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

[Beezy]

I'll agree AMD has no future roadmap right now. My next build in some years will be Intel. But for right now, the AMD fx chips , according to personal accounts, and benchmarks, has no problem keeping up with todays games or applications.

 

[Karadjgne]

Pretty much its going to boil down to what you want the computer for. For most of the time growing up, if it had anything to do with high-end graphics like AutoCAD, graphics rendering etc, you needed Apple. For multithreaded apps and games, you wanted AMD. For pure processing power, it was IBM based.
Not that much has changed. Games today are still split. Some engines shine with single threads, like Skyrim, and there Intel is the obvious winner. Some games tailor to the multithreaded, like BF4, and for most parts AMD rocks there.(not including the 2011 CPUs).

So, do you play Skyrim? Or BF4? That's the real question of where any value lies....

 

[Beezy]

Pretty much its going to boil down to what you want the computer for. For most of the time growing up, if it had anything to do with high-end graphics like AutoCAD, graphics rendering etc, you needed Apple. For multithreaded apps and games, you wanted AMD. For pure processing power, it was IBM based.
Not that much has changed. Games today are still split. Some engines shine with single threads, like Skyrim, and there Intel is the obvious winner. Some games tailor to the multithreaded, like BF4, and for most parts AMD rocks there.(not including the 2011 CPUs).

So, do you play Skyrim? Or BF4? That's the real question of where any value lies....

exactly, its always circumstantial. Consider for the gaming circumstance, you have 200$ to budget for a GPU and a CPU. in a case like this, its nice that AMD offers its FX chips at a great price, because now one could spend more on the GPU and this would equate in a better gaming experience. Most of these games aren't even CPU bound, its more so GPU bound. For 3D modeling with high poly models and rendering, I can say personally, the 8320 has done me good. granted im not doing it for 10 hours at a time, and as a hobby not a profession.

As a professional the budget should obviously allow for higher end options.

 

[Karadjgne]

I did some work in Cracker Barrel's Corporate hq, and its huge. One thing I noticed was every computer in accounting was AMD. Every one in files was Intel, and every one in the design dept was Apple. Considering the several thousand computers actually used 8+ hrs a day, 5 days a week, at the levels and requirements this dictates, I'd say CB has had someone do their homework. Just sayin.

 

[bygbyron3]

I'll just empathize with my own similar story.

My first build was an Athlon 64 3200+ and X800XL and I was 17 at the time. Five years later I upgraded half the components for around $500 with an Phenom II X4 955 and 5850. Four years later I did a full rebuild for around $1000 and didn't go with AMD at all. I still love AMD, but their CPUs are relatively slow and power hogs and their GPU prices are inflated. AMD APUs are amazing, I'd probably go with AMD on an everyday laptop.

 

[Karadjgne]

I still have that build. Athlon 3200+ with X800XL but swapped the gpu cooler out for a Zalman. My kid uses it. The only reason amd gpu prices have hit the roof is the current bitcoin/litecoin mining that works so much better on amd architecture than it does NVidia. Just another example where multithreaded architecture design is more suited to some things vrs single threaded. And yes, with 1866MHz memory, Apu's definitely have a good shot at rocking laptop/duo/tablet arena, just gotta get their ducks in a row.

 

[Beezy]

and thats clearly AMDs future is in the APU, with the new kaveri APU "steamroller" that didnt hit the FX line like people speculated. they are gearing towards laptops and businesses

Oh and heres a little something for you, Matt. (The Xeon you mentioned actually launched on Q2 of 2009)
Here is my setup, i paid 99.99 for the FX 8320 brand new at microcenter. talk about a great deal.

FX 8320 (W cool n quiet/C1 and C6 states) up to stock turbo freq. of 4.0ghz. idles at 1.4 Ghz, jumps to 3.4Ghz when used, then goes up to 4.0Ghz under stress. (this is "Stock" i removed my OC to have fair comparisons)
8 GB G.SKill RAM CAS 8-8-8-24 1600Mhz

Passmark 8.0 full version used to test CPU. All the baselines, as you know, are uploaded by other uses from their very own computers. These are real world comparisons, not calculated based on raw power etc.
Xeon x3660-------3830
i5 4440K------------------------- 6590
i5 4670K-------------------------------------- 7528
i7 4770K------------------------------------------------------10,241
Phenom II X6 1090T--------- 5422
FX 4100---------- 5401

My FX 8320-------------------------------------------------9415
overall score close to that of an i7 4770k, except the i7 is normally 350$ and the FX 8320 is normally 160$...

http://imageshack.com/a/img855/5489/z3es.jpg
Notable things worth mentioning;

-FX DESTROYS in integer math.
- Everyone talks sh*t about the AMD FX FPU dilemma how the cores have to share FPU's blah blah whatever, looks like its doing 5% better than the i7 with the floating point math.
-FX Destroys in Physics based operations 15% better than the i7 4770K
-Holds in own with prime numbers; better than i5 worse than i7

-Intel still rocks the house in single core performance
-Intel is much better with SSE (intel developed tech)

-Compression and Sorting between the i7 4770K and the FX 8320 is the same. The FX 8320 is 20% and 30% better with Encryption and Sorting, respectively, when compared to the i5 4670K.

