AMD equivalent of Intel-based gaming PC

Gentlemen,

I have recently built a fairly decent Intel-based work/gaming station with the following components: i5 4670, MSI Z87I Gaming AC MB, MSI GTX 760 ITX GPU and 8GB 1866MHz RAM. But I was wondering: which AMD CPU, MB & GPU would I have to combine to get roughly the same performance?

It really depends on what you are doing. Some games and in streaming the 8350 will kill the 4670k. Like really slap it. Other games it is about the same. Finally, in some games that have bad optimization for multiple cores the i5 will win out. Usually though, for gaming it is pretty much a wash between the two in terms of gaming performance. 

At higher resolutions, with multiple GPUs, when streaming, and some productivity (especially H.264 Encoding) the 8350 does a much better job. In reality, especially with an OC and in well threaded applications , the FX-8350 competes better with the i7-4770k. 

An 8320 is also a good option and is about the same. It just has a lower clock speed than an 8350. You could go that way and save some money there and just OC it to the level of an 8350. 

You wouldn't need to change the GPU. It isn't like the changing the CPU will give you so much less or so much more performance that you need a higher or lower tier GPU. 

If I was building a system similar to yours but on the AMD platform I'd do this. 

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2XFhh $813 no OS

An equivalent Intel rig using your CPU, GPU and Mobo. The PSU, memory and storage are the same as the AMD rig. The Case is different but about the same price. a little less. 

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2XFox $977

 I really don't know how much your rig cost because I don't know if you used an SSD, what case you used PSU ect. I built an Intel rig with your CPU, motherboard and GPU. I didn't use your memory because I found RAM that was cheaper. You don't need 1866Mhz....

 

Of course though, the two system form factors really aren't comparable. There are really no good AM3+ motherboards in the mITX form factor. You'd have to go FM2+ which won't perform like an i5. But I assumed we weren't sticking to form factor, just getting an AMD rig that will perform similarly.  

well there is no mini itx option that can match the performance of the i5 you currently have. If formfactor does not matter, then a FX8350 with Asus 990FX sabertooth R2.0 

if you like better sound then the Asrock 990FX fatal1ty killer board. with FX8350

First of all, thank you for your swift replies.

 

The ITX form factor does matter quite a bit to me and I need most of my games to run at 1080p60fps on at least high settngs or above. For instance, would the A8-7600 combined with a ASRock FM2A88X-ITX+ and say, a R9280X suffice?


DerKrieger, here's a complete list of my current system's components:

CASE: Silverstone SG05

MB: MSI Z87I Gaming AC

CPU: i5 4670

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-L9I

RAM: Corsair Vengeance Pro 8GB 1866MHz (question: why is 1866MHz not necessary?)

GPU: MSI GTX 760 ITX

SSD: Kingston HyperX 120GB

HDD: HGST Travelstar 2.5inch 1TB

ODD: Sony BD-5750H

PSU: Silverstone SFX ST45SF-G

OS: Windows 7

If you want itx just go with intel. Amd apu builds just arent going to be as good.

Okay well if you are going mITX I'm gonna say you should just go Intel. Really, at that form factor an Intel CPU with a dedicated GPU would be the pest performing system. 

COuld you use an APU and a dedicated GPU? Absolutely. But the performance won't be as consistent. Most games rely more on the power of the GPU. So theoretically you could throw a really expensive GPU in with a cheap CPU and game all day. The issue comes with games that use CPU power as well. Games like Crysis, Metro, Minecraft, DayZ, Primal Carnage, Natural Selection 2, as well as most games at 1440p+, use much more CPU power and the APU just can't keep up. 

So you may be able to use a 280X and an A8 and play Bioshock all day at 1080 and have a similar experience as someone with an Intel i5 and the same 280X but when you go and fire up Crysis 3 his game is running at a smooth 60FPS and yours can hardly manage 20. The CPU (APU in this case) is bottlenecking the GPU so it runs slower and any processing that needs to be done by the CPU can't be done quickly enough hurting performance. 

So yes you could use an A8 with a 280X, but it won't perform as well, usually, in most games (maybe a slight decrease) and in games that rely on the CPU more it will choke. 

You want to build a balanced system. 

 

You have a very good build there but it is impossible to recreate exactly the same performance in that case. You'd need to use an FX series CPU and there aren't any good mITX motherboards with an AM3+ socket. 

 

For gaming 1866Mhz memory isn't necessary because when you get down to it, games don't need that kind of memory bandwidth for the CPU portion of game processing. Like I mentioned above games use the GPU more. The RAM on the GPU has all the texture files and everything that needs to be sent to the GPU for processing. That RAM needs to be fast. That is why GPUs have  GDDR5 clocked at over 7000Mhz in some cases. 

System RAM however doesn't store texture data or other large amounts of info that need to get to the CPU quickly. So you can go with slower RAM. This always seems to upset people, usually because they spend a huge amount of money on fast RAM, but in gaming you won't see any change in FPS between 800Mhz memory and 2600Mhz memory. Maybe 1/2 an FPS. You also have to remember that as the clock speed increases so does CAS latency. It is a trade off. Both are important in achieving high bandwidth. 1600MHz is usually the ideal balance between clock speed and latency. 

So I could spend hundreds on expensive fast 1866 or 2133Mhz RAM and get the same performance as someone who spend $50 on some cheap 1333Mhz RAM. For the most part, RAM is RAM. You don't get much by spending hundreds of dollars on it, besides maybe a fancy usually useless heatspreader. That Corsair Vengence RAM is incredibly overpriced btw. 

