AMD FX-9370 vs. Intel Core i7-4770K: A dilemma of more than just numbers; The requiem of a broke gamer

[gamedead]

Hello everyone,

I am a hobby gamer/PC enthusiast from near Chicago and upgrade my builds on an average of every 2-4 years, oftentimes straining the boundaries of my budget to maximize FPS (Almost to the point of anal retentiveness) in the latest and greatest titles of the current "era" related to the year of the respective upgrades. Utilizing Tom's hardware for tips, tricks and information that has spared me from electrical fire related injuries from the site's hayday to what I hope will be many years into the unforeseeable future (Thank you in advance), less I get hit by a bus or something of the similar sort. I honestly feel this may be the best, if not the only place that I may find a kindred spirit to help me alleviate this matter of the soul, a matter which the lowly, common "run to Geek Squad; try turning the computer on and off, which button is that?" mortals could not even begin to comprehend, let alone help.

My dilemma goes a little beyond the typical fan boy attitude of browsing general Benchmark links and screenshots, price comparisons etc. Followed by various technical and somewhat related forums, "yelling" via keyboard and trolling faceless individuals from all across the world because the internet is much more receptive (and sometimes appreciative?) of this sort of behavior than real life (I have bench-marked this theory and can verify it holds very true). For the truth is secretly, I must admit I am somewhat of an asshole. Upholding a facade of smiles, thumbs up to the sheeple of the everyday masses that are physically similar yet so vastly different from us PC enthusiasts/fanatics where we scoff and pisserize (that's a word as of now) on their dim-witted console wars and irrelevant pop-culture icon false idols that have been granted the humbling honor of being incorporated into our digital realm in the fashion of fail photos, meme's etc.

Without boring anyone with my full life's story I will try to summarize my issue with a few details key details from my past.
I built my first rig when I was 13, back then I had a tight budget of about $600 (saved over three out of school summer months of odd jobs, I was lucky, a lady whom I had befriended in my schools IT department heard of this and allowed me to assist her with menial tasks. She only wore flip flops all the time for some reason. It was an ambitious goal, as I knew nothing of what the varied components needed to be, and electricity was a coveted black magic for the most part. Coming from a family far below middle class $600 was a fortune not only relative to myself but even to my parents that both had to work double shifts to keep a roof over my older sister and I's heads at the time. (We emigrated in 1996 with nothing to our name but our...names)

Fast forward, All purchased from good ol' Newegg which even then in 2005 was a stellar outlet to purchase various hardware's, second only to the now dispersed silk road. I picked up a power supply locally and for all other accessory items such as cables I was able to salvage from the out of commission Dells marked for recycling, and a set of then high end ram sticks from their newer Optiplex counterparts that I was trusted to set up (no middle school-er needs 4 ram sticks to run kid pix and Microsoft word, they were expensive rigs upgraded every 2 years and a waste of taxpayer school funding if you ask me. I was simply returning some of that capitol back to the "community", I am still living in the same general area. I have a feeling this is why the real estate tax still blows out here)...

I am able to pull up my old Newegg order, I remember I didn't have all the money at once so I went for a cheapo GFX card (Stellar for Diablo 2 then and what have you).

Out of that complete order of $315, $190 went into my first processor which is listed below and $53 for that refurb mobo, what a steal it twas.

7/20/2005 $315.49

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 2.0GHz Socket 939 Single-Core Processor ADA3200BPBOX

1 x Open Box: MSI K8T NEO2-FIR 939 VIA K8T800 Pro ATX AMD Motherboard

CHAINTECH SA5500T2 GeForce FX 5500 256MB 128-bit DDR AGP 4X/8X Video Card

(Later to replace Chaintech because the fan fell off) >> MSI NX6600GT-VTD128 GeForce 6600GT 128MB 128-bit GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X VIVO Video Card

My first purchased shiny, new processor was that of AMD. Holding up to it's reputation. At the time, it was truly the digital work horse(on unapproved steroids) of the poor masses in need of quality visually rendered entertainment. A comparable Intel chip was so far out of my reach it may have as well been on the moon or at the bottom of the Pacific.

All would have appeared fine and dandy, everything ordered from came in before the specified dates. I ordered a mid-tower from Xoxide.com along with some blue LED strips and fans(I had just watched the very first Fast and the Furious and like many poor people at the time felt the compulsion to bling out various low ticket items with useless modifications) All that came in a week later...

