Is Your Rig Ready for Bulldozer? AMD Offers Up a Checklist
Is Your Rig Ready for Bulldozer? AMD Offers Up a Checklist
Posted 10/07/2011 at 6:14am
| by Paul Lilly
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We're not sure if AMD is trying to crank the hype machine or stalling for time, but either way, company product marketing manager Adam Kozak outlines in a blog post how to "Get Your Rig Ready for the AMD FX Processor." It's intended for do-it-yourself builders anxious to make the jump to AMD's next generation microarchitecture, and it starts with choosing the right motherboard.
You need a board built around AMD's 9-series chipset, and if you're worried about compatibility with your existing chip, keep in mind that the AM3+ socket is backwards compatible with AM3 processors.
The next order of business is to update your BIOS, always solid advice when moving up to a new CPU. This is something you want to do before dropping in Bulldozer, just in case your board gets grumpy and refuses to post the new chip with an older BIOS. It happens.
Kozak's final step isn't really a step but a plug for AMD's Radeon graphics card: "To unleash the power of the AMD FX CPU when it launches, you'll of course want an equally powerful graphics card. AMD recommends matching the AMD FX CPU with an AMD Radeon HD 6850 graphics card or higher." Don't sweat it if you're rocking a lower end GPU or Nvidia graphics card, Bulldozer will run fine on either one.
Do you plan to upgrade to Bulldozer when it comes out? If so, are you ready?
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terracide
October 08, 2011 at 8:40pm
I have been anticipating Bulldozer for a while now, and I decided 2 months ago to buy the best and I got an Asus Crosshair V Formula motherboard. Even with the old PhenomII x4 955BE Im running on it, this new 990fx enabled beast of a mobo kicks the crap out of the M4N82 SLI (nvidia Nforce 980a) board I was running (badly) and I have 2 4gb Gskill PC3 2133 dimms to go with it. I also purchased an Asus ROG Matrix GTX580 Platinum, and I am betting it will be a very long while until I see an app that will really bring the configuration to its knees, especially with a Zambezi proc installed.
essjay22
October 08, 2011 at 7:39am
Just waiting till I can actually buy a BD chip, then I will replace my phenom 940/M2N32sli board with one of the 9 series boards and I'm off to the races. bought the ram already.
Hella-D
October 08, 2011 at 12:34am
Alwase Have And Always Will Use AMD, Yeah An Intel May Be (What 10 -15% Faster?) If Im Encoding A Video Or Audio Then I Dont Notice Anyway Because Im Doing Something Else, Like Watching A Movie And Surfing The Web, Sometimes I Even Play A WOW While I Watch A Movie Or Any Other Combination Of Things, All Why Doing My Encoding In The Background So I Could Give A Crap Less If It Takes A Measily Minute Or Two Longer Than It Does On The Equvalent Intel Chip. Just Yesterday I Was Encoding And Normalising My MP3 Collection, Burning An AVI To DVD Format, Chatting On Raptr And Playing COD4 Multiplayer All At The Same Time And All Without A Glitch Or Stutter.
Ive Been Using The Same CPU-Sink Since My Socket 754 Board 4 Years Ago, Then On A Socket 939 And Now On A Socket AM3, Good Luck Doing That On An Intel Without Buying Extra Brackets Or Adapters, AMDs Are Usually About Half The Price Of An Intel Chip And Can Usually Go From One Socket To The Next And So On...Again, Good Luck Doing That With Your Intel. With My Current Phenom II x4 3.3GHz, 6GB Of RAM And A GTX460 I Get Silky Smooth Framerates In Even Crysis (Around 50fps On Near-Maxed Settings)
Yes Im Ready For Bulldozer... I Just Purchased A Socket AM3+ 970 Board And 8GB Of DDR3-2000, Next Up My Case And New Raid-0 Array (Going From 2x 80GB First Generation 10K Raptors To 2x 250GB Momentus XT Hybrids) My Current 500GB Supplamental, PSU, DVD Burner And GTX460 (And Untill I Can Get My Hands On A Bulldozer, My Phenom II X4) Will Be Resued. ;)
aferrara50
October 08, 2011 at 12:50am
There are some out there that do want that extra 10-15%, which ends up being a lot. For those of us who like to fold that little bit matters. Personally I like to multitask, I need my rig to fold 24/7and play the latest games at 7680x1200, not to mention display stock tickers 24/7 without issue.
