AMD fx 8350 vs intel equivalent?

[Guest]

I've recently bought an MSI HD 7950 im prety sure my fx 4100 is a complete bottleneck. I mainly play games: borderlands 2, Batman Arkham city, dues ex, witcher 2. I mostly saw the 4100 at work in borderlands 2 when i was getting 24 fps and under whereas I would get higher with my previous GPU a 4850!

So then I thought it would be a good to upgrade to an fx 8350 but people said I still couldnt reach the 7950's full potential and would be better of with an intel cpu (i5) but that would mean I would need a new motherboard (along with the more expensive intel cpu it would brake the bank for me).

So would an fx 8350 be a bottleneck the 7950 (or any future possible upgrades like an extra 7950), or get an intel cpu which could do so (Id only choose this option if I couldn't choose the first).

specs:

motherboard: Gigabyte M68MT-S2
CPU: AMD FX-4100 3.6ghz (stock fan)
GPU: HD-7950
RAM: 2x4 DDR3 1333Mhz
PSU: Crusade 750W Dual-Rail High Efficiency '80 Plus' Power Supply

 

[RyanDavidson]

I've recently bought an MSI HD 7950 im prety sure my fx 4100 is a complete bottleneck. I mainly play games: borderlands 2, Batman Arkham city, dues ex, witcher 2. I mostly saw the 4100 at work in borderlands 2 when i was getting 24 fps and under whereas I would get higher with my previous GPU a 4850!

So then I thought it would be a good to upgrade to an fx 8350 but people said I still couldnt reach the 7950's full potential and would be better of with an intel cpu (i5) but that would mean I would need a new motherboard (along with the more expensive intel cpu it would brake the bank for me).

So would an fx 8350 be a bottleneck the 7950 (or any future possible upgrades like an extra 7950), or get an intel cpu which could do so (Id only choose this option if I couldn't choose the first).

specs:

motherboard: Gigabyte M68MT-S2
CPU: AMD FX-4100 3.6ghz (stock fan)
GPU: HD-7950
RAM: 2x4 DDR3 1333Mhz
PSU: Crusade 750W Dual-Rail High Efficiency '80 Plus' Power Supply

The people you are talking to are biased completely. The 8350 is a mere 5-8 fps difference between the i5 4670k especially the next gen consoles have amd hardware and 8 weak cores but still 8 of them. Get the 8350! All the best 🙂

 

[JOOK-D]

An 8350 would be fine. If you want some comparison, here:

The difference between AMD and intel for gaming.
Firstly, you need to decide what your priorities are, and what you will use the PC for.
Things such as: light gaming, heavy gaming, basic work (e.g. MS Office), heavy work (e.g. video editing, 3d modeling).
For the most part in current games the biggest difference will be made by the selection of the GPU.

The AMD FX CPU's have many cores, which are weaker.
intel i5's have less cores, which are stronger.

The intel's consequently have better performance per core. In older games, the intels perform much better as those games are optimised for good performance with only a few cores (single-threading).
In newer games, the AMD FX's really shine due to the introduction of games using more cores (multi-threading).

The difference comes in depending on what you want to use the PC for. If you're on a tight budget, save some money and go with the AMD and spend the extra money on a better GPU that will give you better performance than any CPU could.

i5: Good for older games (single-threaded), Good for newer games (multi-threaded), Good for general work, great all-round CPU and probably the best around for current games (may change in future).
AMD: Slightly worse for older games (single-threaded), Great for newer games (multi-threaded e.g. BF4, Crysis 3), Good for light/heavy work, extra cores are great for 3d modeling and video editing or rendering, great CPU whilst costing much less than the intel. Even though it's worse in older games it will run them perfectly well and smoothly.

Regardless, both will perform well.
For an i5, I would recommend an i5 3570k or a 4670k. Why? They are king for gaming performance at the moment and since they are the k version they are unlocked and can be overclocked in future for a performance boost.

For an AMD, I would recommend a FX 6300/8320/8350 [Do NOT go with a bulldozer CPU, only piledriver. List here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piledriver_(microarchitecture) <-- That should all be one link, not sure why it splits.]. Why? Great multi-threaded performance for newer games and heavy work, are just fine in older games (not overkill, can deliver smooth frame rates maxed with a good GPU), and are great for productivity with a tame pricetag.

In conclusion, budget gaming/work: AMD. Not on a budget gaming/work: i5. The i5 currently delivers better performance but don't get the impression that the AMD is lagging behind. They are great for gaming and work with a really great pricetag, just not currently up there with intel. In newer games though such as BF4 the AMD's have caught up in performance and in some cases deliver better performance than the intel's for much less money.
Either solution will game just fine with a nice GPU, focus mainly on that.

The 8320/8350 would provide ample performance at a nice price and since it's compatible with your motherboard it's cheaper than going with an i5 which would yield ever so slightly higher fps for much more money since you'd have to get a new mobo too.