AMD Bulldozer FX-6 6200 Black Edition 3.8GHz

ussff · 8 Apr 2012 at 22:27

Intel option... 2500k is at the higher end of my budget, but I've seen plenty of Sandybridge optimised RAM at sweet prices, infact most DDR3 seems to be tested against Intel Mobo's and not AMD.

I like SLI, and whilst my 2 GSO9600xxx are not top drawer, it's what I have - by upgrading the mobo ram and CPU this time around - I get another boost in speed when my SLI package moves or a notch or 3 next upgrade...

So an Intel mobo option? ...cos I don't know nuffing "buried head in sand" aboutn Intel chipsets, mobo's etc other than everyone says 'sandybridge' like its the golden handshake to success.

What's the Intel equiv of a 990FXA mobo?

ussff · 8 Apr 2012 at 22:42

mmm - looking at Intel Z68, S 1155, DDR3, SATA III spec mobo's... maybe there isn't much of a price gap any more: learning mode on!

ussff · 8 Apr 2012 at 22:59

P67 or Z68>? Looking at the Asrock Extreme range to go with a i5 2500 - HELP ...out of my normal AMD depth...

Martini1991 · 9 Apr 2012 at 00:12

ussff said:
P67 or Z68>? Looking at the Asrock Extreme range to go with a i5 2500 - HELP ...out of my normal AMD depth...

Z68/Z77/P67, not going to make much difference, they'll all support Ivy Bridge, the only problem is with PCI-E 3.0 on SLI/Xfire on none Gen 3 boards, but that's only relevant with Ivy Bridge and PCI-E 3.0 cards, neither of which are in the equation here.

Get the best bang for buck Z68/P67/Z77 you can get with a 2500k

ussff · 9 Apr 2012 at 00:35

Done the rounds and to switch from AMD to Intel means the Z68 mobo is a few quid more... a lot more IF I want 2x16 PCIe SLI (in fact i did'nt find one for Intel co's I stopped looking at £140 for the mobo) the i5 2500 is a few quid more (Like +£160) ... it all adds up to well over my normal budget gaming PC costs... but thanks for the input!

Add to the equation I have a natural TWO pc evolution... the (AMD) gaming PC is current... my ADMIN PC is built from surviving (AMD) hand-me-down gaming PC parts, as I like to keep my gaming PC as NET/ADMIN free as possible - so I'd 'end of line' my 2n'd PC supply of parts if I went INTEL... A worthy cause if it was A CLEAR CUT WINNER... I like to count bang for buck with all parts such as mobo, cpu, ram, cooler costs included - Its not a done deal yet IF I'm building a buget PC... that may be upgradeable!

Whilst there is a minor tremor in the 'FORCE' that see's INTEL winning the power struggle... I think that the ££'s are still in favour of AMD if I look at overall costs and need to avoid 'bleeding edge specifications' - From an Intel POV no one has said anything other than i2500k is great... which I don't doubt having seen the stats... Its just not adding up for me... I suppose that's why AMD hasn't gone BUST - I'm not alone!

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 9 Apr 2012 at 02:36

If you want to go down the AMD route,the Phenom II X4 960T,Phenom II X4 965BE or FX4170 are the CPUs which you should be looking at(all of them can be had for around £90 to £100 at many retailers). Looking at the stock performance in the German review,the FX4170 varies from slightly worse than Phenom II X4 960T level performance to better than Phenom II X4 980BE performance with an overclocked GTX580.

TBH,I would wait a while longer to see how the CPU section of Trinity performs when it is launched next month, if you want to get an AMD based system. Trinity uses the newer Piledriver based cores,but has no L3 cache. Vishera uses Piledriver cores but has L3 cache and will be released a few months later(around Q3 2012 AFAIK) and this is the replacement for the current Bulldozer based CPUs,so Trinity should at least give an inkling of what level of improvement there should be over Bulldozer!

Bleek · 9 Apr 2012 at 08:28

Do what I'm doing and slide a 960T in there, cost effective 4GHz upgrade.

*from what I've read the majority seem to do around 4GHz on air.

IvanDobskey · 9 Apr 2012 at 10:16

It's a real shame to see AMD's current struggles in the CPU market. I had about 5 different Athlon chips back in the day. These days though, Intel are the only real choice for a decent spec desktop system. The 2500K is impossible to beat as the most value for money CPU currently on the market.

Martini1991 · 9 Apr 2012 at 10:47

ussff said:
Done the rounds and to switch from AMD to Intel means the Z68 mobo is a few quid more... a lot more IF I want 2x16 PCIe SLI (in fact i did'nt find one for Intel co's I stopped looking at £140 for the mobo) the i5 2500 is a few quid more (Like +£160) ... it all adds up to well over my normal budget gaming PC costs... but thanks for the input!

Add to the equation I have a natural TWO pc evolution... the (AMD) gaming PC is current... my ADMIN PC is built from surviving (AMD) hand-me-down gaming PC parts, as I like to keep my gaming PC as NET/ADMIN free as possible - so I'd 'end of line' my 2n'd PC supply of parts if I went INTEL... A worthy cause if it was A CLEAR CUT WINNER... I like to count bang for buck with all parts such as mobo, cpu, ram, cooler costs included - Its not a done deal yet IF I'm building a buget PC... that may be upgradeable!

Whilst there is a minor tremor in the 'FORCE' that see's INTEL winning the power struggle... I think that the ££'s are still in favour of AMD if I look at overall costs and need to avoid 'bleeding edge specifications' - From an Intel POV no one has said anything other than i2500k is great... which I don't doubt having seen the stats... Its just not adding up for me... I suppose that's why AMD hasn't gone BUST - I'm not alone!

