AMD FX Series

[Serrix]

Is the AMD FX series really worth it?

 

[buzznut]

Is the AMD FX series really worth it?

Really worth what? It depends on the model and price, and what you want to do with it. The FX 4100 is not a bad deal but for a few bucks more you can get an i3 that will be faster.

On the other hand the FX 8120 is not a bad CPU for under $200, especially if you can overclock over 4 Ghz. Which is really easy to do. Look, they aren't horrible processors but other than heavily threaded workloads your Intel counterparts are going to be faster if a few dollars more.

 

[cmi86]

Nope. I bought an FX-4100 about 2 months ago and was extremely disappointed. I brought that thing back and traded it in for a phenom II. My phenom@ 4.0Ghz mops the floor with my FX @ 4.5Ghz.

PS, the i3 only games better. Everything else is a draw/AMD win.

 

[stickg1]

Its not the best AMD CPU currently. It is the newest, however AMD's new microarchitecture is not supported by any current Operating Systems or most software. Your best bet is a Phenom II if you must have AMD or an Intel in the i3, i5, or i7 series. I am not an FX hater, I own an FX-6100. I like it because of the low operating voltage I can keep it really cool with little effort. My Phenom II X4 980BE @ stock 3.7ghz outperforms my FX-6100 overclocked to 4.3ghz in most applications and especially games. If you are doing something that can utilize more than 4 cores for example Video Encoding the FX-6XXX and FX-8XXX series are pretty good, still not great. Most applications will treat the FX-6XXX as a tri-core and the FX-8XXX as a quad-core because they are 3 and 4 core processors with 2 threads per core. Until this gets fixed it is not the best AMD option and right now AMD is not the best option period.

 

[Serrix]

Really worth what? It depends on the model and price, and what you want to do with it. The FX 4100 is not a bad deal but for a few bucks more you can get an i3 that will be faster.

On the other hand the FX 8120 is not a bad CPU for under $200, especially if you can overclock over 4 Ghz. Which is really easy to do. Look, they aren't horrible processors but other than heavily threaded workloads your Intel counterparts are going to be faster if a few dollars more.

No model in general, I mean the whole line up of them. It all seemed very dissapointing. I was going to get an FX 6100 or 6200 but now i'm set on either an i5 2500k or just wait for the Ivy Bridge and get a 3740k or whatever Ivy Bridge's equivelent will be to the Sandy Bridge's 2500k. Either way, AMD seemed to dissapoint with the FX. Phenom II works better in almost every review i've looked over. Lets just hope the next gen they release can actually compete with Intel.

 

[Serrix]

Its not the best AMD CPU currently. It is the newest, however AMD's new microarchitecture is not supported by any current Operating Systems or most software. Your best bet is a Phenom II if you must have AMD or an Intel in the i3, i5, or i7 series. I am not an FX hater, I own an FX-6100. I like it because of the low operating voltage I can keep it really cool with little effort. My Phenom II X4 980BE @ stock 3.7ghz outperforms my FX-6100 overclocked to 4.3ghz in most applications and especially games. If you are doing something that can utilize more than 4 cores for example Video Encoding the FX-6XXX and FX-8XXX series are pretty good, still not great. Most applications will treat the FX-6XXX as a tri-core and the FX-8XXX as a quad-core because they are 3 and 4 core processors with 2 threads per core. Until this gets fixed it is not the best AMD option and right now AMD is not the best option period.

Thats the way it looks right now. I might not being going with AMD for awhile now. I have this super AMD fanboy in my school that tries to make the company look like god. He really needs a reality check. Although his PC can only play games from like the 90's. It makes me lol. I can't wait to have my Intel Super PC built, he'll probably cry.

 

[stickg1]

Yeh Intel is the way to go right now. I'm still gonna roll with AMD cus I've been a fan since for about 12 years. I'm man enough to admit that we don't have the best product on the market right now and most processors on Intels line-up outperform AMDs. I still use my Phenom II 980 and my FX-6100 and they work fine for my purposes. Two fast and stable machines that I built for under $700 each and theres nothing wrong with that. Part of me wants to talk a friend into letting me ship a new Intel build to his house and sneaking out of bed one night and putting it in one of my cases without my wife finding out. If she caught be building a 3rd computer this year I would have to live in the garage 🙁 . The last two I built were enough trouble, I said one of them was for our 6 year old son and I can't say that another one is for our other son because hes only 2 years old .

