New AMD-FX upgrade

[Pete301]

Hi Hexus guys,

I am planning to upgrade (I use that term loosely coz all i'll be keeping are peripherals) my computer soon and was wondering about some advice. I was planning to get the folowing gear:

AMD-FX 8120 £165
Gigabyte GA-970A-D3 £75
XFX 6870 £135
2x4GB Corsair DDR3 (1333) £35
750GB WD Sata III £75
750W Antec True power New PSU £80

Just wondered a couple of things, firstly I was gonna wait until the mid-range HD7xxx come out from AMD. I really wanted to get the 7870, but I think that the 7850 would be more within my budget. Do you guys think the 7850 will be worth waiting for over the 6870? However I didn't really want to breach £600 for the whole thing. I also heard that there were supposed to be some new FX chips released, I was hoping for the 8100 to come out but I don't know if I'll just be waiting forever. Other than that are there any thoughts on whether this is a decent build? Also would it just be better for me to go for a Core i5 setup (I really prefer AMD, no reason I just feel like they're a nicer company ).

Thanks guys.

Current PC:

CPU
Core 2 Duo E7400 @ 2.8 GHz
Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-EP31-DS3L
Memory
2x2GB Corsair DDR2
Storage
500GB 7200RPM Seagate SATA II + 300GB 7200rpm Seagate IDE
Graphics Card
XFX 320MB Geforce 8800 GTS
PSU
550W Xclio Modular

[shaithis]

At only £4 more for a 2500k....that gets my vote, especially if you are a gamer (6870 card tells me you are!)

Your current PSU is good enough for the job, although if you want to replace it I wouldn't bother with something as meaty as a 750w for the system you are speccing.

Also, £75 for a 750GB HDD.....make do with the 500GB you have now and wait for prices to drop again.....current HDD prices are a complete rip-off.

[Pete301]

Hmm, yea the 2500k does look like a safer bet. I was hoping to buy this in late feb, so was wishing my socks off that the HDD prices will go down by then. Coz I actually have an IDE HDD as well that is 300GB, so I would almost definitely need another HDD (silly new motherboards don't support IDE AFAIK).

I was also skeptical about the PSU, I feel like I need to upgrade mine considering I have had it for the last 3-4 years, and am running it quite solidly. I feel like it might have degraded too much. However another option is to buy a new 600W or 550W.

Oh and if I were to buy the FX8120 I could get £20 cashback (if the offer is still on when I upgrade)

[Terbinator]

I'd try and skimp by on 300GB tbh. Itwould kill me to buy a HDD at current prices, unless you got for 2TB+.

[shaithis]

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/lycom...nc-hdd-dvd-rom

I'd rather pay £8 to re-use a 300GB IDE drive. I doubt prices will fall substantially before june/july......possibly even later.

[scaryjim]

As shaithis says, the FX processors aren't good enough alrounders to recommend really - great if you know you're running lots of heavily threaded workloads, but otherwise very mediocre. On the AMD side you'd be better off with a (previous generation) Phenom II X4 or X6, tbh. But the i5 2500k is really the best option in your price range.

That said, if you're looking at a 6870 to keep things in budget, you might be better off going for a Phenom II X4 and moving the graphics up to a 560 Ti / 6950, which would give oyu a more rounded gaming PC (an i5 2500 with a 6850 would be a bit graphics light, really).

As the the Radeon 78xx, I've not heard anything about planned release or availability. So the real question is how urgently do you think you need to upgrade?

[Pete301]

I don't desperately need to upgrade. Atm I am just thinking that I need to within 2 months or so because my current setup is quite dated, and I can't run the most recent games on a decent graphics setting and I couldn't run BF3 at all really. However I do need my PC for ProTools (if anyone is familiar with that, it's a DAW) and as far as I am aware it uses threads a lot. But I doubt it will be too much for a Core i5 to handle, unless I go crazy with tracks/plugins.

I haven't really considered a Phenom tbh. Is there much of a difference to getting a less powerful Core i5 btw? like the 2400, or even a 23XX. I'm not planning on OCing at all.

@Shaithir Thanks for the link to the SATA -> IDE connector, I didn't even think it was possible , it'll save me getting a HDD until the prices go back down.

[Domestic_Ginger]

Re-use the clio. Intel has the uppers atm, I would look that way. The x2 550 is about the same performance wise as the e7400, I chose the 550. The quad core Phenoms will there just be giving you a quad of your current system imo.

2nd hand 5850 if you are willing to look that way for about £80 will be about the same as 6870. (waits for incoming).

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

If you can wait a few months longer,Ivy Bridge will be out in April or May AFAIK.