The $700 added onto AMD's highest consumer chip for an intel extreme edition is negligible since that extra % in a good bit of cases where people buy the chip is worth the money.
warptek2010
October 07, 2011 at 4:31pm
What, no Intel fanboys knocking AMD's new up and coming? No arguments about benchmarks, overclocking headroom or HT? Big dissapointment.
I do plan to upgrade next summer to BD!
Carlidan
October 07, 2011 at 7:39pm
How can Intel Fanboy's knock AMD's up and coming processors when there isn't anything to compare it with. They haven't given any sample processors to the likes of Maximum PC to benchmark,overclocking headroom or HT. All you can is speculate.
warptek2010
October 09, 2011 at 10:48am
Speculation aside... you can probably bet your bottom dollar that whatever speed and capability Bulldozer
is running at you can safely bet it will be behind Intels best and possibly future midrange parts.
My point all along... if I can use an analogy, if starship A's top speed is 94.5% the speed of light and starship B's is 97.3% it doesn't matter much because both are in the relativistic realm to begin with.
Carlidan
October 10, 2011 at 12:18pm
But in some cases AMD is also losing in the in the Price/Performance ratio. So what's your agruement then?
Better upgrade path? Most likely yes.
It sounds like your a fanboy of AMD no matter what.
neros1x
October 07, 2011 at 12:41pm
Excited to see this one. AMD has done right by giving up the super-high end high ground (who needs a $1000 CPU these days?!), and I can't wait to see the benchmarks/price points. Got a build coming up in Februaryish.
bpstone
October 07, 2011 at 11:40am
I'm sitting on the sidelines for now. Ivy Bridge looks like it might be more delectable.
stinkypeepers
October 07, 2011 at 11:32am
Wtf are you talking about "if its better than Intel's offerings (for once)?" The price to performance ratio for AMD beats the shit out of Intel any day. If you do a VS. match between AMD and Intel, yes Intel will beat AMD in benchmarks, but who gives a shit? Unless you're a tool and only care about the benchmarks, go with Intel. I'll stick to paying hundreds less for something that, in the long run, probably won't make any difference at all. I do a lot of heavy gaming and I have a PII X4 925 @ 2.8Ghz. I paid $120 for it, and if I wanted the Intel equivalent, I'd be paying out of my ass.
aferrara50
October 08, 2011 at 8:12am
AMD hasn't competing for best cpu since the days of their first dual core. Some people just want the best. $1000 for a cpu isn't that much money all things considered, especially since people that buy those chips most likely have another $4k+ in the rest of the machine.
Bulldozer should be interesting, but since AMD lacks hyperthreading it won't be nearly as awesome as people hope. It'll make a great HTPC and budget build base, like all AMD rigs do, but nothing more.
LatiosXT
October 07, 2011 at 3:30pm
Except only a few games actually care about more cores. Only a handful (literally, you could probably count the number of games with one or two hands) of games scale better with cores. Anyway, I always take a look at Tom's Hardware monthly "best parts of the money" articles. And so far... they recommend the $125 Core i3-2100 over the $120 PII X4 955 BE.
And besides that, it usually takes a while for the processor to become a bottleneck anyway. I still rock a C2D E8400 and it plays every game I throw at it just fine.
richeemxx
October 07, 2011 at 11:26am
So the point of the story was AMD offered up a checklist but you don't give readers a link to it?? FAIL!!
If you guys actually want to read what AMD wrote here's the link
praack
October 07, 2011 at 10:19am
plan to upgrade- well actually plan to build new for it- not upgrade existing.
so will wait until the motherboards are all reviewed with the new FX chips
RipperXT
October 07, 2011 at 9:56am
I'm updating for sure. I'm running a Core i7 920 on the LGA 1366. I'm sick of Intels constant socket changes and the pricing that goes along with it.