Fact is AMD CPU's are bottlenecking GPU's left right and centre.
AMD still haven't adopted PCI-E 3.0 yet have PCI-E 3.0 GPU's.

The x16 PCI-E lanes are irrelevant, most cards on an 8X lane are fine ; 6990 etc.

Who knows how Zambezi's successor will perform, Ivybridge is due soon (This month) which brings PCI-E 3.0 support to Mobo's (And SLI/Xfire
PCI-E support in gen 3 boards)

You could get a nice Ivybridge i5 4 core with a Z77 board.
Have lower power consumption and much better gaming performance than any AMD set up would hope to give you.

Gareth went from an FX8150 and even he'd tell you a stock Sandy Bridge would bottleneck GPU's less than a clocked FX8150 in his rig.

Bleek said:
Do what I'm doing and slide a 960T in there, cost effective 4GHz upgrade.

*from what I've read the majority seem to do around 4GHz on air.

But it's pointless if it's for gaming, you're delaying the inevitable, a flipping Pentium Sandy Dual core would game better than a stock 960T while being half the price.
I've done the whole AMD route, stuck with them until mid 2011, pick the best you can for the money, and quite rightly that is, and will be for a while, Intel (Except in the minority of cases)

Bleek · 9 Apr 2012 at 12:22

Nah, my motherboard has already lasted over 3 years with 3 different AMD CPU so I'm happy with that, especially if the 960 makes it 4 years - by then we'll have new chips from both sides.

I still game at 2048x high detail.

Martini1991 · 9 Apr 2012 at 12:26

I don't get what you're saying "nah" at.
A Sandy Pentium will still out game a 960T at stock in the majority of titles.
After those 3 different AMD CPU's, you've still got lower end performance than CPU's released before the Phenom II's ; i7 920 (Which can now be found at 100 quid easy, with boards being peanuts and was launched in 2008.)

I used to throw tons of good money at AMD that I shouldn't have done, but it's far from logical.

Bleek · 9 Apr 2012 at 12:41

I can keep every other component in my system, sell my old CPU and get an upgrade for £40. So long as I can get close to my refresh in games, which I can, anything extra is just wasted.

ussff · 9 Apr 2012 at 19:04

OMG.... I'm looking at Intel for sub £300

ASRock Z68 Pro3 Gen3 S1155 (2 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 - dual SLI x8 mode) part of my compromise - cheers Martini1991
Intel Sandybridge i5-2500K Unlocked Core i5 Quad-Core Processor
Crucial 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600Mhz Ballistix Sport Memory Kit CL9 (9-9-9-24) 1.5V
Corsair A50 Socket Intel 1155, Performance CPU Cooler

Shopped around and all of the above comes too.... £282.02 +P&P which is wow... but cut some corners for the i5 2500k

1: Is the mobo any good... cos its pretty cheap

2: Will 8gb Ballistix Sport be ok, cos reviews I've read point me to believe that the Intel route does not reward High spec/speed ram like an OC AMD will... very little gain from low CAS etc!

I have to say, from what I've read - this rig should eat a current Phenom II 960t for breakfast and then go looking for seconds!

ussff · 9 Apr 2012 at 19:14

...not sure how long some of the prices will hold LOL! But I was surprised to find it all for a similar overall cost to my previous AMD aspirations.

Martini1991 · 9 Apr 2012 at 19:19

ussff said:
...not sure how long some of the prices will hold LOL! But I was surprised to find it all for a similar overall cost to my previous AMD aspirations.

A common misconception is that Intel are vastly expensive.

ussff · 9 Apr 2012 at 19:46

Just checking power requirements - current PSU is an OCZ Fata1ity Professional 550W - For my SLI I have an independant Thermaltake Power Express.

I'll dig out the details with research... but if anyone has ASRock Z68 Pro3 Gen3 / i5 2500k experience, it would be nice to know my current Haf 912 and PSU will cope...

Martini1991 · 9 Apr 2012 at 19:50

Your PSU would be fine, the 2500k isn't very power hungry at all.

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 9 Apr 2012 at 19:54

I have seen Core i5 2500K CPUs for around £150 to £155 delivered,which is pretty decent.

The ASRock does not do SLI according to their website:

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=Z68 Pro3 Gen3&cat=Specifications

However,with the Z77 being launched there should be some good bargains to be had on price reduced higher end Z68 based motherboards. It happened when the P67 based motherboards were phased out too IIRC.

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 9 Apr 2012 at 20:01

I have seen this ASRock motherboard for around £100 delivered:

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=Z68 Extreme3 Gen3

It does SLI/Crossfire.

ussff · 9 Apr 2012 at 20:03

ASRock Z68 Pro3 Gen3 S1155 Intel Z68 DDR3 ATX

Expansion Slot(s)1 x processor - LGA1155 Socket , 4 x memory - DIMM 240-pin , 2 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 ( dual x8 mode; single card: x16, x8 mode )

Hardware FeaturesASRock Hybrid Booster, ASRock Instant Boot, NVIDIA SLI Technology Support, ASRock Instant Flash, ASRock Boot Failure Guard (B.F.G.), HDCP compliant, Intel Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) support, NVIDIA Quad SLI Technology Support...

Cables Included1 x SLI bridge

... taken direct from the suppliers website

I will check with Asrock

UPDATE - E-mailed **** who are advertising the mobo as SLI -