Though information wasn't as widely available as it is today; between the Internets and instruction manuals 13 year old me thought I had everything figured out and assembled. I go to hit the power switch....A flicker of gaudy blue light followed by instant shutdown. Barely enough time to give any of the fans in the rig a quarter spin. 3 dreadful days and nights had passed, barely any sleep, tears of agony, cries of anger, pleading with the gods to have it magically work, only they would know how many times I pushed that button. All that work, my hard earned "fortune" lost It was the definition of agony. If I only had a time machine, I would have planted a hidden camera and returned to Youtube troll the living sh*t out of myself today. For my incompetence and epic fail was remedied by one of my father's friends that happened to be a part time electronics technician. He was no Desktop Guru, however upon inspection based on common electronics principles he instantly noticed that I had grounded the motherboard, at the time I thought that the supplied standoffs were just for show and in my eagerness to get Frankenstein together I had simply skipped that step to save time. I took it apart and applied the standoffs and BOOM! my first ever PC came to life.

Fast forward a couple lunar cycles, and I had expanded my knowledge of computing and electricity. I had caught the bug that we are all so afflicted with and fanatically researched as much as I could. It didn't take long for me to learn the moral of that story, I had been extremely lucky not to have short-circuited any of the components. The refurbished motherboard board and namely (since this is posted in the CPU section after all) AMD processor. From that day I swore by both brands, I did have a falling out with MSI some years later as I had two past boards pop capacitors in short time frames coupled with DMV worthy customer service.

However AMD, time and time again had been there every build cycle, offering some form of product with wicked overclock potential at an even wickeder price. As my early life had taught me to be frugal I had always striven to get the most bang for my buck.

So here I am today, 6 AM on a Sunday morning after 2 near sleepless days and nights. Updating myself on the current events of the PC world to see what it has to offer in place of my Crosshair IV and 1055T clocked at near 4.1Ghz (took me on and off 3 weeks of failed attempts to get that last .2 stable and the processor took a beating throughout the whole process and still kickin) with an updated push pull T80 cooler, as I have already upped some of my items such as swapping out Black Friday 2009 Crossfire ASUS 5870's with an EVGA 770 FTW and a fresh set of 16 GB Gskill Ripjaw X series Ram that replaced my 8gigs of Patriot something something's (all last year). In my FPS madness I feel the processor is a bottleneck (though not at all lacking), and it is time to upgrade the final piece of puzzle.

With the 1055T giving me years of stellar performance (Did I mention it cost me $170?) I had to find a replacement worthy of its soon to be vacant position. I happen to have established a decent career that leaves me with some extra "fun" money my way where I am allowed to splurge a little more than usual, even after the bills are paid and the wife is fed.

I have scoured the lots of AMD's offering, only to find that on the high end they offer 9590 which as of this moment, even to a novice overclocker is just an overpriced 9370 when partnered with an Asus Formula Crosshair V and the Corsair H100i that will be going in my LVL10 arctic case(yes with blue LED strips). Further to learn that an 8350 can be made to outperform both when overclocked right for less than 200$...

I searched high and low to nail a proper solution, but simply could not find one. I was eager, for the first time I can drop some extra dough to get into that slightly less frugal 300$ processor range for some serious performance which after that you dwell in the $1000 waters that I don't think I will ever be ready for nor do I find worth it. I was hoping to throw all of that budget at AMD however....I have deducted that the i7-4770K Haswell.....is the better candidate by a long shot. I was stricken upon this realization, frankly appalled. At $310 on Newegg with a free copy of Total War 2?! (that i have been holding off on because it just won't drop from that $50 price).

It's the golden goose that will outperform my 1055T whilst still out of that deep 1000$ range. Sure I could get the 9370 close or "even" with the I7 however at that insane voltage I would rather save the wattage of my CORSAIR HX Series HX850 850W(hasn't skipped a beat since 2009 and still poundin)! PSU for an eventual crossfire 770. Not going into the power bill, the high temps that the H100i (which I am getting regardless) would accommodate from the 9370 are a waste as it appears I can rock the I7 to impressive levels even on just a stock/air cooler. The Maximus VI is pretty much a Crosshair, which has served me very well, with an Intel sex change (that viewpoint somehow makes perfect sense in my head and gives me some form of comfort throughout this ordeal)

