Replace i7 920 D0 2.66GHz

[Eldrick]

I am looking to replace my i7 920 D0 2.66GHz and need advice on which AMD FX+ to look at.

I have these on my list:
FX-4 Quad Core 4130 Black Edition 3.80GHz
AMD FX-6350 Six-Core 3.9 ghz
AMD FX-6300 Six-Core 3.5 ghz
AMD FX-8150 Eight-Core 3.6 ghz

I have looked at some sites that compare CPU's including 'Passmark'. The result of all this reading is to send me into a tech spin. So now I need advice about upgrading.

I am a gamer and the current rig consists of:
Intel Core i7 920 D0 2.66GHz
Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard
OCZ Gold 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-16000C10 2000MHz Triple Channel memory
NVidia GTX580 1.5gb
Cooler Master V8 CPU Cooler
Screen res 1680x1050 on a 22 inch widescreen.

I will keep the GPU and intend to change the CPU-Motherboard-Memory and Cooler.

At what level of AMD FX+ CPU do I gain a real upgrade on the current i7 please? Any suggestions on overall upgrade route are also appreciated, thanks.

 

[OLDPHART]

Hi, have you tried overclocking your CPU? as you would get a good performance boost by doing that alone.

 

[~>Dg<~]

stock 8350 will be same as i7 920 at 4ghz

 

[ubersonic]

I am looking to replace my i7 920 D0 2.66GHz and need advice on which AMD FX+ to look at.

I have these on my list:
FX-4 Quad Core 4130 Black Edition 3.80GHz - Your CPU is better than this
AMD FX-6350 Six-Core 3.9 ghz - Your CPU is better than this
AMD FX-6300 Six-Core 3.5 ghz - Your CPU is better than this
AMD FX-8150 Eight-Core 3.6 ghz - This ones good but old, the 8320 is better (and cheaper?)

Have you considered just overclocking the 920? at 4GHz the performance difference to a currant i7 isn't all that major (as in noticeable).

 

[Eldrick]

I have not tried OC to above 3.2ghz which can be done easily using the easytue6 that comes with the motherboard. I have looked at posts about over clocking using the BIOS directly but I just never get that correct. I do think my cooler will cope and the Antec12 case I use should have enough fans in it too.

I have considered adding more DDR3 Triple Channel Memory but I believe I can only get upto 12gb on this board and I am sure that 16Gb DDR3 Dual Channel will be slower than even the 6GB TC I have now due to some technical stuff about the fourth slot on the board and the affinity with the CPU and TC Memory being optimised.

One specific game got me thinking upgrade is Rise Of Flight. I ran that with all settings on max up until I bought the 'English Channel' expansion for it and now with all settings at max, it is a slide show even though the settings say only 85% GPU is used. To me that suggests I need more power in the CPU and Memory.

Thanks for the response so far.

 

[On Holiday]

As above, I'd recommend just overclocking.. My 920 was easily capable of 4GHz, the only reason I changed from my 920 to 3820 is for SATA 6Gb/s and USB 3 capability.

 

[setter]

New gpu, ala amd 700 series or the latest nv 700. An i7 920 oc'd to 4ghz will be grand with that.

 

[OLDPHART]

stock 8350 will be same as i7 920 at 4ghz

Hi DG, sorry a stock FX8350 is not the same as a overclocked i7920/turbo:4.00ghz, the 920 would be faster in most games, if the OP'S 920 could do 4.2ghz the same as the 8350 it would be a different story yet again. The 8350 are great at heavily multi-threaded tasks and lack a bit in gaming as the software has not caught up to multicore CPU's yet.

The OP if he wants could save his money and just overclock his 920 saying that the 8350 is still a good CPU.

FX8350/Turbo:4.2ghz Cores:8+[8 threads]stock
i7 920/turbo:4.00ghz Cores:4+[8 threads]overclocked

Use these settings as a rough guide in the Bios these are settings from a Gig X58 UD5 and let us know how you get on.

