Shall i upgrade from a fx 8120?

[JonteRules1]

Hi, for a while i´ve been thinking about upgrading my platform. Currently im using a fx-8120 and a m5a97 version 1 motherboard.

Since the release of the cpu i´ve been a bit dissapointed.

The reason of my disapointment is the single core performance, even if many games today are multi threaded they aren´t running as good as i expect them to do with a 7970.

At the moment im thinking about picking an intel platform due to the good performance in games and singlethreaded applications.

ATM im thinking about waiting for haswell refresh and the k series.

So do you guys think that i shall wait a while for haswell refresh k series or is it time for an upgrade  now? 

Or are there any cons about keeping my current cpu? Exept saving money.
 

 

 

As you might notice im not a native English speaker. So please have som patience with me

 

Best regards /Jonathan

[helping]

What overclock are you running?

[skullbringer]

amd fx eight core cpus are still really good and hold up to i5-k's in most scenarios. if you really need the better single core performance, waiting for another intel platform update makes no sense, as the current one isnt really completed yet. 4690k and 4790k are still rumored to come out june 2nd, completing the z97 lineup and probably your best bet for an upgrade.

[AMICLG]

I'd upgrade as bulldozer (41xx, 61xx, and 81xx) have worst over single thread performance than Phennom II as Piledriver (43xx, 63xx, and 83xx) have a closer single thread performance to Intels I series.

[nokturrduk84]

Yes, but upgrade it only to intel (i5/i7)

[Faa]

The only way telling if your cpu doesnt perform good is to check your gpu loads. If you get everywhere 99% -> upgrade gpu. If you get something like 80% expect a 20% increase in fps (which is not worth). If you get something like 30% which I assume it would be a very lightthreaded game your only options are overclocking your cpu or upgrading to Intel.

If you're just having 70% and you know its a lightthreaded game - a i5 would only make a 30% difference.

[Dubesta11]

Hi, for a while i´ve been thinking about upgrading my platform. Currently im using a fx-8120 and a m5a97 version 1 motherboard.

Since the release of the cpu i´ve been a bit dissapointed.

The reason of my disapointment is the single core performance, even if many games today are multi threaded they aren´t running as good as i expect them to do with a 7970.

At the moment im thinking about picking an intel platform due to the good performance in games and singlethreaded applications.

ATM im thinking about waiting for haswell refresh and the k series.

So do you guys think that i shall wait a while for haswell refresh k series or is it time for an upgrade  now? 

Or are there any cons about keeping my current cpu? Exept saving money.

 

 

 

As you might notice im not a native English speaker. So please have som patience with me

 

Best regards /Jonathan

 

Yes, the 81xx processors are almost outdated for todays games, and even though they are 8 core processors, they only offer 4 physical "cores" that have quite bad performance compared to a similar generation i5. Your best bet would be to get an i5-4670k if you plan on overclocking, or what ever i5 costs less at the time. You could wait for H-e, but the difference in performance should be minimal, and will cost more than 4th generation processors. 

[JonteRules1]

What overclock are you running?

3.4 ghz so not very high.

[JonteRules1]

The only way telling if your cpu doesnt perform good is to check your gpu loads. If you get everywhere 99% -> upgrade gpu. If you get something like 80% expect a 20% increase in fps (which is not worth). If you get something like 30% which I assume it would be a very lightthreaded game your only options are overclocking your cpu or upgrading to Intel.

If you're just having 70% and you know its a lightthreaded game - a i5 would only make a 30% difference.

I played some battlefield 4, and during the tests i got about 89% usage.

Battlefield might not be the best game to try due to mantle. So are there any other games that are great for showing theese numbers?

I have all the Battle Field games, batman arkham origins, crysis 2 & 3, cs go, league of legends, would some of theese work for testing?

[Faa]

I played some battlefield 4, and during the tests i got about 89% usage.

Battlefield might not be the best game to try due to mantle. So are there any other games that are great for showing theese numbers?

I have all the Battle Field games, batman arkham origins, crysis 2 & 3, cs go, league of legends, would some of theese work for testing?

All of them would work ofc. I'd recommend using playclaw 5 to monitor your gpu loads, easy to set up you dont have to change anything.

[helping]

3.4 ghz so not very high.

There's an amazing amount of stupidity in this thread.

 

If you can get your chip up to 4.6Ghz+ (that is not unreasonable) then you can go ahead and put off upgrading for a while longer. If your chip, your cooling, your motherboard, or you're not comfortable doing it, go move over to a Haswell refresh chip. 

[JonteRules1]

There's an amazing amount of stupidity in this thread.

 

If you can get your chip up to 4.6Ghz+ (that is not unreasonable) then you can go ahead and put off upgrading for a while longer. If your chip, your cooling, your motherboard, or you're not comfortable doing it, go move over to a Haswell refresh chip. 

Well i dont think it´s the motherboard that is restricting me, i got a sivlerstone argon ar01 and i cant get a higher oc without temperatures that will trigger the fail safe and the computer shutsdown.

