Updating my computer build

[The Bad Guy]

6 years ago I had a tremendous amount of help in completing my first computer build. Computer has ran mostly great for 6 years, but I wanted to see if it was worth upgrading my processor, motherboard and graphics card.

Below is what I purchased. I do light gaming, a lot of videos/photos, personal computing and lots of word processing.

Since I'm not real knowledgeable about what is compatible with what, I wanted to solicit the gurus on here for advice.

Here is a screen shot of what I currently have in the computer. I'm not looking to spend a ton to upgrade, but I'm sure a lot has changed in 6 years that I'm not aware of.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by kccrow

Interesting. I've never had one DOA and never had one last less than 7 years. Their failure rate is among the lowest in the industry, and usually is the lowest. Spouting off with 40% is ridiculous when a good portion of their boards are under 3%. If you were talking ASRock, I'd be more inclined to believe you. When I checked rates a year ago or so, they were over 10% while ASUS was under 2%. Appears they must have had some problems as they have always been solid.

From 2012 to 2014, I went through FOUR Asus boards, two of which were DOA.

I have rackmounted server cases for my studio builds. Do you have any idea how much of a PITA putting together a PC in those constraints (let alone, installing six hard drives) it is, only to find out the board doesn't work?

I'm not the only one, either. All of the PC companies that were building high end music and video editing workstations stopped using Asus as well.

I'm glad you've had good luck but there's no way I'm recommending an Asus board to anyone.

[hometeam]

Originally Posted by kccrow

This would be my recommendation for your needs, for what it's worth.

AMD A10-7890K APU (Quad-Core 4.1 GHz FM2+ 95W Radeon R7 Graphics) $148.99
MSI Radeon R7 250 GPU (2GB 128-Bit PCI Express 3.0x16 w/CrossFireX Support) $62.99
ASUS A88XM-A (FM2+ Bolton D4 MicroATX Motherboard) $74.99
G.Skill Sniper 8GB (2x4GB DDR3 2400 SDRAM) $54.99
PNY CS1311 240GB SATAIII SSD $73.34
Total $415.30 all through Newegg
Here's PCPartspicker: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/yqCVBP

Set up Radeon Dual-Graphics, which uses the APU integrated R7 chip and the dedicated R7 card in a Crossfire setup to increase graphics performance.

There are so many ways this could be gone about, but I will tell you im still not a fan of APUs, especially when you can crank out more raw power for the money.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($149.98 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 Pro3 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($49.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($35.00 @ B&H)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow UV400 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($40.99 @ B&H)
Total: $275.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-30 12:22 EDT-0400

Add a used GPU from r/hardwareswap, around 80-100 and your in for pretty damn cheap and have something with about 60% more processing power (will end up with more GPU power too) and way more value. SSD you can play with too but this asrock board is also full size ATX and is superior in every way to that ASUS board

While your at it, unload your old stuff on r/hardwareswap as well, might get a little bit of money back for it.

[kccrow]

Originally Posted by hometeam

There are so many ways this could be gone about, but I will tell you im still not a fan of APUs, especially when you can crank out more raw power for the money.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($149.98 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 Pro3 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($49.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($35.00 @ B&H)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow UV400 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($40.99 @ B&H)
Total: $275.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-30 12:22 EDT-0400

Add a used GPU from r/hardwareswap, around 80-100 and your in for pretty damn cheap and have something with about 60% more processing power (will end up with more GPU power too) and way more value. SSD you can play with too but this asrock board is also full size ATX and is superior in every way to that ASUS board

While your at it, unload your old stuff on r/hardwareswap as well, might get a little bit of money back for it.

Absolutely agree there are many ways to go about it. I'm not sure he's gaining much by going with an FX 8xxx processor over a quad core FX 4xxx. He could save $70-80 there and go with a much better dedicated graphics card for when he does game. It doesn't take much computing power to do word processing, which is his primary activity. Want to give him enough graphics to stream/play some games.

I'm kinda thinking a FX-4350 (On sale for $79.99 right now) with a better GPU would be better. Add in a MSI Radeon RX470 4GBx256-bit ($169.99) and he'd have a decent machine. With your listed board, ram, and SSD, he'd come in at $375.95.

If he goes with these 125 W processors, he should be sure his case has good air flow. AMD CPU's in general run hot.

Ultimately his decision and he has to decide what's best for him.

[hometeam]

Originally Posted by kccrow

Absolutely agree there are many ways to go about it. I'm not sure he's gaining much by going with an FX 8xxx processor over a quad core FX 4xxx. He could save $70-80 there and go with a much better dedicated graphics card for when he does game. It doesn't take much computing power to do word processing, which is his primary activity. Want to give him enough graphics to stream/play some games.

I'm kinda thinking a FX-4350 (On sale for $79.99 right now) with a better GPU would be better. Add in a MSI Radeon RX470 4GBx256-bit ($169.99) and he'd have a decent machine. With your listed board, ram, and SSD, he'd come in at $375.95.
Ultimately his decision and he has to decide what's best for him.

I know from experience even a fx-6300 has some hitches running regular day to day shit.

Didnt he say he doesnt game? Used GPU from hardwareswap you can get something like a 960/r9 270 for around 100 bucks.

[kccrow]

Originally Posted by hometeam

I know from experience even a fx-6300 has some hitches running regular day to day shit.