Even if your Xeon did score 5122 OC'd to 3.3 Ghz, my 8320 at 3.3Ghz would probably still beat it. But running at 4.0Ghz i scored 4293 more points...ouch, and youre talking about a difference of 41 with that old bulldozer 2 core, *ahem*, module CPU. (FX 4100 )

 

[gamedead]

To keep it brief, I built my rig this weekend and have been gaming the crap out of it since. With my current cooling system, using thermal paste that came with the h100i (my arctic silver was taped to invoice and I didn't find it till AFTER I put everything together). I'm running at that variant 4.4 (overclocking feels WAYY different than AMD even though I went from Asus Crosshair IV to Maximus HERO) Idle 26-7 C no more than 35 under full load (gaming only, I honestly don't care for benchmarks) Have not had one crash since and I can attest that BF4, Skyrim, Rome 2, Wargame. COH2, F1 2013, High res Porn all feel very much smoother, and it is true about what they say about these I7's not randomly dropping frames. I am OCD in that regard and the difference is night and day.

 

[gamedead]

Here's how it all looks in the end...for now

 

[Beezy]

Here's how it all looks in the end...for now

NICE! loving the multi-LED fan

 

[gamedead]

Here's how it all looks in the end...for now

NICE! loving the multi-LED fan

Really happy with the case, the swinging side panel is revolutionary in terms keeping things "clean" and easy to access.

Come with quality fans, easy to route cable ample space the list goes on.

I got the case on sale at Newegg, like 210$. Worth EVERY penny as everything is top quality from the powder coatings to the quick swap bays.

Very easy to general good airflow on all components in and out of the case.

There's the added benefit that anyone who is not in the PC enthusiast scene describes it in terms such as "HOLY CRAP that is awesome" and a lot of R2D2 Starwars references.

 

[Matt087_48]

Xeon X3360
SLAN5 (C0)
SLAWZ (C1)
SLB8X (E0)
2.83 GHz 2 × 6 MB 1333 MT/s 8.5× 0.85–1.3625 V
95 W
LGA 775 January 7, 2008
EU80569KJ073N
AT80569KJ073N
BX80569X3360
$530

I copied and pasted this directly off Wikipedia and thats why i assumed it was Jan 2008 when the x3360 was launched

 

[Matt087_48]

Passmark Rating 5,346
CPU Mark 12,273
2D Graphics Mark 968
3D Graphics Mark 7,601
Memory Mark 3,203
Disk Mark 3,421
Hardware

CPU Type Intel Core i7-4770K @ 3.50GHz
CPU Measured Speed 3.50 GHz
Motherboard MAXIMUS VI FORMULA
Memory 16GB , G Skill Intl F3-2400C10-8GTX
Video Card Tested Radeon R9 290X
Hard Drive Tested Samsung SSD 840 PRO Series (256 GB)

Heres a score of a 4770k Set at around 4GHZ , i saw your 8320 score and based on your cpu mark i could tell you had your set at this frequency

 

[Matt087_48]

yes the passmark will stress your cpu so it did go up to 4ghz when you tested it at the 3.5ghz stock frequency it would score around 8200

 

[Beezy]

yes the passmark will stress your cpu so it did go up to 4ghz when you tested it at the 3.5ghz stock frequency it would score around 8200

yeah but the turbo to 4.0 Ghz is a part of "stock" settings

 

[Matt087_48]

btw intel site which i know is accurate also says the X3360 was launched Q1 2008 , i see passmark listed it at q2 2009 i'm not sure if they didn't get it mixed up with another cpu

 

[Matt087_48]

aside from the liquid cooling that case is sweet, i don't want anything that a hyper 212 evo air cooler can't tame lol, the water cooling frightens me , to me its like if you build a $1500-2000 rig and one thing goes wrong and that water cooling leaks it can mess up that whole system. I hear that noctua DH-14 air cooler is competitive to many of the liquid cooling system at cooling cpus.

 

[Beezy]

btw intel site which i know is accurate also says the X3360 was launched Q1 2008 , i see passmark listed it at q2 2009 i'm not sure if they didn't get it mixed up with another cpu

Yes I think ur right

 

[Karadjgne]

aside from the liquid cooling that case is sweet, i don't want anything that a hyper 212 evo air cooler can't tame lol, the water cooling frightens me , to me its like if you build a $1500-2000 rig and one thing goes wrong and that water cooling leaks it can mess up that whole system. I hear that noctua DH-14 air cooler is competitive to many of the liquid cooling system at cooling cpus.

I guess it depends on your perspective. The D-14 will cool cpu's very well, as will most of the big towers like it, and at pretty much the same levels as the dual rad closed loops, and do it quieter for sure. Some ppl though are a little more OCD than me, and the few degrees difference is everything. In that respect, the D-14 comes in second to the dual rads, 3rd if you separate those into 240mm and 280mm, 4th if you splurge for a triple rad. All of which is based on sitting in a climate controlled room and doesn't take ambient temps from places like India or Malaysia, who rarely run the AC, into consideration. Over there, even a single rad like an H-80i used as intake, will outperform the D-14, unless that case has very, very good airflow.

 

[Matt087_48]

just bought a x3460 aka (rebadged i7 860) for 79 dollars and wow for that money this thing screams, i paired it with an Asus P7P55D-E motherboard i got for also 79 dollars and i managed to get a 7K cpu mark at 3.8GHZ , i do notice with the evercool hpq 12025 i get a huge variation in temps though one second its running at 39c then it shoots up to 52c but from what i'm reading thats not too much heat for a lynnfield based cpu

 

[teknobug]

Even the old Q9600 is still ahead of an FX 4100.