Given that PC building and overclocking has been a signification portion of my life, none of that time was wasted as it is not only enjoyable, but educational and offered me a "mental" retreat more than once. It almost feels like this realization has been a major event in my life. The knowledge acquired actually got me laid once upon a time when a female counterpart was distraught that Geek Squad (To the non US readers, think Men in Black crossed with the Special Olympics in the sport of computer repair) labeled her computer non-repairable ( Power supply and format, I did spot the cost of the power supply. Now that I think about it that's almost like prostitution for commodity items but hey you won't hear me complaining). If the reader hasn't figured out by now, I decided to put some time into this post and present it as (what I hope) was a fun to read satire. It is my small way of giving back to this great community that time and time again, as with this conclusion has been generous enough to share their experiences and expertise on these forums with the sole intent of selflessly helping others lime myself enjoy this great hobby (For some of you this is a career). Jokes aside, being "sworn" to AMD (the story itself is all true, that power supply thing happened last week) since the start I do feel like I am betraying the brand just a bit and though it is just a "faceless" corporation I do feel just a tad bit like a sellout (sellshort?...). It has been nothing but a good experience with their brand. However, being a "performance" enthusiast with a frugal twist, one can't deny facts when it's all right there in the open. I sincerely do hope they have a better offering next time around, don't get me wrong if I was in the $100-200 range I wouldn't think twice.

I do sincerely hope that Karma doesn't result in a shipment of DOA products on my part...

 

[AshyCFC]

I feel your pain a little, I've only had AMD CPU's since the Phenom II range as I'm a fairly young person. I own an FX-8320 and want something more but I can't get anything MORE without crossing the divide.

The fact is if you can afford it Intel processors are just...Superior and by the way I wouldn't think about ocing a 4770k on stock cooler but you can get just as good performance(and a quieter PC) if you use a Noctua NH-D14 air cooler instead of the h100i but you need a case big enough to fit the monsterously large air cooler of course.

Getting laid for fixing a PSU? nice

Here's a review of NH-D14 vs Water Coolers (not h100i in this review title but it's in some of the charts) http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/nepton-280l-tundra-td02-water3.0-pro-reserator3-max,review-32795.html

 

[Matt087_48]

Here are the best modern cpu solutions for gaming/ media encoding systems

Budget range would be (INTEL) i3 2120,2100, 3220,4130 (AMD) Phenom II x4 945, 955, 965, x3 720 (most can be unlocked to x4 in motherboard bios, so used ones can be a good value at the 55-60 dollar range)

Mid range (INTEL) i5 2300,2400, 2500K, 3570K, 4670K, (AMD)Phenom II x6 1090T, 1100T

I listed the old phenoms for Amd because in my opinion they are still the most dependable and solid performing chips amd has made, they are dated but for mainstream gaming and encoding purposes they are still amds best options. FX chips are very glitchy and most of them will not work with certain games . For example i could not play the original crysis with the FX 4100 or 6300 i use to have , i sold and replaced both with a x4 955 and a x6 1090T respectively and now it runs flawlessly.

 

[AshyCFC]

FX chips are glitchy and most of them will not work with certain games .

Evidence please? I've never noticed any glitches/problems in games resulting from my CPU with an FX-4100 or FX-8320.

I can admit Intel are better like in my earlier posts but they are also more costly so I'm not fanboying either.

 

[Matt087_48]

Like i said i had an FX 4100 and 6300 and neither one would play Crysis , i tried all types of youtube solutions , added files etc but could never get the game to work . I replaced the 6300 with a x6 1090T , and the 4100 with a x4 955 and the game worked flawlessly , from my experience (the fx chips being the only chips ive ever owned before that would not support certain games ) concludes from my experience that they are indeed glitchy processors, and if i was such and intel fanboy I would not praise Phenoms as much as i do now would I?

 

[AshyCFC]

Checking toms briefly I couldn't find many users with similar problems so you were probably just unfortunate.

I had an issue with an FX-4100 on CS:GO but fixed this by updating bios.

 

[AshyCFC]

Checking toms briefly I couldn't find many users with similar problems so you were probably just unfortunate.

I had an issue with an FX-4100 on CS:GO but fixed this by updating bios and i've never had a game unplayable.

 

[FX6350]

Go for the Xeon, it's the 4770, but not overclockable, and has no iGPU. And costs less.

