Have an AMD x2 6400+.....should I get a Phenom??
- Thread starter deveritt
- Start date
any phenom clock for clock is better then a x2 i would do it.. TrainTrackHack
VIP Member
I would. $130 for your current CPU is a great price, I would definitely go for a Phenom. As zero cool ( he is 
) said, Phenoms outperform Athlons clock-for-clock by a significant margin. Just make sure you get a higher clocked Phenom (like the 9950 at, what was it, 2.5GHz?), because the architectural improvements aren't quite enough to make up for the way higher clockspeeds of your current CPU if you go for a low-clocked Phenom (like the 21.GHz version...I woulnd't recommend it). Also, make sure that you get a B3 stepping or newer (9x50 or 8x50), as B2 Phenoms had a nasty bug that could cause it to crash, and the fix can reduce performance up to 20%.
As for will you actually see an improvement... in single-threaded applications, depends, but generally any gains will be marginal and not noticeable. In applications that take advantage of two cores, you'll see a slight improvement because background tasks can be allocated to other cores, so the main app can make full use of all the cores it needs. In applications that utilize 3 or more threads... yes, you will definitely see an improvement. If you like multitasking, definitely get a Phenom.
) said, Phenoms outperform Athlons clock-for-clock by a significant margin. Just make sure you get a higher clocked Phenom (like the 9950 at, what was it, 2.5GHz?), because the architectural improvements aren't quite enough to make up for the way higher clockspeeds of your current CPU if you go for a low-clocked Phenom (like the 21.GHz version...I woulnd't recommend it). Also, make sure that you get a B3 stepping or newer (9x50 or 8x50), as B2 Phenoms had a nasty bug that could cause it to crash, and the fix can reduce performance up to 20%.As for will you actually see an improvement... in single-threaded applications, depends, but generally any gains will be marginal and not noticeable. In applications that take advantage of two cores, you'll see a slight improvement because background tasks can be allocated to other cores, so the main app can make full use of all the cores it needs. In applications that utilize 3 or more threads... yes, you will definitely see an improvement. If you like multitasking, definitely get a Phenom.
2048Megabytes
Active Member
Just a warning for you. It is possible that when you upgrade your processor to a Phenom that you may have to flash your BIOS. Flashing your BIOS is potentially a risk because of the possibility that you can ruin a motherboard.
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fade2green514
Active Member
not worth it. my $.02.
ZeroWing
New Member
scooter
banned
phenoms are good processors especially running ALOT of programs like limewire, windows media player, and it's a good thing when i burn cd's that my computer doesn't slow down to. i have a phenom 9500 and would trade if you like. reason be, i don't need 4 cores right now. lmk
choung
choung