Go into the bench part of the Anandtech site.
Select the intel processor i3 4330 3.5Ghz
Then select any AMD processor, the A10-XXXX the 8350 any one of them.
Do a comparison.
Realize that the top tier AMD CPUs barely match or tie or slightly edge out the i3.
Dude, 8320e is $90 today and the GA-78LMT-USB3 is $10; you won't find a better value per buck. I use it in my living room pc w/ windows 7 and haven't had any issues. Spend the rest of the money on a GPU, get a $40 1TB HDD, 8gb of ram, and you got a great value system.
Why spend $10 on the 78LMT-USB3 when you could spend $15 on the Asrock 970M Pro3? You might lose the crappy iGPU, but you gain Sata6G, more USB, another PCIe slot, UEFI, etc. Seems like a worthwhile change to me.
Okay, so here is the new configuration:
Processor: i5-4590 [$160]
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H81M-HD2 [$40]
http://www.microcenter.com/product/458662/GA-H81M-HD2_LGA_1150_mATX_Intel_Motherboard
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 8Gb (2x4) DDR3 1600 [43]
Power Supply: EVGA 500 W1 [$35]
Graphics: Sapphire Radeon Nitro R9 380 4Gb [$200]
Storage: WD Blue Mainstream 1Tb 7,200RPM [$40]
Case: Thermaltake Versa N21 [$55]
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...rue&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_4&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
Total = $610 (after taxes and shipping and all that)
^This i5-4590 system is exactly within my budget! I am still open to suggestions though on all of these parts. I am particularly curious about the H81 motherboard quality. Also still looking at different cases that may be better.
Judging by your budget, I surmise this system will be something you are stuck with for quire awhile, yes? If so, some things you would do well to consider. Are you building a 180p60 gamer?
That HDD is fine for a steam folder, I have it doing so in one build at the moment. For the OS: too slow; it will have a negative impact on day to day usage v. SSD.
People keep talking upgrade path. With that board? It only has 2 ram slots. That means you cannot just throw 2 more sticks in later. You have to replace them. And 8GB is bare minimum for gamers going forward. And it is a bottom of the barrel model.
Besides my personal opinion that the case is cheesy. It also seems to lack the ability to add a side window fan later. Would not be my pick, even in that price range. And if going window, get one that is sizable, not that peep show model. Again IMO.
I have used at least a half dozen of those 500W for builds, some are almost 2 years up time and no failures or issues. That said, if I were going to be stuck on a system for a couple of years, I would go with something beefier.
I have a i5 4570 and the 8320e with the MSI 970. Neither can exceed the other in playable settings for 180p60 gaming. Which is all that matters; playable settings. All the bar graphs in existence do nothing for that. It is either fully playable at the settings, or its not. That is the real world, not the reality distortion field too many enthusiast live in.
I do overclock the AMD. But why would I not? It is multi unlocked and the board is plenty for a healthy OC. What I do is let it run stock for normal use, and load a saved OC profile (the 970 gaming allows multiple profiles to be saved) when using it to game. You can use a more aggressive fan speed profile for all the fans, when gaming too. BTW, a hyper 212 evo is a good, inexpensive air cooler that can mount on pretty much any socket, so it is a $25 investment right now that can migrate to other builds later. Since that dog eared upgrade path card keeps getting played.
If you are going to have the funds to upgrade here and there, the i5 is a good pick. Particularly if you prefer to throw and go. But if this is all the funds you plan to throw at a build for 18-24 months, the AMD load out fourdegrees11 did for you, will be a superior build. The SSD, PSU, faster ram, and board with better features and 4 ram slots to add ram later. all for the same price as cheaping out on most everything but the CPU, for the i5 build.
In a budget build,i would opt for a cheap mechanical 500gb-1tb drive over a expensive ssd unless a $40-$60 120gb ssd is enough.If you got a drive,bring it over to the new build for further cost savings.
