Wait for AMD ZEN or just upgrade to an i5 4th gen?

[Kahlo kahlow]

Hello, so I currently own a g3258 CPU paired with a gtx 1060 (Yes I know it's a huge bottleneck but I am trying to get the cheapest best cpu to pair it with) and was wondering if it would be a smart choice to wait for amd zen and buy 1 of their 4 cores 8 threads cpu + ddr4 ram + new mobo or get something like a i5 4570 (which could amount to the same price as with amd zen + ram + mobo)

 

[chemmajorp53]

Wait a few days and see, they should be releasing more info about zen tomorrow. I don't think it's going to be the same price to get a CPU, RAM, and Mobo as it will be to get an i5 4570 though to be honest, it will probably be more. I'd try to find a cheap 4570 or 4670 on eBay if you can, Zen will probably be more of AMD playing catchup than surpassing intel but, again, we'll know more in a couple days.

 

[darkguset]

Sounds like you are looking for a best bang for your buck, so that segment is typically served best by the read team. So yes, I would wait for Zen in Q1 2017.

 

[akseli]

If you can wait, you definetly should. If half of the gossip about AMD Zen is true, they will have good alternatives in middle range market for Intel 4-6 core gaming CPUS. Once that stuff hits the shelves, it will lower the prices for Intel as well. But only then, not a second before.

Once that happens, the most reasonable thing for your to do, is upgrade to cheaper 4 core Intel. I mean cheaper compared to current prices. They will still be more expensive than comparable Zen.

But you would need to wait maybe atleast 4 months.

Zen+motherboard+DDR4 will not be cheaper than good I5 4 core CPU unless Zen is significantly weaker than mainstream intel processors. And that would mean all the hype has been nothing. You could expect Zen to be maybe 70%-80% in price compared to similar performing Intel CPU with 4 to 6 cores. And AMD motherboards will cheaper too. But it would be really silly to consider them to be significantly cheaper than comparable CPU.

And you absolutely have no real advantage of going over 4 real cores for quite some years. Hypertreading or similiar is nice but not much value, too.

 

[photonboy]

Question is impossible to answer.

But...
I highly doubt an i5-4570 is going to cost the same as an quad-core Zen (similar to i5-4570) + AM4 motherboard + DDR4 memory (and if not W10 will have to buy a new copy of Windows and reinstall everything)

(I would get an i5-4690 or i5-4690K if motherboard supports overclocking anyway).

But an i5-4570 is $195USD approx. Even if a similar AMD CPU cost $130 that's only $65 left over for motherboard and memory (I recommend 16GB BTW).

*Since you sound like you're on a budget, I really think an i5-4690 (and sell the G3258) is your cheapest solution.

 

[photonboy]

Aside from purely BUDGET, it's worth considering how LONG the computer will last.

DX12/Vulkan are going to be more efficient but it still looks like games will be made that need more than a 4C/4T (no hyperthreading) CPU. It may be worth looking into a Zen CPU that is:

4C/8T
6C/6T
6C/12T

It's "hyperthreading" for Intel and SMT or "Simultaneous multi-threading" for AMD. So roughly speaking, a 4C/8T has up to about 40% more processing potential than an otherwise identical 4C/4T CPU. If the software can use the threading fully.

Estimate on 8C/16T is that it's at least $350USD for the base model so that's not a budget solution. I think a quad-core Zen without HT may start as low as $130USD but that's just guessing at this point.

Regardless, I do recommend waiting for more information.

My estimates are this:

AM4 motherboard - $80 (will be cheaper but I probably won't recommend any)
DDR4 16GB (2x8GB) - $80+
Zen 4C/8T - $180?

My estimate is thus about $340 minimum.

 

[synphul]

You can't even get an amd fx 8xxx + mobo + ram for the price of an i5 much less zen. Amd isn't in the market of making budget items, they've had to lower their price to compete on a dollars/performance ratio with intel. They'd have pretty lousy luck trying to sell an fx 4xxx for the same price as an i5 simply because they both have 4 cores. If a quad core zen competes with a quad core i5 or i7, expect pricing to be similar. Amd could use the cash so they're not going to be handing out bogo's or coupons on day 1.

Of course you can wait for zen, nothing against it. Just have realistic expectations. All things considered it's not generally a good upgrade if it means buying into a whole new platform, ddr4 ram, new mobo, new cpu, a reinstall of windows. That's half a new build right there. The reason for people jumping ship from amd's fx cpu's, there was nowhere left to go. Very little improvement from an 8320-8350-8370 etc. Since you currently own a pentium, there's plenty of room for upgrades, an i3, i5, i7. Had there been something comparable like an amd 'i7' for am3+ then the suggestion would have been to go that route for those folks. As it turns out there wasn't.

Simply upgrading to a better cpu on the current platform would be a cost effecting and hassle free approach while getting the most bang for the buck since you can keep all your existing components.

I'm not sure why everyone thinks amd is super cheap and will force intel to lower prices, that's not really how business works. Look at it this way, if you're amd and you're backed up on your bills, do you want to sell your product for $1 over cost to force the competition to lower their prices? Or would you be happy (provided your product competed 1:1) to price similarly to the competition and make $10 over cost?

Back in the day before the core series cpu's and bulldozers and piledrivers, amd had a cpu that performed ahead of intel. As such, they sold it for more money, amd was more expensive. It's possible that many folks either forgot or weren't around in those days and only remember an amd with low priced products. That wasn't really by choice but rather necessity. Everyone and their brother has a mechanical gaming keyboard out there yet they still sell for around $80-100+. If it were true that competition would enter a market and undercut everyone forcing prices lower, where are all the $35 mechanical gaming keyboards?

 

[Kahlo kahlow]

Thanks guys for your replies. I have actually thought of getting a xeon e3-1230v3 cpu instead. I am aware it does not have an integrated gpu but I own a 1060 so it should be fine and it's as powerful as an i7 (from the comments I have red). I believe this would be the better upgrade than getting an i5 or changing to ZEN and yes I know they are locked processors and can't over clock them but I didn't have the intention to overclock it.