Is the AMD FX-8370 a viable option in 2016, going onwards?

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nbova512

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Dec 29, 2015
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Had to get a new motherboard recently.
Decided to go with an AsRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0 and a dirt-cheap processor.

Needless to say I need an upgrade so I can game on PC again.

I would like to know, is it a viable option to buy an AMD FX-8370 in 2016 and be able to play games on max settings with 60 FPS? Or is this processor outdated already?

In addition, provided the cpu is still good, how long will I have until I need to upgrade?
 
Depends on what you're playing. If you want a solid 60FPS in Grand Theft Auto V or Fallout 4, you're going to have to do some pretty heavy overclocking, if you want 60FPS in something like Arma 3, you're pretty much out of luck with any AMD processor unless you want to break out the liquid nitrogen, and even that might not be enough.

The long term viability of current AMD processors in gaming is pretty much entirely dependent on how much DirectX 12 reduces the CPU load and improves multithreading. We don't have much in the way of DirectX 12 games right now, so we don't really know if it will breathe some more life into AMD's 3 year old processors. If DirectX 12 doesn't make those improvements in any big way, then AMD's current lineup isn't going to last you very long, especially if you want to maintain high framerates. You can move to an FX 8370 over the FX 4300 or whatever ultra cheap CPU you got for the AM3+ platform, but I wouldn't expect it to remain relevant for gaming for much longer than another 2 years or so. If you want to keep your system longer than that, you're probably going to want to look into swtiching to Intel.

 


2 Years sounds fine. Right now I have an Amd Phenom II x3 740. By 2 years I'll be 18 probably going to college so I'll be much busier.
 
I have the FX 8370 and it is a very good processor. I have mine overclocked to 5.05Ghz and can play all the newest AAA titles on Ultra 1080p 60FPS+. DX 12 games are already available for pre-order and will only improve the gaming capabilities of the FX 8370. I play GTA V, Fallout 4, Dying Light, ect, ect on Ultra settings 1080p 60+FPS no problems at all. The FX 8370 also has excellent multi-threaded capabilities and is great for doing heavily multi-threaded applications such as video editing.

Realistically you should be fine gaming on an FX 8370 rig through the lifespan of the current console (PS4) systems as game development has to be "held back" to be able to be playable on the consoles and their fixed hardware. By the time that the FX 8370 can no longer handle AAA titles Zen should be close to second generation, Intel will have had a few generation updates and there will be a larger array of high end processors to choose your next build with.

I highly endorse the FX 8370, it is an under rated excellent processor. The FX 8370E is also a very good processor that is only 95W and runs as cheap as $140. I would suggest the FX 8370E with your motherboard as you have 4+1 power phase with your motherboard. The 8370E is also a very good overclocker and can get nearly the same overclocks as its bigger brother, with your motherboard and the FX 8370E you should be able to get 4.5Ghz, which is good for gaming.
 


Sounds great. I was looking at the 8370 and not the 8370E because the former cpu has the new Wraith cooler. Since the motherboard needs a top-down cooler (according to the manufacturer), I figured that would be the best bet to cool the system, since most other good aftermarket coolers I find are not top down.

If I were to get the 8370E, can you link me to a top-down cooler you think would be viable for overclocking to 4.5 GHz+?

Oh and thank you so much!
 


If only they sold the Wraith in stores, I could just buy that with the 8370E.
 
Have you actually bought that motherboard already ??

If you have then you're honestly only going to he able to run a 6300 safely.

If you haven't then spend a bit more in a better board in the first place.
 


Bought it a while ago. So an 8370 won't be able to run on the motherboard properly? My brother has a similar model and he's currently using a 8350.
 
^ similar or the same ??

Pro 3/extreme 3 are the same board - the extreme has a vrm heatsink , that's the only difference & I honestly wouldn't run a standard 8 core on either.

Overclocked 6300 with a down blower like the Pallas/axp200 will give you the best option by miles.

That board will throttle an 8 core full stop in my experience.
 


Same board, except his is r1.0, mines r2.0

What board, regardless of Intel or AMD, that is cheap and viable going forward?
 
If you want a budget board to run a FX83?? It is hard to go past the Gigabyte GA 970A-UD3P. It will do an excellent job, run any 125W chip and overclock it well, for comparatively little money.

Cheap, viable, and going forward is too much. There's nothing for AMD (no going forward) Going forward means a socket that the next generation will fit into, which means a H170 or Z170 Skylake board, or a X99 Haswell-E board. They are certainly viable, but the going forward ones with features like USB 3.1, M.2 storage.... start at mid-priced and go up from there (for the H170 and Z170) For X99 everything is an expensive premium board, except the more expensive even more premium boards.
 


the gb 990 gaming is looking to be one of the best boards around -I got involved on another thread with a guy with a 9590 & extreme 3 - which is possibly the worst pairing ever & suffered massive massive problems.
he bought one of those relatively new model baords which was somewhat of a risk with very few reviews & it does a sterling job with the 9590 so far & has allowed him to drop close to .2v under full load.


