Is it worth upgrading to fx 8350?

[Chris OMahony]

I currently have an fx 4100 paired with a gtx 750ti. I was just wondering would I notice a difference in performance if I were to upgrade to an 8350, so basically is it better to spend ~150 euro on the 8350 or spend ~500 euro on an entire new pc. Any input is appreciated and yes I do know that my cpu is a potato and intel is better than amd.

 

[Justiceinacan]

Overall performance wise, I suppose so. Literally anything is better than the 4100. You'll find the 8350 makes recommended specs for a lot still, if you have a proper AM3+ system I actually think you'd benefit from it.

Tell me

-What is your motherboard?
-What is your PSU?

 

[Chris OMahony]

Hey, according to CPU-Z my motherboard is an Asus M5A97. Not sure what my psu is, but I think it is sufficient because my gpu isn't hooked up to it (runs off motherboard) and when I bough the PC 2 years ago (pre owned) it had a radeon 6870 hooked up to it. Thanks for your answer.

 

[madmatt30]

Hey, according to CPU-Z my motherboard is an Asus M5A97. Not sure what my psu is, but I think it is sufficient because my gpu isn't hooked up to it (runs off motherboard) and when I bough the PC 2 years ago (pre owned) it had a radeon 6870 hooked up to it. Thanks for your answer.

.
As long as its the r2 version board & not the m5a97 LE then you can run an 8350,I personally would top out an a 6300 or an 8320 though & a decent aftermarket cooler

Id argue that our 750 ti is as weak or weaker than the 4100 you currently own though mate.

 

[Chris OMahony]

So realistically would it then be better to get a 6300 and OC it? I don't know much about overclocking, I would be using AMD overdrive at the end of the day. I don't have much money so I would prefer getting the cheaper of the 6300/8350 even if it means I will miss out on a small amount of fps. I'm not aiming for 60fps/ultra, i'm happy with 35+ fps on medium settings.

Also, honestly can't be bothered upgrading my 750ti. Already have a 6870 laying around that I can't get rid of. I will use the 750ti for now because most of the time the thing that hinders my gaming performance is the CPU, seeing as how old it is i'm not surprised. I just need something relatively cheap that can keep my PC somewhat mid range and will last me another year or two.

One more thing, how would I know if my motherboard is the R2 version you're talking about?

 

[geofelt]

Few games can make good use of more than 2-3 threads.
Your motherboard is a good one suitable for overclocking.
I suggest you see what overclocking your FX-4100 brings you.

Adding two more threads with a FX-6100 or 4 more with a FX-8350 by itself is unlikely to do much good.

Some games are cpu limited and some are graphics limited.
sims, mmo and strategy tend to be single threaded and cpu limited.
Fast action games will be graphics limited.

Your FX-4100 has a single thread passmark rating of 1200.
A FX-6120 will be 1291 or FX-8320 will be 1396.
so, yes, there will be an improvement. More so if you can overclock.
Is this worth it to you?

By comparison, a $125 Intel i3-6100 has a single thread rating of 2102
Here is a review of some games with comparisons to FX-8370
http://www.anandtech.com/show/10543/the-skylake-core-i3-51w-cpu-review-i3-6320-6300-6100-tested

My take is that I would not put much money into FX today.

 

[breek]

Can you give us a list of games you play? What settings do you currently play and would like to play at (resolution as well, please)?

I would lean against digging yourself deeper into the AM3+ hole. I went from an FX 4300 to 8320, not the best choice. If I played more AAA games I would have bought an i5 already. Because I play games like WoW, LoL and Osu I don't feel the need to upgrade quite yet. My CPU does cap out quite easily in WoW though, and it makes my eyes rain.

The main issue with AMD is low single core performance. When I built my computer I was just learning so I was like OMG 8 CORES I'M GONNA HAEV THE BEST COMPUTER. That was not the case. My buddy's i5 2500k (stock clock) out performs me in single threaded and multi threaded applications (tested using Cinebench 15 and a handful of games).

My recommendations: Depending on your budget, I would hit up Kijiji, Craig's List, Ebay, etc. and look for a used computer for sale. If there's a decent whole computer at a good price I would grab it. If not, look for parts. You could find an R9 380, GTx 660, 760, etc. for a good price. Also, any i5/i7 from Sandy Bridge (2000 series) and newer would benefit you greatly, making sure you get the correct RAM and Mobo for the CPU. Xeons are your next option. I don't have a list in front of me so if someone could chime in with equally tiered Xeon CPUs that would be great. Don't forget to make sure your PSU is of good quality and has sufficient output. A part list of your current PC would be great, so we know what parts we have to work with to cobble together a PC for the lowest amount possible without losing quality.

 

[madmatt30]

So realistically would it then be better to get a 6300 and OC it? I don't know much about overclocking, I would be using AMD overdrive at the end of the day. I don't have much money so I would prefer getting the cheaper of the 6300/8350 even if it means I will miss out on a small amount of fps. I'm not aiming for 60fps/ultra, i'm happy with 35+ fps on medium settings.

Also, honestly can't be bothered upgrading my 750ti. Already have a 6870 laying around that I can't get rid of. I will use the 750ti for now because most of the time the thing that hinders my gaming performance is the CPU, seeing as how old it is i'm not surprised. I just need something relatively cheap that can keep my PC somewhat mid range and will last me another year or two.

One more thing, how would I know if my motherboard is the R2 version you're talking about?

The LE has the black vrm chokes bare (to the rear of the cpu)

The fully fledged R2 has a big blue heatsink over them

They both run a 6300 no problems at all.The le even will allow some overclocking.
The r2 will run a 8 core fine,the le will not - the r2 is a far better board .

 

[Chris OMahony]

Thanks for all the replies lads- I play games (at least, try to) like Arma and Squad (milsims). They are quite cpu intensive. I know that the 750ti is more than enough for these games it's just the cpu that's letting me down. I think the best thing I could do now is get a good fan and OC the hell out of my current cpu because I can see by what ye're saying that the FX series doesn't have great single core performance so the upgrade wouldn't benefit me much.

I play the games usually on low-medium settings at 1920x1080. I'm not too bothered about graphics just as long as I can play with decent frames at the native resolution. Thanks again for all the help, feel free to add anything more, i'm still considering my options here. I know that intel would be my best option, however i'm not sure if I want to cash out all the money yet.