Thinkin' bout a possible system upgrade....

[konfyoused]

Soooo..... it's been a while since I've posted on here, and like everyone else I was waiting for the Bulldozer release with baited breath. While I have to say that the reviews don't live up to the hype, at the same time, it still really isn't that bad a CPU. AMD's main transgression in reality, seems to be that they didn't live up to all the hype that the internet community heaped upon it. Had they just quietly released the processor without all the performance claims, it would have been much better received. For me personally I tend to believe that there is a great deal of truth in what has been said about windows not really knowing quite how to handle BD, with that said, I will definitely be waiting to see if a patch is released for the processor and what, if any, performance increase is seen for it. I hope it's a sizable one. I have looked around at the different benchmark results and they all seem to show a fairly significant increase in performance when going from my current build to an FX-8150 build. the FX looses in a couple of places, but largely comes out on top.

My current build:

Intel Core i5 760

Gigabyte P55A UD3

8 gig 1600Mhz ddr3

Sapphire HD4870 Vapor X 1 gig

Antec True Power 650

Thermalright Ultra Extreme 120 cpu cooler

Cooler Master 690 II advance case

assorted drives, fans and bits and bobs

What I'm considering (sometime within the next 3 months or so) is to step up to a FX-8120 (95 watt) Corsair H100, and a gigabyte 990FXA UD3 motherboard. I know a lot of you will say "get a 2500k" but the 2500 and 2600k system builds have become the standard automatic reply for everything, and to be honest it gets a bit tiresome and annoying. One advantage I see to the BD build is the option for trifire/sli and (even though i know there's no appreciable gains) 2 full 16x PCI Express lanes.

So, now that you've gotten to the end of my somewhat long winded post, I would appreciate any clearly stated, knowledgeable, and well thought out opinions.

 

[wotevajjjj]

why not update your gpu first ? maybe later get a better cpu cooler and oc that 760. FX8120 does seem to be the best choice in bulldozer if you really want that..

btw, in 3 months, SB-E will be sold so why not get one of those ? everyone just bought SB so i don't expect them to be super popular

 

[Master&Puppet]

What I'm considering (sometime within the next 3 months or so) is to step up to a FX-8120 (95 watt) Corsair H100, and a gigabyte 990FXA UD3 motherboard. I know a lot of you will say "get a 2500k" but the 2500 and 2600k system builds have become the standard automatic reply for everything, and to be honest it gets a bit tiresome and annoying. One advantage I see to the BD build is the option for trifire/sli and (even though i know there's no appreciable gains) 2 full 16x PCI Express lanes.

Well to be honest I don't think you are going to get much support on here for bulldozer, the reason why intel has become the automatic response is because amd has produce a pretty rubbish processor. If you get an intel SB mobo then you'll be able to upgrade it to Ivy next year on the same socket. SB-E is over the top for most and requires a dif socket. To be honest if you don't go intel then you might as well save some money and just get a phenom II which for most purposes will be as good (from the reviews we have seen). The gpu upgrade wotevajjjj suggested is not a bad shout in the meantime (though pcie 3 is around the corner).

I wouldn't get the H100, if you are going to faff with WC then you might as well do it properly and throw in a full loop with gpu block and OC everything

If you are just playing with the cpu then the NH-D14 or silverline arrow are awesome. Both air coolers are cheaper than the H100 and perform nearly as well as the h100 on high fan speeds but are also quieter. They will annihilate it on low fan speeds...

Hope that helps, I just can't recommend AMD at the moment...

M&P

 

[nothingspecial]

I'm waiting to see what's happening with a rumoured B3 stepping of the FX chips, and if that doesn't improve things then I'll probably hold out for Ivy Bridge.

In your case, it's another vote for the GPU upgrade from me. Give it a month, and the AMD7xxx cards should be with us. Or there's a new set of GTX560Ti cards coming which are essentially downclocked 570s that sound interesting

 

[konfyoused]

Thanks for the replies so far. As for the GPU upgrade, I was definitely planning on that, right now I'm leaning towards saving up for an HD6950, just not sure which one yet, probably a Gigabyte. I've had the 760 out to 4Ghz@1.3v on the current cooler and it was around 90% stable or so, would run Prime95 for hrs. Temps were in the upper 70's or low 80's (its been a while since I took it out that far) I have considered trying to get a good used 8x8x 1156 board off ebay for the current processor, but in the end I find myself wanting more of an upgrade and I'm not really wanting to follow the beaten path. I've always been a fan of AMD although I've owned rigs from both manufacturers. I think that in the case of BD, its really been about failed expectations more than it being a bad CPU. if it had been marketed differently, and priced a bit more competitively the opinions would have been much different.

 

[Master&Puppet]

Thanks for the replies so far. As for the GPU upgrade, I was definitely planning on that, right now I'm leaning towards saving up for an HD6950, just not sure which one yet, probably a Gigabyte. I've had the 760 out to 4Ghz@1.3v on the current cooler and it was around 90% stable or so, would run Prime95 for hrs. Temps were in the upper 70's or low 80's (its been a while since I took it out that far) I have considered trying to get a good used 8x8x 1156 board off ebay for the current processor, but in the end I find myself wanting more of an upgrade and I'm not really wanting to follow the beaten path. I've always been a fan of AMD although I've owned rigs from both manufacturers. I think that in the case of BD, its really been about failed expectations more than it being a bad CPU. if it had been marketed differently, and priced a bit more competitively the opinions would have been much different.

I've had AMD systems for many years now and was very happy until BD. Yes it's been marketed and priced wrongly (at release) but the reason why I am now changing to Intel for my next rig is the upgradability, which has traditionally been an AMD strong point. If you go AM3+ with BD there is nowhere else to turn, I can't see you upgrading an 8120 to an 8150 and Enhanced BD looks like it will require a new motherboard because it will probs be on a new socket. If you went for a 2500 then you can always upgrade to one of the i7 cpus and/or upgrade to an IvyB because they all share the same socket.

Having said that the BD and 2500 are comparable on performance and price so if you are happy with the limitations then go for it and enjoy the new pc

Unless you are desperate to spend money now I'd hang on until the reviews of the Radeon 7xxx come out. Then you can either choose to get a 6xxxx on the cheap or grab one of the 7xxxx.

M&P