RED vs BLUE

M

Mondo

New member
Hey.

Let me start by stating I'm not trying to start any arguments.

I've had the itch for a while now and am seriously thinking about switching from my current FX8320 to a i5 4690k.

My current rig is on a crosshair v formula 990FX, 8GB Corsair Dominator Platinum @1866, 3GB GTX 780, 128GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD, 2TB of storage, Corsair H105 with corsair SP120s. I also run a 24" g-sync screen.

As the specs show, I mostly game, when I can. My question is, will changing to an i5 4690k and an Asus z97 pro gamer be worth it?
 
Won't be any arguments here dude, we're clued up and not biased :)

You would definitely see a performance increase switching to an Intel chip, that being said do you Overclock? The 8320 is a good overclocker you could get more mileage and performance from it yet.
 
If you whant a extra 5-10fps in some games for £300+ then yes but is it worth spending the £300 well thats up to you.
 
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If youre gaming at 1080 and on a single GPU, I dont think moving up to an i5 will make a noticeable difference in frame rates assuming youve got that 8320 cranked up to 4.5 or better. An overclocked 8350 is more then enough CPU muscle for games these days especially when paired with a very good GPU. The i5 is a far superior CPU no doubt about it but in terms of gaming, the demand just isnt there to take advantage of all that extra horsepower. Now if youre running at a high resolution like 4K or triple screen 5760x1080 and running multiple GPU's then thats when youd see the extra grunt from the Intel chips really start to pull ahead.

Honestly if youve got the upgrade itch, you could upgrade your GPU to a GTX 980 for a little more money (~$525 here in the states) and see a sizable jump in performance. A 980 isnt overkill for your 1080 screen because you could really make use of that 144 Hz Gsync monitor youve got with it. A 980 compared to a 780 will go from 67 fps to 90 fps at 1080 and ultra settings. I think that would be a better way to go for a performance jump in gaming. May not make the most sense dollar and value wise but would still offer the most improvement in frame rates.

There is also AMD's new architecture, Zen, that is supposedly coming out next year. I put off my CPU/motherboard upgrade when I heard about it. Ive always been partial to AMD and if Zen can come in close to what Intel has to offer, Ill stick with team Red for another generation.
 
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I would recommend just getting another 780 for cheap and sli if you really want to. You can just OC your FX8320 more recent games will start using DX12 soon enough, so no point in wasting a perfectly good CPU and Mobo.

If you didnt have a G-sync monitor, I would have recommended you just switch out to a 290(x).
 
Cheers for the advice. I'm really just looking breath new life into my system. Not overclocked the 8320, mainly coz I didn't have a decent AIO until now. Could you give me some hints to achieve a decent overclock? The less money I spend the better, but it seems on some games that my system seems to be showing it's age.
 
You would be best off reading some of the very good in depth guides for OCing those chips. Plenty of them around and you will gain a more in depth perspective.
 
Cheers for the advice guys.

I think I'll save my £300 for now and check that out.

TTL wasn't joking when he said you guys knew your stuff!

Thanks again.
 
As someone who switched from AMD to intel, I'd say its not worth it for 95% of games. I only really switched as I wanted a smaller rig and I needed the stronger individual cores.
 
cooperman said:
If you whant a extra 5-10fps in some games for £300+ then yes but is it worth spending the £300 well thats up to you.
Click to expand...

Therre isn't a single i5 CPU that costs €300, let alone in pounds, nevermind the +. The 4690k seems to be the most expensive at around €250. You can get a decently overclocking board for €100 so that's a €350 or £250 total.

That said, when you buy the new CPU, you'll also need a new motherboard which will also cost you a fair bit, especially if you want to overclock.
As the other guys here have said, that's really not worth it unless you play games like Arma that just seem to really hate the weaker AMD cores.

An actual benefit that you might get from a platform switch is upgrade path. While the i5 offers mostly similar performance to that of the 8320, you still have the ability to upgrade to an i7 (possibly a next gen too). Right now games don't really need to power of the i7 yet but who knows what happens in the next year.

You'll also get the Z97 chipset, and things like PCI-E Gen 3.0 which might help a bit if you decide to go SLI later.

Long story short these are all very minor things and you might get an extra 5 FPS. If that's worth the money to you then go for it, but I think you already understand how we feel about it :)
 
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Yeah I kinda got that impression. The £300 was referring to a CPU and decent board, but for such minimal gains, I think I'll leave it for now. I just need to find a decent Ocing guide to try get more out of my 8320. Even just some steps to get me started would help.
 
Mondo said:
Yeah I kinda got that impression. The £300 was referring to a CPU and decent board, but for such minimal gains, I think I'll leave it for now. I just need to find a decent Ocing guide to try get more out of my 8320. Even just some steps to get me started would help.
Click to expand...

Take a look at this beginners guide on youtube :)
Hope this helps

http:/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZPy6xMhtso

This one may be better for you as he is using an asus board

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3yj-0jQMZU
 
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Feronix said:
Therre isn't a single i5 CPU that costs €300, let alone in pounds, nevermind the +. The 4690k seems to be the most expensive at around €250. You can get a decently overclocking board for €100 so that's a €350 or £250 total.
Click to expand...

£180-4690k+Asus z97 pro gamer-£110=£290 i never said a i5 cost £300

As the specs show, I mostly game, when I can. My question is, will changing to an i5 4690k and an Asus z97 pro gamer be worth it?
Click to expand...
 
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Thanks once again for your help. After a little tweaking I've managed, what I believe to be a modest OC. 4.25Ghz from 3.5Ghz. I know it's not much, and could probably get more as I'm using a H105, but for me, for now, it's certainly made a marked improvement.

Much appreciated! :)
 
Good work :) saved youself some money there that you could always just use for a better GPU. Games like BF4 that people argue need a strong CPU already support mantle, if you were to have an AMD GPU anyways.
 
Mondo said:
Thanks once again for your help. After a little tweaking I've managed, what I believe to be a modest OC. 4.25Ghz from 3.5Ghz. I know it's not much, and could probably get more as I'm using a H105, but for me, for now, it's certainly made a marked improvement.

Much appreciated! :)
Click to expand...

Dont give up on overclocking that thing. The FX chips really come to life once you hit 4.5 GHz. Thats usually where they hit their voltage wall too and it becomes more tricky to get them passed there but then thats also where the fun start too. ;)

The H105 is more than enough to get up into the mid 4's with that 8320. Give it a try. You might enjoy it and get hooked on overclocking. Thats how most of us do. We're just looking for a little extra horsepower and end up overclocking everything. LOL
 
With the motherboard you have you should be able to get more just do some research on the web mate good luck and well done :)
 
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