Didnt he say he doesnt game? Used GPU from hardwareswap you can get something like a 960/r9 270 for around 100 bucks.

I do light gaming, a lot of videos/photos, personal computing and lots of word processing.

I'm not sure what to recommend him for a processor... every single one has its hitches w/ AMD but his budget doesn't fit well with Intel. However, Intel integrated graphics are pretty damn good these days.

A good question for him would be how much multi-tasking does he tend to do.

[hometeam]

Originally Posted by kccrow

I'm not sure what to recommend him for a processor... every single one has its hitches w/ AMD but his budget doesn't fit well with Intel. However, Intel integrated graphics are pretty damn good these days.

A good question for him would be how much multi-tasking does he tend to do.

well even html-5 video acceleration takes advantage of multiple cores. More cores = more legs on the system = more usefulness

[kccrow]

Originally Posted by hometeam

well even html-5 video acceleration takes advantage of multiple cores. More cores = more legs on the system = more usefulness

IIRC the HTML5 video acceleration utilizes far superior GPU computing power over the CPU when available. Thus my thoughts on lesser CPU but greater GPU. What's your thoughts on that?

[hometeam]

Originally Posted by kccrow

IIRC the HTML5 video acceleration utilizes far superior GPU computing power over the CPU when available. Thus my thoughts on lesser CPU but greater GPU. What's your thoughts on that?

Well, without him gaming much, and with the budget, the CPU is going to be the greater upgrade. I think there is a happy medium there. I still am a fan of buying GPUs used. They rarely fail, and the secondary market on them right now is tilted towards buyers with all the new stuff coming in the last couple of years.

If he wont go used GPU, then both, less processor and less GPU than what I proposed is likely what we are looking at.

[kccrow]

One more question for you home team. Processors with the same scores on single-core tests will perform similarly in the same tasks. Most applications aren't written to take advantage of more than 4 cores at this time (Some new games like Battlefield 1 will). So if you can get a higher clock with the same, or better, performance on single-core activites, then why would it be advantageous to buy more? Thoughts?

I kind of tried to look into this a bit and came across this...
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/...6350-8350.html
... but there are just as many people wondering there.

I know I've seen identical single-core performance scores for the FX-8350 and FX-4350.

Also read that the Athlon X4 has identical core architecture to the FX processors, but supports a faster memory standard so you end up with a slightly better performing quad core.

The FX-8xxx series usually have more L2 cache, which could be an advantage. Intel gets by with alot less cache so I always question its overall impact.

[hometeam]

Originally Posted by kccrow

One more question for you home team. Processors with the same scores on single-core tests will perform similarly in the same tasks. Most applications aren't written to take advantage of more than 4 cores at this time (Some new games like Battlefield 1 will). So if you can get a higher clock with the same, or better, performance on single-core activites, then why would it be advantageous to buy more? Thoughts?

I kind of tried to look into this a bit and came across this...
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/...6350-8350.html
... but there are just as many people wondering there.

I know I've seen identical single-core performance scores for the FX-8350 and FX-4350.

Also read that the Athlon X4 has identical core architecture to the FX processors, but supports a faster memory standard so you end up with a slightly better performing quad core.

The FX-8xxx series usually have more L2 cache, which could be an advantage. Intel gets by with alot less cache so I always question its overall impact.

A good way to compare CPUs with real world benchmarks.

http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare...350/1489vs2880

Single core power is the same, however, I think you are still saying the same thing people where 2 years ago. That multi-threaded use is the exception and not the norm, and thats just changed so much, and will continue to go down multi core path. Again, its legs we are talking about by going higher cores.

You also have to think about how AMD claims multiple cores is not like Intels. Its also not comparable because it doesnt use hyperthreading. An AMD is always half of its claimed cores as physical cores, with each core running two emulated cores.

So your 4350 is truly a 2 core, and your 8350 is really a quad core, if you where to think of them in the same way in which Intel determines how many cores a CPU has.

[kccrow]

Originally Posted by hometeam

A good way to compare CPUs with real world benchmarks.

http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare...350/1489vs2880

Single core power is the same, however, I think you are still saying the same thing people where 2 years ago. That multi-threaded use is the exception and not the norm, and thats just changed so much, and will continue to go down multi core path. Again, its legs we are talking about by going higher cores.

You also have to think about how AMD claims multiple cores is not like Intels. Its also not comparable because it doesnt use hyperthreading. An AMD is always half of its claimed cores as physical cores, with each core running two emulated cores.

So your 4350 is truly a 2 core, and your 8350 is really a quad core, if you where to think of them in the same way in which Intel determines how many cores a CPU has.

Thanks for the update. I haven't been into it much the past three years or so. Used to build, but I don't keep up with the changes behind the scenes on programming as much. Now I just passively follow and do my own and close family. I always recommend Intel and if they can't afford dedicated graphics right away, save for it later.

Hoping my cousin, that is going to school for programming, will get me back up to speed in a few years haha.

I know gaming is really going towards maximizing hardware capabilities, but that's about all I've followed.

[The Bad Guy]

Bumping this to see if anyone saw any good BF deals toward getting a new MB (I'd like to stay with Gigabyte), processor (intel), SSD and Ram (would like at least 8 gigs).

Have about 350-400 to spend.

Thanks everyone for all your input.

[hometeam]

I posted in your other thread, 430 bucks for everything you need