 


get your brother to do a prime/aida/intelburn stress test & watch his cpu throttle massively under load - I 100% guarantee it will - the baord simply will not cope with a 125w 8 core.
AS donkey says to run a 8370 the ud3p is the cheapest board there is ( & also probably one of the best 970 series boards full stop) that can copy with 125w+ tdp chips easily.

By all accounts you can run an 8370+wraith cooler on your board if you really really want to - the fact is though it will not cope with heavy loads without throttling.

a 6300@4.2ghz paired with a raijintek pallas or thermalright axp200 downblower is your best option & will get you your 60fps the majority of the time on the majority of titles.

 
@madmatt30. for space reasons, I used a Xigmatek Janus on one build, which is a dual fan downdraft (In a ASRock M8 case on a Z87 board with an overclocked i7 4790K, and it also worked quite well) Any experience with that?
 




not quite as good though,a little more expensive, & a fair bit noisier ??
have a look at the deepcool gabriel next time you are faced with those kind of space issues ;-)
 


Now I'm looking to build pretty much a new computer. On the subject of RAM, is DDR3 also still a viable option? I have 16 GB of it, and I'm wondering if its worth just buying a whole new motherboard and a new set of DDR4 RAM.
 
The future is much more uncertain for AMD. We know the present and the past well, but the future depends on Zen and DX12 for AMD.
Intel has a much safer future, especially for gaming.

There is no such thing as 'future-proof'. They are always making more future. People who built the 'best' future-proof systems before VR became a topic may, or may not, have useful systems now.

A system is a collection of parts and sub-systems and you need to look at them separately.

CPU system. The CPU, motherboard, and RAM will be relevant for at least five years from new if good, modern, and adequate products are chosen. Spend wisely, and avoid cutting corners.

GPU System. The GPU has the shortest 'life'. It will work just as long, but become less relevant, or less able to handle the latest and greatest every year. The GTX 970 was a fantastic GPU and owns 1080p 60Hz, but we are going past that point.

Storage system. Long life and easy to upgrade. 1Tb 7200rpm HDD is still relevant and will continue to be so, SSD can be added, NVMe can be added PCIe SSD can be added to a good CPU system.

Support system. Case, PSU, DVD, CPU cooler. These are 'forever' parts and good selections will be useful for their entire life, one or two system re-builds down the road.

Gaming systems are like race cars. No one tries to build a future-proof race car. Instead, they make wise choices and rebuild the systems, Engine, cooling, suspension, transmission, support, as needed.
 
The reason in my original post why I recommended the FX 8370E for you is because your current motherboard only has 4+1 power phase. With that power phase it really can't support 125W CPUs I should have been more clear. The FX 8370E is a 95W processor just like the FX 6300, 6350. The very best processor that can be used in your current motherboard is the FX 8370E. As listed above if you really want to run its bigger brother the FX 8370 the best path is to get:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128651&cm_re=GIGABYTE_GA-970A-UD3P_%28rev._1.0%29_AM3%2b%2fAM3_AMD_970_SATA_6Gb%2fs_USB_3.0_ATX_AMD_Motherboard-_-13-128-651-_-Product&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-Skimlinks-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=12087162&PID=3736271&SID=skim83512X1540009Xadb9cd0f4037192c8afcab725570ed5b&utm_medium=affiliates&utm_source=afc-Skimlinks

and then the FX 8370. The FX 8370E is also a very good processor and has the same turbo core 4.3Ghz as the FX 8370. Both processors are very good overclockers (on your board you could probably do at least the 4.3Ghz turbo core as your everyday overclock). If you want the best performance out of either processor the above linked motherboard is your very best bet, as I believe DonkeyOatie already told you.

The cheapest one step upgrade path for your system would be the FX 8370E. The best upgrade path on AMD would be the linked motherboard and FX 8370. Switching to Intel would yield the best gaming results however would also be the most expensive: new motherboard, new processor (Intel processors can easily be twice as expensive as AMD) and depending on gen new DDR4 RAM. On top of that you will have to buy a new license for your Windows operating system.
 


the issue I have with recommending an 8 core e series chip is that it wont outperform a stock 6300 in gaming environments.
at stock & with turbocore enabled the 8370e will only turbo to 4.3 on 3 cores & drop the other cores to 3000mhz to keep within the tdp limits.
overclocking,disabling apm etc raises voltage & draw & will essentially remove that e suffix from the equation & will 99% likely result in the same throttling issues as youd get with a standard 8 core 125w cpu.

the 6300 youll be able to push 4ghz on all cores & still stay within a 100w tdp or therabouts - the extreme 3 will cope with that fine.
amd turbo core is worthless on newer gaming titles,it can actually be detrimental to performance & introduce all sorts of stutter & lag.If anyone builds an amd rig nowdays my first suggestion is to disable turbo straight away - it worked ok in 2012/2013 when titles were at a max twin threaded,it doesnt work so well nowdays at all
 
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