Funnily there is one game where the FX 8100 series and Phenom II X6 can out-perform a Core i5 2500K and that is in Rage. If you plan to play a lot of idTech 5 based games - AMD seems a better choice!

However,almost very other game I would say a Core i5 2500K. However,there is supposed to be a new stepping of the FX series out this year - whether this will improve things much is hard to say. Also,the new hotfix should help improve framerates with some games - but I suspect the Core i5 will be ahead still.

For audio based work,the current Intel CPUs tend to better than a Phenom II - I am not so sure about the FX series CPUs .

[scaryjim]

Do you need the extra performance for games, or for ProTools?

If it's games, then you only really need to upgrade the GPU. ProTools only supports nvidia GPUs, so I suggest you look at a GTX550 Ti, or a second hand GTX460, at around the £100 mark (you may be able to get a second hand GTX460 for slightly less than that, but I wouldn't hold my breath ). Any more would be wasted with an E7400 IMNSHO, so stick to the £100 mark and your computer could do you for another year or two for gaming.

if it's ProTools, then you're probably looking at a processor upgrade, and Avid's ProTools-qualified machines are basically multithreaded monsters. One option would be to try to pick up a second hand Core 2 Quad - they're still pretty potent, and would almost certainly boost your ProTools performance.

If it's everything, then yeah, it's new build time. At which point, your sensible choice is between an i7 2600k and a Phenom II X6. In terms of budget the X6 is probably the better option, tbh - get a 95W Phenom II X6 1055T and overclock it. Stick it on a decent AM3_ mobo (like the gigabyte you'd already chosen) and add in a GTX560 Ti and you're good to go for everything.

EDIT: obligatory spanner in the works - The other other option is a Xeon E3-1230. It's basically an i7 2600 with the graphics part disabled (and a couple of multis knocked off, but not enough that you'd notice ) and is £40 cheaper. Since you're going for discreet graphics anyway the lack of IGP doesn't really matter.

[Bagnaj97]

As others have said, the Intel CPUs are better for gaming at the moment, but if you do go the AMD route then there are better motherboard options. Whilst that's not a bad board the VRMs on it aren't the best. It should be fine if you don't want to overclock, but if you think you might do so in future then the ga-970a-ud3 or Asus M5A97 pro/evo (but not plain M5A97) are better.

[Pete301]

Well I'm seeing my computer struggle in both games and pro tools tbh . But I don't know if I can justify the i7, which is why I originally said FX-8120. The Xeon looks like a contender though. And is this true that Pro Tools doesn't support AMD gfx? I know that most of the Macs have AMD gfx, but maybe it's different for windows , I was really hoping to get a 78xx series. However if I wait for one thing, by the time it comes out I'll want to wait for the next CPU or something, but I don't want to feel like I'm getting a bad deal lol.

What about the GeForce 560 (not the ti version). I built my mate a computer with this card and he says it's plenty good, although he only plays skyrim.

Will the better CPU work with my 550w PSU as well? I'm still only seeing a 80W TDP on the Xeon.

ATM it's looking like:

Xeon 1230 ~£180
H67 mobo ~£60-£80
8GB 1333 Ram £32
Geforce 560 ~£140

This comes to a lot cheaper than my first suggestion, mostly because of no new PSU, and no new HDD. But from what you guys have said, my current PSU should be good, and if I get a SATA - IDE connector I'm good for HDD space until the prices drop (fingers crossed).

[shaithis]

From what I have recently researched, ProTools gets better gains from IPC and frequency, then it does cores.

So, I personally would be all over the 2500k still.

As for gfx cards, there is only a small list of cards officially supported, all are nVidia Quadro cards and I suspect the vast majority of ProTools users do not have one of them!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Scan has the E3 1230 for around £180:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel...tio-80w-retail

Scan also has the 95W Phenom II X6 1045T for around £104:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/amd-p...che-95w-retail

[Terbinator]

Scan has the E3 1230 for around £180:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel...tio-80w-retail

Scan also has the 95W Phenom II X6 1045T for around £104:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/amd-p...che-95w-retail

So that's essentially a locked i7 for a lot less than for a 2600?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

So that's essentially a locked i7 for a lot less than for a 2600?

Yep!! Scan has not had them in stock for yonks. The CPU is of interest to me since the lower TDP would be great for my SFF PC and I have no need for the IGP.

However,as I am an el-skinto hector,I have no moneyz for one!!

Ivy Bridge based Xeon E3 CPUs will have a 69W TDP AFAIK.

TBH,the Phenom II X4 1045T and the Xeon E3 1230 are fantastic CPUs for the price if you need decent multi-threaded performance.