Wait for Zen or upgrade now

[mcjesus]

So, after several years my PC is finally starting to show its age. With a 955BE C2 it legit can't meet some minimum requirements. The fastest stable overclock I can get (with stock cooling) is 3.4Ghz. If the core goes over 55 degrees C I get blue screen.

Mobo is AM3, not AM3+, so any reasonable upgrade means upgrading that, too.

Phenom ii x4 955BE rev C2 @3.4Ghz
8GB DDR3 ram
Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 Turbo
ASUS M4A79XTD EVO mobo

Right now I'm considering getting a Kraken x61 to squeeze the last few drops of power out of the CPU, but I've heard revision C2 might just not OC better no matter the cooling.

My other options being build an i5 or an FX system. i7 is just too expensive, if I do this I need to keep the cost down below $500 CAD. Or of course I could try waiting for Zen to drop, but then the question is, in the short term (1-2 years) would Zen offer a significant performance boost, for gaming, over an i5 or FX?

 

[rgd1101]

no idea how Zen is going to perform. and you need a new mobo for it anyway

 

[mcjesus]

Yes, I'm aware Zen will be on the yet to be released AM4 architecture.

 

[rgd1101]

If you can wait, wait, if not, an i5 probably best option as FX is pretty much done.

 

[looncraz]

The answer is actually extremely simple in this case...

Zen is starting out as a high-end product. With near Haswell IPC, six and eight cores and SMT, it will perform, in the very least, on par with most mainstream i7s (provided AMD can manage good clockspeeds).

This means a Zen upgrade will cost you as much as an i7 Skylake upgrade - including with DDR4. $500 may not cut it. Honestly, I'm hoping it won't - as that means the performance is good enough to command a healthy price and to not induce a price war for AMD to lose.

So you have only two choices:

1. Save more money for Zen (you have time) and hold what you have.
2. Do an upgrade now with Intel Skylake components & DDR4 RAM*

Overclocking your CPU any more is not worthwhile. 3.4Ghz for the C2 is already rather decent - and is all I ever accomplished with water-cooling without resorting to some risky mods (which only got me to 3.6...).

* Spend wisely on the motherboard - get a real good quality board that can handle overclocking - an AsRock Z170 board (the Z170A-X1 or Z170 Pro4S, for example) will probably help you stretch your dollar most without having quality issues. Buy a decent, but cheap, CPU. Even a dual core Skylake will make your Phenom II X4 955BE feel like a slow calculator. Seriously, the Pentium G4400, is about twice as fast as your CPU in most common single threaded tasks, and still nearly as fast in heavy multi-threaded tasks. That's a $65 CPU. An i3-6300 (3.8Ghz) will push you well ahead all around for $147. The next CPU you should consider is $230 - the i5-6600k. No other i5 is worth the money for the added performance. The 6600k can be nicely overclocked without much trouble. You will need an aftermarket heatsink - there are many good, and cheap, options. $30 is more than enough for 4.2Ghz or so.

MBO: $80 (AsRock Z170 Pro4S)
CPU: $230 (i5 6600k)
RAM: $53 (G.Skill Ripjaws V Series, 16GB - 2x8GB DDR4-2400 CL15, 1.2V)
HSF: $30 (Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo - kind of a pain to install, but cheap and works well)

That's $393 - all prices from NewEgg.

Buy a good Corsair or SeaSonic PSU with the balance - 80+ Bronze is good enough - or maybe a nice case ;-)

 

[mcjesus]

Those must be USD prices, but the rest of your post answers my question quite well. I'll probably go Intel for a few years, starting with an i3, then switch back to AMD following the inevitable AM4+ release.

 

[looncraz]

Those must be USD prices, but the rest of your post answers my question quite well. I'll probably go Intel for a few years, starting with an i3, then switch back to AMD following the inevitable AM4+ release.

Yes, they are U.S. prices - sorry, missed the CAD

Glad to be some help ;-)