Is an FX-8370 Worth buying?

[spazbandicoot]

Hi there,

My friend's PC is rather slow, especially when playing games. He's very CPU limited; he currently has an AMD A8-5600k and plans to upgrade to an AMD FX-8370.

Product Link: http://

I see this CPU has 8 cores, and a max clock speed of 4.0GHz, and it comes with the Raith cooler.
To me, this seems like a good deal for him.
I need to know if there is anything else I should consider and if this is a worthy upgrade for him.

(My friend is aware that he needs to buy a motherboard that supports the 8370.)

-Spaz

 

[punkncat]

In short, no. It's spending money on a dead end. Best to put that money with some more for AM4, memory, and mobo.

 

[CRO5513Y]

In my opinion no. Even a modern i3 8xxx or Ryzen equivalent will outperform them while using less power and with less heat, and you should be able to get them fairly cheap. If he is already getting a new Motherboard i don't see the point in upgrading to a CPU that's already on an out-of-life platform. The biggest problem FX had was that people read the specs and thought they were going to very powerful, but they had lacking IPC and were far from optimised chips. Even the flagship FX 9590 which is a whopping 8 Cores @ 5 GHz generally got flogged by a 4 Core @ half the clock speed. Hope this helps!

 

[krzyimprt]

Hi there,

My friend's PC is rather slow, especially when playing games. He's very CPU limited; he currently has an AMD A8-5600k and plans to upgrade to an AMD FX-8370.

Product Link: http://

I see this CPU has 8 cores, and a max clock speed of 4.0GHz, and it comes with the Raith cooler.
To me, this seems like a good deal for him.
I need to know if there is anything else I should consider and if this is a worthy upgrade for him.

(My friend is aware that he needs to buy a motherboard that supports the 8370.)

-Spaz

Really no point in buying into such a dead platform, especially since it doesn't have much to offer performance wise. Might as well just buy a used one on ebay for $100.

 

[sizzling]

Agree with the others but if you wanted to run it we need to know your motherboard.

 

[spazbandicoot]

Okay, thank you guys.

Are there any good alternatives? (CPU and motherboard combos that support DDR3.)

 

[sizzling]

Personally I’d say no. The next generation after AMD FX are Ryzen which need DDR4 and the 6th, 7th & 8th gen Intels are all DDR4 so investing in anything that runs DDR3 is buying obsolete hardware.

 

[dontlistentome]

You could do that thing where people buy an old business computer, like a Dell Optiplex 790 w/ an i5 2400 and install a gaming videocard. That would be the cheapest way to get a fairly decent gaming system. It would cost the price of the computer plus the videocard of his choice, plus a power supply if needed by his choice of videocard.

A new system is going to require the CPU, motherboard, and DDR4 ram. Already that's a lot more money and the videocard hasn't even been factored in. The benefit is it's a modern system with new parts.

 

[spazbandicoot]

You could do that thing where people buy an old business computer, like a Dell Optiplex 790 w/ an i5 2400 and install a gaming videocard. That would be the cheapest way to get a fairly decent gaming system. It would cost the price of the computer plus the videocard of his choice, plus a power supply if needed by his choice of videocard.

A new system is going to require the CPU, motherboard, and DDR4 ram. Already that's a lot more money and the videocard hasn't even been factored in. The benefit is it's a modern system with new parts.

I'm only looking for a CPU upgrade for £200 or less. Not an entirely new computer, unfortunately that's way over my friend's price limit.

 

[DSzymborski]

You could do that thing where people buy an old business computer, like a Dell Optiplex 790 w/ an i5 2400 and install a gaming videocard. That would be the cheapest way to get a fairly decent gaming system. It would cost the price of the computer plus the videocard of his choice, plus a power supply if needed by his choice of videocard.

A new system is going to require the CPU, motherboard, and DDR4 ram. Already that's a lot more money and the videocard hasn't even been factored in. The benefit is it's a modern system with new parts.

I'm only looking for a CPU upgrade for £200 or less. Not an entirely new computer, unfortunately that's way over my friend's price limit.

Spending that much on a dead-end that'll leave him in the same position in a year -- or arguably now -- is a poor use of money on a budget when just a little more gets something that will destroy that option and can actually be upgraded later.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1400 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£101.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI - B350M MORTAR Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (£66.47 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Team - Vulcan 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£78.27 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £246.73
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-08-16 11:20 BST+0100

 

[punkncat]

Your best bet, bang for buck, while still having to stay DDR3 is 4th gen Intel IMO. With that said, unless you can find something used that you trust you will actually spend MORE buying a new 46/4790 than you would on something 8th gen, or AM4 (AMD). Between the 4690 and it's K variant there are few procs putting down as strong a single thread performance even now.