[Matty_93]

Hey guys,
I'm planning on going quad core for faster overall computing etc.
Now I wont be hardcore encoding so I really don't wanna spend all that money to go i5/7.
I was thinking about getting the 125 watt 965 which would be compatible with my board, also possibly a 5850 for later games & futureproofing.

Just wondering if I'd get bottlenecked with a 965 and what you guys generally think.
Cheers.

 

[youra6]

no the 965 wont be bottlenecking games. Even at stock speeds it should have little trouble.

It all depends on your budget, if its around 100 dollars, the 550 BE and 720BE cant be beat.

If you have around 160 dollars, the 955 is great

If you have closer to 200, the 965 c3 is the best chip right now and almost all of them can go past 4.0 w/ proper cooling

However in terms of value, Im inclined to go with a X3 720 since I own one. And from what I've seen, at 3.8 with still the fourth core unlocked, my performance goes toe to toe with the 955. Since you arnt going to use any applications that use up all 4 cores, I highly suggest the 720.

However if you are worried about how futureproof of your setup, get the 965 c3. you can sometime in the future upgrade to DDR3

 

[Matty_93]

Quote:

Originally Posted by youra6 no the 965 wont be bottlenecking games. Even at stock speeds it should have little trouble. It all depends on your budget, if its around 100 dollars, the 550 BE and 720BE cant be beat. If you have around 160 dollars, the 955 is great If you have closer to 200, the 965 c3 is the best chip right now and almost all of them can go past 4.0 w/ proper cooling However in terms of value, Im inclined to go with a X3 720 since I own one. And from what I've seen, at 3.8 with still the fourth core unlocked, my performance goes toe to toe with the 955. Since you arnt going to use any applications that use up all 4 cores, I highly suggest the 720. However if you are worried about how futureproof of your setup, get the 965 c3. you can sometime in the future upgrade to DDR3

Yeah you're right, however the 965 is like £140, 720 is £90 ish, I don't know, guess we'll see. Cheers for your input rep+

 

[FREELINE57]

Agreed! If money is the name of the game and savings is at the top of the list Then the 720be is a good pick but there is also the x2 550 with a possibility of unlocking either one would be an option but I'd still side with the 720be.

 

[meticadpa]

What do you do with your computer?

If you don't use any multi-threaded applications (most things aren't, with the exception of a few games, etc.) then you won't really see much of a speed boost, at all. If you wanted generally faster computing, then you need new hard drives. Hard drive speed is the most important factor in general desktop speed, although CPU speed does come into it slightly. If you're only going to be gaming and browsing the web, then a faster clocked Dual Core would perform better than a slower clocked Quad Core.

If you wanted to play GTA IV, or just generally be more future proof, then go ahead, but I'd probably get a couple of new hard drives in RAID 0 and a CPU cooler before the Phenom II 965.