 

[Matt087_48]

"I can admit Intel are better like in my earlier posts but they are also more costly"

That is defintely a statement made by someone who doesn't shop around online much . For a general web browser who wants a old school budget system for basic needs , all they would need is a Dual core cpu

Now go on ebay price an Athlon II x2 215 2.7ghz dual core cpu (cheapest one S29.99 still), look up intel pentium dual core e2220 or e5200 (performance wise similar to the x2 215 athlon ) $8 - 12 dollars so these comparisons show that intel for some people would be the cheaper option. they could buy 3 e2220s or 2 e5200s for the same and less than 1 x2 215.

 

[AshyCFC]

I am talking about in the European market and brand new parts. Does that make you feel better.

Used part prices can fluctuate a lot more than brand new current generation.

 

[Matt087_48]

well regardless of your findings i consider the FX chips garbage they failed my wants , i lost money selling them, the Phenoms i replaced them with fixed the problem so as far as Amd goes i'll use their older cpus but if i dabble in newer tech i'll stick with intel until Amd resurrects the Phenom line or goes belly up by pushing these FX chips. because i'm not going to pay hundreds of dollars trying to cool an FX 9590 when i can get a 77 watt 4770K and get more performance with a chip that can use a hyper 212 cooler to meet its needs. The FX should be called the FE (False economy)

 

[Beezy]

Here are the best modern cpu solutions for gaming/ media encoding systems

Budget range would be (INTEL) i3 2120,2100, 3220,4130 (AMD) Phenom II x4 945, 955, 965, x3 720 (most can be unlocked to x4 in motherboard bios, so used ones can be a good value at the 55-60 dollar range)

Mid range (INTEL) i5 2300,2400, 2500K, 3570K, 4670K, (AMD)Phenom II x6 1090T, 1100T

I listed the old phenoms for Amd because in my opinion they are still the most dependable and solid performing chips amd has made, they are dated but for mainstream gaming and encoding purposes they are still amds best options. FX chips are very glitchy and most of them will not work with certain games . For example i could not play the original crysis with the FX 4100 or 6300 i use to have , i sold and replaced both with a x4 955 and a x6 1090T respectively and now it runs flawlessly.

not only did my FX 6300 play crysis 3 at high just fine, and my new 8320 gets well over 50 frames on crysis 3 ultra max everything (wanted to see how fari could push it) and my GPU is only a HD 7870 Ghz. Intel is superior still, but for gaming purposes on a budget, i would say the 8350 + a better GPU is considerably smarter than an i5 4670 + weaker GPU for gaming.

 

[Matt087_48]

"not only did my FX 6300 play crysis 3"

who said anything about crysis 3 , i don't even own crysis 3 , i was having issues with the fx chips playing crysis 1 , regardless of the relevance of this game no cpu should be so glitchy that it cannot play a particular game. The 8350 125w vs i5 4670 84w your power bill decrease will pay for the difference on the intel over time. The tech in the 4670 will push a comparable GPU better than the 8350 so you'll get more bang out of your gpu with the intel . People look at the x's and o's on initial cost but they don't seem to read between the lines and the benefits and long term cost.

 

[Beezy]

"not only did my FX 6300 play crysis 3"

who said anything about crysis 3 , i don't even own crysis 3 , i was having issues with the fx chips playing crysis 1 , regardless of the relevance of this game no cpu should be so glitchy that it cannot play a particular game. The 8350 125w vs i5 4670 84w your power bill decrease will pay for the difference on the intel over time. The tech in the 4670 will push a comparable GPU better than the 8350 so you'll get more bang out of your gpu with the intel . People look at the x's and o's on initial cost but they don't seem to read between the lines and the benefits and long term cost.

haha,
A. Crysis 3 is a very demanding game on the CPU, and i dont have battlefield 4 to give stats. it can utilize as many cores as there are available, and i believe all the AAA titles in the following years will follow that trend.

B. i dont think you realize how the power draw actually effects the power pill in terms of kilowatt hours, maybe 15 $ after a year or two, depending on use. do you even realize how much things like leaving the DVR plugged drive up the power bill that you never even consider?

C.im not sure what setup you had before with your FX chip, but i doubt the glitchiness hinged on the FX chip alone. maybe the rig you constructed sucked.

 

[Beezy]

and no one even ever considers the 9590, its an 8350 with better silicon and a higher overclock. and a few other instruction sets that dont get used often. The difference is the budget and how you allocate it amongst the parts. for gaming, intel i5/i7 and AMD FX 8350/9590 are both so high end the real comparison in gaming will come down to the GPU, not the CPU.

