The previous generation were the AMD FX processors with Piledriver architecture, like for example the FX8350, but they were most of the time far behind the Intel CPU's. The IPC (Instruction Per Cycle) were inferior in single core performance compared to Intel and even the older AMD Phenom2 generation. Multi-core performance was better, but still could not compare to Intel Core i5 or better. The only really good thing of the FX CPU's or better APU's was their integrated graphic chip which was better to comparable Intel chips, but which is usually useless if you use a dedicated graphic card for a gaming system anyway. They just had the wrong concept for these FX-CPU's one could say. Ryzen greatly improved in single core performance and multicore performance as well. Later this year the Ryzen CPU's with integrated graphic chips will follow as Raven Ridge APU and certainly combine both, the improved CPU and GPU performance, which I suppose will make a great APU for notebooks, X86 tablets and HTPC's.

I got my new Ryzen 1700, and boy is it fast.

Stock cooler is really quite and looks amazing with th RGB ring

My retailer lists 7 A320 MBs from Asrock and MSI. These MBs are MicroATX factor, one or two PCI-E, 2 or 4 DDR banks. Very close in specs to the cheapest B350s, but less bandwith and less connectors. x/a300 IS IMHO meant for small form factor platfroms, so will come with the APUs.

Quasebarth, thank you for the information. I was looking at the 8370k last night. There is no Mini-ITX that I could find with a AM3+ socket. Strange that Ryzen has gotten at least one Mini-ITX yet AM3+ has gotten none even when its generation seems to be flying by. Quite weird.

It seems that in the case of retaining my motherboard's form factor, I'm currently limited to the FM2+ socket. Anything above that will and I will most likely have to upgrade to Micro or worst, ATX. Nothing wrong with it but at least, my build right now is decently portable and early on, when I was thinking about this build, I was thinking: "Who needs portability?" but damn, it came in handy.

The lone Mini-ITX of Biostar for the Ryzen seems to have decent overall reviews nonetheless but it seems like Ryzen seems still too expensive to upgrade to, especially when I could just get a better i5 and a nice selection of Mini-ITXes for around the same price (or even less?) and still have a reliable system.

Anyway you don't want to try a FX 8xxx in a M-Itx based rig. They are thermally inefficient designs, and are inferior to Ryzen in all respect . A Ryzen 5 1400X would be 30 to 40% faster than a 8370K, while generating less than the half of its heat!

FX Cpus nowadays can only be justified to build a relatively inexpensive desktop in a well ventilated case

Other M-ITX MBs start to appear, from Asrock, MSI and Gigabyte. Check Ncixius.com for instance for the ASRock AB350 GAMING-ITX/AC. So another possibility is to wait some weeks to see if the market offers more possibilities

Thank you for that motherboard, Phc7006. Glad to see there are more selections.

It seems though that my other options Intel or a lower end AMD are only going to get cheaper, until AMD comes out with the next big thing (Ryzen 2?) That motherboard alone is the price of all I would need to upgrade my system but I believe, right now the question to be asked is: Do I need to upgrade the system? I could play the games I could handle right now, very easily and then actually wait and see how the prices are when Threadripper comes out or even when Ryzen 2 comes out as I do have a backlog of games.

Then again I do have this case, so that might mean I could go for the cheaper CPU and Motherboard combo. It's an interesting thing to ponder about with new technology.

Edited: Wrong Ebay link.

It is a popular misconseption that FX processors are hot. In reality they are not. Right now my FX-8320E is only 17.1°C according to lm_sensors. This is due to "Cool'n'Quet" feature (or "PowerNow!"??? I can't remember all this marketing BS ;-) ) and most of the time it works at 1400…1800MHz (with nominal 3600MHz). And even on hardest stress (3D rendering, 100% usage on all 8 cores for several hours) the temperature does not rise above 70°C (this is mostly due to dirty radiator and cheap thermal grease "КПТ-8" which I am using). And no, Intel high-end processors are not cooler (i7-4790K is as hot while ~40% faster).
AMD® is no Intel®, there is no "K" after FX-8370 :-). And I would not recommend getting FX-8370 model. It s basically overpriced FX-8300. The only viable model is either FX-8320E, or base FX-8300, depending on which one is cheaper (different stores give different prices).
They are OK for low budget workstations, I'd say as good as i5-6400. But I'd stay away from "AXX" FM2plus-based APUs. One can not make an eagle out of two turkeys (weak CPU and weak GPU welded together).

