Should I Keep this 8320e?

E

Eradan

[H]ard|Gawd
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Apr 7, 2006
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I had to sell my 3 year old 3570k/GTX970 system a few months ago to pay some unexpected bills and I'm looking to get another nice system put together. Last night at Micro Center I picked up an FX8320e, Asrock 970 Fatal1ty mobo, and a Hyper 212 EVO cooler. I've yet to open anything...wanted to sleep on it, but am feeling a little uncertain about my choice to go AMD.

I know this is the AMD CPU forum. For the entire Pentium 3 and Pentium 4 generation, I exclusively use AMD Athlon CPUs and was really happy about. In 2006 when the Core 2 Conroe chips became available, I was working for an Intel partner and our rep would bring in trays for engineering samples. I landed an E6600, Q6600, and finally a Q9550 for free. Hard to say no to that. I bought my 3570K in May 2012 and was pretty happy with it. So I'm not a fanboy for either team...I have great fondness for AMD and hope they get things turned around. But still feeling a little uncertainty about cracking this 8320E open. I also picked up an open box Sapphire Vapor 280x for $170.

I am a gamer. I play the occasional FPS. Looking forward to finally getting to Crysis 2 and 3. Going to play the most recent Wolfenstein game and the Witcher series at some point. Love Tomb Raider. But my favorite games are things like Diablo 3, Wasteland 2, Pillars of Eternity, Dragon Age.

More importantly...I am an amateur astrophotographer. I use Photoshop for processing my images and two other programs called DeepSkyStacker and PixInsight. The latter two will utilize every CPU resource they can get so an i7 would be a great fit and probably the 8 core AMD chips. I did some research in communities for those apps are there is little or no discussion about hardware.

Anyway...just wondering if anyone has any input on this stuff or if anyone has gone from recent Intel to AMD for budget reasons. I wouldn't mind doing this as inexpensively as possible but if an i5 or i7 is REALLY the right answer, I'll spend the money.

Thanks for reading. :)
 
You forgot to tell us what you paid for the parts. Because, the only thing worth spending more on than what you have is a 5820k system coming from the 3570k you sold. (Long time, no hear by the way.) Knowing Micro center, I am going to guess you got those parts for $120 or so, right?
 
If you paid in the $130 to $140 range or less for the mb / cpu, I'd just keep it. Moving from your 3570k / 970, you're more likely to notice the GPU change than any loss of CPU performance.

And the multiple cores probably won't hurt where your photography stuff is concerned.
 
A cheaper mobo would have possibly been a better idea, but for the $100 or so that micro center sells the 8320e, it's not a bad deal.

For your uses it should be fine.
 
The 8 core FX chips are great cpu's. Yes, they are outdated. You probably bought pretty much the equivalent to what you had before. You could get a faster i3 for about the same price, but I will admit its scary going to a dual core. You have ZERO upgradeability on that platform, just an fyi. The faster FX chips will bring you little performance for a lot more money. Especially in gaming.
 
The CPU was $109.99. The motherboard was $59.99 out the door and it's got a $10 mail-in rebate on it. So $160 out the door total.

Thanks for the responses, folks. Going to look at the Anantech links kindly provided by MrC4.
 
MrC4 said:
The FX8320e is a nice chip if the price is right. Here is the Anandtech Gaming Benchmarks that show the cpu holding it's own versus the more expensive competition.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8864/amd-fx-8320e-cpu-review-the-other-95w-vishera/5

Here is how it does in benchmarks that may correlate to your photography hobby.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8864/amd-fx-8320e-cpu-review-the-other-95w-vishera/4

Good luck with your decision!
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Well that paints an interesting picture. I have two 1333 4GB sticks of Kingston HyperX. Wondering if that will be adequate and I'm also wonder if this motherboard could be improved. Never owned an Asrock before. The MSI Gaming 970 is the same price and of course they had a bazillion motherboards from Asus and Gigabyte as well. I have seen some comments that this Asrock 970 Fatal1ty doesn't overclock particularly well due to poor VRM cooling. Need to do more research. I'm glad I enjoy this stuff!

I should add I also picked up a 250GB Samsung 850 EVO and will be running Windows 10.
 
For those applications I can't imagine how you'd go wrong with the FX8320e. Unless the image processing programs are entirely single threaded. If you crave more speed, you could invest in a better HSF or closed loop cooler and OC to 4.6 ghz+
 
PixInsight's CPU recommendations:

Processor

Minimum required processor: Intel Core Duo or equivalent.
Minimum reasonable processor: Intel Core i5 or equivalent.
Minimum recommended processor: Intel quad-core Xeon, quad-core Core i7, or similar.
Recommended performance processors: Intel Xeon E5-2697 v3 @ 2.60GHz / Intel Xeon E5-2680 v3 @ 2.50GHz / Intel Xeon E5-2697 v2 @ 2.70GHz / Intel Xeon E5-2695 v2 @ 2.40GHz / Intel Core i7-5960X @ 3.00GHz / Intel Core i7-4960X @ 3.60GHz.

