Another 8320 Question...

ssmacc · 15 Aug 2013 at 08:35

Hello All,

I’m toying with the idea of a AMD 8320 (mainly due to cost) and I already have a Intel based “Main PC”.
I’ll be doing a lot of Audio based tasks (Superior Drummer & CuBase) which I assume any CPU over £100 can handle.
It looks like the
“ASRock 990FX Extreme3 AMD 990FX (Socket AM3+) DDR3 ATX Motherboard” currently at £86.99 is the best bang for buck, but I read the odd post that says stay away from this board…can anyone recommend me a decent ~£90 board for the 8320, I guess much dearer and I’ll be better getting a i5? (I’m looking at AMD based on the budget and have just about talked myself into the £120 needed for the 8320, although a cheap FM2 set up is still an option).

Cheers,

teppic · 15 Aug 2013 at 15:33

Does the software use all the cores? i.e. does it show every core maxed out when you run CPU intensive stuff? This matters as it will depend on whether it's worth going for an i5 or not.

For the 8320, the best ~£90 board is this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-502-AS

Or for a little extra:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-559-AS

ssmacc · 15 Aug 2013 at 17:01

Thanks for the suggestions.

Can anyone tell me why the ASRock 990FX Extreme3 AMD 990FX is so badly regarded?

Cheers

PS, I must admit I just like the idea of 8 cores. I guess my thinking is new games might utilise then due to the new consoles, and then programmes will follow...

teppic · 15 Aug 2013 at 17:04

The ASRock board has a 4+1 phase design, which is fine for a 6300 but not so good for an 8320. A lot of these boards were designed before the 8320/8350 came out and some don't support them well.

ssmacc · 15 Aug 2013 at 18:38

I see thanks that makes sense, I assume I should be after a board with:

"Industry leading Digital 6 +2 Phase Power Design"
(Asus M5A97 EVO R2.0 AMD 970 for example)

teppic · 15 Aug 2013 at 18:41

Yeah, 6+2 or 8+2. I think the MSI one around the same price has 8+2, but Asus is likely to be more reliable (they've a far better reputation for AMD boards than MSI).

AtaRo · 15 Aug 2013 at 19:34

ssmacc said:
Can anyone tell me why the ASRock 990FX Extreme3 AMD 990FX is so badly regarded?

Cause the ASRock 990FX Extreme3 throttles with the 8350, see he re .

teppic · 15 Aug 2013 at 19:46

Yeah, boards with poorer VRM design/thermal design will throttle.

Gigabyte's updated the UD3 board to fix that problem but someone got one from ocuk the other week that was still rev 3, which is disappointing. The Asus EVO 2.0 boards are all ok.

ssmacc · 15 Aug 2013 at 21:03

so this is the "cheap" board to get if I go 8320?
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-502-AS&groupid=701&catid=1903&subcat=2046

am I right in thinking that is only 16x16 PCi I miss out on with the 970? (I won't go crossfire or sli)

Cheers

teppic · 15 Aug 2013 at 21:22

Yeah, the only difference between 970/990 is dual card support. The reason people generally recommend 990 boards is because they're usually more expensive and more likely to have decent components.