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better for gaming? overclocked or unlocked Phenom II x3?

C

Chappie

Senior member
Hello,

I have a phenom II x3 that I've unlocked in the past. However I still have the stock cooling setup and don't trust it to overclock when unlocked>

I have successfully overclocked it when it's locked (triple core mode) to 3.2 ghz.

So my question is..what do you guys think is better??? overclocked triple core (3.2) or unlocked fourth core at stock speed? ---2.8 Ghz??

I am running an XFX 5770 too with two gigs of ram, windows 7

thanks,
Chappie
 
Most games don't seem to show too much improvement from the fourth core. However, if you can get all 4 running at 3.2 that would probably be best 🙂
 
Yeah most games just want raw power so speed is king don't worry about the heat sink it's probably the same as the stock one on the quad . Just check your temps but I'd bet you be fine.
 
I have phenom x3 710 I have the 4th core unlocked and overclocked to 3.0 ghz memory speed issue prevent my from go father
 
Chappie said:
Hello,

I have a phenom II x3 that I've unlocked in the past. However I still have the stock cooling setup and don't trust it to overclock when unlocked>

I have successfully overclocked it when it's locked (triple core mode) to 3.2 ghz.

So my question is..what do you guys think is better??? overclocked triple core (3.2) or unlocked fourth core at stock speed? ---2.8 Ghz??

I am running an XFX 5770 too with two gigs of ram, windows 7

thanks,
Chappie
Click to expand...

It may seem off topic but I feel 2 gigs is rather skimpy(assuming its a 64-bit version of win 7) also, Considering the fact that your question is regarding games, an additional 2 gigs would give you much more improved performance than an additional unlocked core.
 
yasasvy said:
It may seem off topic but I feel 2 gigs is rather skimpy(assuming its a 64-bit version of win 7) also, Considering the fact that your question is regarding games, an additional 2 gigs would give you much more improved performance than an additional unlocked core.
Click to expand...

except that an unlocked 4th core is free. with RAM prices, he could get a great CPU cooler for far less than 4GB RAM.

as has been said, an overclocked triple core would be better in most current games, but you really should try to see if the heatsink is indeed the same one as comes with the quad cores. if it is then you shouldn't worry about overclocking. honestly, if it were me, i'd unlock and overclock anyway and see how it takes it. just monitor your temps. you'd be hard pressed to damage your cpu this way unless you throw too much voltage at it or something. if it gets too hot it'll shut itself down, so you don't really have anything to lose.
 
unlocked... for most games both will be sufficient. The few games that need the extra oomph can typically benefit from the fourth core.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone,

I've been so busy with work and trying to get Bad Company 2 to freaking run without crashes I haven't overclocked or unlocked anything!!! That game is driving me nuts!!

Anyway, I see they both have merits...I like the idea of unlocked 4th core..I'll give it another shot once BC2 is patched and stable..just toooooo buggy now..

thanks,
Chappie
 
Chappie said:
Thanks for the replies everyone,

I've been so busy with work and trying to get Bad Company 2 to freaking run without crashes I haven't overclocked or unlocked anything!!! That game is driving me nuts!!

Anyway, I see they both have merits...I like the idea of unlocked 4th core..I'll give it another shot once BC2 is patched and stable..just toooooo buggy now..

thanks,
Chappie
Click to expand...
What are your full system specs and what kind of crashes are you getting (crash to desktop, BSOD, GSOD, etc.)? I know connection issues have been a big problem, I didn't really hear much about crashes though, especially at stock speeds.
 
Hey MrK6,

Phenom II x3 720
Two gigs of ram
Radeon 5770
Realtek sound (onboard)

I'm getting the same crashes in BC2 that the people in the official (UK and US) forums are complaining about. The game will either just crash to a black screen with the system still running or...it will freeze up with the sound looping. In both cases I have to do a hard restart. I have done everything I can think of..new windows install...new drivers..new BC2 install. It was a bit better yesterday afternoon after my third install of the game...who knows...

The game was great before the last patch..no problems at all.. the beta ran well also..I believe I read they are supposed to patch again soon...

thanks,
Chappie
 
Very interesting, I didn't know. Really, you can't get much cleaner than a Windows reinstall. Hopefully that patch is out soon, best of luck.
 
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