Gaming CPU

salvage-this

salvage-this

Active Member
Hey Everyone,

I am building for a friend and I am stick between 2 cpus.

What would you choose:

Athlon ll x4 or Phenom ll x2. Both would be paired with a GTX 560

He does not use any programs or do a lot of multitasking that need a quad core but I am worried about having a bottleneck using an x2.\

EDIT: I forgot to mention that he only plays Starcraft 2.
 
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whats the budget? and have you considered a phenom II Tripe core? just putting it out there because they are pretty cheap and its kinda in the middle. 3 cores and l3 cache to boot :D phenom II x3 720 a great chip. if not, im thinking more cores the athlon II x4 unless you wanna try and unlock the Phenom. :D
 
Thanks for the reply,

I have a budget of ~$110 and I have been looking for the Phenom ll x3 bt they do not have them from newegg which is where he will be buying all of the parts.

I am hoping that if I get the x2 I can unlock it to an x3 or if I get really lucky an x4 :D
 
I wouldn't count on unlocking it. I mean try it sure, but consider it a bonus, not a reason to buy. I think I'd go for the athlon x4 if I really had to pick between the 2, but I think it'd be a lot better to save up another $50 and get the phenom 2 x4.
 
I am not expecting it to unlock. It would just be a bonus if it worked. I am leaning towards the Phenom ll x2 because of the higher clock speed and the L3 cache. I guess what I am wondering is if i can't unlock, will it hurt performance of the GTX 560?
 
Personally I'd take 2 extra cores over some L3 cache and a couple hundred Mhz. You should be able to overclock the Athlon to ~3.6Ghz anyway. I know the Phenom will OC more, but the difference per core isn't THAT substantial. If Newegg still sold the x3 I'd recommend that, but as it stands, I have a hard time recommending a dual core for a new build unless budget doesn't allow for anything more. Again, this is just what I'd want in your situation. More and more applications support more than 2 cores these days, and the number is growing fast with CPUs that have up to 12 threads haha. So if say a game only supports the 2 cores, then the Athlon will be slightly slower, if it supports 3 or more, then the Athlon will be much faster.
 
My take

"If you want to keep things playable during epic battles, we recommend at least a 3 GHz dual-core or a 2.8 GHz triple-core processor. We also suggest that you opt for a 3.4 GHz Phenom II at the very least to ensure smooth gameplay at all times.
A fast quad-core Phenom II X4 CPU is the best way to experience StarCraft II."
The article indicates the cpu plays a large role in this game, that L3 has a significant benifit since it recommends the P II, and what the cpu is running at since the ghz is recommend for insuring smooth game play.
As per the benches, if the P II x2 had just 1 unlockable stable core, it would rank up there very close to the P II x4. If it doesn't have any other usable cores, then oc'ed above 3.4 (they oc real well and that can be done on stock HS), the performance would be higher than ^ ensured smooth gameplay at all times.

To me, knowing that the x2 is enough for the general use and that I'd be getting more than ensured smooth gameplay, and considering the unlock % and risk/reward factor, makes the P II x2 a real choice.

If the x2 wasn't good enough, some places have a satisfaction guarranty.(but there may or may not be a restock fee).
Or you could get the A II x4 and oc it. LOL. All clear now? :confused::D
Based on the discriptive use, and if smooth gameplay at all times is good, then the x2 is what i would get.

reference:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/starcraft-ii-radeon-geforce,2728-8.html
 
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Thanks Benny Boy for finding that. Very Helpful.

We decided to go with the Phenom ll x2. I figure that if we can't unlock a core we can still jack up the multiplier and get good gaming performance. Thanks for all the Help Everyone!
 
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