 

HOWEVER, if you are using an APU platform and relying on the integrated GPU on the chip you need fast RAM. System RAM in that case serves the same purpose as dedicated video RAM on a GPU. It holds textures and other important information that the GPU needs quickly. So on an APU platform where you are using the integrated GPU you need fast RAM because it also serves as the video memory for the onboard GPU. In that case the difference between 1600Mhz RAM and 2133Mhz RAM maybe a difference of over 15FPS in game. 

 

Sorry about this massive wall of text. I wanted to try and explain it as best I could. 

Once again, DerKrieger, thank you so much for taking the time to write all of this down.

To give you an idea of the types of games that I often play, I took a quick look at my GOG shelf and wrote down a few of the most "graphically demanding" titles: Alan Wake, Cryostasis (goodbye Advanced PhysX with an AMD GPU, I reckon?), Stalker, Miasmata, Outlast, Amnesia, etc. All of which run like butter and maxed out on my current system. There's also the question of being able to run upcoming games at 1080p60fps but I don't want to go off-topic too much (Daylight, Oddworld New 'n' Tasty, No Man's Sky, Alien Isolation etc.). But what if I would go for an Athlon X4 760K combined with the R9280X?

Regarding the Corsair RAM I bought: lesson learnt the hard way, I suppose... I only became a PC gamer last year and my knowledge regarding the required components to build a PC is basic, at best. I've got a lot more to learn if I don't want to throw away money on the next build.

No problem I'm glad to help. 

Those games would prob run better on the Intel platform if you used the exact same GPU. Compared to your current setup (i5 and the 760) a 760k (Which btw is just an A10-6800k without the iGPU) and an R9 280X would run most games faster thanks to the stronger GPU. However some may struggle with that CPU. 

As for PhysX, most games don't take advantage of it and often times PhysX can be offloaded and processed on the CPU. In fact most games that do use PhysX (very few) use the CPU to render it. It isn't necessary to have a nVidia GPU then. 

I'm a bit confused though. You have a kickass rig. Why do you want to go and build an AMD one? 

Yeah that is how it is. Live and learn. But hey at least you went out and built your own rig. We are all here to learn and share our knowledge. Nothing wrong with making a rookie mistake. 

Could you give me an example of a game that would struggle with the 760K combined with the R9 280X? Something like Metro, I suppose? What's the worst case scenario: severe framerate issues?

Ah yes, to clarify my interest in an AMD rig: I always plan ahead. This would be next year's build, so there's no rush and plenty of time to learn about AMD hardware. Why not stick with Intel, you ask? Because I like to try new things and make up my own mind once I've tasted the best(and worst) of both worlds. Besides, the AMD build would be for gaming exclusively.

One last question regarding CPU cooling, as I do plan on sticking with the ITX form factor (I've already picked out a case: Corsair Obsidian 250D). The Noctua NH-L9i I'm using in my current system is enough for the 4670, but according to the Noctua TDP guidelines, the L9A would not suit a 760K (100Watt)... Any suggestions on what should I use then? An H100i perhaps?

R9-280X will get bottlenecked like hell in metro last light by the Athlon 760K.

Realy if you wanne go mini-itx or micro atx, just stay intel. you can also cheap out on intel, if you go for a i5-4670 and a H87 mini itx board. this saves you alot, okay no overclocking, but still much better perfomance then any apu or athlon, for gaming.

Er... there is no discernable difference (by human standards) between integrated sound cards, this has been true for a few years. Even audiophiles admit that (search on audiophile forums).

If by "better sound" you mean that you can drive professional grade headphones, which have a higher impedance, then yes, the Asrock is better.

Also, that line separating the audio PCB from the main PCB is simply marketing bullshit invented by ASUS, and then adopted by other manufacteres because people bought this nonsense. The electromagnetic field that causes the interferences manifests in all directions (like a gravitational field, if you wish) and it travels with the speed of light (unlike the gravitational field, which is instantaneous). A line won't block an electromagnetic field from interfering with a device, just as you walking on a plank won't make you weightless.

What will prevent the electromagnetic is the shielding, as long as it doesn't have any holes in it (like I've said, the electromagnetic field manifests in all directions). But you won't notice any difference either way.

i know that.

What i ment with better sound, is that the Asrock fatal1ty killer has a better onboard sound chip alc1150, then the Asus  sabertooth has alc892. Also the Asrock has an onboard headphone amp, to drive headphones upto 600ohm´s.

But its abit offtopic sorry ☺

I agree completely :)

One thing worth noting though is, like I've said before, the fact that objective measurements and benchmarks will indeed show a difference between the two chips (1150 being the better one), but the human ear won't perceive any difference.

Dunno what was with metro last light but it destroyed my 7870,like it literally murdered it,It ran crysis way better than it handled metro.

Well the Metro games are really really horribly optimized. You basically need to run them on the Starship Enterprise if you want playable framerates with the game maxed. 

I see. I know you already picked out a case but I mean maybe you could try to go for a change. There are many nice ATX mid-tower cases out there. You could always try an AM3+ part. Really if you want to see the best of both worlds that is what you'd have to do. Otherwise it really isn't a fair fight. 

A fair point, duly noted. Plenty of time to look into other options but I kind of fell in love with all things ITX. Either way, thanks so much for your input, Krieger!

Haha I built my first mITX system a few weeks ago and I do have to say I love the form factor as well!

Np, glad to help!