Jeffredo
October 07, 2011 at 9:03am
I have a PII X4 955 and I'd love to upgrade "if" its better than Intel's offerings (for once).
noobstix
October 07, 2011 at 11:01am
Deneb represent! I'm still gonna rock my 955 and Radeon HD 6870 for a while as I don't see a desire to move up to a Bulldozer since my rig right now can handle just about anything thrown at it. I've made some big leaps going from single-core to dual-core and now a quad-core (AMD Athlon 3200+ -> AMD Athlon X2 5600+ (Brisbane) -> AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE).
kixofmyg0t
October 09, 2011 at 11:19am
I've recently(like 5 mins ago after reading the advice to my earlier comments) decided to include a 955BE in my BD-ready build. Hows the 955BE and 6870 combo workin for you? Ive pretty much settled on a 6850 for my rig but still wonder if its really worth the extra $ to step up to the 6870.
Caboose
October 07, 2011 at 9:10am
I have that same CPU. I'm pretty pleased with it! Did you get the black edition?
Kinetic
October 07, 2011 at 8:47am
Is this a joke or something? Like GPhorce said, anyone who wants one likely is and has been ready. I've been ready since MSI released the AM3+ update for the 890FXA. Are YOU ready AMD?
GPhorce
October 07, 2011 at 8:43am
I'm pretty sure if you have been holding out to buy Bulldozer you are already quite aware of what you will need to run it. Any video card, any black socket AM3+ board and the patience of a Saint.
bautrey
October 07, 2011 at 9:36am
AMEN!!! Been waiting since the beginning of the year and its just about here! I could have just easily gone with an Intel based rig, but I was stubborn and waited and waited, and waited....
keyzs
October 07, 2011 at 11:11am
same here... got the HD 6970 at launch in Dec 2010 and was promised BD in June... :-(
my card in now one year's old and the chip isnt even born....
let's look forward to 0 disappointments this time...
cheers!!
bautrey
October 07, 2011 at 12:38pm
that sucks... I hope u have a computer that your using that 6970 with instead of it just sit somewhere.
I bought a case, PSU, and RAM about 3 months cuz they were on a great deal, and I've had this just sitting around...
keyzs
October 07, 2011 at 7:55pm
thankfully yup... it was paired with the Intel Q9300 @ 2.50G, which is 3+ yrs old now...
*sigh* was hoping to see the performance combination with BD especially on 3DS MAX. i gave up the options of using dual Quadros bec for some reason the second PCIe bus seem to die on me witiin a year. gone thru 4 motherboard changes on this.
in the beginning the thought was to run 4 monitors paired with the Intel i7 9xx series but the cost of the i7 9xx was just rediculous... however AMD already had news of BD so why not give that combi a shot.... AMD has some form of FUSION thinngy that combines the CPU and GPU for processing, which i hope will work
manZ.... we all must be siants now for the patience we have shown... *sigh* x 2
well i guess we are all just about a week away.... so stay positive guys...
cheers!!
NayusDante
October 07, 2011 at 7:42am
What do you mean they require a 9-series chipset? I bought my Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD5 board after seeing that it specifically supported AM3+!
Kinetic
October 07, 2011 at 8:45am
Don't worry, some 890fx boards are compatible via a BIOS update. How well they perform vs a 990 chipset remains to be seen however.
bautrey
October 07, 2011 at 7:35am
i will be purchasing the chip as soon as possible Oct 12th. I would be willing to drive to MicroCenter to pick one up directly but sadly theres not one in my state D:
Device Unknown
October 07, 2011 at 7:27am
No intentions of upgrading to Bulldozer at all.
I intend to build a ALL NEW bulldozer machine :) For absolutely no reason other than I love AMD.
No use for it at all but by god I want one anyway :)
Supall
October 07, 2011 at 6:54am
I do plan to upgrade, but I'll wait until Black Friday to make my purchases. I am using a 790FX mobo with an AM3 Athlon II X4 so I know I need to upgrade my mobo (and memory) to utilize Bulldozer. It'll be quite an expensive upgrade.
kixofmyg0t
October 07, 2011 at 7:43am
Hows that running anyway? The Athlon I mean. Ive been holding off on building a rig but Im about ready to just say eff it and build it with a Athlon X4 cuz theyre stupid cheap.