I stress tested it in prime95 with all cores maxed out. Do you have any tip how i can decrease my temperatures without getting a new cooler? I got the artic silver 5 thermal compound. I have also reinstalled the coller several times with differnt installation methods of the thermal compound, rice, X, string

 

Sorry for my "stupidity" but im still learning, im only 16 years old. And i got alot left to learn. Thats why im in this forum so i can get some tips from the community

[i_build_nanosuits]

There's an amazing amount of stupidity in this thread.

 

If you can get your chip up to 4.6Ghz+ (that is not unreasonable) then you can go ahead and put off upgrading for a while longer. If your chip, your cooling, your motherboard, or you're not comfortable doing it, go move over to a Haswell refresh chip. 

 

i agree your CPU can take much more, you are running stock, get an hyper 212 CPU cooler (29$) and clock that thing to at least 4ghz by changing the multiplier and adding some voltage if required, you could aim as high as 4.4 or 4.6ghz easy on this board i would try that before invessting in a completely new kit...chances are you would be very happy with the performance boost in games...those bulldozer won't have that great of an IPC but at 4ghz+ will yield more than enough performance to load a 7970 in almost every games but the single-threaded old tech ones...plenty of tutorials on overclockig FX chips can be found online just google it it's very simple and you won't risk much by doing it either specially now that you think you are ready for an upgrade..

[helping]

Well i dont think it´s the motherboard that is restricting me, i got a sivlerstone argon ar01 and i cant get a higher oc without temperatures that will trigger the fail safe and the computer shutsdown.

I stress tested it in prime95 with all cores maxed out. Do you have any tip how i can decrease my temperatures without getting a new cooler? I got the artic silver 5 thermal compound. I have also reinstalled the coller several times with differnt installation methods of the thermal compound, rice, X, string

Your best option is to get a Haswell chip then. There's not much sense in taking a gamble on if your chip and motherboard can handle 4.6+ if you're stuck where you are now.

 

If you planned on buying a new (relatively high end) heat sink with a Haswell chip, buy that first, see if the chip can hit at least 4.6. If it does, keep it, if not, change platforms. 

 

also I'm talking about some of the posts in here, not you. 

[i_build_nanosuits]

Well i dont think it´s the motherboard that is restricting me, i got a sivlerstone argon ar01 and i cant get a higher oc without temperatures that will trigger the fail safe and the computer shutsdown.

I stress tested it in prime95 with all cores maxed out. Do you have any tip how i can decrease my temperatures without getting a new cooler? I got the artic silver 5 thermal compound. I have also reinstalled the coller several times with differnt installation methods of the thermal compound, rice, X, string

that cooler should be good enough for a substancial overclock, do you have proper airflow in your case? (at least 1x 120mm intake fan and 1x 120mm exaust fan) and clean machine (no dust clutter all over the parts)

Also what kind of voltage are you looking at?

[JonteRules1]

that cooler should be good enough for a substancial overclock, do you have proper airflow in your case? (at least 1x 120mm intake fan and 1x 120mm exaust fan) and clean machine (no dust clutter all over the parts)

Also what kind of voltage are you looking at?

 

I recently cleaned the computer so it shouldnt be a problem.

I got the antec ninehundred with all of it´s pre installed fans so i got plenty of airflow. Medium fan speed

I will check the voltages in just a minute.

It got me really confused that my new cooler wouldnt perform much better than the stock one. But i thought that´s how good it is.

[i_build_nanosuits]

I recently cleaned the computer so it shouldnt be a problem.

I got the antec ninehundred with all of it´s pre installed fans so i got plenty of airflow. Medium fan speed

I will check the voltages in just a minute.

It got me really confused that my new cooler wouldnt perform much better than the stock one. But i thought that´s how good it is.

well...if you are watching temps while CPU is under full load running P95 it will indeed most likely reach temperatures very high pretty quickly, yes...but you have to realise that nothing in real life will stress that CPU that much...for example if the most CPU intensive tasks you do on your PC are gaming, then i would suggest you monitor your temps while you are playing your heaviest games wich are probably BF4 multiplayer and crysis 3...if temps are fine while playing those it's all good...not many software will stress an 8 core CPU to 100% like prime95 can do...

 

Look my clock speed in my sig, do you think the hyper 212 i'm using is keeping this chip within 62c under prime full load at 4.6ghz? absolutely not...but it won't matter cause all i do on my PC is gaming and web browing, and while playing BF4 my max temps is 48 or 50c wich is way good for me...

[JonteRules1]

well...if you are watching temps while CPU is under full load running P95 it will indeed most likely reach temperatures very high pretty quickly, yes...but you have to realise that nothing in real life will stress that CPU that much...for example if the most CPU intensive tasks you do on your PC are gaming, then i would suggest you monitor your temps while you are playing your heaviest games wich are probably BF4 multiplayer and crysis 3...if temps are fine while playing those it's all good...not many software will stress an 8 core CPU to 100% like prime95 can do...

 

Look my clock speed in my sig, do you think the hyper 212 i'm using is keeping this chip within 62c under prime full load at 4.6ghz? absolutely not...but it won't matter cause all i do on my PC is gaming and web browing, and while playing BF4 my max temps is 48 or 50c wich is way good for me...

