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Best AM3 or AM3+ CPU

nheather

nheather

nheather

Associate
Joined
19 May 2004
Posts
942
Location
Horsham, West Sussex
I know my PC could do with a total refresh but for the time being I’m not ready for the who replace the CPU, motherboard and RAM just because my CPU is old. So wondering what is the best CPU I can drop into the existing machine.

The motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-990FX board which claims to support AM3+.

Current it has a Phenom II 955 X4 - what I’m wondering is whether it is worth picking up a second hand newer (yes I appreciate it will still be old). What is the best I can get and would it be a worthwhile upgrade.

Once again, yes I know that long term it needs a full refresh, but I’m thinking short-term if I could buy a second hand CPU for around £50 or so.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
Thanks very much.

That was the sort of thing I was looking for. Sure I will do a full refresh in the future, but that will cost several £100s which is hard to swallow given the PC allows me to do all the stuff I want at the moment, just lacks a little oomph occasionally.

I look out for an 8320 going cheap.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
nheather said:
Current it has a Phenom II 955 X4 - what I’m wondering is whether it is worth picking up a second hand newer (yes I appreciate it will still be old). What is the best I can get and would it be a worthwhile upgrade.
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What are you going to be doing with it? For office type stuff your 955 will be just fine; rather you should look at a SSD. And you'll be able to transfer the SSD to a new PC down the line.
 
I actually play games and generally happy with them. For example been playing Call of Duty WWII recently and it plays fine for me. I only play on 1080P and I’m sure it is not on the highest settings but works well enough for me. Same with Rise of the Tomb Raider.

I think much of this is down to the PC already having a GTX 1060 graphics card and SSDs.

There is the occasional time when it does feel a bit sluggish, so I was just wondering if there was a cheap CPU that I could drop in just to give it a little more oomph.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
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Looking at the suggested FX-8320, what sort of improvement is that over the 955?

I assume that as you are talking about overclocking it then I need to get a Black edition - is that correct?

Cheers,

Nigel
 
nheather said:
Looking at the suggested FX-8320, what sort of improvement is that over the 955?

I assume that as you are talking about overclocking it then I need to get a Black edition - is that correct?

Cheers,

Nigel
Click to expand...
All of the FX line are overclockable, tune up NB as high as you can (cause that is his weakest link), depending on cooler 4.8-5 GHz easily achievable on 83xx cpus.
 
I think 4.8-5.0ghz is a bit much, i had an fx8120 running at 4.5 for a couple of years under a cheap corsair h60 AIO. i had to dial it back as i was having a few stability issues later on it its life. I ran it for a good 5yrs before buying the first gen ryzen. i believe the CPU is still going strong and gaming just fine, These CPU's have aged well considering the bashing they got.
 
Lolik said:
All of the FX line are overclockable, tune up NB as high as you can (cause that is his weakest link), depending on cooler 4.8-5 GHz easily achievable on 83xx cpus.
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Thanks very much - out of interest, why is there a black edition then - is it just hand-picked so more likely to clock higher?

Cheers,

Nigel
 
nheather said:
Thanks very much - out of interest, why is there a black edition then - is it just hand-picked so more likely to clock higher?

Cheers,

Nigel
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Not aware of any black edition FXs, iirc they had 2 9xxx line cpus ( were running 4.7-5 GHz out of the box).
 
Chrisc said:
I think 4.8-5.0ghz is a bit much, i had an fx8120 running at 4.5 for a couple of years under a cheap corsair h60 AIO. i had to dial it back as i was having a few stability issues later on it its life. I ran it for a good 5yrs before buying the first gen ryzen. i believe the CPU is still going strong and gaming just fine, These CPU's have aged well considering the bashing they got.
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Well, yes 5 GHz wasn't achievable on FX 81xx (1gen bulldozers), but on 83xx (2nd gen piledrivers) 4.8 GHz the lowest my m8s were getting, one of them with the custom loop ( handmade from Ford escort heater radiator) had his FX8320 running 5.2 GHz :D
 
nheather said:
I know my PC could do with a total refresh but for the time being I’m not ready for the who replace the CPU, motherboard and RAM just because my CPU is old. So wondering what is the best CPU I can drop into the existing machine.

The motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-990FX board which claims to support AM3+.

Current it has a Phenom II 955 X4 - what I’m wondering is whether it is worth picking up a second hand newer (yes I appreciate it will still be old). What is the best I can get and would it be a worthwhile upgrade.

Once again, yes I know that long term it needs a full refresh, but I’m thinking short-term if I could buy a second hand CPU for around £50 or so.

Cheers,

Nigel
Click to expand...

8320/8350/9370/9590 (i believe latter is compatible)
Get which one is cheapest and overclock them to 4.8-5Ghz.

9370s especially are dirty cheap these days, for sub £50.

However don't pay anything more than £80. You getting to Ryzen 2600 territory after that.
 
They did make black editions, Ive got an 8120 black edition, The tin box it came in! A bloody big aftermarket cooler, Motherboard (Asus M5A99X rev2) Top shelf i believe for these chips? And a stack of Corsair vengeance ram sitting on a shelf, As previously stated i think these are half decent CPU's for the amount of flak they get, Mine ran at 4.5ghz for years and still works perfect now, Never had 1 problem with it and it was a dead nippy CPU, Was solid in Project cars and AC etc.
 
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Lolik said:
Well, yes 5 GHz wasn't achievable on FX 81xx (1gen bulldozers), but on 83xx (2nd gen piledrivers) 4.8 GHz the lowest my m8s were getting, one of them with the custom loop ( handmade from Ford escort heater radiator) had his FX8320 running 5.2 GHz :D
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Jebus that's impressive :eek:
 
Thanks very much, all this advice is very useful. Just need to find one for sale at a reasonable price now.

Are people suggesting the 8320 because back in the day it was the best bang for the buck. For example, why pay the extra for an 8350 when an 8320 will clock just as well. The reason I ask is that in the second hand market they prices may not be that different.

What about the 93xx and the 95xx

Should I be on the look out for - I have a wanted ad on OCUK.

8320, 8350, 8370, 9370, 9590 - whatever pops up at best price - or are there specific ones to look after.

BTW - the black edition confused me - they are described that way on the AMD site but I think it is because all FX were black editions. It is confusing though because look on ebay and you will see some being sold as Black Edition at a price premium.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
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