BIOS SETTINGS 4.0GHz -
Adavanced CPU Features -- [A = AUTO][E = ENABLED] [D = DISABLED]
CPU CLOCK RATIO----------[A] - 21[x191=4.0]
INTEL(R)TURBO BOOST-----[A] - E
CPU CORES E--------------[ALL] - ALL
CPU MULTI THREADING-----[A] - E
CPU ENHANCED HALT (C1E)-[A] - E
C3/C6/C7 STATE SUPPORT--[A] - D
CPU THERMAL MONTIOR-----[A] - E
CPU EIST FUNCTION--------[A] - E
VIRTUALIZATION TECH------[A] - E
BI-DIRECTIONAL PROCHOT--[A] - E

UNCORE & QPI FEATURES -
QPI LINK SPEED--------------[A] - 36
UNCORE FREQUENCY---------[A] - 17
ISONCHORNOUS FREQUENCY--[A] - E
INTERGRATED PERIPHERALS -
ICH SATA CONTROL MODE----[IDE] - ACHI for SSD
STANDARD CLOCK CONTROL -
BASE CLOCK[BLCK]CONTROL-[A] - E
BCLK FREQUENCY [MHz]-----[A] - 191[x21=4.0GHz]
PCI EXPRESS FREQ[MHz]----[A] - 101
C.I.A.2------------------[A] - D

ADVANCED CLOCK CONTROL -
CPU CLOCK DRIVE----------[a-OPS] - 800mv
PCI EXPRESS CLOCK DR-----[a-OPS] - 900mv
CPU CLOCK SKEW----------[A-Ops] - OOOMV
IOH CLOCK SKEW----------[A-Ops] - 000MV

ADVANCED DRAM FEATURES -
PERFORMCE ENHANCE---------[A] - TURBO
EXTREME MEMORY PRO[XMP]--[A] - D
SYSTEM MEMORY MULTI[SPD]-[A] - 8x=1608mhZ
DRAM TIMING SELECT[SPD]----[A] - QUICK

CHANNEL A+B+C TIMINGS SETTINGS[ALL THE SAME] -
##CHANNEL STANDARD TIMING CONTROL##

CAS LATENCY TIME----------8 [A] - 9
TRCD-----------------------8 [A] - 9
TRP-------------------------8 [A] - 9
TRAS-----------------------24 [A] - 24
CR--------------------------2 [A] - 2

CHANNEL A+B+C TIMINGS SETTINGS[ALL THE SAME] -
##CHANNEL ADVANCED TIMING CONTROL##
TRC----------------------[A]
TRRD---------------------[A]
TWTR---------------------[A]
TWR----------------------[A]
TWTP---------------------[A]
TWL----------------------[A]
TRFC---------------------[A]
TRTP---------------------[A]
TFAW---------------------[A]
COMMAND RATE[CMD]--------[2]

CHANNEL A+B+C TIMINGS SETTINGS[ALL THE SAME] -
##CHANNEL MISC TIMMINGS##

ROUND TRIP LATENCY-------[A]

ADVANCED VOLTAGE CONTROL -
CPU-
LOADLINE CALIBRATION-----[a] STANDARD - LEVEL 1 - LEVEL 2 - ENABLED TO Level 1 = 4.0GHz
CPU VOLCORE--------------[ auto] 1.3250v try this if it crashs up the voltage slowly till stable
DYMANIC VCORE[DVID]----[ auto]
QPI/VTT VOLTAGE1.150v--[A] - 1.315v
CPU PLL 1.800v-----------[A] - 1.800v
MCH/ICH -
PCIE 1.500v--------------[A] - 1.500v
QPI PLL 1.100v-----------[A] - 1.140v
IOH CORE 1.1v-----------[A] - 1.120v
ICH I/O 1.50v------------[A] - 1.500v
ICH CORE 1.1v-----------[A] - 1.140V

DRAM -
DRAM VOLTAGE 1.500v------[A] - 1.540v Find out your memory voltage them half it for the settings below example 1.600v half is 0.800v

