So I got to thinking here I run an AMD FX-8320 (stable as hell @ 4GHz). What I wonder is how long will this thing stay relevant to modern applications? I know intel outperforms it in quite a few areas with the 4670k and 4770k chips but it really does hold its own and gives me very little problem.
So eventually I will upgrade to whatever intel solution I have available to me at that time. The question becomes when do YOU think that will be?
any of those little 8-cores by AMD are excellent performance chips for the money. in terms of them being relevant, they will be relevant for a while. there are people still rocking 2600k, 3770ks, intel chips. and they are still doing very well even if they are "Past Gen CPU's". in your case AMD has said they haven't abandoned the AM3+ Line. they just haven't released any plans yet. so i would keep that 8320 and play the waiting game till they release a new line of 8-Core AMD3+ chips.
That chip should carry you for quite a while. Honestly I don't think you will need to upgrade it until it dies, considering that games are starting to become more CPU optimized and with Mantle and similar lower level access APIs (DX12?) it will depend much more on the GPU. As for non gaming applications, the only really CPU intensive ones are video rendering applications or special FX programs like adobe after effects. So unless you are a hardcore content creator that chip should be fine for several years.
i dunno. maybe a few years, it depends on how quickly software engineers jump on the new instruction sets and learn to utilize the features that set intel apart from amd. but i read something interesting today where pretty much all computing platforms are going HSA, mostly because of the mobile platforms. even the next gen consoles are pretty much HSA platforms. you might be wanting to upgrade to Qualcomm or ARM, or AMD APUs
I know people still using intel core 2 quads, yes new chips are more powerful and will give you better GPU utilization on cards like the Titan Black, but unless your completely overhauling your build it will last you quite a while. When I retire mine I plan to install esxi to it and use it as a level 1 hyper-visor :).
I think the 8 core have a long life ahead... Especially now when t=more and more applications get optimized for more then 2 cores... It is very likely, that this CPU will stay relevant for a few more years, and i mean more then 2-3... You may see some performance increase with 4770k for example, but is it worth spending all those money for motherboard and cpu for a few frames in gaming and a slight boost in few applications, where you will see no difference in others?
Right. I won't be upgrading to any of the Intel gen 4 chips for sure. I won't be able to use mantle though as I run a Gigabyte GTX 760 4gb OC edition GPU. My profile has my complete build if anyone wants to take a look and see where my weak point is (thing I need to replace first.).