Clearly if i had no budget i would stick a 6 core i7 in there.

 

[Beezy]

Like i said i had an FX 4100 and 6300 and neither one would play Crysis , i tried all types of youtube solutions , added files etc but could never get the game to work . I replaced the 6300 with a x6 1090T , and the 4100 with a x4 955 and the game worked flawlessly , from my experience (the fx chips being the only chips ive ever owned before that would not support certain games ) concludes from my experience that they are indeed glitchy processors, and if i was such and intel fanboy I would not praise Phenoms as much as i do now would I?

again, then you and a handful of people must of been having some issues, because 99% of us with 6300's (i never had a 4000 series FX) never had an issue. Maybe you had a defective chip, because i was getting smooth gameplay with 6 cores (albeit overclocked to match the 8320 performance)at high settings, and its the same on ultra with my 8320 upgrade (which i got for 99.99 brand new at microcenter). same HD 7870 ghz under the hood, same motherboard, same everything. only difference was a CPU upgrade. and outside of benchmarks, truth is i can hardly see the difference between the 6 core and 8 core, because my 6300 was already good enough. really i just dont notice the difference between high and ultra either, i just cant see the difference, so it was mainly a fps boost.

and going hunting for "youtube solutions" and quick fixes probably didnt help the real cause either.

 

[Matt087_48]

I'll just leave it at this , i have built over 30 rigs in the last 3 years , as a hobbyist , ive sold a few as well. and of all of those rigs i only had trouble playing a particular game with 2 of them the fx 6300, fx 4100 period . You can state your points all you want but you will not change my opinion of the FX architecture. Its flawed , i doubt most of them will last over 2 years before they fry up . I'll just stick with the get the job done durable solutions ive found in my testing over the last several years and stick with Amds older AM3 stuff for certain task and go with intel with my newer solutions and tasks. I did forget to mention in that saving on the powerbill statement, about the cheaper cooling solution you can go with on an intel build over those fx amd builds , hyper 212 evo 35 bucks and you can overclock the 4770k or 4670K and get by just fine. Have to go liquid solution with the amd due to their high TDP if you want to tweak with them. i'm just saying you might spend a little more on the cpu itself but you can spend less on the equipment you use around it.

 

[Matt087_48]

Again like i stated before FX=False economy

 

[Beezy]

i got my 6300 to 4.6 on a hyper 212 evo stable. with plenty of headroom at full prime95 blend (53degreeC)

 

[gamedead]

I feel your pain a little, I've only had AMD CPU's since the Phenom II range as I'm a fairly young person. I own an FX-8320 and want something more but I can't get anything MORE without crossing the divide.

The fact is if you can afford it Intel processors are just...Superior and by the way I wouldn't think about ocing a 4770k on stock cooler but you can get just as good performance(and a quieter PC) if you use a Noctua NH-D14 air cooler instead of the h100i but you need a case big enough to fit the monsterously large air cooler of course.

Getting laid for fixing a PSU? nice

Here's a review of NH-D14 vs Water Coolers (not h100i in this review title but it's in some of the charts) http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/nepton-280l-tundra-td02-water3.0-pro-reserator3-max,review-32795.html

Those are impressive numbers indeed. Prior to the closed loop system I rocked Zalmans myself and found liquid cooling a risky venture as even with de-ionized liquid eventually between micro particles of the tubing being "washed away" and any dust particles that may enter the solution you generate conductivity.

