A horrible CPU Choice.

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Vid Dovgan

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Dec 23, 2014
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Hello guys, so, I recently built my first ever gaming PC, yay, woohooo, well... not so much. Because this was my first ever build, I was obviously a massive noob. I picked an AMD FX 8370 to pair up with my GTX 760. The problem here is, that CPU intensive games run really bad, because of AMD's low single core performance, I really wish I would've picked the i5-4790k (Or something like that), because, most of the games that I play, are CPU intensive games. If I were to replace the CPU, I obviously need to replace the motherboard too, which would be about 350 euros (for both components combined). I'm only 14, so I obviously don't have enough money right now (I barely saved up for this PC). What should I do? I'm truly devastated, this was a horrific first PC build experience.
 
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easy process. the most difficult part is just the manual switch of CPU and insert into tower. it's a good time to perfect your cable management and do some dusting.
usually an easy link to all software & drivers and maybe a little customization. you don't need to reinstall Windows. just the network, audio, and maybe USB drivers is all that are totally necessary, maybe the chipset drivers.

my 8350 @4.8GHz with my 4GB 770 maxes out any game @ 1080p, near 60fps. your 8370 should be getting the same type results if you had a similar GPU and motherboard. a 760 is a pretty weak card for modern titles so it may also be causing some of the low fps issues. if you decide to; don't just expect to change the MB and it be getting that much better frames.
 
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Oh, from what I've read, there's problems with booting windows, BIOS and all this other stuff that I get 0% about. I know how computers work and I know how to build one (Obviously since I built this one) But I have no idea what BIOS or any of that stuff is (Somebody helped me get the latest BIOS and Chipsets) And to top all that off, my windows isn't licenced, so I don't know what will happen with that. I just don't want to go through this process.

 
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I think that a 760 would do just fine for one year... Since I'm upgrading to the 770 next year.

 
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Like I said on OCN learn how to navigate the BIOS. The manual has all the I formation you need unless you need a manual in a language that isn't available. If you don't have the manual get access to the PDF one on Asrocks website. Undervolting isn't hard as long as the BIOS let's you set voltage manually. If you want to solve your issues without using more money you have to learn more or find someone nearby that will help for free. If you lived nearby I would help in person but sadly that isn't the case.

If you can't find a video or guide on your motherboard BIOS (got to search yourself) and all else fails you can return/sell your 8370 and get any of these FX 8 cores as they are 95w. 8300, 8310, 8320e and 8370e. If you decide to switch CPUs check to make sure the CPU is compatible.
 
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Ok man, the thing is, I have the money to switch the board, I just really don't want to do it, because I'm afraid. I don't know whats gonna happen, every person that switched motherboards has a different story on the forums, and they're all pretty frightening. I guess I'll check and see what I can do. My best bet now, is to put a fan over the VRM and see what that will do.

 
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That's because all the thousands of people who have changed motherboards with no problem don't need to come and post about it :)
 
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BIOS comes loaded onto the motherboard. usually a quick update is all that's ever needed, if at all. it's just like installing any other software usually. Windows prepares the install files included in a flash utility and when restarting implements the BIOS changes. the BIOS is the hardware control software built into the motherboard. press Delete right before Windows starts to boot, after the post screen, and you should be able to view yours.

pretty much same with chipset updates. just a .exe install file that updates everything inside Windows.

for your "unlicensed" copy of Windows: it shouldn't matter. Windows will still be installed and it's activation will still be active. unless you damage the disk drive it's installed on, or the OS' software files themselves, it will still be there.
 
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and by next year the 770 will be way behind performance-wise and even harder to find for a decent price. they have been discontinued and the new 970 blows them away for almost the same price.
if you are enjoying the frame rates and effects you can achieve then it probably is a good idea to wait til next year to get a good 970 or 980, they should be a bit cheaper by then. but you still will probably not be getting the performance you seem to be expecting using that 760 until then.
 
