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AMD or Intel Bundle: main focus BF3 / BF4

SBD

SBD

SBD

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Joined
24 Oct 2007
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772
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Leicester/Norwich
My brother wants to be able to play BF3 and possibly BF4 once it is out. His current rig is an x2 AMD chip running at 2.8GHz (AM2), about 5 years old and it cannot even manage 25 FPS with a 460 768mb in Battle Field 3.

He has a £250 budget, how good would the current AMD CPUs be such as the AMD Piledriver FX-6 Six Core 6350?

I know it is not fair to compare a £100 CPU to a £150 Intel Core i5-4430 3.00GHz but basically will the AMD CPU be a bottle neck if at some point he gets a new graphics card with similar performance to an AMD 7950 at 1080p?

I will be ordering at some point tonight, any input would be a great help.
 
I think you would struggle at that budget with what you have at the moment. What's the complete spec of the PC? From what you're saying, it seems he's planning on saving more money in future to upgrade piece by piece right?
 
Current rig:

CPU: AMD X2 2.8GHz AM2 (not sure on the model)
RAM: 4GB DDR2 6400
GPU: NVIDIA 460 768mb
PSU: 520W Antec

He is gaming at 1080p which isn't great for the NVIDIA 460 768mb, all he wants do is play on BF3. It just isn't possible to play even on the lowest settings, the FPS will not rise above 30 even when dropping the screen resolution. He has a fresh install of windows, I am sure the CPU is a bottle neck.

I had a Core2 rig (same in sig), recently upgraded to an i5 using the same graphics card (ATI 5850) and I saw a massive increase in performance, sub 30 FPS to high 50FPS even online.

As his CPU is from the same time as mine (even slower I might add) I would have though he will be able to play BF3 even if he has to drop the settings down to Medium or Low?
 
I think with that budget your have to get an AMD cpu.

You just might be ableto squeeze and AMD FX 8320, get a cheap mobo and 8Gb of ram if budget allows.

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Infact the above is easy done. You might even be able to go for a FX 8350 if you wanted too.

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Getting a 4670k system is probably pushing it too much.
 
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It's a tricky budget for sure. Like opethdisciple said, you could grab an FX8320 or you could save a bit more for a 4670k or something. I wouldn't bother going Intel for less than an i5.

Arguably going AMD gives you a potential upgrade pathway when the new chips are released, but I don't think it would be particularly cost-effective.

Edit: cheated a little using the 'today only' deal, but something like this:

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-8 Eight Core 8320 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £119.99
1 x MSI 990XA-GD55 AMD 990X Chipset (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £43.99
Total : £255.37 (includes shipping : £9.50).



990X chipset gives you the option for xfire in the future, if you're not interested in that you could drop to a cheaper motherboard and save a few quid.
 
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Yes you are right, it appears to be £240 for an AMD FX 8320 including 8GB RAM and an ok motherboard.

I can go intel all in for £280 which is tempting (but I would be paying the extra :rolleyes:)



It is even worth going intel with a H87 chipset? Is there even a performance upgrade going from a 3.5GHz 8 core AMD FX 8320 to an Intel Core i5-4430 3.00GHz for Battle Field 3/4?
 
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SBD said:
Yes you are right, it appears to be £240 for an AMD FX 8320 including 8GB RAM and an ok motherboard.

I can go intel all in for £280 which is tempting (but I would be paying the extra :rolleyes:)



It is even worth going intel with a H87 chipset? Is there even a performance upgrade going from a 3.5GHz 8 core AMD FX 8320 to an Intel Core i5-4430 3.00GHz?
Click to expand...

I wouldnt. Dont skimped on the cpu and mobo just to go Intel.

Get the 8320. In the long run wuth the consoles being multi core aware the 8320 will start coming in to it's own.
 
since Bf4 will support more threads (likely) the more cores seems the better route to go.
so while ipc is better with Intel, its not a bad option with the 8320 as it also OC well.
4ghz should be good for him on air.
 
I think I am starting to agree, doesn't make sense to get a low clocking i5, low spec motherboard. The AMD route I hope will give the same if not more performance :)

I might even add CPU cooler into the basket such as the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro to make sure he is at 4.0Ghz!
 
SBD said:
I think I am starting to agree, doesn't make sense to get a low clocking i5, low spec motherboard. The AMD route I hope will give the same if not more performance :)

I might even add CPU cooler into the basket such as the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro to make sure he is at 4.0Ghz!
Click to expand...

AMD are working DICE to optimise FX CPU's for BF4, so it will work well, possibly better than the i5.
 
AMD is the way forward for that sort of money. You will be more than happy with what you get with the money. The Intel CPU's may offer more power, but it is marginally more, for quite a bit more money.

Intel is the way if you want the TOP performance, but you can get a machine that will more than make your brother happy if you go the AMD route.

Mighty have to look into a new GPU in the future, closer to release of BF4 I would think though. Wait for it to come out, try it and see how it goes, if not you might have to upgrade. Even something like a 6870 could be picked up second hand and could well play BF4 smoothly if as mentioned above, EA are working alongside AMD so the software will work better on there equipment.

Good luck :)
 
You cant go wrong with the 8320 cpu especially on your budget and with what your currently running.

For BF4 however I would think you will need a GPU upgrade eventually as the 760mb of vram on the gpu is a bit of a limitation.
 
I would look at one of these higher end 970 motherboards instead of the MSI 990X one:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-351-GI&groupid=701&catid=1903&subcat=2046

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-502-AS&groupid=701&catid=1903&subcat=2046

The VRM sections are better. It might be also worth considering the FX6350 too.

OcUK is not that cheap for AMD motherboards though.

However it might be worth checking if OcUK get more of this clearance motherboard:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BG-245-GI&groupid=595&catid=689
 
Is there really a difference with overclocking on the MSI 990XA-GD55 compared to Gigabyte 990XA-UD3? I know it is only a £10 difference but I would only overclock to just over 4.0GHz.

I assume this should be easy as the CPU is already clocked at 4.0GHz (8350), or is the 8320 drastically different?
 
The UD3 looks like it has a better VRM section.

I still think if you are on a tight budget a FX6300 or a FX6350 and a 970 based motherboard would be a good alternative.
 
So I am thinking about ordering the below, I'll stick with the standard CPU cooler for the time being, I assume AMD are using the same cooler on the 4.0GHz model?

AMD Piledriver FX-8 Eight Core 8320 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £119.99

Gigabyte 990XA-UD3 AMD 990X (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99

Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PV38G160C9K) £49.99

£260 all in, near enough on budget :D
 
SBD said:
So I am thinking about ordering the below, I'll stick with the standard CPU cooler for the time being, I assume AMD are using the same cooler on the 4.0GHz model?

AMD Piledriver FX-8 Eight Core 8320 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £119.99

Gigabyte 990XA-UD3 AMD 990X (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £89.99

Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PV38G160C9K) £49.99

£260 all in, near enough on budget :D
Click to expand...

Cant go wrong with that for the price.

Upgrade GPU when BF4 is out and your be a happy bunny.
 
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