If it meant saving another month or two I'd do it.

Yes, that is precisely what I am saying (and Mitsu does sell thousands of Lancers...). The thing with cars is that the costs of operating can be substantially different.

For non-datacenter uses, I don't believe the costs of operating a CPU really add up to a hill of beans for the vast majority of users. Here is the honest truth, I used strictly my laptop that maxes out at ~40 watts power use in my testing for a solid six weeks vs. my very power hungry desktop. My energy bills really didn't reflect any tangible difference.

I'm just not one to get overly involved arguing 60FPS vs. 50FPS, or 70 watts of power use vs. 120 watts of power use. It's all crumbs to me. I have been logging lots of gaming hours on my machine lately (addicted to Grim Dawn) and simply enjoy gaming on it. When I am immersed in a good game, I don't think about my hardware, I just game.

I already said I'd be hard pressed to build a system today around AM3+, but if it is a great deal and will do what I need for now and the future, it could be considered in some situations. I prefer actual real life use vs. arguing benchmarks, and I'm not at all unhappy with the performance of my system. When it starts chugging in a game I play, I'll think about upgrading.

 

[Headfoot]

960 is a god awful idea. Just terrible. He's out of date, new cards have come out that are better in every way and very close in price.

The 8320 is 2012 era tech. He'd be buying an old processor with an old platform on an old process with an old memory technology with zero room to upgrade without replacing everything again.

He should get an i3 so he's got 1) Modern CPU with very fast single thread performance (important for majority of games), 2) DDR4 so he's not buying obsolete memory, 3) room to upgrade to faster CPUs in the future as they come out

i3 has 4 threads and meets minimum requirements that specify 4 cores. The OS sees it as 4 cores due to HyperThreading

 

[jacktesterson]

See my Sig on building a $700 CDN Computer. I did have Windows, the DVD Drive and the SSD already though, but still.

Also I agree, go GTX 950 over the 960, but aim for the RX 480.

 

[Bobsy]

Thanks Jack.

 

[jardows]

$350 complete i5 system - just add video card and OS. Even includes an SSD.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Combo...cables-_-na-_-na&ItemList=Combo.3049269&cm_sp

Shudders at the thought - H110 means single channel memory instead of dual channel, which has been the standard for years. Why would you want to cripple your performance that much for a gaming system?

 

[whm1974]

Shudders at the thought - H110 means single channel memory instead of dual channel, which has been the standard for years. Why would you want to cripple your performance that much for a gaming system?

That is false. The memory controller is in the CPU not the chipset, and it is dual channel.

 

[AtenRa]

470 is way over priced. If it had been $149 like you predicted it would have been worth it. But for $200 you can get a GTX 970.

Ehm why get 970 even if it is at the same price ??? 470 is as fast in DX-11, faster in DX-12, has DP 1.3/1.4 with FreeSync, lower power consumption and 4GB of ram (not 3.5GB). Even at the same price the 470 is much better all around product.

 

[MrTeal]

http://dellrefurbished.ca/product/computers/desktops/optiplex/catcomdeskoptiplex//si6861269
Use code Summer16, and it's $371 taxes and shipping paid (unless you have HST of course).
Spend the other $350 on a 1060, and call it a day.

 

[Phynaz]

Ehm why get 970 even if it is at the same price ??? 470 is as fast in DX-11, faster in DX-12, has DP 1.3/1.4 with FreeSync, lower power consumption and 4GB of ram (not 3.5GB). Even at the same price the 470 is much better all around product.

Let's agree to disagree and keep the video card arguments in the video card forum.

 

[Phynaz]

That is false. The memory controller is in the CPU not the chipset, and it is dual channel.

Correct.