 

[Serrix]

Yeh Intel is the way to go right now. I'm still gonna roll with AMD cus I've been a fan since for about 12 years. I'm man enough to admit that we don't have the best product on the market right now and most processors on Intels line-up outperform AMDs. I still use my Phenom II 980 and my FX-6100 and they work fine for my purposes. Two fast and stable machines that I built for under $700 each and theres nothing wrong with that. Part of me wants to talk a friend into letting me ship a new Intel build to his house and sneaking out of bed one night and putting it in one of my cases without my wife finding out. If she caught be building a 3rd computer this year I would have to live in the garage 🙁 . The last two I built were enough trouble, I said one of them was for our 6 year old son and I can't say that another one is for our other son because hes only 2 years old .

Oh yes, don't get me wrong, AMD is just fine for budget CPU's and the GPU's they make actually can compete with NVidia. Its just super annoying on how some of the die-hard AMD fans try and go up against Intel performance. Sure, back in the day a K6 outperformed a Pentium, but that was what, 10 years ago? Time to get up to date with some things and see the light. Currently Intel is on top of it all, most mobile and home use. I'm working 3 jobs this summer to build my super pc and matter of fact if you want to check it out, here it is- http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=26543028

Although what you do see right now is going to change when Ivy Bridge comes out because I plan on getting an Ivy Bridge CPU and a more equipt MoBo for Ivy Bridge; the one in that build is already pre-set for Ivy Bridge CPU's but I want a Z75 or Z77 when they come out.

 

[stickg1]

Oh yes, don't get me wrong, AMD is just fine for budget CPU's and the GPU's they make actually can compete with NVidia. Its just super annoying on how some of the die-hard AMD fans try and go up against Intel performance. Sure, back in the day a K6 outperformed a Pentium, but that was what, 10 years ago? Time to get up to date with some things and see the light. Currently Intel is on top of it all, most mobile and home use. I'm working 3 jobs this summer to build my super pc and matter of fact if you want to check it out, here it is- http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=26543028

Although what you do see right now is going to change when Ivy Bridge comes out because I plan on getting an Ivy Bridge CPU and a more equipt MoBo for Ivy Bridge; the one in that build is already pre-set for Ivy Bridge CPU's but I want a Z75 or Z77 when they come out.

Dude that's gonna be a sick build. I might get this RAM instead if I were you:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145345

Also buy that mushkin SSD with your first paycheck because its been $70 off for a few weeks now and I don't know if that kind of sale will last long. I just ordered one, my brother did too and I've been seeing them in a lot of builds because its a great deal so they will go out of stock or full price soon.

Other than that it looks great and should be a lot of fun to assemble and use. I didn't see any thermal compound on there you might want to pick up a tube and maybe some surface purifier for your CPU and heatsink, I like to use it just in case lint, dust, or fingerprints make it onto the surfaces before I get the thermal grease on and the heatsink fastened. Good luck and have fun!

 

[buzznut]

If you can afford the 2500k, there really is no reason to get any other CPU.

 

[Serrix]

Dude that's gonna be a sick build. I might get this RAM instead if I were you:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145345

Also buy that mushkin SSD with your first paycheck because its been $70 off for a few weeks now and I don't know if that kind of sale will last long. I just ordered one, my brother did too and I've been seeing them in a lot of builds because its a great deal so they will go out of stock or full price soon.

Other than that it looks great and should be a lot of fun to assemble and use. I didn't see any thermal compound on there you might want to pick up a tube and maybe some surface purifier for your CPU and heatsink, I like to use it just in case lint, dust, or fingerprints make it onto the surfaces before I get the thermal grease on and the heatsink fastened. Good luck and have fun!

Ah the thing with the RAM i'm going with is low profile so I can fit everything in my mid-tower case. Also, I really am itching to get the Mushkin SSD A.S.A.P because as you said, its been on sale for a LONG time and it may go out of stock. Thanks for reminding me to get thermal compound! I almost forgot about that. One thing about my case is that it doesn't collect dust and doesn't get fingerprint marks on it since of the way its built; well, it doesn't collect dust as easily as other cases.

And if you do switch out your AMD build over to an Intel one, its very worth it. It will be costly but if you have to you can sell the AMD setup you had!

 

[Serrix]

Best answer selected by Serrix.