AMD Phenom 9850BE vs. AMD A4-3400 Llano vs AMD Athlon II X3 450 Rana

[zodder]

Hey all. I'm looking to build a budget server for testing and possibly some file serving as well. I haven't been in the AMD scene for quite awhile and was wondering if the Phenom still had enough teeth to compete with the newer cpus from AMD. I can get all three combos for around $150, but I have no idea which would be better for a simple server. Thanks for any help!

 

[blckgrffn]

Hey all. I'm looking to build a budget server for testing and possibly some file serving as well. I haven't been in the AMD scene for quite awhile and was wondering if the Phenom still had enough teeth to compete with the newer cpus from AMD. I can get all three combos for around $150, but I have no idea which would be better for a simple server. Thanks for any help!

My money is on the 450. That clock speed advantage is going to be impossible for the other chips to over come, and IMHO it hits a nice spot between power usage and performance when it comes to AMD offerings.

The 3400 is just so sticking slow... and the 9850 is too power hungry, and again, it has such lower clock speed that in many situations (like re-encoding, for example) that extra core is going to only maybe get it to the same through put as the 450, while certainly using much more juice. The A4 is attractive in that is going to be a very power efficient chip while having enough grunt to all basic tasks.

If you could fit an A6 (or A8) into your budget, then I don't think it would be a contest.

450 - x3 45 nm, 3.2 Ghz - 95W TDP
9850 BE - x4 65 nm, 2.5 Ghz - 125W TDP
A4 -3400 - x2 32 nm, 2.7 Ghz - 65W TDP

I think you'll find a much wider selection of AM3+ boards as well, and the 880G (or similar graphics) will be fine for a server, negating one of the attractions of the A4.

In reality, they should all be fine. The A4 will likely have the motherboard with the most bells & whistles, since the FM1 chip set is simply more full featured.

I don't think that any of these choices would be wrong, FWIW. The old Phenom would be the least optimal choice, IMHO.

 

[pauldun170]

The 9850BE is a 125W old, creaky power demanding cpu.

The A4-3400 is a contender but it acts like a proc straight from 2006.

The x3 is in the middle.


What does the "combo" include?
What do you think you will be "testing" on the server?

For a file server, I'd get the one with the lowest TDP
For a test server I'd get the one with the best performance.
For a 24x7 file server that would also be a test server I'd pick other CPU's:
If AMD is your preference...
AMD A6-3500 over the X3 450 for the the lower TDP and over the AM-3400 for the extra core.

My personal opinion...
Best cheapo 24x7 multi use server CPU i3-2100 paired with cheapo board and whatever mem requirements. Anything from file server to running Oracle\streaming in a "test environment". Worth the extra couple of bucks over bargain bin CPU's in that it sips juice and has decent headroom.

Best cheapo file server proc G530 ($50 proc paired with $50 mobo paired with $20 4gb memory)
Will run off a potato, cool

 

[blckgrffn]

Yeah, my WHS box is a G620, the ESXi box is a i3-2100. They are hard to beat.

 

[Hatisherrif]

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/189?vs=29

The Anand bench shows these CPUs running neck-to-neck most of the time, thus, you should get the one that consumes less power and generates less heat. Go with the Athlon.

 

[daveybrat]

I kind of have a question relating to the OP's post.

I have a spare AMD X4 Phenom 9850 2.5GHz OEM chip that is the 95Watt model, not the 125Watt version.

I have a new AM2+ Biostar board i've never used, was gonna pop this chip in for a low end gaming machine.

Thoughts?

(i never knew there was a 95W 9850 chip, but this one is)

 

[nemesismk2]

I do like my Athlon II X3 455 which has done me proud lately I've been playing more Games such as Mass Effect 3, Rage, Crysis 2 and other assorted games

 

[blckgrffn]

I kind of have a question relating to the OP's post.

I have a spare AMD X4 Phenom 9850 2.5GHz OEM chip that is the 95Watt model, not the 125Watt version.

