Can't pick CPU, which am3 CPU? Need to know in 3 hours.

lemon07r

lemon07r

New Member
I need a CPU for gaming, and general stuff (internet, vids and music) my budget is $90-$110 canadian dollars. I am thinking I am going to take a gamble and try to unlock disabled cores or L3 cache where available.
Should I get a Phenom 2 555 BE 3.2ghx x2 C3 $105
a Athlon 2 445 3.1ghz x3 A3 C3 GMBOX (unlockable L3) $ 90
a Athlon 2 635 3.0ghz x4 A3 C3 GMBOX (unlockable L3) $105
 
I would save a little more money and go with the Phenom II 945 or Phenom II 925. Both are quad-core processors and they are much better than the Athlon II Quad-Cores because the Athlon II Quad-Core processors don't have Level 3 cache. Odds are not in your favor of being able to unlock cores if you went with a Phenom II 555 Dual-Core.

What motherboard are choosing?
 
lemon07r said:
I need a CPU for gaming, and general stuff (internet, vids and music) my budget is $90-$110 canadian dollars. I am thinking I am going to take a gamble and try to unlock disabled cores or L3 cache where available.
Should I get a Phenom 2 555 BE 3.2ghx x2 C3 $105
a Athlon 2 445 3.1ghz x3 A3 C3 GMBOX (unlockable L3) $ 90
a Athlon 2 635 3.0ghz x4 A3 C3 GMBOX (unlockable L3) $105
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I think you should get the 445 and try to unlock the L3 and unlock it to a quad. Even if you can't get it to a quad, you still have 3 cores and a 100MHz faster clock speed than the 635. You also save $15. ;)
 
spynoodle said:
I think you should get the 445 and try to unlock the L3 and unlock it to a quad. Even if you can't get it to a quad, you still have 3 cores and a 100MHz faster clock speed than the 635. You also save $15. ;)
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I would think the 555be would be more likely to be unlocked plus, it already has L3. I would go with a 555be even if you couldnt unlock it.
 
G25r8cer said:
I would think the 555be would be more likely to be unlocked plus, it already has L3. I would go with a 555be even if you couldnt unlock it.
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I'd rather have the extra core guaranteed, and the vast majority of Athlon and Phenom CPU's can be unlocked, you have about the same chance of sucess and failure with both. The Athlon processors are still very good for the price/performance that they give and will still handle any game with ease. I would say go for the 445 and try to unlock. If you do unlock it, GREAT!! if you don't, it isn't the end of the world, a tri core CPU is still very good and few games utilise any more than 3 cores anyway, so you will be seeing the same performance in nearly every game with a tri core as you would with quad.

As to your other uses (internet, videos etc), you could do that on a low clocked single core, so you will have no problems there with any of the processors you picked out
 
Thanks for all your help, I have decided to go with the 445 (like most said I should), even if it doesn't unlock I wouldn't mind seeing the I am upgrading from a pentium 4 (overclocked to 3.2ghz). Its also the cheapest, I'm on a VERY tight budget.
 
You will notice a difference in processing power. Any Athlon II processor is much more powerful than the obsolete Pentium 4 processors.
 
I can tell XD, my pentium 4 can't even handle png processing with pngout with any pictures with a resolution higher then 800x600.
 
2048Megabytes said:
You will notice a difference in processing power. Any Athlon II processor is much more powerful than the obsolete Pentium 4 processors.
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Agreed. Although I like to mess around with overclocking Pentium 4s, there's no mistaking their slowness. Hope all goes well with the 445! Make sure to report back to us on how it goes with unlocking. ;)
 
This horrible (i did get order the 445 just now though =D), but my dad said $400 only, Im just like :O........ okay D;. So I ended up getting some cheap stuff D;.
 
The 555be is a better choice. Unlocked multi, L3 cache, chance of unlocking and having a 955 Phenom II pretty much.

The Athlon II triple cores are dogs. I seriously doubt you'll need more than 2 cores anyway, and the 555 will overclock better (mine goes to 4.2ghz on good air cooling, 5ghz on DICE cooling), and as mentioned you have the L3 cache already. All the new Athlon II's do NOT have L3 cache to even attempt to unlock. You may have a shot at unlocking the triple core, but I doubt it.
 
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87dtna said:
The 555be is a better choice. Unlocked multi, L3 cache, chance of unlocking and having a 955 Phenom II pretty much.

The Athlon II triple cores are dogs. I seriously doubt you'll need more than 2 cores anyway, and the 555 will overclock better (mine goes to 4.2ghz on good air cooling, 5ghz on DICE cooling), and as mentioned you have the L3 cache already. All the new Athlon II's do NOT have L3 cache to even attempt to unlock. You may have a shot at unlocking the triple core, but I doubt it.
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But the OP said "Unlockable L3," so maybe it's an old one?
 
87dtna said:
The 555be is a better choice. Unlocked multi, L3 cache, chance of unlocking and having a 955 Phenom II pretty much.

The Athlon II triple cores are dogs. I seriously doubt you'll need more than 2 cores anyway, and the 555 will overclock better (mine goes to 4.2ghz on good air cooling, 5ghz on DICE cooling), and as mentioned you have the L3 cache already. All the new Athlon II's do NOT have L3 cache to even attempt to unlock. You may have a shot at unlocking the triple core, but I doubt it.
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I originally wanted the 555 as it is better for gaming, but my budget was too low, so I ended up getting the cheaper one; the 445, and the 445 I picked does have a L3 cache. I did a lot of research before picking the 445, if you look carefully at the product numbers the ones with "GMBOX" at the end are newer and have a disabled L3 cache, most C3 revision Athlon's have L3 cache's but not all of them do, like the ones that end with "GIBOX".
 
Hmm, I haven't heard that about C3's. If it has L3, you need a board with ACC to unlock it anyway, it won't just have the L3 there.

What motherboard are you getting?
 
I got an MSI 870-G45, It may have a 870NB but it still uses the older 710SB, and MSI's core unlocker does unlock L3, (I'm just not sure if it'll work on this specific board). Does ACC come with SB or NB?
 
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