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I have 20 years experience building PCs. The problen might be the motherboard causing the throttling but a wrongly installed CPU cooler would also cause throttling so please try to reinstall the CPU cooler before you exchange the motherboard.
If you paid a shop to assemble your PC they should be willing to help you out. If they won't help I suggest you don't support this shop in the future.
 
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I just realized you probably didn't tell us what temps the CPU runs at idle and on load. As winwiz said it could be your CPU overheating also or a combination of both or just the VRMs as it has no heatsink or active cooling.
 
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Yes it's an 8-Core Vishera, but I don't agree that it's suppose to match the performance of an i7. Only an i5 could match an i7 purely in gaming numbers and then the i7 would benefit the additional threads in other intensive workstation tasks.
 
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I see, I'll take it down there and they'll help me, but the problem is, that they kind of don't know what they're doing sometimes. If I switch from ASRock 970 Extreme4 to the Gigabyte UD3P, will I have to reinstall Windows? And won't the BIOS and Chipsets clash together? Let me know :)

 
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The only way the BIOS and Chipset will clash is if you start physically clapping the motherboards together like a pair of mitts.

Any time you change from one brand of GPU to another, or change motherboards, it's a good idea to start with a fresh install. Granted, it isn't always necessary but it's a good idea.
 
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So... what I'm hearing is, that if one motherboard goes from the PC, all of it's BIOS and chipsets uninstall?
 
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Aren't Chipset drivers a thing? If so, tahts what I ment, also, If a motherboard gets removed, it's BIOS are no longer accesable in the pc from which it was removed right? This is really so complicated. I wish there was a full video guide on this.

 
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hardware are the actual physical components. software; BIOS, drivers are the written information that the hardware uses. some software is installed on harddisks that would be staying in your PC(Windows, drivers, etc). some is installed onto the motherboard and will stay with the motherboard(BIOS, maybe some flash software, etc).
you skipped some posts already explaining some of these things. i suggest doing a search with google, or wikipedia, or something similar for these terms and about these types of hardware before committing any more money to components.
 
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xDDD

 
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If you switch mobo with a "trial" version of Win7 i.e. it's a legit Win7 waiting for a serial, it should still boot with another mobo. There are freeware programs that can tell you your temps. I suggest you look into those. Most will record your highest temps. Go into a game, play for 15 minutes then quite. Go back to the cpu temp program and see what it logged. Google the MAX temps for your 8370 and compare against yours.

Like I stated earlier, I have a similar cpu and a lesser video card, and can play everything currently out @1920x1080. Just can't max the higher demanding settings like ambient occlusion. I had a lesser MSI board before this one with my old Athlon II x250 and same video card, and I think 4gb of RAM at the time. It was heavily OC'd to around 3.7-3.8ghz and could play everything at the time (about 1.5 years ago) but being a 2 core is was at it's limit (played Skyrim great) and it was retired. Point is, your card and cpu should be able to the same or better. Hope you get it figured out.

Also, you NEED windows updates. There were several, very important hot fixes for the FX cpu that fixed the way windows interacted with them a couple years ago. You can "rearm" and extend your "trial" period for a "legit" Win7 and get the updates, then obviously buy a new key to register so people won't accuse of anything. This was actually a scuzzy tactic by Microsoft to give Intel an artificial advantage early on as Win7 wasn't optimized for the FX. If you are missing those updates, the OS won't *work* correctly with it. Another thing too is MAKE SURE you have the most recent driver for your video card. nvidia cards from last year are 100% obsolete vs. drivers out now. If a game has a 50% increase in improvement with a modern driver after a year's worth of revisions, it'll be noticeable in-game. You gpu might be a year old and shipped with an early driver. Or worse, you installed the gpu and didn't update the driver at all.
 
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Gigabyte GA 990FXA UD3 REV 4.0 or GA 990FXA UD5, you must know how to overclock your CPU to get the potential power out that CPU FX 8370.

 
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