Upgrading to AMD, need tips

[ArnoldO]

Hey guys, I'm new here and I figured this would be the best place to ask for some good opinions; I want to upgrade my current system, but I'm considering AMD since my upgrade budget is <$1000, however I'm also waiting to see how Intel's Z97 chipset and new Devil's Canyon does as well...

 

My current system is as follows:

 

Intel Core i5 3550 (running at 3.9 GHz)

16 GB DDR3-1600

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660

120GB Kingston HyperX 3K SSD

1TB Seagate Barracuda

550W 80Plus GOLD Power Supply

 

My proposed upgrade changes are:

AMD A10-7850K APU

AMD Radeon R9 270X or 280X

16 GB DDR3-2400

 

I guess what I'm trying to ask is; is this a worthy upgrade? I just do some light gaming, but more CAD models for engineering (can't afford a workstation GPU though), I listen to music and on top of that your typical everyday computer tasks. I've always wanted to delve into overclocking as well just for shits and gigs and maybe even coin mining from time to time. What do you guys have to say about it?

 

If anyone has a different idea for an upgrade config, please let me know too! Thanks guys.

[Guest]

That is a significant downgrade

[T.Vengeance]

Why would you upgrade to an APU?

[Enderman]

That would be a downgrade not an upgrade...

[WoodenMarker]

I don't see the need to upgrade for what you're doing.

[ArnoldO]

well, my multiplier is locked. do you guys have any better recommendations?

[Opcode]

Moving to any AMD microprocessor would be a downgrade, I would avoid it at all costs. Moving from 1600 MHz memory to 2400 MHz also is another waste of money. Spend the money into a GTX 780 or a R9 290X. If you got money left over you can invest into a Z97 motherboard that should run your current microprocessor. Then you will be set with a high end Devils Canyon or Broadwell gaming machine.

 

In short, the only thing worth upgrading right now is your GPU.

[ArnoldO]

doesn't even have to be AMD recommendations either 

[Recon-UK]

Buy a 3570k.

[VG Docs]

I think going to this would be a worthy upgrade:

 

i7 4790k (When it releases [i think in early June]. Keep in mind the main reason why I recommend this one instead of the 4690k is because the 3550 is still great for gaming and is difficult to beat significantly.) 

some ~$120 Z97 Motherboard

GTX 770 (I would say 780 or r9 290, but I'm assuming your price range is around the 280x for a video card).

[OfficialJsP]

doesn't even have to be AMD recommend

i5 3570K

[ArnoldO]

so is 1600 MHz memory still plenty decent for the upcoming generation intel boards?

[Recon-UK]

so is 1600 MHz memory still plenty decent for the upcoming generation intel boards?

Yes, plenty.

[BallisticPeanut]

With a $1000 budget, maybe you should just replace your GTX 660 with a 780, or a 290 for mining.  

 

If you do CAD I think an i7 3770k would also give a decent performance boost.

[ArnoldO]

With a $1000 budget, maybe you should just replace your GTX 660 with a 780, or a 290 for mining.  

 

If you do CAD I think an i7 3770k would also give a decent performance boost.

 

I was planning on switching out the board too since my board is also beginning to go haywire, so like another dude recommended, you think the new 4790K would be a wise investment?

[Dylan lol]

that cpu is awful, i5 is better

[Opcode]

I would go for a Z97 board and the i7-4790k. Your memory and GPU is fine for what you do right now. You could always upgrade the GPU later on with Maxwell.

[Faceman]

@ArnoldO

 

Your current system is still plenty powerful.  Is there anything that you are currently having trouble doing?  I don't think you need to upgrade.

 

If you are dead set on upgrading, I would go with a Devil's Canyon CPU + Z97.  Stick with 1600Mhz, DDR3, and go to a 770/280X or better.

 

I don't think an upgrade is necessary though.  If you would like to make some kind of upgrade, get a more powerful GPU, but again, you can hold off until the 800 series comes out, hopefully Q4 of 2014 or Q1 of 2015.

 

I am really trying to stress that you don't need an upgrade unless you are specifically getting bad performance.

[Shakaza]

Moving to any AMD microprocessor would be a downgrade, I would avoid it at all costs. Moving from 1600 MHz memory to 2400 MHz also is another waste of money. Spend the money into a GTX 780 or a R9 290X. If you got money left over you can invest into a Z97 motherboard that should run your current microprocessor. Then you will be set with a high end Devils Canyon or Broadwell gaming machine.

 

In short, the only thing worth upgrading right now is your GPU.

Yes, what this guy said. Precisely.

[asusfan]

so is 1600 MHz memory still plenty decent for the upcoming generation intel boards?

This depends on what your going for and doing, you said that you do all kinds of work on this rig and you first thought of going to the new Kavari APU route, well if you did go to an APU then its recommended that the system ram is as fast as the m/board can take so 2133 or more would be ideal for an APU setup, if you are going to the normal intel route then it is not as important to have super fast memory module kits but there is nothing wrong with having the room for futureproofing. 1866 or 2133 or even 2400 if you can afford it is the way to go, 1600 is getting long in the tooth now and everyone seems to have it, memory isn't that cheap so get the best you can afford.

I do admit there is a lot more good m/boards for intel, however for the A10 Kavari APU there is some nice new small form factor boards out there now, like the one from Gigabite (m-itx with wifi) and some good ones from MSI and Asus, plus others.

