The 8 core showdown and analysis thread.

[mmj_uk]

Simple question, if the Bulldozer/Piledriver architecture is so good then why are AMD heavily rumoured to be dumping it and going back to the classic SMT based architecture?

http://scalibq.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/the-myth-of-cmt-cluster-based-multithreading/

And that’s why SMT works, and CMT doesn’t: AMD’s previous CPUs also had 3 ALUs per thread. But in order to reduce the size of the modules, AMD chose to use only 2 ALUs per thread now. It is a case of cutting off one’s nose to spite their face: CMT is struggling in single-threaded scenario’s, compared to both the previous-generation Opterons and the Xeons.

But what does CMT bring, effectively? Nothing. Their chips are much larger than the competition’s, or even their own previous generation. And since the Xeon is so much better with single-threaded performance, it can stay ahead in heavy multithreaded scenario’s, despite the fact that SMT does not scale as well as CMT or SMP. But the real advantage that SMT brings is that it is a very efficient solution: it takes up very little die-space. Intel could do the same as AMD does, and put two dies in a single package. But that would result in a chip with 12 cores, running 24 threads, and it would absolutely devour AMD’s CMT in terms of performance.

So I’m not sure where AMD thinks that CMT is ‘more efficient’, since they need a much larger chip, which also consumes more power, to get the same performance as a Xeon, which is not even a high-end model. The Opteron 6276 tested by Anandtech is the top of the line. The Xeon X5650 on the other hand is a midrange model clocked at 2.66 GHz. The top model of that series is the X5690, clocked at 3.46 GHz. Which shows another advantage of smaller chips: better clockspeed scaling.

 

[humbug]

Because they have been working on a better architecture? ^^^^^^^^

I spent £37.50 on a refurbished H100 and got a Sabertooth board for £116. Processor was £102, all in I thought was pretty good value.

Water Cooler + 8 thread CPU + Higher end Motherboard = £255.50

About the same price as this on its own.

Or

£40 less than this with this

Not bad

 

[Svyper1]

£255.50

About the same price as this on its own.

Or

£40 less than this with this

Not bad

hahahah

proof that you people over spend on crap you don't need

an overclocked 8320 is similar to a non overclocked i5 not i7 so there is no point in getting a k series and once again you've overspent on a motherboard

not bad but thats £255.5 on basically using a second hand cooler otherwise an h100 would have cost you : £88 = £306 total

seeing as that is just to make it i5 performance forgetting i5 k can be overlcocked, so a non overclockable i5 is:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4690 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £161.99
1 x Gigabyte H97M-HD3 Intel H97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £67.99
Total : £239.58 (includes shipping : £8.00).



saving of ~£20 on second hand old tech and all brand new or really £70

and p off with any motherboard rubbish - this will work perfectly fine and pawn anything you need it for...

 

[gpuerrilla]

Simple question, if the Bulldozer/Piledriver architecture is so good then why are AMD heavily rumoured to be dumping it and going back to the classic SMT based architecture?

http://scalibq.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/the-myth-of-cmt-cluster-based-multithreading/

People are not really defending it just applying common sense for the under-dog.

By the time you are still putting the hardware down, most will have moved onto another CPU as it's two years old now. As AMD are not directly competing with intel in the high end people will buy intel as long as it's within their price range.

 

[gpuerrilla]

not bad but thats £255.5 on basically using a second hand cooler otherwise an h100 would have cost you : £88 = £306 total

seeing as that is just to make it i5 performance forgetting i5 k can be overlcocked, so a non overclockable i5 is:

£250 was my spend. It was cheaper than going intel (at the time). Simple.

I also like my boards to have crossfire/SLI support and offer decent features - definitely would not be a micro ATX.

 

[humbug]

The Motherboard he picked out is junk ^^^^

hahahah

proof that you people over spend on crap you don't need

an overclocked 8320 is similar to a non overclocked i5 not i7 so there is no point in getting a k series and once again you've overspent on a motherboard

Only in Planet Side 2 and similar Games, Mainstream games its clock for clock as fast as an i5 if not closer to an i7. And you can't substitute a lesser Motherboard to make up the numbers, Th0nt got an Asus Sabertooth with 10+2 top of the line CAP's, Chokes... the works...Phase Digital VRMs cooled by top end passive cooling, not quiet the same thing as junk 4+2 analogue with no cooling at all.

 

[Svyper1]

£250 was my spend. It was cheaper than going intel (at the time). Simple.

I also like my boards to have crossfire/SLI support and offer decent features - definitely would not be a micro ATX.

k well sli/xfire is another example of people overspending on stuff they don't need...

singular mid range cards have a "game span" of minimum of 2 years. Upgrading 2-3 years on mid range cards is by far, more cost effective than building an SLI/xfire build.

The real issue is people don't view the cost more than what is right in front of them. No offence to you but really it's more cost effective on a mid range build than high end

The Motherboard he picked out is junk ^^^^

whats junk is your motherboard rants. Ive built plenty of pcs and the real difference is the features like more ram and sli/xfire plus some extra usbs which no one uses...

its your money you can waste it if you want to

 

[gpuerrilla]

The Motherboard he picked out is junk ^^^^

Agree.

Mainstream games its clock for clock as fast as an i5 if not closer to an i7. And you can't substitute a lesser Motherboard to make up the numbers, Th0nt got an Asus Sabertooth with 10+2 top of the line CAP's, Chokes... the works...Phase Digital VRMs cooled by top end passive cooling, not quiet the same thing as junk 4+2 analogue with no cooling at all.

