Intel i5 vs AMD-FX 8350 vs OCed AMD FX-8120

AnthonyStew

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May 1, 2014
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Hey guys recently I purchased some new parts for my PC from newegg.

Specs:
R9 290 SAPPHIRE TRI-X OC 4GB
AMD FX-8120 3.1GHz
GIGABYTE 990FXA-UD3
TRIDENT-X 4GB MEMORY @1666MHz
SAMSUNG EVO 840 SSD 250GB
CORSAIR 750w Bronze Edition.

I upgraded everything to my PC except for my Processor. After playing a few games I noticed that my fps isn't living up to what it should be realistically. I get about 50-80 fps on BF4 and 30 fps on DayZ Mod and Standalone. I have been doing research on why my fps might be like this, so I have been downloading driver updates and what not for the past week. I read that it could be a bottleneck issue that doesn't allow my GPU to run to what it should be running at. So now this comes down to why I made this post.

Do you think it is a bottleneck issue? The highest I've been able to overclock my amd fx-8120 was 3.9GHz which didn't help my fps at all. I really don't know why I can't OC higher, my BIOS says boot failure everytime I try to OC over 3.9.

I bought the AMD motherboard to better support my system and build it around my amd fx-8120. The thing is, I don't know about Newegg's return policy. I have been using the motherboard everyday for about 5 days now.

If I do return the motherboard, I would have to buy another motherboard that goes with a Intel i5 Build if you guys recommend.

I have heard some good things about the 8350, but some bad things as well. I don't see much changed between the 8120 and the 8350 besides the frequency. Would it be worth it to purchase a 8350?

Should I look into other possible solutions and try to find out how to resolve the bottleneck?

What do you guys think?

 

Get a Core i5, preferably the 4690K if you have the money. Intel has better architecture than AMD (22 nm vs 32 nm) BTW you got a Bulldozer CPU, should've gotten a Piledriver at least.
 
The 8350 is significantly better than the 8120, but the i5 will be better than the 8350 in some games. It really is all game dependent.

Are you 100% sure you are bottlenecking? Is the cPU at 100% usage? If not, it is not a CPU bottleneck.

Also DayZ is HORRIBLY optimized. Even an i7 and a 780ti can't max it.
 
How can I check if my CPU is running at 100% usage? I have seen people get 100-120 fps on Battlefield 4 with builds not as good as mine with the same GPU. Also, will Newegg accept my motherboard back even though I have been using it?
 

Go into Task Manager. at the bottom, you will see CPU usage:
 
This is also assuming you have a) unparked your cores, and b) are using mantle.

The 83xx series are far superior cpu's to the 81xx series, you'd see a good increase moving from the 8120 to the 8320, and that's assuming stock speeds. When it comes to OC, the 83xx are far less of a headache than the 81xx's.

Mantle is important. Running under DirectX, AMD gpu's will run at @ 50% core speed vrs Nvidea. Mantle is optimized for AMD, so makes up for a lot of this discrepancy allowing for better fps especially when paired with a weaker cpu like a 8120.
 
The piledriver CPUs are roughly 15% faster per clock than bulldozer. That is why 95% of the time, an FX6300 will be faster than an 8150.

If you want to stick with AMD, get an FX6300, 6350, 8320 or 8350. They are all solid CPUs.

That said, the Intel CPUs are much faster per core and far more power efficient. I have both an i5 4670 and an FX8350. I find that generally, the FX8350 system performs the same or better than the I5.
 
I run at Ultra settings and use Mantle. My CPU is currently at 3.9 GHz, all I've done to overclock was go into the new UEFI BIOS of my motherboard and turned up the scaling to 3.9. All the voltage and other settings are still set to default. My R9 290 settings according to TriXX are: GPU Clock- 1030, Memory Clock- 1400, and VDDC Offset- 25. I am using the AMD R9 200 series 14.6 beta driver.

I get no more than 60 fps on most maps on BF4, my old 2gb 7850 almost gets the same FPS, which makes no sense whatsoever.

I would rather not return my motherboard just to get an i5 unless it is REALLY that worth it over a new 8350. If it would give an extra 5-10 fps over an 8350, I don't want to go through the trouble of returning my MOBO.

Games I play mainly: DOTA 2, LoL, DayZ Standalone, DayZ Mod, Sniper Elite 3, BF4, Borderlands 2, Skyrim with the Hi-Res Addons.

I want something that I won't have to replace for maybe 2 years or so. My new upgrades cost me about everything I had on my birthday so.
 
If I do decide to purchase this AMD FX-8350 Vishera Black 4.0GHz (4.2GHz) Turbo, should I see FPS improvements at stock? Would I have to OC? Would my system be able to outperform an identical i5 build with proper overclocking?
 



It would be a waste of $$$ to not OC it.
 
only 1 other thing I can think of that's killin your fps is lack of RAM. While 4Gb makes for playable settings, with a r9 290 you should be pushing 70-80 fps avg, not 60 fps max, and the youtube vids you watched, the pc's probably ran with 8Gb of RAM. It would explain why your previous card was getting close to same fps. While that card was maxed out at 60fps, your current card is being bottlenecked to 60fps
 


Sorry I messed up on my specs, I have 8gb of Ram, and another 8GB of an older memory from my old MOBO, but I don't know if it goes to 1666mhz, and I heard I could get problems If I try to run two different ram types.
 
Alright my final question is this; Should I buy the AMD FX-8350 OR AMD FX-8320? I've read that the 8320 can OC to 8350 speeds and with the money saved I can purchase a better cooler. But, will my PC allow me to OC to high speeds? Which is better for my build.
 

IMO 8350