CPU

[PPforLife]

Im looking to buy a new CPU and it came down to these two. Please help me in choosing one. I will mostly be playing Poker, and watching videos. Of course Im hoping that i wont have to upgrade in the near future.

AMD Phenom 9350e Agena 2.0GHz Socket AM2+ 65W Quad-Core Processor $99.99
AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz Socket AM2 125W Dual-Core Processor Model ADX6000CZBOX - Retail $79.99.

Thanks ahead.

 

[alyarb]

can you tell us what motherboard you're using? neither of those are great choices. your computer usage seems to imply that you'd get more out of a higher frequency low power dual core as opposed to a low frequency quad core (let alone that 125w dual, youch). a good choice for you would be the athlon x2 5200B or Athlon II 240 (we have to check your motherboard for support, though).

 

[PPforLife]

I have a

ASUS M2A-VM AM2 AMD 690G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

 

[crisium]

If you don't mind a CPU that uses quite a bit of heat and power then the X2 6000+ is probably better. AM2 CPUs are getting hard to find, but if possible try to find a 65W X2. 125W is too much for a dual core, and 2.0GHz is too little to make a Quad worth it imo. Or...

Make sure you have the latest bios, and then you should be able to run this 8750:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819103252

95W isn't bad, and it'll actually be faster than the 9350e in many situations.

Just my recommendation based of the limited Newegg AM2 stock.

 

[alyarb]

Your motherboard appears to lack AM2+ support, so that rules out the regor upgrade. Your best bets are going to be the X2 5200B (a 2.7 GHz 65W dual core) for $72. if you want a quad core, you should wait until you need that power and get some higher-frequency part later.

 

[ShawnD1]

Originally posted by: alyarb
Your motherboard appears to lack AM2+ support, so that rules out the regor upgrade. Your best bets are going to be the X2 5200B (a 2.7 GHz 65W dual core) for $72.

It's questionable if this is even worth getting. That X2 5200 is slower than the processor I bought 3 years ago. At this point, you're just throwing good money after bad. If you're going to upgrade, do it properly and buy a new motherboard. Socket AM3 motherboard starts at $85 on newegg, single core AM3 CPU starts at $40, dual core $61, triple core $99, quad core $145.

OP, do you need to upgrade or do you just want to blow some money on something? Almost every AM2 processor should easily handle "playing Poker, and watching videos" since I can do that just fine on a single core 1.6ghz Core2 Celeron. Is there a specific program that isn't working right?

 

[PPforLife]

I dont "need to" just want to upgrade to something a little faster. Sometimes when i have a video going, and a few tables up, chatting on AIM, surfing net, downloading it kinda slows down.

I know im a "basic" user, but just like to have a lot of things going at once.

I built this about 2 years ago.

ASUS M2A-VM AM2 AMD 690G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Windsor 2.0GHz Socket AM2 89W Dual-Core Processor Model ADA3800CUBOX - Retail
SUPER TALENT 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model T6UX2GC5 - Retail

I just brought more mem.

 

[alyarb]

so that's 4GB total then? and tables? like excel tables? or what?

 

[PPforLife]

well i got 4gb more. So it will be a total of 6gb. Thats if my mobo allows me to have 2x 1gb and 2x 2gb.

tables like, poker tables. lol sorry for the misunderstanding.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

An Athlon X2 @ 2ghz should be just fine for Poker and videos. If its your browser only able to use one core you might be out of luck. It might just be the servers you are connecting to.

 

[alyarb]

are you using a 64-bit OS? you'll only have 4GB available with win32. there are 64-bit editions of xp, vista, and 7 available though. 64-bit OS and "4+ core" is a migration you can't put off much longer so you may as well get them out of the way.

back to the CPU, the Athlon 5200 and 6000 will both provide a nice boost to your singlethreaded performance, but its likely that those poker table applets all run within separate processes and a quad core might do a lot more for you than a higher-frequency dual core. I agree with shawn that you should get your quad upgrade out of the way now, and I also agree that you want a little bit higher frequency than just 2.0 GHz. it's stupid to upgrade from a slow dual core to a fast dual core, but also stupid to go from a slow dual core to a slow quad. and you certainly don't need a new motherboard to get a quad. ASUS's website explicitly states that your motherboard supports the 65nm Phenoms (might be wise to update to the latest BIOS before you upgrade, though).

Looking at newegg, you can get 2.3, 2.4, and 2.6 GHz Agenas for 110, 120, and 130 dollars respectively. They would improve your single-threaded performance due to their higher frequency and improved cache and more than double your multithreaded/multitasking performance which your usage patterns seem to reflect. if you use firefox or chrome, each poker table will certainly have its own browser process, so that not all processes will be waiting in line on the same core. This is a 125 watt processor, however, so make sure you have decent airflow in your case. Despite the phenom's crude 65nm heritage, people were still getting 200-400 MHz overclocks with a slight undervolt. something to consider.