New build with a i5 from the Haswell/Skylake generation would be my bare minimum goal with a $600 build.
I have a Gigabyte 78LMT-USP3 (760G MATX) that I had bought to replace the motherboard of a family member. Ended up not needing to do that right now so I decided to use it as a project PC this past week (and keep it handy for when theirs inevitably does fail).
I paired it with an FX-8320E, Xigmatek HDT-S1283, 8GB of DDR3 1333 (7-7-7-20), a 240 GB SSD and a GTX 780 (all save for the FX I already had). My monitor is a 1920x1200 Dell IPS. I kind of got a crappy 8320E - the stock VID is 1.2125 @ 3.2 Ghz which is about .05v higher than most of the professional reviews I've read. It takes 1.35v to be stable @ 4.2 Ghz, which is kind of sucky for an FX 8 core.
As far as games go I don't have that many on the PC - Fallout 4 doesn't run particularly well even with the OC and capable enough video card. Pretty choppy in many areas even with Godrays turned off (disabled in the .ini file) and shadows dialed down a notch. World of Warcraft: WoD is fine - just had to turn shadow quality down from Ultra to High to keep 60 FPS. The surprise is a totally unmodded Skyrim. Its terrible in NPC heavy locales like Markarth and Riften. I mean really terrible with drops to between 35-45 FPS in spots. An old Phenom II X4 980 BE @ 4.0 Ghz did better.
This is on a fresh install of Win 7 so I know there's nothing cluttering the system up to slow it down. I had a Pentium G3258 @ 4.5 Ghz until recently in another PC. It was about the same in Fallout 4 - choppy in spots with the dual core. It was better in WoW and markedly better in Skyrim. So far my experience with an FX-8320E has been pretty "meh". If you are near a Microcenter by all means grab one for $89.99. If not do what you can to get an i5 if at all possible. Vastly better in games.
I suspect you didn't OC the NB in FX......
Going with an i5 for a cheap gaming build is tough with access to a Microcenter though. Even with Microcenter prices, an i5-6500/B150M/8GB will set you back $150 more than the 8320E/970M/8GB. You give up on the CPU, but it would free up the budget to move to a 250GB SSD boot drive and move from a 960/380X to a 970/390. No doubt the i5 is a better processor, but $100 for a CPU/MB combo is just so cheap it's hard to ignore.
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Looks like we have two people in this thread that actually own an i5 and an 8320E and are basically telling you the same thing.
Nope - quick and dirty CPU multi only. Its happy enough even on the Gigabyte 4+1 board - running quite cool. For gaming you get to a point diminishing returns on AMD processors pretty fast. Another 200 Mhz or so isn't going to matter. Granted, I have a very small assortment of games on there right now. Comparing those three with the FX-8320E to my i7-4790k or i5-4690k or i5-4590 machines isn't really fair (but they're all noticeably better with them).
WoW, and blizzard games in general favor intel processors.
Correct, they both admit that you are forced to overclock the 8320E, before it is even close to being as fast as a non-overclocked, older generation i5, when it comes to gaming...
Judging by your budget, I surmise this system will be something you are stuck with for quite awhile, yes? If so, some things you would do well to consider. Are you building a 180p60 gamer?
That HDD is fine for a steam folder, I have it doing so in one build at the moment. For the OS: too slow; it will have a negative impact on day to day usage v. SSD.
People keep talking upgrade path. With that board? It only has 2 ram slots. That means you cannot just throw 2 more sticks in later. You have to replace them. And 8GB is bare minimum for gamers going forward. And it is a bottom of the barrel model.
Besides my personal opinion that the case is cheesy. It also seems to lack the ability to add a side window fan later. Would not be my pick, even in that price range. And if going window, get one that is sizable, not that peep show model. Again IMO.
I have used at least a half dozen of those 500W for builds, some are almost 2 years up time and no failures or issues. That said, if I were going to be stuck on a system for a couple of years, I would go with something beefier.