See, that's where I'm limited and I agree with you about AM3+ CPUs, Alm888, especially the 8320E, but even Ryzen already has a Mini-ITX board. Whereas, I have yet to see any Mini-ITX boards for the AM3+ socket.

Whereas, AM3+'s smallest offering is a micro. I love this processor but it would be very expensive because in order to accommodate it, I'd have to get a new case, new cooler, new motherboard and sacrifice my portability, which surprisingly does come in handy.

Excluding the amount of research I have to do on a new case. I did look into that CPU and you're right, it looks badass and for people who have Micro builds and larger it is amazing but, unless the motherboard gods are willing to smite me with a AM3+ socket in the next month or 4, the next best thing is either an Intel i5 on sale or a FM 2+. Maybe even biting the bullet on a low end Ryzen.

Like I said though, I've researched this CPU and it has great reviews and for most people, it'll probably be fine but with no Mini-ITX form factor availability, it is a bit useless for me.

Also, since the prices of the previous AMD CPUs has gone down due to the arrival of Ryzen, it is a great time to upgrade in general and it might be great for game like Witcher 3, which (pun intended?) I've read, use more CPU, probably because a lot of Open-World RPGs like CPU power. However, like a boy waiting for the summer sale, I'm looking forward to Threadripper's release to see how Intel and AMD slash their prices.

Overall, I guess its release is good for the old stuff and the new stuff.

Edited: To add more things and to remind myself to order Pizza.

Let's face the truth: AMD botched its FX line. We will never see neither FX-8500 (Steamroller) nor FX-8700 (Excavator) CPUs.
The closest to what you seek is (was) probably something like this: "ASUS M4A88T-I Deluxe" (with AM3 socket but rumor has it, with the updated BOIS they can use AM3+ CPUs). Alas, all of these are out of production for a long time…

The Gigabyte 350 based ITX board has at least now got a product page on GB's website, so cannot be too far off from release. Easy to see why there aren't many ITXs available, the socket/ cooler alone must take up a 1/3 of the available space.

Ryzen's IPC improvement over FX is ~60%, and even a fully overclocked FX 9xxx only performs about the same as a 2500k for Twitcher3. At this point the FX series is a false economy except for some edge case builds, there are better alternatives and they're on a dead socket with dead RAM as well.

AMD have already dropped prices for their R7s in anticipation of Threadripper (eg 1700 from 329USD to 299USD), I doubt they'll drop much more.

Seems there's an ASUS 320 based board as well, but the only ones that seem to be available (via newegg at least) are the ASRock ones. Not a single one is available here though.

Some details about Ryzen 3 & 5.

Also, good news for those of you wanting mini-ITX.

Gigabyte launches AB350N-Gaming WiFi: New AM4 mini-ITX motherboard is Ryzen-friendly.

More like 3 fifth's of bugger all percent! F**K ME! It's UNDER A THIRD OF THE PRICE AND IT'S JUST 200 MARKS LOWER!

Not bad at all eh? :D
GPU stuff, someone live benchmarking one of the works Radeon Vega Frontier Edition gfx cards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhGAS_oGN3c

I added it up it is actually 109 marks lower! for under a 3rd of the price!

For Anyone who wants the fusion map pack for their GOG version of unreal it's right Here!

You guys see the new ryzen pro line of cpu's? it supports ECC memory and has longer warranty and is the best pick from the bin process. so I am tempted too see how high these pro lines can overclock. and from the looks of it the 1700x pro is the highest of the line no 1800x.


http://www.game-debate.com/news/23225/amd-announce-ryzen-pro-cpus-use-best-quality-zen-wafers-and-tout-intel-beating-performance