Current Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe finally died, AM3+ or FM2+ should be next?

[diablo2424]

My current setup is:

CPU: AMD Phenom II x4 940 Black Edition
Motherboard: Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe BIOS 5001 BETA
Memory: 2x Corsair XMS DDR2 2GB, 2x G.Skill DDR2 2GB
Graphics Card: ASUS GTX 560 OC
Hard Drive: Seagate 750GB SATA 7200RPM
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts 750
Case: Antec 1200
Water loop on the CPU only (EK Supreme HF + XSPC RX3260)

However, my motherboard recently died on me . So I am debating on what to do for upgrading my PC with some new parts, here are my two options I've narrowed it down to:

Option A)
AMD FX-8320 Vishera AM3+
Asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0
with 8GB of DDR3 RAM that I already have, for now, until early 2014 when I can upgrade to 16GB+ Corsair XMS

Option B)
AMD 760K Richland FM2
Asus A88X-PLUS FM2+
with 8GB of DDR3 RAM that I already have, for now, until early 2014 when I can upgrade to 16GB+ Corsair XMS

I know both options will be faster than my current setup, especially with DDR3, SATA 6GBps etc... however, I am looking to keep my new setup for a few years, and if possible go with the best setup that will give me future upgradability... for example I've heard about these Kavari FM2+ chips, which would work with Option B. But what I haven't been able to find out on the web is if there are going to be new AM3+ chips in the next year or two, faster, more cache, more cores, etc. I have a discrete video card which I plan on keeping for now, and upgrading when necessary to a GTX680/690, so I don't need an APU, but I've also read that AMD may be dropping AM3+ and only keeping FM2+ as their future workstation socket. If that's the case then I will definitely go FM2+ so I can upgrade in the next few years, without having to get another new motherboard.

What your guys' opinions? Should go for Option A with the AM3+ and enjoy the performance boost now or go for Option B with the FM2+ and future-proof myself better? OR is AM3+ not going anywhere?

Also in case you're wondering, yes I will be watercooling the new setup, a little bit of toying with overclocking, and I don't do too much gaming, just a little here and there. But I do a lot of video encoding, downloading, streaming, multi-tasking....

Oh and I plan on pulling the plug on this order within a few days, you never realize how much you use your main desktop PC, until it's gone

[Johan45]

Since you list video as one of your primary uses I'd go for the 8 core. They really crunch video if your software is multithreaded. You may want to consider upping the mobo if you plan on clocking over the low to mid 4.0 range. My max on that board with an 8350 was 4.5.

[Daveburt714]

Since you list video as one of your primary uses I'd go for the 8 core. They really crunch video if your software is multithreaded. You may want to consider upping the mobo if you plan on clocking over the low to mid 4.0 range. My max on that board with an 8350 was 4.5.

I agree with Johan45. An 8320 will offer much better performance in Video Encoding!
And if you do plan to overclock, the Asus Sabertooth or ASRock EX9 would be the better mobo options (in the mid price range).

The only question is will there be an upgrade path for AM3+? That's still an unknown...
According to TechPowerup AMD will be releasing more info on Kaveri on November 11th:
http://www.techpowerup.com/193616/am...vember-11.html

Tough choices right now.

Good Luck,
Dave

[KiSUAN]

You currently have this combo for 10 more bucks http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...=Combo.1475300 with the same mother, free games and rebate for the asus but 8350

[diablo2424]

Since you list video as one of your primary uses I'd go for the 8 core. They really crunch video if your software is multithreaded. You may want to consider upping the mobo if you plan on clocking over the low to mid 4.0 range. My max on that board with an 8350 was 4.5.

True, plus as you can tell from my last build, having the option to upgrade would be nice, but not really necessary for me as I make my rigs last quite a while for what I use them for. Yeah I'll definitely look into a better AM3+ board then, gotta go research and see what some better options are, but still affordable.

Thanks for the info on the M5A99FX, I'll see what else I can stick in there within my budget, I'm looking to do a little clocking, nothing too extreme.

I agree with Johan45. An 8320 will offer much better performance in Video Encoding!
And if you do plan to overclock, the Asus Sabertooth or ASRock EX9 would be the better mobo options (in the mid price range).

The only question is will there be an upgrade path for AM3+? That's still an unknown...
According to TechPowerup AMD will be releasing more info on Kaveri on November 11th:
http://www.techpowerup.com/193616/am...vember-11.html

Tough choices right now.

Good Luck,
Dave

Yeah, it definitely is tough. I may wait it out until then to see what they say; but I have thought about it, and even though having the option to upgrade would be nice, in all honesty by the time comes that I'd want to upgrade from an 8-core CPU, we'll prob be using DDR4 and other upgrades. So an entire new setup will be warranted by then anyway, so might as well just go with the AM3+ and enjoy the higher performance in the mean time.

Thanks for the info and suggestion!

You currently have this combo for 10 more bucks http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...=Combo.1475300 with the same mother, free games and rebate for the asus but 8350

Well if I go with the AM3+ (which it looks like I will be) I'll also be checking out my local Microcenter, as they have the 8320 + M5A99FX Pro R2 for a combo deal of $240... which kills newegg's deal IMO, lol. But thanks for the heads up on that! (Oh and since I'm in NJ, I get hit with sales tax from Newegg, Microcenter and Amazon now as they all have warehoueses here )

[BeepBeep2]

I would try to get the board fixed just because it's so legendary

[Geonerd]

Yea, I'd wait 'till the 11th and see if AMD's marketing monkeys say anything of use.

Unless they plan to release a 6 core or better Kaveri (FM2+) chip relatively soon, I can't see chugging the APU KoolAid just yet. Given that most (all?) FM2+ boards are built to provide 100w or less, I don't know if 6+ cores (at a respectable clock) is even possible without transitioning to FD-SOI and/or shrinking the die another step.

On the other hand, AM3+ is very possibly a zombie platform. An AMD rep is supposed to have stated that 'a suitable upgrade chip is in the pipeline' (I'll try to find the source), but until they say something concrete...

Even if an FX-8xxx is the end-of-the-line, they're still pretty darned good chips, and decent AM3+ boards aren't wildly expensive... Maybe the best option would be to jump in without too much though and just have some fun.