 

[PPforLife]

Ok, thanks so much everyone for you input. I really do appreciate it. I guess it would be best for me, just to hold off on it.

 

[veri745]

I'm guessing the extra memory will help a ton.

 

[KingstonU]

Just a quick note, I have 32-bit XP operating system and of my 4GB of ram, it only recognizes 3.25GB of it. Though it was still worth it to buy 4GB instead of just 2GB cause the extra 1.25GB that is uses helps tremendously.

 

[crisium]

A Windows format and reinstall will help wonders too, especially if it's been 2 years.

 

[hans007]

I built my brother a computer with that same motherboard. not sure it supports 125W cpus to begin with but they make 95W 6000+ chips.


Seems like you are trying to keep your upgrade under $100 at newegg.


But you could pick up a 7850 for $77..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819103678

once they come back in stock anyway.

probably would feel faster than a 9350e for most things.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

what about a slight overclock? Free and effective.

 

[hans007]

http://vip.asus.com/forum/view...page=2&SLanguage=en-us


was reading that... if you dont mind pressing insert+reset everytime you turn your ocmputer one (or well until you buy a new mobo)... you can take advantage and buy a phenom II x3 or or something like that.

 

[heyheybooboo]

X2 5400+: $78
(price has gone up 20% in the last month or so - must be EOL)

Will run DDR2 800MHz at spec if you have not purchased your RAMs yet ...

 

[cusideabelincoln]

I say go for a quad (9150 or 9350). Even though you only do basic tasks, if you do a lot of them at the same time then the quad should smooth things over and feel snappier than the dual core.

Originally posted by: ShawnD1
That X2 5200 is slower than the processor I bought 3 years ago.

Why does this have any bearing? A lot of current and even recently released processors are slower than some processors released 3 years ago. The point, though, is that these current processors cost nowhere near what those older (faster) processors cost.

 

[hans007]

Originally posted by: cusideabelincoln
I say go for a quad (9150 or 9350). Even though you only do basic tasks, if you do a lot of them at the same time then the quad should smooth things over and feel snappier than the dual core.

Originally posted by: ShawnD1
That X2 5200 is slower than the processor I bought 3 years ago.

Why does this have any bearing? A lot of current and even recently released processors are slower than some processors released 3 years ago. The point, though, is that these current processors cost nowhere near what those older (faster) processors cost.

I always love it when people give me this logic.

I have a coworker who bought a 4800+ athlon x2 939 when they came out for $500+.

I think at the time I had a 3800+ dual core x2 that cost something like $150.

So 2-3 years later his 4800+ is slow. And so is my 3800+. SO he goes, well i could probably get by with the 4800+ for another year... swhich is why i paid more money for it.

And i'm like.. uh well i could take the $350 i saved 3 years ago and buy a brand new cpu? and still have my 3800? the logic confusedh im.

 

[ShawnD1]

Originally posted by: cusideabelincoln

Originally posted by: ShawnD1
That X2 5200 is slower than the processor I bought 3 years ago.

Why does this have any bearing? A lot of current and even recently released processors are slower than some processors released 3 years ago. The point, though, is that these current processors cost nowhere near what those older (faster) processors cost.

By now, you should have learned that cheaping-out never saves money.

I once bought a computer that had a Celeron 500 processor. This was similar to buying something like a modern E5200 with no overclocking. Simply put, it was a brand new, factory fresh piece of shit. Literally 1 year later, I had to buy a new processor because it couldn't run the stuff I was trying to run. By that time, the socket was different, so I had to buy a new motherboard. The ram speed changed from 100mhz to 133mhz so I had to buy all new ram. I basically had to re-buy the entire computer after just 1 year. The computer I'm using right now was a very high end computer and I think it cost around $1000, but it has lasted 3 years so far and it still works.

Right now you're telling this guy to get a processor that is slow by today's standards when you know damn well he'll just need to buy a whole new computer in a year. What happens then? Does he buy an outdated AM2+ platform and start using the old Phenom I? Then upgrade to AM3 a year after that? Will he need to buy 3 computers for every 1 of mine?

 

[cusideabelincoln]

He's looking to buy a sub-$100 processor, so he's going to be getting a slow one regardless if he switches platforms (motherboards), meaning BY YOUR STANDARDS he would need to upgrade again anyway. So again, I'm failing to see your logic.

The problem is that you need to look at his standards, not yours, as they appear to be quite different.

The reason I suggested the quad is because it will have more staying power than the dual and it will help multitasking (even when multitasking with many "light" programs) more. It would be the wiser investment in his situation; he could watch a movie, play some poker, and browse porn without a hitch! In a multitasking and multithreaded environment, the Phenom X4s offer better performance than most dual cores (even the likes of a Core 2 Duo E8500): http://www.anandtech.com/cpuch...owdoc.aspx?i=3344&p=11 (Note: The Athlon X2 6000+ is not included in those tests, but if you want a good "measuring stick" then look at the Core 2 Duo E6550 results as they should offer similar, but slightly better, performance than 6000+.)