AMD 95w TDP Upgrade Question

[Xanath2511]

My current system is sporting an older AMD Phenom II X4 B55 OC @ 3.6GHz and I am looking to alleviate a potential performance bottleneck by upgrading soon -- I don't want to replace my mobo just yet and I am stuck with am3+ at 95w TDP. Any recommendations? I am mostly trying to find out whether it would be worth it to go with the 8320e or 8370e over the 6300 as I can't slap the 125w 8350/8370 CPU's on my board (and I don't think you can really find any 8150 or 8300's around anymore.) Thanks!

Full system specs are as follows:

ASUS M5A78L-M LX AM3+ AMD 760G Micro ATX Mobo
8GB G.Skill Ripjaw Series DDR3 1600 (PC 12800) SDRAM
AMD Phenom II X4 B55 OC @ 3.6GHz CPU (unlocked from AMD Athlon II X3 455 Rana 3.3GHz)
Crucial M500 120GB SSD
EVGA SuperNOVA B2 750w 80plus Bronze Certified PSU
EVGA GeForce GTX 960 SuperSC ACX 2.0+ 2GB GDDR5 GPU

 

[TRWOV]

OMFG... that Asus POS. Two recommendations:

1- Get VRM heatsinks. The Enzotech MOS-C1 is a favorite.
2- Get an Antec Spotcool and point it towards the VRMs

I'm telling you this because I used to have that board and it can't sustain a 95w CPU at full load for more than 5 minutes before throttling due to VRM overheat. Now, this might not affect you since it's pretty possible that you won't see a 100% load for that long (I used to run boinc on two of those with a pair of 1045t so I had a constant 100% load 24/7) BUT it's certainly a weak board so anything you do to cool the VRMs will help to last longer.


Going back to your question, your CPU's lack of L3 cache hurts but I think you could hold on it for a while an instead save for a new Intel motherboard/CPU combo. Your current RAM still works with modern Intel CPUs so you wouldn't have to spend as much but if you still want to upgrade I think a 6300 is plenty: has the full 8MB of L3 cache vs the 4100 4MB and it just cost $10 more than said 4100. Put the savings towards a good cooler and the mentioned VRM heatsinks. Plus, not many games scale well beyond 4 threads.

 

[Caring1]

FX 6120

 

[MxPhenom 216]

go Intel

 

[GoFigureItOut]

FX-8320E? It's rated at 95w.

 

[TheGuruStud]

Is it really going to bottleneck a 960? I would game with vsync off and check gpu utilization. It sounds like a waste of money to me.

Also, I had a massive problem after leaving that gen CPU with intel and AMD. Vsync no longer functions correctly (just stutters) regardless of buffering techniques unless it's held at a steady 60 fps. FreeSync can't come soon enough.

 

[Recca29]

FX-8320E? It's rated at 95w.

+1
FX-8320E and FX-8370E are supported by your motherboard.

+ take TRWOV advice and place a heat sink on the VRM.

 

[Dent1]

go Intel

I'm sure the OP appreciated that enlightening recommendation. Very good.

The way you put together these 2 words are complementary.


The OP doesn't want to change boards. Respect his decision.

 

[xfia]

Intel cpu's are better for gaming no doubt but what you need to take into consideration is that not all games are equal and on top of that what gpu your using.
If its newer games that scale across many cores a fx cpu will show its worth with high end gpu's. the 960 actually falls into the middle class area of what a fx cpu won't hold back when things get really cpu intensive. Its almost mind blowing how different every game is... hell even a i5-4460 could hold back a 750ti in the right game. dx11 and newer game engines are setting better standards for how the cpu is utilized in games and dx12 will make it even better.

 

[Aquinus]

I'm sure the OP appreciated that enlightening recommendation. Very good.

The way you put together these 2 words are complementary.


The OP doesn't want to change boards. Respect his decision.

While I would tend to agree, I think @TRWOV makes a good point, which might be enough to convince someone to switch platforms.

 

[Mathragh]

For older games you don't need as much CPU power so lower singlethreaded performance is liveable.
For current AAA games and upcoming games more cores are becoming increasingly important, especially with DX12 around the corner.

I'd say an upgrade to a 8370e is worth it, as long as you're looking for better performance in upcoming games and don't mind having similar CPU performance in current non-high end games.

 

[Frick]

I'd say an upgrade to a 8370e is worth it, as long as you're looking for better performance in upcoming games and don't mind having similar CPU performance in current non-high end games.

This, the Phenom II's have pretty good single threaded performance, still. IF the OP gets some cooling for the motherboard (AM3+ motherboards were a mess), or if he can get a decent second hand board, but at least here they are incredibly expensive, if you can find one at all. (off topic: The same goes for Phenom II CPU's, the X6's are basically going for what they were when they were new, which is pretty damned incredible considering they're nearly five years old at this point.)

 

[ThE_MaD_ShOt]

If you want to stay on the Amd platform and need to stay with a matx board might I suggest this one? http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5195#ov

I am using one in one of my crunchers with runs 100% load 24/7 with an overclocked 8350. Stable as a rock.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

I'm sure the OP appreciated that enlightening recommendation. Very good.

