Should i Stay or Should I go!

[IceMan37]

Should I stay or should I go now ..... if I go there will be trouble! ... That's a song by the Clash if I remember right. Meaning should I stay the status quo with my current Intel rig? Or should I slide back into the AMD side of things? So I have all the parts I need for an all-AMD system build sitting here. I remember when I ran an all AMD exclusive system for some reason even though the comparable Intel systems were supposedly faster... I enjoyed the AMD system immensely. Something about using a processor that is not uber mainstream and is mainly adopted by gamers made me feel good. I also felt better about AMD GPU's because they seem to provide better value for the money (save a few NVidia models like the current GTX 970).

 

My parts sitting here are.

 

AMD FX 8350

Asus M5A99X Pro

Corsair H100i

2TB Seagate HDD SATA

240GB SSD

R9 290x (XFX model DD)

 

Now, I was going to build this and sell it locally here in my "new town" and keep using my current Intel/NV system, but I'm thinking I might do the opposite and sell my Intel system. Any thoughts?

[AWS]

I've been fighting the same battle. I still haven't made a decision which way I am going with my new build.

[allheart55 Cindy E]

You are preaching to the choir, here. I'm strictly AMD all the way.

 

I would definitely lose the Seagate drive, though......:D Of course, that's only my personal opinion.

[Rich-M]

I agree with losing the Seagate drive though as a backup drive it would probably be ok but I am done trying to boot system with Seagate Sata drives as I have just replaced far too many of them and usually before the warranty is up. I haven't noticed a bit of difference between any of the color WD labels as to how they last either.

 

Well you know I have been mostly AMD through my career though I do swing back as I did 2 years ago. As you said William I just feel better about AMD builds and I feel I have fewer problems with them. I have never been able to decide whether they are equal in speed and I suppose not but with how fast pcs are today, I am not convinced I could even tell which is faster any more, especially when using Ssd drives to boot a system. I vote for AMD as well. Now I have never been a gamer as you know and while I am an ex pro photographer, I don't come close to the quality I used to demand from myself when I worked in the industry as those embarrassing photos proved a few months ago so I mainly look for good quality graphics is all.

[IceMan37]

Well I have had good luck with Seagate because I know what models to choose from. It's kind of like motherboards where you don't go by the brand so much as you go by the specific model because it's hardware and bios are dialed in. I do happen to have 2x 1TB Western Digital Blue drive though. One new other used maybe I will use the used drive see how that goes. About gaming I do much less of that as I once did so I really don't need an R9 290x especially for 1080p, but it's one last time into the fray - the last good fight I will ever know! (a line from the movie "The Grey").

 

I think AMD is really struggling in some areas especially in the processor area but I would like to have 1 all-out AMD rig one last time.

[Rich-M]

Well you know the AM3+ are well written up and yet I feel better about the FM2+ even though there are fewer quality models available so I do not know why, they just feel quicker to me and more stable. Of course it has been a while since I used the better AM3 cpus though.

[IceMan37]

I suppose it depends on what you are using it for. The important thing is how you feel about it and what you mainly use your PC for. We all have our own particular comfortable hardware zones - what we like and what we don't.

 

I just thought It would be cool to build a new totally AMD PC! I will be using the Seagate drive I have not experienced any issues with them as of late.

[Rich-M]

I certainly agree with that and I am sure you are right because the AM3+ numbers are so much better than the FM2+ as I said earlier.

Where I really like the FM2 performance incidentally is in laptops because the APU video I have always felt adds something to laptop few others have. I already own a 3rd gen i-5 laptop or I would be moving that to AMD also but I really like that laptop and I seldom use them anyway.

[allheart55 Cindy E]

That's the one thing, and Rich knows this, I won't have an AMD laptop. Their performance sucks.

[Rich-M]

Cindy the Vision Cpus have changed all that.

[allheart55 Cindy E]

This last laptop I bought is probably close to three years old and has less than 10 hours time on it, seriously.

[Rich-M]

Mine is 2 years old and might have 20 hours on it.

[allheart55 Cindy E]

You don't use yours much either. :D

[Rich-M]

I actually use it less than you think because I bought it to replace a desktop in my back room and that might have lasted a few weeks until I reacted and bought the Dell All-in-One.

