FX8350+GTX1080 vs. i7 6700k+RX480 [thought experiment]

[Bmachang]

Hello!! I was just curious about what the community thinks which of the two CPU+GPU combo would be best. I was theory crafting a build and came across this thought. I put together a parts list and the FX8350+GTX1080 would come out to about the same as the i7 6700k+RX480. All the parts would be the same (except for the CPU, GPU, and MOBO of course), so I was wondering which configuration would be more preferred. I would prefer to have the ability for 4k so I would be leaning more toward the FX8350+GTX1080 side but how bad would the FX bottleneck at 4k? Both should also (in theory) be able to run VR about the same (but I feel like the i7 6700k+RX480 should be better for it right?).

 

*I know that I can probably do an i5 6600k+RX480 or something like that for less than the other builds proposed for gaming and light workstation purposes; but that isn't the kind of information I'm looking for.

 

**I'm also not trying to start an AMD vs. Intel war; this was just putting together 2 different builds and was wondering the pros and cons of each of them if I ever get the resources to put together one of these builds.

 

i7 6700k+RX480=

 

FX8350+GTX1080=

 

[manikyath]

neither. there's a golden middle way.

[dizmo]

Definitely wouldn't be the one using the 4 year old CPU, that's for sure.

But honestly, both builds are flawed. I'd pick neither.

[Dabombinable]

7 minutes ago, Bmachang said:

Hello!! I was just curious about what the community thinks which of the two CPU+GPU combo would be best. I was theory crafting a build and came across this thought. I put together a parts list and the FX8350+GTX1080 would come out to about the same as the i7 6700k+RX480. All the parts would be the same (except for the CPU, GPU, and MOBO of course), so I was wondering which configuration would be more preferred. I would prefer to have the ability for 4k so I would be leaning more toward the FX8350+GTX1080 side but how bad would the FX bottleneck at 4k? Both should also (in theory) be able to run VR about the same (but I feel like the i7 6700k+RX480 should be better for it right?).

 

*I know that I can probably do an i5 6600k+RX480 or something like that for less than the other builds proposed for gaming and light workstation purposes; but that isn't the kind of information I'm looking for.

 

**I'm also not trying to start an AMD vs. Intel war; this was just putting together 2 different builds and was wondering the pros and cons of each of them if I ever get the resources to put together one of these builds.

How about you list each build fully.....because the FX 8350 really runs best with an R9 280X/285/380/380X, and the 6700K+RX 480 combo from what I can tell has some part of it well and truly over priced.

[APatientGuy]

16 minutes ago, Dabombinable said:

How about you list each build fully.....because the FX 8350 really runs best with an R9 280X/285/380/380X, and the 6700K+RX 480 combo from what I can tell has some part of it well and truly over priced.

I agree with him, this is my own build:

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/zkCxYr
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/zkCxYr/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($345.99 @ B&H) 
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H5 Ultimate 76.0 CFM CPU Cooler  ($56.69 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($154.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($58.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($92.00 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($47.89 @ Directron) 
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 8GB G1 Gaming Video Card  ($430.00) 
Case: Fractal Design Define S w/Window ATX Mid Tower Case  ($89.99 @ NCIX US) 
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($89.99 @ Amazon) 
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WDN4800 PCI-Express x1 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi Adapter  ($38.95 @ Amazon) 
Total: $1405.48
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-07-04 02:46 EDT-0400

 

You remove the wifi adapter, and it is a bit above the budget. And these are high quality, reliable parts too, from good brands. You could probably lower costs in some areas.

[Bmachang]

Just now, Dabombinable said:

How about you list each build fully.....because the FX 8350 really runs best with an R9 280X/285/380/380X, and the 6700K+RX 480 combo from what I can tell has some part of it well and truly over priced.

The only difference between the 2 was the CPU (i7 6700k@$350 vs. FX8350@$160), GPU (RX480@$240 vs. GTX1080@700) and motherboard (ASUS ROG Gene for i7@$210 vs. Gigabyte GA-78LMT@$55). Everything else is the same. I know the 2 motherboards arent equal but that was one of the few boards around.

[Bmachang]

20 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Definitely wouldn't be the one using the 4 year old CPU, that's for sure.

But honestly, both builds are flawed. I'd pick neither.

What's the flaws? Also went with the FX because it's still faster than the A10 even if it's older

Edited July 4, 2016 by Bmachang

[Bmachang]

46 minutes ago, Dabombinable said:

How about you list each build fully.....because the FX 8350 really runs best with an R9 280X/285/380/380X, and the 6700K+RX 480 combo from what I can tell has some part of it well and truly over priced.