Agree.

k well sli/xfire is another example of people overspending on stuff they don't need...

singular mid range cards have a "game span" of minimum of 2 years. Upgrading 2-3 years on mid range cards is by far, more cost effective than building an SLI/xfire build.

The real issue is people don't view the cost more than what is right in front of them. No offence to you but really it's more cost effective on a mid range build than high end

I don't think you:

A) understand multi-gpu purposes
B) will be consulted to choose what products OTHER people want

I think you have probably overspent yourself. You dont even know what GPU I have!

I get crossfire so that in those 2-4 years later I can pick up another card for way less money and get back some performance.

 

[Svyper1]

uh huh since you've spent on a much 2x bigger PSU and used more electricity on double the gfx hey believe what you want to believe...

really there is no point of me trying to discuss the true side of costings to you because ive noticed everyone here looks at shiny shiny and thinks yes thats better...

so whatever and good evening

 

[gpuerrilla]

O...K.

To be fair it would be best as your basis for aguments is shocking at best. I will divulge that my PSU came free with my GPU which originally was a 7990. I have since RMA'd and currently have a 290X and a Seasonic which for November 2013 cost me £399.

But hey I over spend on everything according to you, which so far is all my components at the cheapest rates you could have got them for.

 

[Svyper1]

you've spent too much on a gfx card. Anything above 770/280x is not needed. The only reason is you only want higher res at the cost of much higher cost to gfx ratio... 1080p is still very good at max settings visually so not much point in spending stupid amounts on higher res when in a couple of years mid range cards could probably do 4k ...

At least you're looking for deals. Below is a scenario of if i had to choose the "opposite" side right here right now...(even though it's silly to do so as there are very soon gona be new tech)

1080p gaming is still very very good at the moment so that's the current strategy

8 year long term build:

2-3 year gfx change and about 5 year until needing cooler and ability to overclock otherwise only with non-k version saving more money and only buying thermal paste...

8 year+ strategy 1080p (currently) gaming...

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-4790K 4.00GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £269.99
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 760 OC Gaming Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £169.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £99.98
1 x Gigabyte Z97M-D3H Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £79.99
1 x TeamGroup Xtreem LV 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C10 2400MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (TXD38G2400HC10QDC01) £67.99
1 x SuperFlower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black £46.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £38.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £29.99
1 x Zalman ZM-F3 120mm Silent Case Fan - 3 Pin £4.99
Total : £823.01 (includes shipping : £11.75).

 

[gpuerrilla]

you've spent too much on a gfx card. Anything above 770/280x is not needed.

I wouldn't say so. Firstly I was into mining, so it wasn't originally gaming horsepower I needed. Secondly I received a new PSU with the purchase so both of the products will transpose into my next upgrade where the CPU wont hold a card like that back.

Lastly if software can do it's intended job i.e. mantle or potentially DX12 then the GPU will help out the weak CPU in a small number of titles.

Either way I do not see it as overspending, considering I could still purchase the same GPU right now and still not get a £90 PSU free with it.

 

[Mal X]

too much money on the 7990?????.... well you can get it 6 months old for only £300... this will last you for the next 3 to 4 years (1080p).... now i call this very good value for money.

you're not value for money, simply because you're buying from here, some of that gear is miles cheaper elsewhere.

plus, that CPU is too powerful for 1080p....the SSD at 1TB is too big, mine is 500gb and still only half full after 3 years...FACT

finally and not very futureproof, your PSU is way too small, try at least 750 W

my new rig is too powerful as well, yes but i'm not the one that keeps complaining about wasting money/electricity

edit:- got it, a 7990 for £300 just now that's me well happy, i dont need it for 1080p but it'll last ages

 

[gpuerrilla]

Agree with the points made Mal X. I think every time svyper posts he falls further into the abyss of those that eventually just get ignored.

 

[MrMarvelous]

Can anyone re-up the photos? Would love some side-by-side comparisons.

 

[james.miller]

umm, Mal, what terabyte ssd? he listed a 250gb ssd and a 1tb mechanical drive. probably quite reasonable actually. so what if your 500gb drive isnt full? that means nothing to anybody else. And a 550w psu is perfectly fine for a single gpu system.

 

[gpuerrilla]

The post was edited james, I recall seeing a much larger drive in the list too. If your future proofing or want it to last 8+ years (as stated) then I would too buy a larger PSU.

 

[james.miller]

Last edited by Svyper1; 10th Aug 2014 at 20:19.

Mal posted two hours later.

You dont need more than 550w for any single gpu. by all means buy a bigger psu if you need to, but it shouldnt be a consideration unless you are serious about your overclocking. Ie, 780 ti power usage http://www.anandtech.com/show/7492/the-geforce-gtx-780-ti-review/16

 

[humbug]

I have a 750 Watt PSU, an XFX 750 Pro (SeaSonic build) cost me £90 two years ago, a £50 600 Watt one would have been fine even now with an overclocked 290 and FX-8350.

But, they do degrade after time, and i wanted to keep this PSU for a few years and not strain it.

 

[Tonester0011]

I've got a 500w PSU and it ran CF290s. Lol, love people who think you need huge PSUs for rigs. They do eventually run down, but 500w (decent) would last a good while for any single GPU. The argument might be i could have got a 750w+ for th price i paid for my 500w and it would have lasted longer. Noiser though