Asus do a nice m-atx board if you want the gold colour scheme. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132055

for a good card if you want to do duel graphics mode i think the R7250x is the highest spec to hybrid to the APU. however you can also get a real good deal on a Asus R9 270x oc with 4 gig or ddr5 ram to run by itself.

 

so many options i think first decide what manufacture, then form factor and go from there.

 

In a way i can see why you wanted to go for the Kavari, just to be different and have a good spec for low cost build.

its crazy how many different ways and options you can go for now, unless you want lots of spare slots or sli / crossfire then m-atx might be a good option.

[jtrier1]

Hey guys, I'm new here and I figured this would be the best place to ask for some good opinions; I want to upgrade my current system, but I'm considering AMD since my upgrade budget is <$1000, however I'm also waiting to see how Intel's Z97 chipset and new Devil's Canyon does as well...

 

My current system is as follows:

 

Intel Core i5 3550 (running at 3.9 GHz)

16 GB DDR3-1600

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660

120GB Kingston HyperX 3K SSD

1TB Seagate Barracuda

550W 80Plus GOLD Power Supply

 

My proposed upgrade changes are:

AMD A10-7850K APU

AMD Radeon R9 270X or 280X

16 GB DDR3-2400

 

I guess what I'm trying to ask is; is this a worthy upgrade? I just do some light gaming, but more CAD models for engineering (can't afford a workstation GPU though), I listen to music and on top of that your typical everyday computer tasks. I've always wanted to delve into overclocking as well just for shits and gigs and maybe even coin mining from time to time. What do you guys have to say about it?

 

If anyone has a different idea for an upgrade config, please let me know too! Thanks guys.

 

 

I assume you aren't starting fresh from scratch, so disregard any parts you do not need. Also, don't listen to the fan boys. AMD CPU's are just fine. They'll suit whatever needs you may have. They won't be the same as Intel, but they aren't bad products as some may lead you to believe.

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3Kir2

Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3Kir2/by_merchant/

Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3Kir2/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD FX-6350 3.9GHz 6-Core Processor  ($139.98 @ SuperBiiz)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper TX3 54.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($18.16 @ NCIX US)

Motherboard: ASRock 990FX Extreme3 ATX AM3+/AM3 Motherboard  ($109.99 @ Newegg)

Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($129.84 @ Amazon)

Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk  ($67.99 @ Micro Center)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($54.43 @ OutletPC)

Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 280X 3GB Double Dissipation Video Card  ($284.38 @ Newegg)

Case: Rosewill Challenger-U3 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($39.99 @ Newegg)

Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($79.99 @ Amazon)

Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer  ($14.99 @ NCIX US)

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 - 64-bit (OEM) (64-bit)  ($99.98 @ OutletPC)

Total: $1039.72

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-15 00:07 EDT-0400)

[Opcode]

I assume you aren't starting fresh from scratch, so disregard any parts you do not need. Also, don't listen to the fan boys. AMD CPU's are just fine. They'll suit whatever needs you may have. They won't be the same as Intel, but they aren't bad products as some may lead you to believe.

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3Kir2

Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3Kir2/by_merchant/

Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3Kir2/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD FX-6350 3.9GHz 6-Core Processor  ($139.98 @ SuperBiiz)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper TX3 54.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($18.16 @ NCIX US)

Motherboard: ASRock 990FX Extreme3 ATX AM3+/AM3 Motherboard  ($109.99 @ Newegg)

Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($129.84 @ Amazon)

Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk  ($67.99 @ Micro Center)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($54.43 @ OutletPC)

Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 280X 3GB Double Dissipation Video Card  ($284.38 @ Newegg)

Case: Rosewill Challenger-U3 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($39.99 @ Newegg)

Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($79.99 @ Amazon)

Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer  ($14.99 @ NCIX US)

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 - 64-bit (OEM) (64-bit)  ($99.98 @ OutletPC)

Total: $1039.72

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-15 00:07 EDT-0400)

Do you understand that you're telling him to downgrade from a i5 3550 to a FX-6350 and also telling him to buy another 16 GB of 1600 MHz memory that he already has? Also why would he want to buy a V300 series SSD, from my understanding he does do somewhat important work with it so why trust his data to a cheap SSD. He should be looking at the Samsung 840 Pro series. In short you're basically telling him to not listen to "fanboys" while disregarded reading his original post and not only suggested him a much slower AMD system but also a crappier one.

[jtrier1]

Do you understand that you're telling him to downgrade from a i5 3550 to a FX-6350 and also telling him to buy another 16 GB of 1600 MHz memory that he already has? Also why would he want to buy a V300 series SSD, from my understanding he does do somewhat important work with it so why trust his data to a cheap SSD. He should be looking at the Samsung 840 Pro series. In short you're basically telling him to not listen to "fanboys" while disregarded reading his original post and not only suggested him a much slower AMD system but also a crappier one.

 

Apparently you missed the first sentence of my post. I said to "disregard any parts you do not need". He wanted AMD, so that's the parts list I made.

[Opcode]

Apparently you missed the first sentence of my post. I said to "disregard any parts you do not need". He wanted AMD, so that's the parts list I made.

He got the impression that he could "upgrade" to an AMD based machine. Given his current hardware there is no upgrade path by switching to AMD.

[Hidden Orange]

He got the impression that he could "upgrade" to an AMD based machine. Given his current hardware there is no upgrade path by switching to AMD.

Besides more heat, more cores, more red, and more money spent on more cooling. Hell of an upgrade right there, buddy. Heck, he can get a nice heater/PC combo. Who wouldn't want tha - oh...