FX8350(price without $700 GTX1080):

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Bmachang/saved/DbTv6h

 

i7 6700k(price without $250 RX480):

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Bmachang/saved/pddNnQ

 

Sorry about the delay... Had to make a pcpartspicker list since the price pictures were from newegg. Also, since there's no more stock of either GPU right now, couldn't get that information. I also didn't include all the extra cable stuff because that's all the same again (about $30)

[Bmachang]

57 minutes ago, manikyath said:

neither. there's a golden middle way.

What would it be?

[Dabombinable]

40 minutes ago, Bmachang said:

What's the flaws? Also went with the FX because it's still faster than the A10 even if it's older

The FX 8350 is between the first generation Core i series and previous Wolfdale CPU in IPC, the single threaded performance drops significantly if more than 4 threads are being used, the FX 8350 lacks built in temperature sensors unlike previous Phenom II, it bottlenecks high end GPU and is thus best suited to mid range GPU, its only ever actually good if you can use all 8 threads at once-otherwise its poor value for money when compared to a low end i5 or even an i3.

[Bmachang]

4 minutes ago, Dabombinable said:

The FX 8350 is between the first generation Core i series and previous Wolfdale CPU in IPC, the single threaded performance drops significantly if more than 4 threads are being used, the FX 8350 lacks built in temperature sensors unlike previous Phenom II, it bottlenecks high end GPU and is thus best suited to mid range GPU, its only ever actually good if you can use all 8 threads at once-otherwise its poor value for money when compared to a low end i5 or even an i3.

Hmm ic. So high end GPUs should be only run by Intel then?

[Dabombinable]

11 minutes ago, Bmachang said:

Hmm ic. So high end GPUs should be only run by Intel then?

Yep. Because AMD released nothing new or even above average after the Phenom II line up. Zen might change that...but we'll have to wait and see.

[LogicalDrm]

1 hour ago, Bmachang said:

The only difference between the 2 was the CPU (i7 6700k@$350 vs. FX8350@$160), GPU (RX480@$240 vs. GTX1080@700) and motherboard (ASUS ROG Gene for i7@$210 vs. Gigabyte GA-78LMT@$55). Everything else is the same. I know the 2 motherboards arent equal but that was one of the few boards around.

Why would you need $200 mobo for i7? And why just $55 mobo for AMD?

[Dabombinable]

9 minutes ago, LoGiCalDrm said:

Why would you need $200 mobo for i7? And why just $55 mobo for AMD?

It should actually be the other way around as well-the GA-78LMT-USB3 is only just good enough to run the FX 8350 at stock, while even the cheapest Z107 motherboard would be fine with the 6700K

[LogicalDrm]

4 minutes ago, Dabombinable said:

It should actually be the other way around as well-the GA-78LMT-USB3 is only just good enough to run the FX 8350 at stock, while even the cheapest Z107 motherboard would be fine with the 6700K

I was thinking more about making this "experiment ".somewhat usable. But there are other things to consider. Like use case. I wouldn't get 8350 for anything which requires rendering.

[Bmachang]

30 minutes ago, LoGiCalDrm said:

Why would you need $200 mobo for i7? And why just $55 mobo for AMD?

Mostly because I was dicking around with parts and couldn't find a better AM3+ matx board.

[Bmachang]

25 minutes ago, Dabombinable said:

It should actually be the other way around as well-the GA-78LMT-USB3 is only just good enough to run the FX 8350 at stock, while even the cheapest Z107 motherboard would be fine with the 6700K

Mostly chose the ROG board because of the number of USB ports, has both type A and C 3.1 ports, as well as the on board wifi. The stability of the board couldn't hurt either I figured

[LogicalDrm]

3 hours ago, Bmachang said:

Mostly because I was dicking around with parts and couldn't find a better AM3+ matx board.

Ok, another question. Were these meant to be for so different purposes? Because AMD one would be more gaming oriented and Intel would be for rendering and stuff requiring hard CPU power. When you have them at around same price range, you are making it bit hard to understand why these pairings have been chosen to be compared.

[Totallycasual]

11 hours ago, Bmachang said:

FX8350+GTX1080

There needs to be one of those protective agencies like the ones for animals where they come around and remove hardware from bad homes and adopt them back out to people that will treat them better  

[Bmachang]

4 hours ago, LoGiCalDrm said:

Ok, another question. Were these meant to be for so different purposes? Because AMD one would be more gaming oriented and Intel would be for rendering and stuff requiring hard CPU power. When you have them at around same price range, you are making it bit hard to understand why these pairings have been chosen to be compared.