Even that would be a massive upgrade to me. My current working PC is a Turion X2 powered laptop......
vrmlbasic
October 08, 2011 at 6:35pm
What a coincidence, I'm currently suffering with a Turion X2 working PC right now (Dell Vostro 1000, 4 gig DDR2 800...sad) and I can't take it any longer. A part of me wishes that AMD had made better chips compatible with Turion's socket, but that'd only solve part of the problem. I finally pulled the trigger on a Bulldozer-ready rig.
With my luck, the day I put this new setup together, AMD will debut the desktop Bulldozer chips lol.
I went with a Phenom II X4 955, as it is only 20 bucks more than the Athlon X4 but owns that chip due to the L3 cache. Plus, Tiger bundled it with a copy of Deus Ex: HR, which I've been wanting to play on a PC (which my current rig obviously can't handle. ATI Radeon Xpress 1150 graphics are pretty damn sad).
kixofmyg0t
October 09, 2011 at 10:58am
lol Mine is a HP DV7, 4GB RAM and a Radeon HD3200. It STRUGGLES to play Starcraft 2 at the absolute lowest quality settings. I have Deus Ex on PS3 so Im not missing it, IMO its GOTY hands down!
The 955BE is only $20 more u say? Hmmm. Ill look into it, maybe ill be pulling the trigger sooner than I thought!
vrmlbasic
October 09, 2011 at 2:06pm
When I bought my 955 X4 last Thursday (10/6/11) from TigerDirect it was 119.99 bucks with Deus Ex: HR included. They were selling an Athlon II X4 for 99.99 dollars.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1126324 ->Phenom x4 955
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6394302&CatId=4919 ->Athlon II x4
(Links just to save some searching if you feel like checking it out.)
The only modern console I have is the 360 with a 20 gig HD, so I would have awful load times as I don't have the space to install it to the HD. Even if I could, the SSD I got for my PC build will smoke the Xbox on load times. Too bad it won't be the Augmented Edition as I wanted to try that out, but I can't think of a better modern game to test out my new build with, once all the parts finally get here.
My crap laptop is hooked to my 1080p 23" display with its VGA port, and the LCD has flickering, and it struggels on almost any game that's newer than 10 years old. It's sad. I didn't get Starcraft II as I knew this rig couldn't handle it. It can barely play Tribes 2 (a 10 year old FPS game) at 1024*768. Any outdoor environments are stuck aroudn 20 fps.
titan8813
October 07, 2011 at 12:24pm
I have almost the same setup as the above poster except I have the Phenom II x4 840 (basically Athlon II x2 650 as there is no L3 cache) and it is a nice processor, especially for the money. Ripping DVDs with Handbrake on the "Normal" runs around 80-120 fps, so a 2 hour movie renders in about 20-30 minutes, compared to more of a 1:1 ratio with my old Athlon 64x2 4000+ (2.1 ghz dual core).
I personally want to upgrade to a high-frequency AM3 hexa-core and I'm waiting for Bulldozer to come out and bulldoze those prices down closer to the C-note price point. Then I'll swap this proc out with the one in my HTPC for faster rendering with MCEBuddy.
kixofmyg0t
October 08, 2011 at 1:04pm
Yeah....transcoding with handbrake yeilds 14~17fps on my Turion X2 RM-74.....NOT fun.
I ask because I have a BD ready wishlist prepped right now....just waitng to pull the trigger. As of now I have a Athlon II X4 640 slotted for the CPU, 8GB RAM, Radeon 6850, SSD, and a couple more goods to total $810.
Caboose
October 07, 2011 at 9:09am
If you can, get a black edition CPU. They are a little more expensive, but they're unlocked so you can overclock them. AMD CPUs overclock nicely I've found.
zepontiff
October 07, 2011 at 1:08pm
You can still OC the non black ones. You just have to OC everything.
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