You were?
^^
It's still a wiser choice to go with the 955. The heatsink is pretty darn good, I run my C3 555 at 4.2ghz on one with reasonable temps. Awhile (severl builds) ago I actually removed the aftermarket HSF and ran the 955 heatsink on my 550 unlocked to a quad at 3.8ghz 24/7, just for ease of removal plus the temps were fine. It's a good HSF.
Maybe he's not into overclocking now, but 1-2 years down the road the 955 is still gonna be a decent CPU and he may be interested in overclocking. At that point, he could get a newer better overclocking AM3 board and update while retaining the current CPU. He does not have that option with the 940.
And as mentioned, 3 year warranty on the 955. Should he choose to overclock 1 year down the road, frying the 940 and he'd be up the creek without a paddle. 955, no worries just RMA it. Just because he doesn't need the performance or warranty now, doesn't mean he won't 1 year from now.
He was gonna buy a 965 at $180, it's still saving him $20 to get a 955.
yes, I was.
And a dual core @ 4.2 is much different to a quad at those temps. As to it being unlocked @ 3.8, what sort of temps are we looing at? Temps were fine, does that mean they were just under the max, does it mean it was running extremely cool, does it mean it was fine unless it was under load? The stock HSF is alright, but still isn't all that seeing as a cheap aftermarket HSF will outperform it.
A year or 2 down the line near any quad is still going to be a good chip. Hex has only just come out and higher end quads are still just that, higher end, and Hex core don't have any kind of advantage until you start using multi threaded applications, of which there aren't many unless he is compiling or rendering. They can handle anything with ease, and in the same way a dual core can still handle anything, even if it isn't with fantastic performance any more most of the time, a quad will be doing so for a very good few years to come, especially with an AM2+ or AM3 chip as they are still the latest AMD has to offer, and with a high clocked CPU, which the 940 is, that future proofing will be ensured even more.
I mentioned if he isn't going to be upgrading to AM3, the 940 would be a decent choice, however as to whether the "advantages" of AM3 are justifiable, I still don't think that is the case either. That may sound hypocritical as I am on an AM3 system, but I did so for the future upgradability, which there is a chance there may not be after the first lot of Bulldozer chips are out (which again, will be enough for a long time to come). 2GB of mid range DDR2 memory will still play anything, and larger amounts will be enough for video/image rendering or compiling programs and DDR3 isn't lightyears ahead of DDR2 still at the moment. DDR2 will still be around and worthy of anything at all for years to come, hard drives won't be utilising SATA3 for a while yet (I mean hard drives, which are still the standard, not SSD's), USB3, again, there are so few devices that actually utilise it at the moment, of course it is new so that isn't surprising, but USB2 will still be around for a while longer.
If he were to go AM3 in the future, it would mean new motherboard and new memory, he would be able to sell his board, memory and CPU and get a bundle later on should he choose to, which will save him even more.
That brings about a thought though, another option, rather than just getting a CPU, would be to sell your memory, motherboard and CPU and put your money made and $200 into doing a full upgrade. DDR2 prices are about equal to DDR3, so that will near enough cancel out (you will get slightly less probably as it is used), your $200 will pay for your CPU, and the money you get for your board and CPU selling should be enough for a new motherboard too. It wouldn't give you much more performance than just getting a CPU, but would give upgrade paths in the future, and is another option. Say you make $130 off your motherboard, memory and CPU (you will most probably make more), that $330 is more than enough for an AM3 system with the 955
by the way, what programs, exactly, would need ALL of the processing power that the 955 can give? all that is coming to mind is bioshock2 and crysis
Neither of those would need it. Crysis is graphically intensive, you can max it on a decent dual core and a good video card. The only things that would max it would be benches or rendering, no game will max a good quad core CPU. With that said, I have had my CPU unlocked @ 3.0 struggle slightly with alot of stuff going on in ARMA II
. i must spend it, now! i want a newer and more powerful CPU. mine is the Athlon II X2 250. i need more cores. well, i found this baby. http://www.amazon.com/Phenom-Black-3-4Ghz-512KB-4000MHZ/dp/B002SRQ214/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1281211997&sr=1-1
oh well. i think i will go with the 955. thanks, guys. this is why i love computer forum. i dont like to tamper with BIOS too much, but i will read up on it. thanks!