I did make a typo (I blame sleep deprivation) I am currently running the older version of the Thermaltake 3.0 Pro(Not H80) with the 1055T at 4.1 and haven't seen temps go a decimal above 45 C under max loads. I picked it up at Fry's electronics on a whim because I found myself intrigued with the concept at the time. Since I installed it the same evening and did not have any Arctic 5 on hand I just went with the stock thermal paste. The back-plate was trash plastic as it spun the screws and as a result are most likely lacking torque and some level of face contact. This was last year, up till then I had utilized the Zalman which lasted me throughout 3 processors and did a fantastic job when taking reliability into consideration. One of the things the article doesn't accommodate for is additional fans in push/pull. I had some extra 120mm's lying around and decided to array three at a push orientation funneling air out of the case, mounting the radiator on the back wall of my case almost at the same height as the processor, with a fourth external fan pulling the air out. I accomplished this with a threaded rod that I picked up at a local Ace Totem store down the street. Since I had empty space and an open, filtered "front face" on my Thermaltake Armor case (which could most likely survive the Chernobyl blast) I arrayed three more fans up front also in line with the other four fans, radiator and processor. I haven't revisited the back-plate issue nor the paste issue as it worked so well that I've just left it so (I run an open case but you can still feel a very significant "wind tunnel" effect of cold air as it does not have time to unwind. Neat little trick, I have a pretty beefy e-cigarette that can generate bong level amounts of vapor, I was able to blow it at the front of the case and see a solid representation of this effect for a brief instant. Not to be overdone as it does generate minute amounts of water vapor that can however add up, I guess a good cigarette or even better a cigar could achieve the same but one has to take smell into consideration. My bottleneck most likely came from the chip itself at that point, as I had more than enough headroom leftover in the temperature department.

I know that the H100 will slide right into the case I am to receive as shown above. I plan to do the same style push pull. With more surface area and four fans (2 plus 2 like in the photo) in push pull I hypothesize similar if not better results. I may carry over the threaded rod idea and try to stack an additional two fans totaling 6 in array with the radiator. Won't know clearance until everything is in but one can get creative to make it fit. Duct tape has come out with some interesting patterns that may allow for a simple solution to create a peripherally air tight "block" of stacked fans that shouldn't look half bad if applied evenly, if one is nit-picky about appearance vinyl can work just as well. To me noise is a non-issue, but this can have the added effect of dampening what one would actually hear. Also we can't forget that cooling is like real estate. Location, location and location. Mounted topside there will be less "resistance" for heated air to escape the radiator. As opposed to forcing it into a horizontal movement that deviates from a heated gases natural behavior. The floor of the case also has open perforations and I may get creative there. Living in a 1 story home with no basement and hardwood flooring there is no better source of chilled air. (If for example on the 3rd story you may notice that in most cases it is the opposite where the floor is warmer) So a bottom fan or two to draw that in may work wonders within the case as a whole regardless of ambient room temperature. With a larger radiator the liquid will be forced to travel a further distance within the radiator allowing it more time to cool before it comes back around to absorb the heat off of the processor. From a chemical perspective liquid will always be able to absorb more heat before increasing in temperature than it's gaseous counterpart. Our atmosphere is about 80% nitrogen gas and most anything you see in a liquid state will fall in that category (Liquid nitrogen for example). This gives the benefit of being able to carry the heat away faster and more effectively. However what most don't realize is that there is a flip side, for if there is too much heat you will linger closer to a gaseous state and heat absorption will turn into a snowball effect (if plotted you would see an exponential curve)

That being said utilizing the best of both worlds is the way to go as a long term solution. I also went with the H100i that boasts a better pump and larger diameter tubing along with nippier fans that result in being able to carry more liquid and channel more air. I ordered in the arctic 5 paste and cleaner kit. I also noticed that a quality back plate allows for a tighter fit vs what I have now. The case will have fans galore but the PSU does have more than enough power to spare. I may go the extreme of applying fine grain mold makers paste to the face of heat-sink, you throw it on a rag and rub by hand. It is too fine to create any deformities but leave a finish well beyond what the manufacturer may spec as acceptable within his production process and the better the finish the easier it is for heat to travel between two flat surfaces. I have heard of individuals taking a razor blade to the top of the 4770 to create even less thermal resistance, it theoretically makes sense however I will pass on that process.

I see the topic of Crysis mentioned above, even on a Zalmann cooler and my dual 5870's the original Crysis was somewhat playable at 3.6 Gighz(60 degrees C) , what I did end up doing to squeeze out additional performance out of my GPUS was flash both cards with unlocked .rom, with a massive overclock (I don't recall the numbers) they whistled with a 100% fan override at 80 degrees Celsius on average between the two. Fan noise was ridiculous (even for me it was comparable to a hair dryer) but I threw on my headphones and completed the stellar single player campaign in this fashion.

Most people seemed to stipulate that "it would bring the most powerful system to it's knees" however my opinion is that people misconstrued system requirements with bad optimization. I revisited this idea after I installed the water cooler and brought the processor up to 4.1 Gighz yielding similar results.

None other than Crysis 2 was able to verify this even further, as I was able to stomp mostly Ultra settings with very smooth frame rates with the very occasional FPS drop here and there and micro-stuttering between the two 5870's.

