BIOSTAR TA970 AM3+ Motherboard + G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB + AMD FX-8350 Vishera 4.0GHz + $20 Gift Card $259.99 + $7.33 Shipping (FS for Shoprunner)

Quote from webculb : I'm not seeing the RAM ether. This bundle has the ram http://www.newegg.com/Product/Com...bo.1224907

The ram is mentioned when you click on the ta970 board. It should show up in cart

Quote from luckyse7ens : Please explain why you think the 8320 has a"safe overclock" limit lower than that of the 8350.

It depends on your chip really. The 8320 and 8350 are the same chip. The 8320 are the ones with slight defects in them. AMD set the base clock lower since they can run at that speed without issue. If you overclock the chance of errors greatly increase. That's why they can safely be overclocked to 4.0GHz with minimal risk of error. Again depending on the chip you get, you might luck out, and get a stable one that runs faster.

Quote from luckyse7ens : The ram is mentioned when you click on the ta970 board. It should show up in cart

Added to cart and didn't see any mention of RAM. It does show the $20 promotional credit for the chip.

Quote from webculb : It depends on your chip really. The 8320 and 8350 are the same chip. The 8320 are the ones with slight defects in them. AMD set the base clock lower since they can run at that speed without issue. If you overclock the chance of errors greatly increase. That's why they can safely be overclocked to 4.0GHz with minimal risk of error. Again depending on the chip you get, you might luck out, and get a stable one that runs faster. Added to cart and didn't see any mention of RAM. It does show the $20 promotional credit for the chip.

There are no defects on the 8320s

https://docs.google.com/spreadshe...utput=html

Your thinking of 'binning'

These aren't chips with locked cores or cache or something.

They have unlocked multipliers.

They regularly clock over 4.5ghz with decent cooling and a motherboard that supports such a thing. (Like theta970)

Quote from luckyse7ens : The ram is mentioned when you click on the ta970 board. It should show up in cart

Unless it is excluded when buying the combo?

Nice heads-up OP.

Quote from luckyse7ens : There are no defects on the 8320s https://docs.google.com/spreadshe...utput=html Your thinking of 'binning' These aren't chips with locked cores or cache or something. They have unlocked multipliers. They regularly clock over 4.5ghz with decent cooling and a motherboard that supports such a thing. (Like theta970)

http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.asp...print=true
Read second post

I'm not saying the 8320 is a bad chip in any way. Only that if you want guaranteed performance without errors you really shouldn't go over 4.0GHz on a 8320. Some chips will vary though and the really good 8320s are almost identical to an 8350 and can overclock to 4.5-4.7.

RAM is no longer bundled with the mobo?

Quote from truzoom : RAM is no longer bundled with the mobo?

Seems like that for me.

Performance-wise how does this compare to an i5?

Quote from firebirdx01 : Performance-wise how does this compare to an i5?

Almost identical in everyday use. Video transcoding will be better.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/639...0-tested/2

Quote from webculb : http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.asp...print=true Read second post I'm not saying the 8320 is a bad chip in any way. Only that if you want guaranteed performance without errors you really shouldn't go over 4.0GHz on a 8320. Some chips will vary though and the really good 8320s are almost identical to an 8350 and can overclock to 4.5-4.7.

Your linking me to a three year old post wherein the individual in question writes "I'm pretty bad at explaining things... lol, but hopefully this helps you understand"

The 8320 isn't a "defective part". That post is more in reference to things like the old amd tri core's or gtx 465's.

Also, I understand that you aren't saying its a bad chip, but the use of the word "defective" is going to throw some people off a bit.

Your chances of getting a better chip may be higher with the (potentially higher binned, due to being closer to the center of the wafer) 8350, however to say that there is a safety limit of 4.0ghz on the 8320's is absolutely wrong. More then likely your CPU cooling and/or motherboard are going to be the limiting factor with an 8320.

Quote from webculb : Almost identical in everyday use. Video transcoding will be better. http://www.anandtech.com/show/639...0-tested/2

In some poorly written games like SC2 the i5 is definitely better. In some games that can take advantage of more threads the 8 core AMD is definitely better.

Otherwise its a wash.

Quote from luckyse7ens : In some poorly written games like SC2 the i5 is definitely better. In some games that can take advantage of more threads the 8 core AMD is definitely better. Otherwise its a wash.

It's weird how dominant i5 is in some games....but it does really seems software dependent as to who is on top.

Quote from firebirdx01 : It's weird how dominant i5 is in some games....but it does really seems software dependent as to who is on top.

Depends on if the software is written to use multiple threads at once or not. If everything is going to just one core then Intel will win everytime vs AMD. Multicore multithreaded applications get much better performance from AMD. Just depends on what you use your PC for.