This is just a thought experiment, not an actual build so I really never had planned a purpose for it myself. I just wanted to see why people chose what, but it seems my question has been misinterpreted as "I'm building this thing and need help," instead of the intended question: "If given the choice between these 2 PCs for free (both of which have the same stuff as much as possible), and let's further assume that you don't have a PC, which one would you rather own and why?"

 

This pretty much all started because of a wish list I put together comparing the prices between a 6600k+GTX1080, a 6600k+RX480, a 6700k+GTX1080, and a 6700k+RX480. But I guess both would be used for some audio production (that's the reason why I went with FX and i7; more threads) and gaming. I would also like to have the possibility for 4k as well. I'm more or less aware that an RX480 can't push 4k like a GTX1080 so then I started to wonder how much it would cost to put together a build (as similar as possible) with an AMD CPU with a 1080 in the same matx case in search of that "golden middle way" but it seems I've fallen off path.

 

Oh Holy Buddahs; please help me walk this middle path!!

 

[Frame Drops]

Neither of them provide perfect balance between CPU and GPU.

I will recommend

CPU :i5 6th / 4th  gen  K / non K

GPU : GTX 1070

[Bmachang]

30 minutes ago, Newenthusiast said:

There needs to be one of those protective agencies like the ones for animals where they come around and remove hardware from bad homes and adopt them back out to people that will treat them better  

Hmm so let's say some one already had an FX system built and had the money for a 1080. Should they spend the money on upgrading CPU (and the works) and then start to save again for the 1080?

[LogicalDrm]

8 minutes ago, Bmachang said:

This is just a thought experiment, not an actual build so I really never had planned a purpose for it myself. I just wanted to see why people chose what, but it seems my question has been misinterpreted as "I'm building this thing and need help," instead of the intended question: "If given the choice between these 2 PCs for free (both of which have the same stuff as much as possible), and let's further assume that you don't have a PC, which one would you rather own and why?"

 

This pretty much all started because of a wish list I put together comparing the prices between a 6600k+GTX1080, a 6600k+RX480, a 6700k+GTX1080, and a 6700k+RX480. But I guess both would be used for some audio production (that's the reason why I went with FX and i7; more threads) and gaming. I would also like to have the possibility for 4k as well. I'm more or less aware that an RX480 can't push 4k like a GTX1080 so then I started to wonder how much it would cost to put together a build (as similar as possible) with an AMD CPU with a 1080 in the same matx case in search of that "golden middle way" but it seems I've fallen off path.

 

Oh Holy Buddahs; please help me walk this middle path!!

 

If one would be given for free, it would obviously be i7 system. For various reasons. Like that you have latest Intel i7 with newest socket. If CPU power gets every too little, there's good possibility to upgrade to newer i7. GPU is much more easier to upgrade than mobo, CPU, RAM combo. Yes, I'm aware that GPU isn't par with CPU, but its other way around with FX. And if this was given for free, I could pick up better GPU for money I still have.

[Bmachang]

17 minutes ago, LoGiCalDrm said:

If one would be given for free, it would obviously be i7 system. For various reasons. Like that you have latest Intel i7 with newest socket. If CPU power gets every too little, there's good possibility to upgrade to newer i7. GPU is much more easier to upgrade than mobo, CPU, RAM combo. Yes, I'm aware that GPU isn't par with CPU, but its other way around with FX. And if this was given for free, I could pick up better GPU for money I still have.

I do have another question regarding that CPU+GPU relationship. There's plenty of people on the YouTube that I seen running FXs and A10s/8s with like 980ti's on maxed settings with little differences than if it were an Intel CPU (some more noticeable than others). Are these guys not as optimized in their build configs matching those up or were the 980tis in a lesser category than the 1080?

[LogicalDrm]

2 minutes ago, Bmachang said:

I do have another question regarding that CPU+GPU relationship. There's plenty of people on the YouTube that I seen running FXs and A10s/8s with like 980ti's on maxed settings with little differences than if it were an Intel CPU (some more noticeable than others). Are these guys not as optimized in their build configs matching those up or were the 980tis in a lesser category than the 1080?

Most likely they are playing games which are heavily GPU oriented. FX-8350 is not that bad as gaming CPU for games that aren't taxing on CPU. And maybe with games that have some better impact on CPUs too, idk really. But for pure age, newer is always better. In terms of performance and upgrades.