By default, the PixInsight platform will use all processors and processor cores available on your machine. There are specific preferences settings to control the maximum number of processors used by PixInsight, along with other parallel execution options such as thread execution priority, thread processor affinity, etc.
 
I bought an 8320e w/ gigabyte 970ud3p, paired it with a gtx 970 just a few months ago. Great setup for the money! I encode a lot of video, use Photoshop a lot and game. Its been great in every task. I too have a 212 evo, was able to overclock too 4.2ghz @ 1.35v. Anything higher reaches too high temps, but 8 cores at 4.2ghz for $100! Can't beat it! I say it'll serve your needs very well!
 
redbeard75 said:
I bought an 8320e w/ gigabyte 970ud3p, paired it with a gtx 970 just a few months ago. Great setup for the money! I encode a lot of video, use Photoshop a lot and game. Its been great in every task. I too have a 212 evo, was able to overclock too 4.2ghz @ 1.35v. Anything higher reaches too high temps, but 8 cores at 4.2ghz for $100! Can't beat it! I say it'll serve your needs very well!
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That sounds pretty cool. Im wondering a few things about this setup. I'm current using a digital out for my headset and the software from Gigabyte on my old AM3 mainboard is outdated or not supported any more more how is that working out for you ?
Also the ram is that hard to get working on Gigabyte it seems that the older stuff works but you have to do a treasure hunt to get something nice (low latency/1600+ mhz).
 
I wouldn't really spend more to get a better motherboard. Yours is CHEAP. If you want faster, buy a faster CPU. You bought a lower power version of a CPU and it will maybe overclock to the speed of an 8350. I want to point out while the 970 Gaming is a pretty good motherboard, the 970 chipset is not the enthusiast version. For that you want 990FX. The price for these are crazy considering how old they are.
 
Full disclosure....I buckled and returned everything and got an Intel board and chip. My AMD buddies have been giving me shit all day. Thank you to everyone who responded. I'm building a gaming PC for my 10 year old nephew for Christmas and will be using AMD goodies.
 
Eradan said:
Full disclosure....I buckled and returned everything and got an Intel board and chip. My AMD buddies have been giving me shit all day. Thank you to everyone who responded. I'm building a gaming PC for my 10 year old nephew for Christmas and will be using AMD goodies.
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Your money your call :)
 
That is cool but what did you end up getting afterwards? Inquiring minds want to know. :)
 
Nothing wrong with putting aside fanboyism and buying the better product. This is coming from a longtime AMD fan, specs in the sig.
 
Pieter3dnow said:
That sounds pretty cool. Im wondering a few things about this setup. I'm current using a digital out for my headset and the software from Gigabyte on my old AM3 mainboard is outdated or not supported any more more how is that working out for you ?
Also the ram is that hard to get working on Gigabyte it seems that the older stuff works but you have to do a treasure hunt to get something nice (low latency/1600+ mhz).
Click to expand...

Haven't used the digital out on the motherboard so I can't help there, but the rev 2 board has an upgraded sound setup compared to the rev 1 boards. Realtek on rev 2, VIA on rev 1. No problems with the cheap crucial ballistix ram I'm using. I've read Kingston is problematic with the gigabyte boards...the bios isnt the greatest, and has a weird double boot, due too the dual bios. Basically only an issue if u overclock, and the workaround is to set the turbo too the same as your overclock, instead of disabling it. That solves the double boot. 8+2 vrm provides great OCing potential, but water is needed to go over 4.3ghz. overall a great setup for the $$$.
 
Was looking at some of the Asus boards but they all seem to be 4+2 (in the same price range).
 
I have a 990fx Killer Asrock Fatality board and really like Asrock's offerings. Have a Z77Killer/Fatality too btw. The VRM heatsink on my 990fx gets HOT!!!!!!!!! Mounting a 40mm fan on it was a must.

IMO you should be fairly happy with that combo provided you can get it to 4.2ghz plus. I don't personally feel Piledriver cpu's get their legs until past that. Intel may very well be faster, but if you cannot justify the added $ it's a moot point. The AMD rig should serve you fairly well. Be advised though, that oc'ing the AMD rig will tax your PSU, so make sure you have something decent. That cooler you have should be good, but add the 2nd fan to it.

Enjoy!
 
redbeard75 said:
Haven't used the digital out on the motherboard so I can't help there, but the rev 2 board has an upgraded sound setup compared to the rev 1 boards. Realtek on rev 2, VIA on rev 1. No problems with the cheap crucial ballistix ram I'm using. I've read Kingston is problematic with the gigabyte boards...the bios isnt the greatest, and has a weird double boot, due too the dual bios. Basically only an issue if u overclock, and the workaround is to set the turbo too the same as your overclock, instead of disabling it. That solves the double boot. 8+2 vrm provides great OCing potential, but water is needed to go over 4.3ghz. overall a great setup for the $$$.
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Got my stuff today and I'm assembling it tomorrow. I opted for GEIL ram cas 9 was not that expensive.
 