I know that prime basicly kills the cpu i reach the 75 c very early, but sometimes i do video encoding in handbreake and that basicly also kills my cpu if im over 3.4 ghz

But i guess i can try a higher oc without doing any video encoding. Handbreake aint one of my most used programs so i can spend the time switching between oc profiles.

[i_build_nanosuits]

I know that prime basicly kills the cpu i reach the 75 c very early, but sometimes i do video encoding in handbreake and that basicly also kills my cpu if im over 3.4 ghz

But i guess i can try a higher oc without doing any video encoding. Handbreake aint one of my most used programs so i can spend the time switching between oc profiles.

yes that could be done for sure...

also, i'm not gonna lie to you, upgrading to something like a core i5-4670K would give you a boost in most games, yes...so if you are not in the mood for feedling with your current setup and have the money to purchase 1150mobo + haswell i5 you will probably not regret it either, but if you would like to spend that money somewhere else and upgrade only in say a year from now, overclocking is certainly worth it...

 

Also, games are going to go more and more multi-threaded optimisation and they will most likely only run better on your CPU from this day forward, just look at watch gods for example, it's badly optimised yes, but it sure uses all 8 cores...some other games will hit and they will have better optimisation and they will run great...if you play a lot of MM'Os and single-threaded games then you may have to upgrade but even then that generation of games build on old game engine is most likely fading out as well...

[Faa]

yes that could be done for sure...

also, i'm not gonna lie to you, upgrading to something like a core i5-4670K would give you a boost in most games, yes...so if you are not in the mood for feedling with your current setup and have the money to purchase 1150mobo + haswell i5 you will probably not regret it either, but if you would like to spend that money somewhere else and upgrade only in say a year from now, overclocking is certainly worth it...

 

Also, games are going to go more and more multi-threaded optimisation and they will most likely only run better on your CPU from this day forward, just look at watch gods for example, it's badly optimised yes, but it sure uses all 8 cores...some other games will hit and they will have better optimisation and they will run great...if you play a lot of MM'Os and single-threaded games then you may have to upgrade but even then that generation of games build on old game engine is most likely fading out as well...

He said he had 90% on his gpu in BF4, thats just a remaining 9% and they scale pretty much lineairly with your fps. If he has 50 fps he's just going to have 55 fps with a 3930K.

[i_build_nanosuits]

He said he had 90% on his gpu in BF4, thats just a remaining 9% and they scale pretty much lineairly with your fps. If he has 50 fps he's just going to have 55 fps with a 3930K.

yes and a slight overclock on the FX-8120 lets say to 4.0ghz should yield the missing performance...GPU load must be lower in say league of legends for example...that's for sure.

 

 

EDIT:  HAHAHA forget that, here what it looks like league of legends run at 105 to 137 FPS highest details settings on a FX-4170 zambezi @ 4ghz....

          i'm not used with those games i don't play that kind of games and people are constantly mentionning them as running better on intel cpu so i took for granted that 60fps was hard to reach for bulldozer...but it aint at all...

»OP what games do you feel are not running optimal on your machine?

 

[helping]

I know that prime basicly kills the cpu i reach the 75 c very early, but sometimes i do video encoding in handbreake and that basicly also kills my cpu if im over 3.4 ghz

But i guess i can try a higher oc without doing any video encoding. Handbreake aint one of my most used programs so i can spend the time switching between oc profiles.

..75c at 3.4?

 

something is wrong with your cooler or mount

[i_build_nanosuits]

..75c at 3.4?

 

something is wrong with your cooler or mount

yeah that is not normal...this is BARELY an overclock at all...something is wrong...i would have said maybe the software won't read temps correctly but the OP mentionned having reached thermal safety and shutdown previously so these temps must be good readings...i don't know..

[JonteRules1]

yes that could be done for sure...

also, i'm not gonna lie to you, upgrading to something like a core i5-4670K would give you a boost in most games, yes...so if you are not in the mood for feedling with your current setup and have the money to purchase 1150mobo + haswell i5 you will probably not regret it either, but if you would like to spend that money somewhere else and upgrade only in say a year from now, overclocking is certainly worth it...

 

Also, games are going to go more and more multi-threaded optimisation and they will most likely only run better on your CPU from this day forward, just look at watch gods for example, it's badly optimised yes, but it sure uses all 8 cores...some other games will hit and they will have better optimisation and they will run great...if you play a lot of MM'Os and single-threaded games then you may have to upgrade but even then that generation of games build on old game engine is most likely fading out as well...

I tried some arkham origins now and with 4.0 ghz there was about 10 fps in difference from before and then game ran a lot smoother. The playclaw program said that the temp of the cpu were about 49 c.

So i guess 49 c is fine. The gpu could also take a heavier load now so i guess oc will help me some time, but i also play some starcraft 2 and lol and the performance in sc2 game is terriable my friends with a i5 650 and a gtx 460 got more fps......

[JonteRules1]

..75c at 3.4?

 

something is wrong with your cooler or mount

No 3.4ghz works with prime95 in full load, but if i try something like 3.6 the fail safe will engage....

And as i earlier said, i tried reinstalling the cooler in many different ways.

All the temps as i have specified have been in prime95 not in idle