What do you guys think of this build?

[FMod]

As said I'd take the intel i5 or i7 chip and a Radion R9 280x because atm they are undoubtful way better than their competitors.

The choice in this budget is between i5 chip with a crap GPU and a FX-8320 chip with a 280X GPU.

 

I'm not an AMD fanboy. My current build has an Intel CPU and two Nvidia GPU. So did my last build and so will my next build, Haswell-E.

 

But in this specific situation, there's no justification for skimping on important components to get what's essentially a luxury, >60 fps performance in old games.

 

i5 is also less future-proof. New consoles literally have a slightly upgraded and lower clocked FX 8320 inside. So new games will have to be designed to run well on a 8320. They won't have to be designed to run great on an i5.

 

 

The FX 8350 is in regards of gaming performance slower than a Core i3 3220 btw., has been benchmarked, with actual games.

In a few very old or just poorly written game engines that only use a single thread, it happens, yes.

 

But, as you can see, the FX-8350 vs i7 difference is between 80fps and 100fps. Which, when you turn VSync on, becomes 60fps vs 60fps. It doesn't matter, they perform the same.

 

This, on the other hand, matters.. 58.6 average fps means 60 with a few double frames, while 50 will jump a lot between 60 and 30.

Even given that they're equal when overclocked, they're quite different in price.

 

 

 

(2 AMD cores share 1 floating point unit, not every core has its own, so they actually can't work like 2 cores would do - that's the reason the Bulldozer AMD cores are called logical cores, and not physical ones.)

They are actually called physical cores.

 

The definition of a CPU core is, essentially, an ALU or a set of ALU capable of performing instructions. FPU are not by definition part of the CPU core, even if they may be - or may not be - designed as such architecturally.

 

FPU used to be separate chips and within 8-10 years I'd expect FPU to disappear from CPU entirely, becoming completely merged with then-universal iGPU shader units.

[phoneyLogic]

Well, if fps in games are not your primary concern, then maybe this chart will help:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-6.html

 

 

 

@FMod

Nope, Bulldozer and Piledriver don't have actual full cores. They share a lot of units.

[FMod]

Well, if fps in games are not your primary concern, then maybe this chart will help

You will get higher fps in games using FX-8320 and a 7970 or equivalent GPU than an i5 or i7 and a cheap GPU, for the same total cost. Period.

 

 

Nope, Bulldozer and Piledriver don't have actual full cores. They share a lot of units.

I just explained it. A CPU core, by definition, only requires the ALU. Thus, the CPU are 8-core. It's not an opinion. Whether BHO is better than W is a matter of opinion, whether a CPU has 4 or 8 cores is a matter of fact.

[phoneyLogic]

You will get higher fps in games using FX-8320 and a 7970 or equivalent GPU than an i5 or i7 and a cheap GPU, for the same total cost. Period.

If you make the hardware cost to your primary concern, then maybe. Didn't check that. Technically it would not be my first choice. Well, if I'm updateing my system, I'd try to get the best cpu for a reasonable price which is most efficient for the usage.

 

Graphics cards would not be my primary concern, since they are components which can be updated very easy. Also current games usually don't demand high end cards like the Nvidia GTX 780 or Titan or Radeon R9 290x etc. Most games are fine with the R9 280x or even a low end gamer card like the GTX 760 (also has a lower power consumtion, at least very usable for silent systems).

 

I for myself don't see me updating the chip and mobo untill DDR4 RAM and PCIE 4.0 are released.

 

But I consider to update my graphics card the time being.

 

 

I just explained it. A CPU core, by definition, only requires the ALU. Thus, the CPU are 8-core. It's not an opinion. Whether BHO is better than W is a matter of opinion, whether a CPU has 4 or 8 cores is a matter of fact.

Well yeah, some say so, some so. The 8 core AMD architecture consists of 4 modules with two cores and shared ressources. They effectively are slower because of the shared ressources - despite of the higher clocks. Also a chip only consisting of ALUs - without all the other ressources - doesn't really work very well. ;-)

Edited October 28, 2013 by tortured Tomato