Thinking of upgrading..

Michael

Michael

Active Member
I just ordered my wife an AMD X2 5400+ Black Edition (her current processor is a single core 3500+), and now I'm considering upgrading my own computer when I get paid again.

My rig is in my signature, for reference.

I use WinRAR, Photoshop, iTunes, DVDFab, and a few other resource intensive audio/video converting programs (SUPER, for one). I also use VirtualBox quite often, as well.

I've been fine with the speed of processing on my computer until recently when I saw how cheap the dual core AMD chips have gotten.. now I want to upgrade.

I'm thinking about either grabbing the same chip I ordered for my wife's PC, or the 6000+ 89W (3.1GHz). I'm just wondering if, for my application, would the gains on the 6000+ be noticeable over the 5400+ BE?

I don't OC, I don't use my PC for gaming, etc.. mostly just what I listed above.

The pricing is very close, and both are within my grasp..

Constructive advice is appreciated :D

TIA,

-mak
 
Twist86

Twist86

Active Member
5400+ BE was the same chip I bought for my folks PCs....they are WoW junkies so its a good surprised upgrade for Christmas.

5400+ can be overclocked to 3.0ghz-3.2ghz depending on the cooler you buy. Even if you bought the 6000+ the stock heatsink sucks so you still gotta buy a aftermarket and I only hear the 6000+ getting 3.2ghz-3.4ghz (rare case)
 
Michael

Michael

Active Member
Twist86 said:
5400+ BE was the same chip I bought for my folks PCs....they are WoW junkies so its a good surprised upgrade for Christmas.

5400+ can be overclocked to 3.0ghz-3.2ghz depending on the cooler you buy. Even if you bought the 6000+ the stock heatsink sucks so you still gotta buy a aftermarket and I only hear the 6000+ getting 3.2ghz-3.4ghz (rare case)
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Thanks for the reply but, as mentioned earlier, I don't OC.

I'd be using the chip 'as-is' :)

I don't mind upgrading the HSF to accommodate a higher powered chip..

Still open to suggestions,

-mak
 
Bartmasta

Bartmasta

banned
I'd go with the 6000+. I have it it's great.

The 5400+ BE is a good overclocker, but the 6000+ beats it at normal speeds (overclocked too I think).

So basically if you aren't going to OC get the 6000+. If you ever change your mind don't expect it to OC far, I got mine stable at 3.3, 3.4 is sort of unstable, I got it to 3.45 for 3dmark06 though.

edit: 6000+ stock fan isn't that bad. If you run the latest games and you have a poor case without fans then I would suggest getting an aftermarket cooler.
 
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Michael

Michael

Active Member
Bartmasta said:
I'd go with the 6000+. I have it it's great.

The 5400+ BE is a good overclocker, but the 6000+ beats it at normal speeds (overclocked too I think).

So basically if you aren't going to OC get the 6000+. If you ever change your mind don't expect it to OC far, I got mine stable at 3.3, 3.4 is sort of unstable, I got it to 3.45 for 3dmark06 though.

edit: 6000+ stock fan isn't that bad. If you run the latest games and you have a poor case without fans then I would suggest getting an aftermarket cooler.
Click to expand...

I'm running this fan in the side of my case, just over the GPU/CPU, and I have a 120mm exhaust fan in the rear :D

The 6000+ is sounding more, and more like the chip to go for (between your replies, and my research).

How about the 125W vs 89W.. is there any difference, besides the SOI (65nm vs 90nm), and the amount of power it consumes?

-mak
 
S

smoothjk

New Member
Get the 89W version. There's no guarantee that the 125W version would even work on your board, since it's a bit old (my guess is, it wouldn't work). There are plenty of microATX boards that only support up to 95W, and yours might be one of them.

I would check the website for you right now, but it's down (MSI). Plus, 89W obviously runs cooler and uses less power.
 
Bartmasta

Bartmasta

banned
Twist86 said:
Think also between the two is the 125w has 2mb total cache where the 89w only has 1mb total?


Though yeah 6000+ is better if you don't like to overclock.


*nevermind*

Didn't notice they brought out a new 1mb per core 89w version
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103233
Click to expand...

The CPU you listed is actually the old version, it's the Windsor core. The CPU that we're talking about is Brisbane core, and it came out 2 months ago.

The cache difference isn't big really.
 
Michael

Michael

Active Member
This is the one I was referring to: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103272

I hope this clears things up.

The 6000+ (125W) will work on my board, MSI confirmed this after I bought my board, when I called in about an unrelated matter. However, I don't think I want a chip that requires so much power, especially when there's an 89W version available.. not unless the difference in L2 cache will be noticeable.

Still not sure which chip I should go with.. I guess I'll see how the 5400+ BE performs in my wife's computer, since her setup is similar to mine :)

-mak
 
S

smoothjk

New Member
Just get the 89W one dude. The 1mb of extra cache doesn't make a lot of difference (maybe like 5% at most), and the much lower power draw and heat is a plus.

If you were going to overclock, I'd recommend the 5400+ for sure, but since you're not, just get the 6000+. Not like there's a big price difference.
 
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