I have a new AM2+ Biostar board i've never used, was gonna pop this chip in for a low end gaming machine.

Thoughts?

(i never knew there was a 95W 9850 chip, but this one is)

Sounds good to me It should be able to run everything out there at a decent clip. BF3 64 man servers might be a little dicey

If it doesn't do what you want, you have a nice quad-core bundle to sell...

I would avoid investing in DDR2 if possible, though...

 

[LoneNinja]

I kind of have a question relating to the OP's post.

I have a spare AMD X4 Phenom 9850 2.5GHz OEM chip that is the 95Watt model, not the 125Watt version.

I have a new AM2+ Biostar board i've never used, was gonna pop this chip in for a low end gaming machine.

Thoughts?

(i never knew there was a 95W 9850 chip, but this one is)

I had a Phenom 9850 I was still running games on just fine until last year, it'll still handle most games just fine.


As to the OP, I would personally go with the Athlon II if your buying new, extra clock speed will allow it to perform better than the Phenom in most tasks while consuming less power.

 

[nyker96]

I personally think you could consider Intel G530+H61 combo which is nice and cheap and I think for a server situation will work very well. It runs better than most of the amd solutions and if you have it on for a long time / day, will save on electricity.

 

[blckgrffn]

I personally think you could consider Intel G530+H61 combo which is nice and cheap and I think for a server situation will work very well. It runs better than most of the amd solutions and if you have it on for a long time / day, will save on electricity.

The only item you might want to watch out for there is RAID support. The H61 boards don't seem to have it? So you might need to step up to the P/H67 or Z68 level to get robust options there.

I only mention it because of the server aspect. That is why I have a Z68 matx board with a G620 in it...

 

[pauldun170]

OP - Do you have more detailed usage scenarios?
What OS will you be running?
What kind of 'testing' will you be doing?

 

[vladware]

I'm trying to set up a home server also. Mostly for storage and streaming to other devices. Maybe even as an esxi host to play around with.

The cheapest cpu/mobo I can find is the fx-4100 at Microcenter for 99 bucks with a free Gigabyte matx motherboard(GA-78LMT-S2P).

Do you guys think it would be worth it for something that would remain on 24/7 instead of a more efficient but slightly more costly SB pentium or celeron build?

 

[blckgrffn]

I'm trying to set up a home server also. Mostly for storage and streaming to other devices. Maybe even as an esxi host to play around with.

The cheapest cpu/mobo I can find is the fx-4100 at Microcenter for 99 bucks with a free Gigabyte matx motherboard(GA-78LMT-S2P).

Do you guys think it would be worth it for something that would remain on 24/7 instead of a more efficient but slightly more costly SB pentium or celeron build?

Idle power on the FX is actually a lot better than the legacy Phenoms and Athlons. You'll be idling a lot

You need to know how much your power costs and what the expected power differential might be. @ 20W or less differential it is going to take quite a while to cover the difference in costs via power savings.

You'd likely be better off putting the differential towards an 80+ Bronze (minimum) power supply.

 

[daveybrat]

I'm trying to set up a home server also. Mostly for storage and streaming to other devices. Maybe even as an esxi host to play around with.

The cheapest cpu/mobo I can find is the fx-4100 at Microcenter for 99 bucks with a free Gigabyte matx motherboard(GA-78LMT-S2P).

Do you guys think it would be worth it for something that would remain on 24/7 instead of a more efficient but slightly more costly SB pentium or celeron build?

Dude, just buy that FX 4100 combo now. You CANNOT beat a 3.6GHz Quad-Core processor AND motherboard for $99.00! Excellent price.

 

[zodder]

Thanks for all the replies. It's just going to be a test server to run Server 2008, test virtual configurations and possibly stream video throughout my house. I test everything now on my main comp, but that's getting old and I don't want to screw up it's configuration any more.

That Microcenter deal is awesome! Too bad it's pick-up only.