A 4.2-4.4GHz OC (adds about 30-40W more under load iirc) on the 8300 E-series will do wonders for its gaming performance with the added bonus of incoming DX12 games' multi-threading enhancement to utilize more of its 8 cores. It would hold its own vs. an i5 4690K on modern games.

Example - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt CPU Benchmark Test: FX 6300/8350 vs i7 4790K/i5 4690K/i3 4130/G3258 OC running on a TITAN X.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rutk9ErhKG4

Performance Summary:
Core i7 4790K - 65.0/84.4
Core i5 4690K - 52.0/79.2
Core i3 4130 - 38.0/68.9
G3258 at 4.5GHz OC - 27.0/63.8
FX 8350 - 56.0/75.2
FX 6300 - 45.0/69.6

"Also, check out the performance of the FX-6300 and FX-8350 starting from 01:26. In the initial cut-scenes they fall a little short of the Core i3 and i5, but once we hit the heavy Novigrad area, they compete very nicely - the FX 6300 moves ahead of the i3, while the FX 8350 is very close to the 4690K."
 
There is no doubt in my mind that more cores will benefit gaming now that the developers are forced to go this route means we will see better optimized code.
Mantle, DX12 and Vulkan will use more cores better then was previously possible....
 
What did you guys do on load line balancing ?
Haven't over clocked it yet
 
Settled on 4.3ghz at the moment with 1.3V and load line calibration on extreme.
Do any of you guys put the power saving features back on as APM and cool and quiet ?
 
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you don't need load line at all with only a 4.3ghz oc. i'd set it at auto. i have load line at high for my 5ghz fx 9370. power saving features are on for me.
 
For the $160 you spent you'll be happy, I have no issues recommending AMD if it fits the budget and it sounds like this is the ticket. YOu'll be happy, as long as you have an SSD for that rig you won't notice a thing.
 
Surprised to see this thread still going. You can see in my sig where I ended up. Building three new PCs for family between now and the end of the year...all AMD FX systems. Thanks guys!
 
atom said:
Wow. You went from uber budget AMD straight to Skylake!
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Yeah, decided to build this thing and just be done with it for the next few years.I don't want to have to touch it again until like 2018. :)
 
Eradan said:
Yeah, decided to build this thing and just be done with it for the next few years. I don't want to have to touch it again until like 2018. :)
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If AMD doesn't light a fire under Intel's collective ass it might be 2021 before you'll need a new platform. Still, grats on your Skylake rig. Enjoy!
 
Eradan said:
Yeah, decided to build this thing and just be done with it for the next few years.I don't want to have to touch it again until like 2018. :)
Click to expand...

Yeah, I did the same thing on my home computer. I went from a FX 8350, Asrock 990FX Extreme 9 and 16GB of DDR3 Ballistix ram to a I7-6700K, Gigabyte Z170 Gaming 7 and 32GB of DDR4 2400 Speed ram. Should be set at least until the year 2019 or so.

I swapped the FX 8350 into my work computer that has an MSI 970 Gaming and removed the FX 8320. I then sold the board, processor and ram so it is still being enjoyed. :) At work, I will wait until next year for an upgrade since I already use 32GB of DDR3 ram there and I had to replace the Extreme 4 board with the MSI board about 7 weeks ago.

Now, it is totally different with overclocking on this Intel Platform.
 
redbeard75 said:
.the bios isnt the greatest, and has a weird double boot, due too the dual bios. Basically only an issue if u overclock, and the workaround is to set the turbo too the same as your overclock, instead of disabling it. .
Click to expand...

I see what you mean with double boot basically you get the bios screen when you turn on the machine and says there are problems , then change a setting save and it work again after reboot. With disable the turbo core this happens again. What I'm wondering is there a problem with the bios not getting the informations fast enough to boot.

The cpu frequency sometimes does not display if you check it at the 1st boot. Or is this just a feature to scare people a way to buy their 990FX series :) .

Anyway thank you for the help ;)
 
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Short follow up to what I end up doing with the FX-8320E and GA 970A UD3P.
Getting it at 4.3 ghz was not such a problem having a Noctua NH C12P. With the case open this would lead to Idle at 35C and load not reaching 57C (using AMD overdrive stability test). But as soon as the system was closed it seems my Silent base 800 was getting temps up rather fast under short duration full load it would hit 61C and sometimes peak at 63C.

Something that was not that obvious to me was that the fans can be setup in the bios tried to set them using the PWM slope but in the end it was easier to put both cpu and system fans on disabled (sounds scary but just means fans will spin at full speed all the time). The result was the same as with the case open :) . Did try and set Load line calibration to auto but got an error in windows (would mean more voltage for cpu?).

If anything exciting happens I'll share it :) .
 
I love mine. Game at 4k with it plus a 980ti. Just gotta keep the temps low to keep it from throttling.
 
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