Depends on the Mobo, for the 550 can unlock to a quad at times.
Stuck between Athlon/Phenom
Hello everyone this first post been reading the forum for a while now,
im looking into building my first build on a tight budget, currently purchased
4gb crucial ddr2,
now i have been looking at AMD cpus for quite a while and im spoilt for choice,
im intend to use the computer for regular gaming as i dont have a dedicated console for this,
looking to play games like Call of duty 2 etc
also i like playing around with home footage so video editing would come as a prioty,
i want to spend as little as possible and found some good prices on a few t cpu's
Phenom 2 x2 550 Black Edition 60gpb
and also looking at
Athlon 620 x4 at around 65gpb
athlon 435 x3 at 65gpb
Which would be the better processor , ive heard good things about the black edition cpu's.
but would it be good enough to play High-spec games?
Thank you for your advice
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im looking into building my first build on a tight budget, currently purchased
4gb crucial ddr2,
now i have been looking at AMD cpus for quite a while and im spoilt for choice,
im intend to use the computer for regular gaming as i dont have a dedicated console for this,
looking to play games like Call of duty 2 etc
also i like playing around with home footage so video editing would come as a prioty,
i want to spend as little as possible and found some good prices on a few t cpu's
Phenom 2 x2 550 Black Edition 60gpb
and also looking at
Athlon 620 x4 at around 65gpb
athlon 435 x3 at 65gpb
Which would be the better processor , ive heard good things about the black edition cpu's.
but would it be good enough to play High-spec games?
Thank you for your advice
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Quote:
a cpu doesn't really have much of an impact on gaming performance. however, a few games out there really like quad cores.
if you wan't to play high spec games then the gpu is the main factor to consider.
for video editing, most popular apps are multithreaded so the more cores the better.
my vote goes for the x4 620.. its the cheapest quad you can get and should leave some budget for a good gpu
Originally Posted by sutty86 Hello everyone this first post been reading the forum for a while now, im looking into building my first build on a tight budget, currently purchased 4gb crucial ddr2, now i have been looking at AMD cpus for quite a while and im spoilt for choice, im intend to use the computer for regular gaming as i dont have a dedicated console for this, looking to play games like Call of duty 2 etc also i like playing around with home footage so video editing would come as a prioty, i want to spend as little as possible and found some good prices on a few t cpu's Phenom 2 x2 550 Black Edition 60gpb and also looking at Athlon 620 x4 at around 65gpb athlon 435 x3 at 65gpb Which would be the better processor , ive heard good things about the black edition cpu's. but would it be good enough to play High-spec games? Thank you for your advice
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if you wan't to play high spec games then the gpu is the main factor to consider.
for video editing, most popular apps are multithreaded so the more cores the better.
my vote goes for the x4 620.. its the cheapest quad you can get and should leave some budget for a good gpu
3
Quote:
This. A quad core can complete more calculations per cycle (duh). So the more cores the better. The only thing I don't like about the 620 is it's low clock multiplier. It's at...2.6GHz? stock. Games like high clock speeds.
I do disagree about CPU's not impacting gaming performance. Some games are really CPU intensive.
Quote:
The Phenom II's are 5% faster clock per clock against the Athlon II's due to the L3 cache.
I really wouldn't count on unlocking cores though. You have a 50% chance to make the 550 a stable triple-core, and a 25% chance to make it a stable quad core. You might get a crappy CPU that wont unlock at all, so it's not wise to base your purchase on it.
People say the triple-cores are the sweet spot for gaming right now, and I personally love my Athlon X3 435.
I'd say get the 435, but I'm pretty biased.
I'd swap out my chip for a 965 BE C3 in a heartbeat, though.
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Originally Posted by thachamp05 a cpu doesn't really have much of an impact on gaming performance. however, a few games out there really like quad cores. if you wan't to play high spec games then the gpu is the main factor to consider. for video editing, most popular apps are multithreaded so the more cores the better. my vote goes for the x4 620.. its the cheapest quad you can get and should leave some budget for a good gpu |
I do disagree about CPU's not impacting gaming performance. Some games are really CPU intensive.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sutty86 Thanks for all the replys just been looking more into the phenom , which you can unlock it to a quadcore using the right bios on the correct motherboard, would it on equal terms to the 620? Gigabyte GA-M720-US3 Motherboard |
I really wouldn't count on unlocking cores though. You have a 50% chance to make the 550 a stable triple-core, and a 25% chance to make it a stable quad core. You might get a crappy CPU that wont unlock at all, so it's not wise to base your purchase on it.
People say the triple-cores are the sweet spot for gaming right now, and I personally love my Athlon X3 435.
I'd say get the 435, but I'm pretty biased.
I'd swap out my chip for a 965 BE C3 in a heartbeat, though.
3
Quote:
Don't get AM2, get AM2+ or no CPU from what you listed would work. AM2+ is very similar to AM2, except AM2+ can accommodate AM3 CPUs (like the Phenoms IIs and Athlon IIs), while the AM2 can use only older Athlon x2 CPUs and a very limited number of Phenoms.
I advice you a good budgetmotherboard linked here:
http://techreport.com/articles.x/18042/2
It has the ability to unlock cores and/or cache, it's up to your luck if it will actually work, but at least the mobo won't be a bottleneck.
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For games, among which you listed, I'd go for the Phenom 550, it's simply a better gaming CPU due to the extra cache, there are numerous reviews on the web on this. I must agree with the others though, if you have say 50$ to invest and wonder if you should get a better CPU of a better graphics card, for games you must always go with the better graphics card.
Now for real budget builds, why not go for the absolute cheap, the Athlon 250? It has the same amount of L2 cache as the X4 620 and in games considering its higher clock speed it might perform as well as the 620. With the money left you could get a better VID card.
Just my
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Budget builds are always the most difficult to get right...
Originally Posted by sutty86 thats what im looking for at the moment would you agree that a am2 board would be better has i already have the ddr2 ram? looking at a budget board any idea's? |
I advice you a good budgetmotherboard linked here:
http://techreport.com/articles.x/18042/2
It has the ability to unlock cores and/or cache, it's up to your luck if it will actually work, but at least the mobo won't be a bottleneck.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sutty86 too much choice!!!! still undecided so many pro's and cons for each.... might wait out and save some more cash up and sell some bits etc Thank you everyone for your replys this forum rocks |
Now for real budget builds, why not go for the absolute cheap, the Athlon 250? It has the same amount of L2 cache as the X4 620 and in games considering its higher clock speed it might perform as well as the 620. With the money left you could get a better VID card.
Just my
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