Which CPU?

[2048Megabytes]

The Athlon 620 Quad-Core only has 512 kilobytes of cache (or high speed memory) per core.

The Phenom II 550 Processor has 512 kilobytes of cache per core plus an additional 6 megabytes of cache either of the two cores can use.

The Athlon 620 would multi-task (run more than one program) better than the Phenom II 550, but the Phenom II would run a few programs better than the Athlon 620.

Edit: I think an even better choice would be the Phenom II 720 Tri-Core Processor. The Phenom II 720 Processor has 512 kilobytes of cache per core plus an additional 6 megabytes of cache any of the three cores can use.

 

[G25r8cer]

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.

oops I meant to say the 620 Doesnt have l3