i3 vs 8320 (gaming)

Hardeep294

Hardeep294

Hardeep294

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Hey there, with the BF4 beta being released and a lack of fps from my rig, I'm left having to build a new rig. Which one of the two CPU's would be better? If I'm right to understand, BF4 and other new games will utilise more cores more effectively, handing victory to the 8320? However with the i3 it can be upgraded to an i5 or i7.
This is what I'm looking at currently, budget of around £600. Would prefer a mATX build. Sufficient funds will allow me to buy a h100/110 to o/c the processor (if the 8320 is chosen). (Already own a hard drive and optical, if possible an SSD would be great but isn't necessary, can be added at a later date) Thanks for looking :)

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7950 OC BE 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (R7950-3GD5/OC BE G) £179.99
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-8 Eight Core 8320 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £119.99
1 x Corsair Obsidian 350D Windowed Micro ATX Case - Black £94.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (CML8GX3M2B1600C11) £59.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 600W V2 '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020048-UK) £59.99
1 x Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 AMD 760G (Socket AM3+) DDR3 MicroATX Motherboard £52.99
Total : £589.36 (includes shipping : £17.85).

 
id take the 8320 out of those 2 but then if your only suggesting the i3 because you can upgrade it to i5/7 later, id save a little bit longer and get 1 of them to start with
 
I wouldn't trust that motherboard to be able to handle an overclocked 8320. I have one spare and when i put any 8 core fx CPU in it and raise the voltage to 1.4 it throttles straight away because VRMs overheat. The board also set my CPU voltages unusually high and have a not so modest voltage drop under load. I have experienced this with both an 8150 and an 8350.

I don't think there are many AM3+ micro atx boards that can handle an 8320 at stock speed due to less sturdy power phasing designs.

Definitely don't go budget on the board if you are set with an 8 core fx. Minimum i would get would be a 970 Evo. Teppic has a handy list of am3+ motherboards which are known to run into issues with high power chips, don't know if he still has the link though.
 
There are no matx am3+ boards. The motherboard you have spec'ed will not be able to supply the 8320 with stable power maybe even at stock. Also your probably want to get an aftermarket cooler because the stock on is going to be pretty loud. I would suggest i3 and a decent matx z77 or z87 board, then upgrade to a i5/7 when you have enough to buy one and a decent cooler.

YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7950 IceQ BOOST 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795QC3G2M) **FREE SHIPPING** £199.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77MX-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £104.99
1 x Corsair Obsidian 350D Windowed Micro ATX Case - Black £94.99
1 x Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £89.99
1 x Antec High Current Gamer 520W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £59.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £56.99
Total : £606.94 (includes shipping : FREE).




then get these at a later date after selling the i3

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Raijintek EreBoss High Performance CPU Cooler £31.99
Total : £223.38 (includes shipping : £9.50).

 
Last edited:
For BF4 isn't it better to go for the 8320 and any extra money you would have spent upgrading the CPU in the future can go towards netting another card for Xfire?
 
In that case I'd rather buy a better processor and leave the GPU out until a later date. Would this build be slightly better:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87M-D3H Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £97.99
1 x Corsair Obsidian 350D Windowed Micro ATX Case - Black £94.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 750W Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020061-UK) £79.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (CML8GX3M2B1600C11) £59.99
Total : £527.05 (includes shipping : £11.75).



The M-D3H slots run at 16x 4x. However the MX-D3H (not sold here :( ) run at 16x 8x. The MX-D3h would be a better choice for possible crossfire with the 7950's, but would the PSU be able to handle it?
 
an i3 is fine for BF3 but not BF4.

i would personally go for a cheaper case and then that gives you more to spend on parts.

YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7950 IceQ BOOST 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795QC3G2M) **FREE SHIPPING** £179.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x ASRock Z77 Pro4-M Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £77.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £56.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020059-UK) £55.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU Cooler £26.99
Total : £610.92 (includes shipping : FREE).



i specced this on another thread (although ive removed the hdd and the OS, you havent mentioned if you need that)

the psu wouldnt be any good if you needed to go crossfire in future though.
 
joelk2 said:
an i3 is fine for BF3 but not BF4.

i would personally go for a cheaper case and then that gives you more to spend on parts.

YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7950 IceQ BOOST 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795QC3G2M) **FREE SHIPPING** £179.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x ASRock Z77 Pro4-M Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £77.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £56.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 500w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020059-UK) £55.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU Cooler £26.99
Total : £610.92 (includes shipping : FREE).



i specced this on another thread (although ive removed the hdd and the OS, you havent mentioned if you need that)

the psu wouldnt be any good if you needed to go crossfire in future though.
Click to expand...

Pretty poor spec.

It can be made into this,

YOUR BASKET
1 x HIS HD 7950 IceQ BOOST 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795QC3G2M) **FREE SHIPPING** £179.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z87-D3HP Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £106.99
1 x Antec High Current Gamer 520W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £59.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £56.99
1 x Xigmatek Asgard Pro Gaming Case - Black £32.99
Total : £616.93 (includes shipping : FREE).




• Better board with a free cooler.
• Seasonic made PSU.
• Haswell!!
 
stulid said:
Pretty poor spec.

It can be made into this,



• Better board with a free cooler.
• Seasonic made PSU.
• Haswell!!
Click to expand...

i wouldnt exactly say its a poor spec.

an overclockable I5,
7950

as quoted from his post "Would prefer a mATX build"

my spec fit the bill pretty well.

but yes, haswell is a good idea and that board with the cooler is a great deal.
 
joelk2 said:
i wouldnt exactly say its a poor spec.

an overclockable I5,
7950

as quoted from his post "Would prefer a mATX build"

my spec fit the bill pretty well.

but yes, haswell is a good idea and that board with the cooler is a great deal.
Click to expand...

It is poor as Asrock make poor boards with poor warranties ( 2 years vs 3 years, and also need sending to Holland after the first year).

as quoted from his post "Would prefer a mATX build"
Click to expand...

Is that why you specced a ATX sized case? so mine is the same size you know?
 
stulid said:
It is poor as Asrock make poor boards with poor warranties ( 2 years vs 3 years, and also need sending to Holland after the first year).



Is that why you specced a ATX sized case? so mine is the same size you know?
Click to expand...

touche, still in regards to the spec i wouldnt class my "suggestion" as Poor
 
 
joelk2 said:
touche, still in regards to the spec i wouldnt class my "suggestion" as Poor
Click to expand...

Well it is as it is "older" tech, what if the OP was to buy your suggestion without anyone pointing out to him what he could have bought instead? I would have been annoyed if I was him.
 
In all honesty, I'm annoyed at my self. I bought an APU system with the 5800K when it was new on the market (great for the time I bought it) but looking back I could have bought an i3 with decent board. Now instead of just upgrading I'm looking at almost a whole new rig. However no-one has made any comments on the latest spec I've put up. Would it be okay for me to purchase what I've currently spec'd?
 
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