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8370 Build


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Hello all,

 

I am helping my brother build his new desktop pc for gaming and video editing. 

 

He will be getting a Zotac 660ti Amp! from me as I just upgraded to a 970. 

 

Seeing as he wants to be able to edit video for work we have come to the conclusion that an AMD FX 8370 is a better option than an i5, as he can then use all 8 cores at the same time. An i7 blows the lid off the budget so we believe the 8370 is the better choice. 

 

The parts which currently make up the build are:

I am getting the prices from Pcpartpicker UK.

 

CPU: AMD FX-8370 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor 152 GBP

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler 25 GBP

Motherboard: MSI 970 GAMING ATX AM3+ Motherboard 75 GBP

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory 97 GBP

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive 56 GBP

PSU: Enermax NAXN ADV. 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply 60 GBP

Case: NZXT Source 210 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case 29 GBP

 

He does intend to add an SSD when he gets the money for it. 

 

I would appreciate any input about the build, but my primary concerns are about the CPU and the motherboard.

 

When I built my i5 rig a couple of years ago I found plenty of comparative reviews of motherboards, which made it quite easy to make a decision about which one to get. This time around I find it much trickier to figure out which motherboard would be right for the 8370. 

According to AMD it is recommended that one gets a 990FX motherboard for the 8370, but I can't figure out why this is recommended. He plans to upgrade to a GTX 970 or 980 GPU in a couple of years time, and as far as I can tell the 8370 will not bottleneck the GPU. I think it might be a good idea to get an SLI able motherboard in case he ever wants to get a second, but this is not a priority. But in that case, would a stock or moderately overclocked 8370 be a bottleneck for two GTX 980s running in SLI?

 

The other more pressing question is about overclocking.

 

From what I have read the 8370 is a great CPU for overclocking, and he would like to be able to overclock to a reasonable level, and I was therefore wondering which motherboard would be best suited for the task. I have read an article about the MSI 970 Gaming where they were able to overclock an 8370 to 4.8Ghz with air. (I can find the article if it is of interest). That motherboard is pretty much at the ceiling of the budget, but it is a 970 series motherboard and I was wondering if there is any reason to get a 990FX instead. 

 

My final question is about the PSU which I don't know much about. As listed above I have chosen a 650W 80+ Bronze PSU. According to my system build in pcpartpicker this should be enough, as the total comes to 393W. But would this be enough for an overclocked 8370, and two 980s in SLI? 

 

I am new to this forum and AMD processors, and I would appreciate any feedback, tips, hints or pointers.

 

I hope that my questions were clear enough, as I have a tendency to ramble. 

 

Wasn't quite sure if this was supposed to be in the System Builds or Processors, motherboards or memory section, and I am quite happy to move it if it is in the wrong section.

 

Thanks in advance

Edited by BoilingPoint

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I have that exact MoBo (UD3 990XA) in my wifes rig and it has been super awesome since day 1. I used to have an athlon 640 @ 3.8GHz, when the FX procs came out I flashed the bios and upgraded her to an 8320. Her 8320 is more than capable for running at 4.8GHz on that board but cooling is holding it back to 4.5. Voltage is getting into the scary range at that point too. She is using coolermaster hyper 212 just like you plan to. If you would like a higher OC than that you will need some better cooling. If I put my D15 on her 8320 I am sure I could do 4.8GHz stable.

Personally I would buy an 8320 (already did once :P ) and save the money saved on the cheaper chip for an excellent cooling solution and overclock the crap out of it.

 

I can't guaranty a huge overclock, but I would expect a bigger OC out of an 8320 cooled by a Noctua D15 than an 8370 cooler by a hyper 212. Don't get me wrong the 212 is awesome for the money, but the amount of heat an 8 core FX processor can put out is just too much for them in my experience.

 

Crossfire works flawlessly on her board, I would assume SLI would work just as good.

Edited by GabrielT

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I would get an adequate mainboard that will fit your needs. If the MSI will work, good. If you can got cheaper that is fine too.

If you are not going with a SLI set up a 970 board will do fine.

 

If you are really trying to save money, the 8320 and 8350 good overclocking chips. Most people will be heat limited before any of these chips reach 4.8GHz. The 212 evo is better than the 212+ so you might even get better results overclocking than I have.

 

The actual functional difference between 4.5 and 4.8 GHz is within the margin of error for most tests. If you are looking to save money, a 970 motherboard from a reputable brand will do 95% as well at overclocking as a 990 and will do fine if you don't intend to do SLI. 4x slots are only marginally different than 8x in SLI since the second card is always under less stress than the card in the top slot.

ASRock seems to make the best budget boards in general if you are looking to save and get good performance.

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I have that exact MoBo (UD3 990XA) in my wifes rig and it has been super awesome since day 1. I used to have an athlon 640 @ 3.8GHz, when the FX procs came out I flashed the bios and upgraded her to an 8320. Her 8320 is more than capable for running at 4.8GHz on that board but cooling is holding it back to 4.5. Voltage is getting into the scary range at that point too. She is using coolermaster hyper 212 just like you plan to. If you would like a higher OC than that you will need some better cooling. If I put my D15 on her 8320 I am sure I could do 4.8GHz stable.

Personally I would buy an 8320 (already did once :P ) and save the money saved on the cheaper chip for an excellent cooling solution and overclock the crap out of it.

 

I can't guaranty a huge overclock, but I would expect a bigger OC out of an 8320 cooled by a Noctua D15 than an 8370 cooler by a hyper 212. Don't get me wrong the 212 is awesome for the money, but the amount of heat an 8 core FX processor can put out is just too much for them in my experience.

 

Crossfire works flawlessly on her board, I would assume SLI would work just as good.

Thanks for the reply GabrielT. I will be setting the UD3 990XA as the option if we go with an SLI compatible build. As we don't want to go crazy with the overclocking I think we will settle for the 8370, which does seem to be good value. 

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I would get an adequate mainboard that will fit your needs. If the MSI will work, good. If you can got cheaper that is fine too.

If you are not going with a SLI set up a 970 board will do fine.

 

If you are really trying to save money, the 8320 and 8350 good overclocking chips. Most people will be heat limited before any of these chips reach 4.8GHz. The 212 evo is better than the 212+ so you might even get better results overclocking than I have.

 

The actual functional difference between 4.5 and 4.8 GHz is within the margin of error for most tests. If you are looking to save money, a 970 motherboard from a reputable brand will do 95% as well at overclocking as a 990 and will do fine if you don't intend to do SLI. 4x slots are only marginally different than 8x in SLI since the second card is always under less stress than the card in the top slot.

ASRock seems to make the best budget boards in general if you are looking to save and get good performance.

Thanks again GabrielT,

 

I was fairly certain that we would be going with the 8370 when I started this post, but now I will have to reconsider. If we can get a similar level of performance out of the 8320 as the 8370 then we might save as well save the 45 GBP. If we can 95% of the oc results with an 970 mobo from a reputable vendor is there any point in getting a MSI 970 Gaming or could we just save 20 pounds and go with something like ASRock 970 Pro3 R2.0. I realize this would not be SLI capable. 

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