I have a i5 4570 and the 8320e with the MSI 970. Neither can exceed the other in playable settings for 1080p60 gaming. Which is all that matters; playable settings. All the bar graphs in existence do nothing for that. It is either fully playable at the settings, or its not. That is the real world, not the reality distortion field too many enthusiast live in.
I do overclock the AMD. But why would I not? It is multi unlocked and the board is plenty for a healthy OC. What I do is let it run stock for normal use, and load a saved OC profile (the 970 gaming allows multiple profiles to be saved) when using it to game. You can use a more aggressive fan speed profile for all the fans, when gaming too. BTW, a hyper 212 evo is a good, inexpensive air cooler that can mount on pretty much any socket, so it is a $25 investment right now that can migrate to other builds later. Since that dog eared upgrade path card keeps getting played.
If you are going to have the funds to upgrade here and there, the i5 is a good pick. Particularly if you prefer to throw and go. But if this is all the funds you plan to throw at a build for 18-24 months, the AMD load out fourdegrees11 did for you, will be a superior build. The SSD, PSU, faster ram, and board with better features and 4 ram slots to add ram later. all for the same price as cheaping out on most everything but the CPU, for the i5 build.
Not to mention the OP specifically stated he did not wish to overclock. And like I said, the FX with an aftermarket cooler, even at 100.00 is only 25 or 30 dollars cheaper than Haswell. And that is not even considering that the FX will require a stronger power supply and eat up a good portion of the savings in extra power costs. Personally, I would still go with the i5 build.
I have a Gigabyte 78LMT-USP3 (760G MATX)
Sounds like you like to live dangerously, an 8 core on a 4+1 board...Nope - quick and dirty CPU multi only. Its happy enough even on the Gigabyte 4+1 board - running quite cool. For gaming you get to a point diminishing returns on AMD processors pretty fast. Another 200 Mhz or so isn't going to matter. Granted, I have a very small assortment of games on there right now. Comparing those three with the FX-8320E to my i7-4790k or i5-4690k or i5-4590 machines isn't really fair (but they're all noticeably better with them).
This. And that 760 chipset running 533MHz ram brings the poor performance into focus. Explains the poor overclocking too. And why most of us are having a better experience with the 8320e.Don't you mean the -USB3? What revision?
I bought a few of these boards in the past because they're dirt cheap (Rev 5.0) but they're prone to throttling under loads (especially an 8 core FX at 4.2Ghz at 1.35v). You have to make some specific changes in the BIOS to prevent it but with the 4+1 VRM layout it can be a little dangerous if you don't have active cooling over them. I wouldn't recommend this board for 8 core FX overclocking, or very light overclocking at the most.
How do you figure? The 8230E is $90 and the motherboard is $15 AR. An i5-4590 is $160 and a H81M MB is $40 ($50 for a B85 with 4 ram slots). Microcenter really doesn't have anything for motherboard bundles on i5 Haswells right now. Even with spending $25 on an aftermarket cooler, that leaves the AMD bundle $70-$80 cheaper than the Haswell i5 system.
How do you figure? The 8230E is $90 and the motherboard is $15 AR. An i5-4590 is $160 and a H81M MB is $40 ($50 for a B85 with 4 ram slots). Microcenter really doesn't have anything for motherboard bundles on i5 Haswells right now. Even with spending $25 on an aftermarket cooler, that leaves the AMD bundle $70-$80 cheaper than the Haswell i5 system.
Don't you mean the -USB3? What revision?
I bought a few of these boards in the past because they're dirt cheap (Rev 5.0) but they're prone to throttling under loads (especially an 8 core FX at 4.2Ghz at 1.35v). You have to make some specific changes in the BIOS to prevent it but with the 4+1 VRM layout it can be a little dangerous if you don't have active cooling over them. I wouldn't recommend this board for 8 core FX overclocking, or very light overclocking at the most.
Sounds like you like to live dangerously, an 8 core on a 4+1 board...