DRAM TERMINATION 0.750v--[A] - 0.750v
CH-A DATA VREF---0.750v---[A] - 0.750v
CH-B DATA VREF-----"-------[A] - --"--
CH-C DATA VREF-----"-------[A] - --"--
CH-A ADDRESS VREF-0.750v--[A] - 0.750v
CH-B ADDRESS VREF---"------[A] - --"--
CH-C ADDRESS VREF---"------[A] - --"--

 

[~>Dg<~]

have a look at this if you want

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6396/the-vishera-review-amd-fx8350-fx8320-fx6300-and-fx4300-tested

a 4ghz i7920 will be about a stock 8350. remember the 8350 will do 4.5/4.6 minimum.

if you can sell your gear for decent price it could be a cheapish upgrade. its all down to what you do with your gear .

in encoding quite a lot faster with a oc especially on the 8350.

in games it depends. skyrim can be 30-50 fps difference. in other games it can be 5-10 fps so close. i 7 920 pretty decent still. so as said its upto you what you do with your pc and if you think its worth it.

 

[Eldrick]

I am going to test OC first, I will start that today and test over the weekend. Would it therefore make sense to upgrade the memory to 12gb Triple Channel DDR3? This for example; Corsair Vengeance

I have estimated that I could fetch a maximum of £180.00 for the CPU-Motherboard-RAM-Cooler if I could sell it as a 'bundle'. I could then add ~£200.00 to that for an upgrade. I am however open to good advice.

I do like the look of all that BIOS info and I am not afraid to use the BIOS. So I will get back with some reports on that but have not yet ruled out anything.

Thanks all.

 

[Eldrick]

I have applied the BIOS setting above and PC boots ok. Running a benchmark on the 'Prime' has the results shown in the image above.

Should I worry?

 

[On Holiday]

Temps too high. Get a better cooler.

Phanteks TC14PE, Noctua, Corsair H100, Alpenfohn K2

 

[Eldrick]

OK, the cooler seems to have kicked in under stress testing and it now looks like this:
I should test more and worry less.

 

[On Holiday]

Much better, but what's your idle temps? I still wouldn't be happy with it myself if above 50°c. My old 920 was 4GHz idle 40°c, load 65°c

 

[Eldrick]

Idle looks like this:

 

[Mightycamels]

It is a hot summer day so its going to be hotter than normal but thats still way to hot. Your max is showing 100C, I wouldn't be happy letting it go over 80C. Either drop your volts or upgrade your cooler.

It should be idling under 40C

 

[OLDPHART]

Idle looks like this:

Hi, try reducing the CPU voltage to lower your temps as well, let use know the out come.

 

[On Holiday]

To be fair I can't see it going below 40 unless speedstep is on. Load temps maximum of 70°c seem fine though, and contradicting my other post, taking the hot weather in account, the idle seems fine as it is now.

But yeah, try and take voltage as low as possible whilst keeping it stable, that'll go reduce temps.

 

[Eldrick]

Do I reduce only the CPU Voltage and leave the other settings alone?

 

[james_2k]

have a look at this if you want

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6396/the-vishera-review-amd-fx8350-fx8320-fx6300-and-fx4300-tested

a 4ghz i7920 will be about a stock 8350. remember the 8350 will do 4.5/4.6 minimum.

if you can sell your gear for decent price it could be a cheapish upgrade. its all down to what you do with your gear .

in encoding quite a lot faster with a oc especially on the 8350.

in games it depends. skyrim can be 30-50 fps difference. in other games it can be 5-10 fps so close. i 7 920 pretty decent still. so as said its upto you what you do with your pc and if you think its worth it.

you do realise that the 920 in that article is @ 2.66-2.93 ghz??

if it was at 4+ it would be much higher than the 8350.

and remember, the 920 will do 4.4 and 4.5 in a lot of cases too.

note: above comments were reference the gaming performance, following up oldpharts suggestion, which i agree with.

To be fair I can't see it going below 40 unless speedstep is on.

looking at his screenshot, it looks like speed step is enabled.