The way you put together these 2 words are complementary.


The OP doesn't want to change boards. Respect his decision.

oh how nice of you to bless us with your presence....

 

[Aquinus]

oh how nice of you to bless us with your presence....

I read that and instantly thought of this.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

I read that and instantly thought of this.

Im definitely saving this one haha

But honestly to the OP, I think you could hold out a little longer on a CPU upgrade and wait till you have enough to upgrade board, cpu and memory.

 

[Dent1]

go Intel

oh how nice of you to bless us with your presence....

Im definitely saving this one haha

I had no issue with you recommending Intel. Had you said a full sentence explaining logically why the switch would be better I would have no issue.

You can't expect the OP to spend money switching to Intel based on literally a two word recommendation?

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

Can you post a cpuz snapshot.

i dont doubt you but i would like to see the evidence that you have

1 unlocked the L3 cache ( from Athlon to Phenom as it were)
2. unlocked a 4 th core
3 acheived an overclock that is stable.

all at the same .
Ive only managed 2/3 at a time, if youve managed all 3 youve done well.

In my experience with similar chips there is more to be gained from bumping the speed as high as stable and ditching the L3 cache. L3 cache is useful for gaming but not as useful as higher clocks.

So in summary... i would push your current chip. save your money for a while and ultimately aim for an Intel rig. I am an AMD fan however sometimes commonsense comes before passion

 

[TRWOV]

1 unlocked the L3 cache ( from Athlon to Phenom as it were)
2. unlocked a 4 th core
3 acheived an overclock that is stable.

I think OP is confused, there is indeed a Phenom II X4 based on the Propus core (from which Rana is derived) so it's unlikely that he has L3 cache. Maybe it's identified as B55 but it's not a "real" Phenom II in any case.

Still, first recommendation would be to save for an Intel i5 CPU/motherboard combo (and don't skim on the motherboard, you don't need a top tier MB but getting one with modern features will go a long way into making your build last).

If you still want to upgrade AND keep your current board I wouldn't go above the 6300 and budget $25 for the Spotcool and Enzotech heatsinks.

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

Found this at overclockers.uk. Says the mobo will support cpu up to 140w


http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-466-AS


im pretty sure its the same mobo......OP ?

 

[TRWOV]

Not the same:

OP's board:
http://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/M5A78LM_LX/

The board you linked to:
http://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/M5A78LMUSB3/

OP's board is a 3+1 phase board, the USB3 variant is a 4+1 board. Hardly ideal still (high end AM3+ boards are 8+2) but better than the OP has now. The bad thing about these are the old D2PAK VRMs which get hot, more so in these low grade configurations and ASUS bios are very aggressive with heat throttling. Take in mind that disabling CPU thermal throttling in the bios won't help with that since the VRM thermal throttling can't be disabled by the user, save for a bios mod or something.

I had two of these boards and they were nothing but a pain to work with for crunching (24/7, 100% CPU load). And even with the heatsinks you could see some dipping every now and then (the CPU would downclock to 800Mhz for 5 or so seconds). Now they're not bad boards for casual use, even for gaming they're fine (you'd rarely see a 100% CPU load on a game) but since then I've learned that "support" just mean, "it'll power up with this processor".

 

[eidairaman1]

I think OP is confused, there is indeed a Phenom II X4 based on the Propus core (from which Rana is derived) so it's unlikely that he has L3 cache. Maybe it's identified as B55 but it's not a "real" Phenom II in any case.

Still, first recommendation would be to save for an Intel i5 CPU/motherboard combo (and don't skim on the motherboard, you don't need a top tier MB but getting one with modern features will go a long way into making your build last).

If you still want to upgrade AND keep your current board I wouldn't go above the 6300 and budget $25 for the Spotcool and Enzotech heatsinks.

The X2 555Be at 3.2 Could unlock into a x4955 Be/B55.

The mobo does limit the oc potential of that existing cpu though.

 

[xBruce88x]

yea... i tend to make sure my motherboard at least has some heatsinks on the VRMs. Sadly... my work PC didn't come with said heatsinks... so i run at stock speeds... for now.

What TRWOV said is a good suggestion in terms of the VRMs. It doesn't have to be top spec, just have heatsinks in the places it matters, and they don't have to be super fancy looking either.

 

[Dent1]

Look guys its been 2 full days. The OP hasn't returned back to this thread. He created a thread than ran off. If he isn't going to contribute then we are talking to ourselves.

If the OP isn't a deadbeat he will come back for more advice.

 

[xBruce88x]

well whenever he decides to return... i think this will answer his question as far as the 6300 vs the 8370e goes.

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/AMD-FX-8370E-vs-AMD-FX-6300

Cost wise, I'd stick with the 6300 since its cheaper and close to the same performance in most situations. Since he's limited by 95w it would be pointless to get the 8 core in hopes of overclocking since you wouldn't be overclock by much anyway. Similar performance and about $80 cheaper. I think that's a win, as far as gaming goes at least. The other is more for multi-threaded apps.

besides, if the OP is considering upgrading to another platform later on anyway then it'd be better to go with the cheaper upgraded cpu.