AMD Athlon II x4

anbo369

anbo369

Member
hello all,

i am thinking about buying an AMD Athlon II x4 to put in my new build, and i did a little bit of research and it didn't seem too bad (considering the price tag)
I don't wanna compare in to an i7 or anything like that, just wanna know if it is capable of playing some games like DOW2 and i'm not fussed about the graphics setting although i would prefer medium or above.


cheers

P.S i'm from Australia, if that helps with anything :o
 
Yea, the CPU is fine for just about any game out there - you should be far more worried about getting a powerful enough GPU and enough RAM, along with other components.

But as I said - the CPU will be good.
 
I remember Tomshardware have an article on comparing US$100 CPU. You may be interested.
But the Phenom IIx3 720 would probably the common pick if you don't mind spending extra $20 - 30
 
Like said, you would be better off going with a Phenom II 720BE or even a 550BE. Both have the full 6MB. of L3 cache.
 
Are you planning on overclocking any? For games, as long as you have atleast 2 cores, you'd be better off having higher clock speeds. If you plan to overclock, that CPU should get you over 3.2ghz with ease and then that will be a decent gaming CPU. But at stock speeds, you can't say the 620 Athlon II is a good gaming CPU. I would rather have a Phenom II 550 if you are staying at stock clocks.

If you can swing the extra money, the Phenom II 720 would get my vote like these other guys have said. Otherwise, if you need to stay $100 or less I'd go with the Phenom II 550 (545 is good too) OR the Athlon II 435 x3 because of the higher clock speeds.
 
ok so i'm from australia and i'm not looking at spending too much on these cpu's
but should i go with the
$119 Phenom II x2 3.1Ghz 7Mb Cache 550BE
http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=27_29&products_id=38885
or
$129 Athlon II x4 2.6 Ghz with only 2mb cache...
http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=27_29&products_id=41589

or
$137 x3 2.6Ghz 6Mb cache 710
http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=27_29&products_id=39036

keep in mind i heard that it isn't too hard to overclock the Athlon II x4 to 3.2 Ghz on the stock cooler and everything, so would it be a good idea compared to these other choices? would it last longer before becoming obsolete? and how bad is 2Mb cache compared to the others? would it make a noticeable difference? what does cache even do?

i am so sorry about the number of questions lol

anyway thanks in advance!
 
Forget the 710.

If you plan to overclock, I would go with the Athlon II. If you were gonna keep stock clocks I would have said the 550be.

Do you have the Athlon II 435 triple core available to you?


Cache is like ram for a CPU, thats really the easiest way to explain it! More is better, but it doesn't make a huge difference or anything.
 
It's a good CPU but I don't personally think it's worth that much more $ than the Athlon II. I would put the money toward a better graphics card or hard drive or something like that.
 
oh ok so this cpu isn't too far behind the low end Phenom Quad cores?

thank you all so much for all of your input!
 
Yeah I think if you get 3.2ghz rock stable 24/7 overclock out of the Athlon II, it would bench higher for pretty much anything compared to the 925 Phenom II at stock speed.
 
Great!

so should i get this quad core and overclock, or should i get the Phenom X2 550Be and unlock the extra two cores? or is that too hard?

i am tossing up between these two and am wondering what will be best if i overclock/unlock extra cores on both.

thanks for your help!
 
I plan to get a Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3
http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=36_63&products_id=42629

i looked on tomshardware and it said that there are only two types of boards or brands or something that can unlock the extra cores, but by the sounds of it i don't think i wanna do it because it would be too risky for me lol.

so now that unlocking extra cores on the dual core is not an option, what in your opinion would be better?

the Athlon II X4 overclocked to lets say atleast 3Ghz-3.2Ghz
or the Phenom II X2 550Be overclocked to something around 3.3-3.4Ghz (i think thats what a review got with the stock heatsink)

anyway i greatly appreciate all of your help!
 
Spend a couple more bucks and get this board-

http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=36_63&products_id=40365

Newer chipset, newer technology.

The Phenom II even as a dual core with easily overclock to 3.6ghz on the stock cooler, if not 3.8ghz. Mine overclocks to 3.8ghz with 1.40 Vcore (as a dual core), I'm not running the completely stock cooler I'm running a cooler from a 955be which has a copper base and 4 heatpipes. But it never goes past 55c with that cooler at 3.8ghz. It's about the same with the stock aluminum heatsink at 3.6ghz and 1.375 Vcore.

It's a crap shoot being able to unlock it to a quad though, too risky. I just got really lucky, but I would have been fine with it if it had not been able to unlock.

If you really can swing it, the Phenom II 720 triple core would be an excellent choice for you. It overclocks to ~3.4ghz on the stock cooler, and it has 3 good cores for sure with the possibility of still being able to unlock to a quad.
 
alrighty then, that one looks good.
I don't think i will get the 720, but if i do decide to spend that little bit extra on my cpu i think i'll get a Phenom II X4 925 which would cost an extra $30 over the 720.
Although i will probably stick with the 550 BE.

When overclocking the 550BE is there any danger in changing the voltages? because i have only overclocked changing the bus frequency thingy. never changed the multi or the voltages. So if it is safe for a noob like me to change the voltages would you mind to give me some tips? you don't have to its just a little bonus thing.

One final question, are you able to unlock the other cores on this board (if so how)? note: i probably won't try to do this until one day when the two cores aren't enough and i am in the process of buying another computer.

thanks!
 
Yes that board can unlock the cores. It's very very easy, and so is overclocking with a BE. Much easier than using the bus because you won't have to change any RAM settings or hyper transport/north bridge speeds as they will stay the same as you increase the multiplier on the CPU. With the stock cooler it will probably be safer to stay on stock voltage, temperature wise.
No problem on giving you advice once you get the board. It will be easier to explain once you can see what I'm telling you so just message me once you get the stuff and we'll go from there.
 
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