FX-8350 vs comparible intel cpu?

[cpuq]

Hello everyone,

I've recently started researching to build a new desktop. I want to build it with hardcore gaming (i.e. crysis 2, skyrim in full detail, and games such as this) as well as, hobbiest 3d rendering (i.e. 3ds max, maya studio, poser pro, ect). I was set on the amd FX-8350 until i took a closer look at some of the motherboards for the intel, as well as their cpu's tend to get higher reviews for everything with their modern hyperthreading and individual cpu L2 caches.... My main question is, "Will the 8 core amd out perform one of the quadcore intels just because of sheer processing power? or will the intel with it's hyperthreading and such make up for the lack of cpus with it's design?"
Also
q2: Is the FX-8350 likely to bottleneck itself since it doesn't have individual L2 caches?

one more thing: I'm not really wanting to spend much more than 500 for the processor unless there is some Undeniably big upgrade for another processor

Any responses would be much appreciated

[debs3759]

The general consensus seems to be thatan i5 or i7 will outperform anything that AMD has to offer for gamers. There is a limited number of apps that can fully use the architecture in the Bulldozer and Piledriver processors, according to pretty much every review I have seen.

[cpuq]

In this case, any advice as to a very good Intel cpu? Also, are the i5's that much of a downgrade from the i7's?

[debs3759]

For gaming, an i5-2500K or i5-3570K will be just as good as an i7, as most games only use one or two threads. Most games will benefit more from a powerful GPU than a high end CPU. At the end of the day, your budget will determine best what CPU you should aim for.

[cpuq]

So what I'm taking is that the sheer power of a crazy processor won't make much of a difference in the long run?

Also what might the i7 be better at over the i5?

[debs3759]

An i7 is only worth the extra cost if you do a lot of work with apps that multi thread, such as video processing, or if you want to get into competitive benchmarking. For most users, the only reason to buy a high end i7 is to be able to say they have a more powerful computer than their mates

I just reread your initial post, and 3D rendering may benefit from the extra threads. It really depends how much video work you do, and how modern the apps you use are (and whether they use the GPU or CPU). I don't know so much about rendering apps, so hopefully someone else can comment as well.

[cpuq]

I really appreciate the advice debs3759. I've been starting to look harder on Intel's processors with their higher ratings and what appears to be better overall performance. The last thing I want is to pay a crazy amount of money for hardware the programs I use can't even use to the full potential

[fenyal]

there are only 11 desktop intel processors over the AMD 8350 and they are all core i7's. the lowest having a price tag of 300 bucks vs's AMD's 200. both are just a few points from each other as the link i will share will show.

i would stick with the AMD side. history tells us that games and software will only continue to use more cores as we go along so later on that 8 core will slowly get consumed with floods of information for all cores. AMDs use of sharing resources is their way of making a hyperthreaded version. as hyperthreading only uses the resources of the processor that arnt currently being used. AMD just shrunk those places so the processor is always using all of it's resources. i have a hyperthreaded core i7 and i personally rarely ever see it using it's extra threads. even in cases where it could, it's usually too busy with 1 thread to use much of another thread.

my personal opinion is hyperthreading is over rated. i own both amd and intel and it makes no difference to me on which one i use. what matters to me is the price per performance ratio and i think you would be better off with an 8350.

it will do everything asked of it in games and more. i have little doubt that you will not be pleased with it and at the same time save yourself close to 100 dollars that you could put towards something else instead.

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html