Crysis 3 ran the best out of the lot, being able to rock and roll max everything, I don't recall FPS number but I was blown away by the visuals that displayed.rendered no different in regards to smoothness than if I had been playing Counter-strike source regardless of on screen activity.

Just though I'd chime in and share my experience with that one.

As far as different issues with relative brands and styles of CPU/GPU offerings from either brands, I forgot to mention that the same 1055 ran like horse crap on an MSI board. Throwing it into the crosshair IV is what made it shine. So in the end it wasn't the processor at all. It did take some time to come to that conclusion. To put it in perspective, think that the worlds fastest biker can only go so fast if his bike has square wheels. I had frustrations in the past across multiple builds with a given part of my build albeit it a ram stick or a processor in case of the 1055t that turned into a scape goat based on a faulty notion that I had created. It is oftentimes we overlook or fail to consider hidden factors. I used to rock a budget 1550W power supply anticipating without any detective work that it would be the bee's knees of a solution and didn't even consider that it was actually trash given no Amperage guarantee without quality components such as transistors it will either run at a much lower actual wattage (1550W being justified by a theoretical calculation based on a schematic. or madly fluctuate . Consistency is key when it comes to stability. You can't walk a tight rope if it's being spun like a jump rope. Ladder logic when trouble shooting is key, and it is crucial for the individual with a given goal to invest the time and patience to apply their own research, knowledge and experiences with the addition of remembering to keep an open mind. Initial personal conclusions can be our own worst enemy locking in a reality that may not necessarily be true because we fail to catch our own mistakes. I have been guilty of this myself time and time again and will effectively do so until the day I'm done less I find a way to break the barrier into the 4th dimension and become a divine omnipotent entity. Muahahahahaha

 

[Beezy]

btw, very sexy looking rig there aside from noctua ugly fan color scheme (seriously, what the hell noctua guys?)

 

[teknobug]

I'm a very long time gamer and AMD fan since the mid 90's (486 days) and I've been happy ever since I switched to Intel.

i7 4770K over the FX 9370 9 times out of 10 because that 1 time would be because of games like Battlefield 4 and Left 4 Dead 2 and such Source based games that likes AMD's multicore, but Intel just has a much faster instruction per cycle where it matters most in most games. Currently games only take advatnage of 2-4 cores and you can always disable HT and down the road enable HT when games start using more than 4 cores.

Also significantly lower power usage, 84W vs 220W, and not all AM3+ motherboard take kindly to them crazy FX 9370 or 9590. Frankly if you're on a budget, even an i5 3550 is more than sufficient enough (I have one of those), although oddly enough i5 3550 has been priced at around the same as i5 3570K lately so there's no point in that CPU if anymore for budget use.

 

[logainofhades]

A Xeon 1230 v3 would be faster than the FX 9370 and cost less than a 4770k. You just can't overclock it. Also, the necessary motherboard for the 1230 v3 would be cheaper. B85 is good enough for 4 memory slots and a single card system, H87 if you want raid capability. Z87 is still necessary for SLI and CF capability, but you don't need an expensive one that is a great overclocker. An Asrock Z87 extreme 3 would be sufficient unless the features of the z87 extreme 4 entice you for about $20 more.

 

[RobCrezz]

Brand loyalty is pointless in computing! Just go for whatever is best for your budget

 

[Matt087_48]

I"m glad i replaced those junk FX chips with Phenoms , wow i could sell my phenoms now for 40 dollars more than i payed for them , here are some examples
I bought the x4 965 for 78 dollars (just the cpu ) on ebay , during this time newegg was phasing out the new ones with heatsink at 94.99
I checked ebay and cheapest x4 965 sells for 125.00 i could make 47 dollars on the 965 over what i paid for it

I bought the x4 955 for 71 dollars (just the cpu) this is including shipping btw , Checked cheapest one , south korean seller has them for 106.50 total shipped , thats roughly 35 dollars i could make on the 955 over what i paid for it.

Now the lovely (HAMMER) Phenom II x6 1090T , I payed 148.00 total for this one when i bought it , cheapest one on ebay is going for 189.00 now thats a whopping 41 dollars i can make on the 1090T this cpu was i believe in the 200-220 range when it debut in late 2009 early 2010 so its held a great residual value thru time.

So i indeed must not be the only one who prefers Amds old Gems over their new trash