I have AMD cpu What am I missing?

[eddym123]

I can play most of the game with the highest setting except newer games that need like 2GB in the GPU. I play Mass effect 3 highest setting and also 3D which looks amazing. Every time someone asks me about building a new pc I always say go AMD because they are way cheaper and because I imagine the new models are way better then what I have now.

I want to know what am I missing going with intel?

Will I notice the difference in performance if I go i5 or i7 instead of newer AMD cpus?

is the difference in performance worth the price?

AMD Phenom II x4 945
ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO AM3
G.SKILL 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
ASUS EAH5870 Radeon HD 5870
240GB SSD OCZ Agility 3 Series

 

[butremor]

well yeah, there will be some difference as expected between few years old cpu and last gen cpu.
But in games it's the gpu that makes the difference, you'll notice more difference if you get smth like Radeon 7870.
And if you're satisfied with your current pc (which is good build) why do you need switch platform?

 

[clutchc]

If your main interest is gaming, and if you're maxing out the graphics in all but the most intense new games now, depending on the resolution you game at, you might increase your frame rate at higher settings with a faster processor. The SB and newer IB i5s are quite a bit faster that the venerable K10 Phenoms. But to get consistently faster frame rates in all the newest games, it will require both a CPU and GPU upgrade. While fast frame rates is mainly about the gfx card, smooth fluid game play demands a fast processor too.

 

[eddym123]

well yeah, there will be some difference as expected between few years old cpu and last gen cpu.
But in games it's the gpu that makes the difference, you'll notice more difference if you get smth like Radeon 7870.
And if you're satisfied with your current pc (which is good build) why do you need switch platform?

I was just curious. I see so many ppl talk about you cant play this game on AMD because its not powerful enough and here I am still playing with this old cpu thinking are this ppl wrong? what are they talking about?

Also it would be good to know in case I do upgrade in the future.

 

[Brett928S2]

Hi

Just get a new gpu...you will see a huge difference in games... which you will NOT see if you just upgrade your cpu...

All the best Brett

 

[eddym123]

Hi

Just get a new gpu...you will see a huge difference in games... which you will NOT see if you just upgrade your cpu...

All the best Brett

Yeah I was very suprise with the performance of my card and how old it is. I saw the price for the 7870 and is not that expensive so I could upgrade to that or two of those.

 

[DRosencraft]

Two things you should realize;
1) there are a lot of "fans" who will flame the alternative to make their preference look better.
2)Absolute performance isn't everything.

Like you can attest with your system, you can play all of your favorite games at maxed out settings. Are there options that will offer more absolute performance? Absolutely. But you, and most people, probably don't need it. So while some may like to throw tons of money at a build and buy up parts simply because they are "the best" they end up wasting a lot of money on stuff they don't need. An upgrade on your GPU should do you far more for the money than a new CPU. Also, I'm not sure if your RAM is one stick or two, but dual channel can be helpful.

 

[eddym123]

Two things you should realize;
1) there are a lot of "fans" who will flame the alternative to make their preference look better.
2)Absolute performance isn't everything.

Like you can attest with your system, you can play all of your favorite games at maxed out settings. Are there options that will offer more absolute performance? Absolutely. But you, and most people, probably don't need it. So while some may like to throw tons of money at a build and buy up parts simply because they are "the best" they end up wasting a lot of money on stuff they don't need. An upgrade on your GPU should do you far more for the money than a new CPU. Also, I'm not sure if your RAM is one stick or two, but dual channel can be helpful.

Yeah thats what I was thinking thats why I always recommend AMD to my friends.

My ram is two stick. I will get 2x 8GB two stick soon.

 

[ohyouknow]

Gaming difference is determined mostly by the GPU. And no it is not worth the price to switch platforms.

Using both my Ivy Bridge and FX rigs. Games like WOW or SC have a noticeable performance difference albeit not significant since I don't game at low resolutions.

Cheers.

 

[eddym123]

Gaming difference is determined mostly by the GPU. And no it is not worth the price to switch platforms.

Using both my Ivy Bridge and FX rigs. Games like WOW or SC have a noticeable performance difference albeit not significant since I don't game at low resolutions.

Cheers.

what are the differences?

Sc2 is one of my favorite games I play on ultra all setting. The game only lags if I also turn on the 3D. I've also game on skyrim with the texture mod and the highest setting no problems either.

 

[jaguarskx]

Games like SC2 and Skyrim are both CPU dependent. Benchmarks have shown that both games do benefit from faster CPUs.

Is it worth spending the money to upgrade now? No, not really. I would wait until you are no longer satisfied with the performance you are getting from your Phenom II. Of course if you are not happy now, then upgrade.

Intel's next generation Core i3/i5/i7 called "Haswell" is expected to be released some time in June. The performance difference from Ivy Bridge to Haswell is unknown. I'm guess less than 10% (assuming same clockspeed) since Intel is focusing more on lower power consumption than performance. I think Broadwell which comes out next year will have a significant performance boost over Haswell; i.e. more than 10%; probably up to 15%.

Speaking about power consumption, the amount of power AMD FX series consumes is scary. I definitely would not look to AMD for an upgrade just on power consumption alone.

Source:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/fx-8350-8320-6300-4300_8.html#sect0

 

[FALC0N]

................

Speaking about power consumption, the amount of power AMD FX series consumes is scary. I definitely would not look to AMD for an upgrade just on power consumption alone.

FX series power consumption is scary? Thats a frighteningly ignorant comment from someone of your skill and experience jaguarskx. I expect better from you. While the FX uses more power than Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge, it speaks more to the very low power draw of Sandy and Ivy.

In 2010, behardware, one of my favorite sites for cpu review info, did a comparative study of 168 unique intel and amd cpu dating back to the netburst era. Power consumption was also tested.

Had the 8350 been part of the comparison, it would have been fairly average. With power consumption similar to old favorites like the I5-750 and the I7-860 and 870, and having better power numbers than the Phenom 965 (c2 or c3) and the I7 920 and 975, among many others.

Bottom line, Intel currently uses less power, but FX power usage is pretty average historically. Hardly scary. I bet you had one of those other chips, jaguarskx. Did you think their power usage was scary?

 

[twelve25]

It's hard to argue that using more power is a good thing, isn't it? Not to mention performing worse in many games while using nearly double the power. But I do think we blow this out of proportion quite a bit. I wonder if the people making a big deal about this have changed their furnace filter recently and made sure their tires on their vehicle are properly inflated. Both of those are going to save more energy in a year than switching to Intel from AMD.