[IceMan37]

Regarding Seagate, there are really only two models I will buy regarding standard SATA models whereas Western Digital have many more good models so I certainly understand the concern.

 

I decided to build this AMD system and sell it since it appears here locally they pay good money for high end rigs. So I think what I will do is get that same Apevia white case you have Rich, add a second SATA drive (the used Western Digital Blue). I may upgrade the GPU though amazingly there really isn't anything this MSI GTX 660TI power edition won't run on high settings with good frame rates - this is the only GTX 660TI that is actually about on par with a GTX 760. I'm also still using 1080p not 1440p, but I keep eyeballing the R9 280x (XFX DD) which is a rebadged HD 7970, and the MSI or eVGA GTX 970. I think as long as I am on 1080p I don't need a GTX 970 the 280x would be plenty I think it's about a 15% improvement over my current card and it would at least give me a partial AMD fix.

[Rich-M]

Now I am puzzled...at first you said you were going to sell the AMD due to high demand for high end rigs but at the end your fix comes from keeping it or selling it? I would keep it. I love the card as I have the R9 280X card but you have the 290 right which is actually better right? I have been ducking the driver updates remembering what happened with the earlier R7 250 card I had but this time was offered the Omega driver also and I used to have much safer time with those in the past. I have been looking to find the top FM2+apu the 7850 at a steal price and then I could use my 7700 in another rig for sale. I know the difference would be infinitesimal but since the price difference is so slight I am wondering why I didn't get that in the first place. I was also looking at the other FM2 APUs but they all are 4 meg cache which is somewhat limiting so I can see why you went with the FX series as the top ones there are 8 meg cache. That is making me think that might be an upgrade but of course I don't feel like changing the board and the APU but I could resell the FM2+ easily.

I guess I am bored which is when I waste time on such dribble as biz has slowed to a crawl finally.

[IceMan37]

Well it's all still sitting here. Just tired from the move etc and I really do not feel like building myself a new rig right now. I suppose I'm getting older =)

[Rich-M]

Because of all the tweaking you have to do for your own? That makes sense.

[IceMan37]

Actually not so much the tweaking - that's part of it but it's more lately I just want a break from it. The rig is built though and boxed up. Ready for purchase.

[Rich-M]

no pictures?

[IceMan37]

Negative

[GimboV]

I used to use Western Digital drives exclusively until a few years ago. It seemed every WD drive I got went bad. So I made the switch to Seagate and only looked back once for system build with a WD Black. I only did this because the customer insisted on WD. I just replaced my personal 7 year old system with 3 Seagate drives and never had an issue with any of them. Also have done many other system builds with Seagate and no issues that I know of. Just purchased a Seagate 2tb hybrid drive for my current build. Maybe WD has changed in recent years and I should revisit them, but I have had such good performance with Seagate I shudder when thinking about changing.

[Rich-M]

That's amazing Gimbo as I have the exact opposite experience where every single Seagate drive I used 2 years ago came back dead and I have only ever replaced one WD. Now go back a few years WD had some bad series and I remember the drives were all black and I had a lot of trouble with those. Then I am doing really well with Crucial Ssd drives and the reviews are terrible. They are the best ones I have used and every one of them is still in use the oldest being over 3 years now. I am still curious to see if I get 10 years out of any of them but based on what I have read it is more than possible.

[DSTM]

Failure rates seem to scale linearly with size I have been reading.

2TB Drives from nearly every manufacturer have twice the failure rate of 1TB Drives.

I like Western Digital, Under heavy load I find they are somewhat noisy.Still my choice.

Worst I have experienced has been Hitachi. Three out of three failed before Warrany expired thankfully.

One lasted 1 week.

For all my computers I run SSD's now and keep the Sata's for storage and Clones of each OS.

[Rich-M]

Definitely true that over 1 gb there is little stability in any hard drives. Now remember Hitachi is no Toshiba but I have had little trouble with either of those. I seldom go away from WD but those are the ones I sometimes do and again I have yet to see a bad one. I would think this is personal except most people have had multiple issues with Seagate drives if you spend much time on forums.