Which CPU?

Shlouski

Shlouski

VIP Member
Ive been looking on tomshardware comparing two cpu's which are more or less the same price, the Phenom II X2 550 and the Athlon II X4 620. It seems that the 550 is usually the winner when it comes to gaming, but not on GTA 4 which is a very demanding game, i expect its due to the two extra cores. This makes my decision hard as i know newer games coming out will take advantage of the two extra cores, so which one would you get? Also does the 550 have an unlocked multiplier?
 
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620 propus does NOT have l3 cache (multi-tasking power)

Go for either the 550be or 955be

620 is NOT worth the money imo
 
joh06937 said:
amd's are usually harder to oc.
Click to expand...

No they are far easier because of the unlocked multi, they even overclock themselves to around 4ghz using amdod most of the time.

Im selling a 965 c3 for £125, a golden one. You figure out shipping you can have it ;)
 
remember i get trade price, 955 118 euros brand new 4 me, but this is for another pc, i have 4 builds at the mo, 2 amd and to intel. I know intel, but i ask so many questions because ive never built an AMD.
 
So is that 2 votes for the 550 and 1 for the 620. So every 550 is a BE, it just ive seen other cpu's which can be BE's, but not always.
 
Whatever you get you need to get a c3 stepping, they oc about 300mhz higher than the older c2's and have a stronger memory controller ;)
 
Since you are getting the 790x then get the athlon quad because you have a board capable of pushing it further than anyone else :D
 
I would personally go with the 620, cause its 95 bucks, only 5 bucks more for 2 extra cores, they still overclock to 3.5+


550 will overclock to what, 3.9ghz max on air, i would much rather have a quad at 3.5 than a dual at 3.9.
 
mx344 said:
I would personally go with the 620, cause its 95 bucks, only 5 bucks more for 2 extra cores, they still overclock to 3.5+


550 will overclock to what, 3.9ghz max on air, i would much rather have a quad at 3.5 than a dual at 3.9.
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I will say this again

620 does NOT have l3 cache!! L3 cache is for multi-tasking

Proof: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2009/10/26/amd-athlon-ii-x4-620-cpu-review/10

Remember: These are with the 550 NOT unlocked

790x board WILL unlock the other 2 cores
 
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yeah thats right. They both quite evenly matched, but the 620 better on GTA 4, by about 25 percent, its those two extra cores, so maybe it will be better on future games.
 
G25r8cer said:
I will say this again

550 does NOT have l3 cache!! L3 cache is for multi-tasking

Proof: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2009/10/26/amd-athlon-ii-x4-620-cpu-review/10

Remember: These are with the 550 NOT unlocked

790x board WILL unlock the other 2 cores
Click to expand...

What...

phenom2_965_cpuz.jpg


The 550 will clock higher, and will do better in applications that isn't designed for multiple threads, so most games.

However, something like video encoding, or GTA IV, the quad would reign superior.
 
G25r8cer said:
I will say this again

550 does NOT have l3 cache!! L3 cache is for multi-tasking

Proof: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2009/10/26/amd-athlon-ii-x4-620-cpu-review/10

Remember: These are with the 550 NOT unlocked

790x board WILL unlock the other 2 cores
Click to expand...

The 550 does have l3 cache and I said since you are getting the 790x ud3p then get the athlon because it is the best motherboard by a large margin for htt amd overclocking. Meaning he will likely top out at around 4.1 ghz on a quad as opposed to the average 3.8 on a dual core. You do the math ;) If he managed to unlock the phenom then cool but acc also has the ability to unlock the hidden l3 cache on some athlons, with him getting them from a supplier with seemingly old stock then he has a pretty damn good chance of getting a denab cored athlon and an easy transformation from an athlon into a phenom II.

Either way the lack of l3 is countered by a larger l2 cache and performance loss is minimal at worst. I think I've prooven this with some of my past athlon and phenom II benchmarking adventures.

Get the athlon, they are more fun to play with if nothing else.
 
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