Phenom II X4 830 (Quad Core, 2.8 Ghz, 6 MB) Processor - OEM - $49.99 Microcenter

[Xenon]

I'd like to know that as well. What would pair well with this? I just picked up Skyrim and being able to turn settings up would be great.

 

[reallyscrued]

Really depends on resolution you're planning to game at and if you're a stickler for AA+AF.

In my opinion it could crunch numbers fast enough for cards up to a 6950/6970 with a little bit of overclocking. Realize that for any and all games out right now that take advantage of quad core processors, none of them outright max out CPU utilization across all four cores so it's very unlikely you'll encounter being CPU limited for a while to come. (Correct me if I'm wrong anyone)

For Battlefield 3 specifically, these < http://static.techspot.com/articles-info/458/bench/CPU_01.png > benchmarks tell us that overclocking will net minimal gains if any. Doubling the clockspeed only increases minimum frames by 5, and even then at 2.00 Ghz it should be very playable.

Then these < http://static.techspot.com/articles-info/458/bench/CPU_02.png > benches show us that as long as you have a quad core for BF3, you're basically fine on the CPU front. An Athlon II X4 scores comparably to an Intel Core i7-2600k.

This processor should keep up with the best of them. At least for BF3 gaming.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

First post and want to give thanks to Reallyscrued for this excellent deal.

Xenon, I've been doing some skyrim time. Previous CPU was an athlon x3 435 that, at stock settings (2.9) was bottlenecking an OC'd 5770 (927 GPU:1284 memclock). Playing at 1920x1080 resolution FPS in skyrim on high details dipped into mid-low 20's. OC'd the x3 up to 3.4 and got 35-45 fps. Definite CPU bottleneck.

On a whim I picked this Phenom 830 cpu up. Stock it pulls 30-40fps. Did an OC from 2.8 to 3.5 and it runs solid at 40 fps now. I think the 5770 card might be the limiting factor at this point so take reallyscrued's advice.

This is one of the better overclocking chips I've ever had........and super cheap to boot.

 

[superHARD]

what mobo to put this in?

 

[Roland00Address]

What would be a good video card to pair with this? Looking for a card "balanced" to it's performance so I'm not overspending...

I would go with a 6870 or a 560 (non ti), in other words keeping the video card less than 200.

You can find 6870s for 170 to 180 and with rebate they are 150 to 160
You can find 560 non tis for about 10 or 20 more.

These cards can pretty much any game on high to ultra high settings at 1920x1080.

 

[Xenon]

Thanks for the info guys. Hopefully it's still in stock at the local Microcenter.

 

[Gheris]

Wish I had a microcenter close enough to take advantage of this deal.

 

[msi1337]

got mine installed..working great! I have a Radeon 4850 with mine which seems to work well together

 

[PingSpike]

got mine installed..working great! I have a Radeon 4850 with mine which seems to work well together

You don't happen to have Skyrim do you? If so could you tell me what FPS you're getting in outdoor areas with 1650x1050, 1400x1050 or 1400x900 resolution with high no AA and maybe 4 or 8x AF?

 

[msi1337]

You don't happen to have Skyrim do you? If so could you tell me what FPS you're getting in outdoor areas with 1650x1050, 1400x1050 or 1400x900 resolution with high no AA and maybe 4 or 8x AF?

sorry I haven't gotten it yet, but I do intend to.

 

[s44]

I'd like to know that as well. What would pair well with this?

$130AR MSI Hawk 460

 

[reallyscrued]

Bumping a deal that is still good.

Games that are actually playable for me now:

Battlefield 3
GTA IV
Mafia II
Skyrim (Although I'll admit, I didn't even try playing this on my X2)
Crysis 2
Deus Ex: Human Rev

Haven't gone back and played FarCry 2 again but looks like that will be very worthwhile.

EDIT: ...Just re-read my post and realized all these games are sequels of some sort. God...this industry...*facepalm gif*

I'm actually pretty pissed I didn't make the change sooner. All this time I thought it was my videocard holding me back when infact it was my processor. It's a completely different experience playing a game that's actually smooth, rather than:

Shit! Explosion! *Wait 'till the slideshow is over so I can kill some enemies*

 

[maniac5999]

You don't happen to have Skyrim do you? If so could you tell me what FPS you're getting in outdoor areas with 1650x1050, 1400x1050 or 1400x900 resolution with high no AA and maybe 4 or 8x AF?

High settings, 8X AA/AF 1080p, 512mb 4870, and I don't notice any slowdowns after everything's loaded in (probably 30FPS or better)

 

[reallyscrued]

High settings, 8X AA/AF 1080p, 512mb 4870, and I don't notice any slowdowns after everything's loaded in (probably 30FPS or better)

Damn, you got this chip up to 3.5 ghz? What kind of cooling are you running? That's like Phenom II X4 970 territory. I pushed mine to 3.2 ghz but it got to over 60 degrees celcius during Prime so I'm just leaving it at stock clock. It doesn't choke on anything I throw at it for right now but good to know I've got headroom.

 

[qliveur]

LOL 60 degrees.

Are you using the stock cooler? Wait until the Corsair A50 goes down to $10 AR as it often does and throw one of those on it.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Yeah this CPU will definately do 3.5 on air. CHEEP cooler too....90mm aerocool $20 job that I rigged an extra fan to. See pic

 

[qliveur]

Hell, the Corsair A70 is $22.24 AR as we speak. That would seriously put the chill on it.

 

[severus]

You can scoop up the Eclipse II (best air cooler out there) for $43 at microcenter no rebate. $15 discount! Lasts until Dec. 4. I think I'm going to pick that up with the chip and some ram and order the AsRock 970 at newegg.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Hell, the Corsair A70 is $22.24 AR as we speak. That would seriously put the chill on it.

Great deal and good tip. I can't use it though. It eats up the first DIMM slot on most boards with its huge awesomeness. I gotta have first DIMM filled on my board.

 

[maniac5999]

Damn, you got this chip up to 3.5 ghz? What kind of cooling are you running? That's like Phenom II X4 970 territory. I pushed mine to 3.2 ghz but it got to over 60 degrees celcius during Prime so I'm just leaving it at stock clock. It doesn't choke on anything I throw at it for right now but good to know I've got headroom.

Sunbeam CCF120. Nothing like 590g of Copper and Aluminum, and a 120mm fan to keep it cool. My cheap old mATX board wasn't quite stable at 3.5 (I've had issues with the base clock anywhere above 240) so I'm currently rock solid at 1.325v and 3.41GHz. If you have the board for it, this thing probably has a good chance to hit 4GHz, just like most Denebs. It also runs ice cold. I've got the fan manually set to it's lowest setting, and it barely hits 50* in my poorly vented case.

EDIT: Just a note, my board locks the processor to use 1.35v or less. it wasn't an issue for me, as even at 3.5 I was more than stable there, (I got a couple wierd, probably board related, issues that made me scale down slightly) However, if you are thinking of going for 4GHz, and your board does the same, it might limit your OC.

 

[qliveur]

Great deal and good tip. I can't use it though. It eats up the first DIMM slot on most boards with its huge awesomeness. I gotta have first DIMM filled on my board.

Precisely why I don't buy RAM with big hair.

 

[xSauronx]

picked one up a while ago. chugging along nicely at 3.6, 1.4 volts.

ive got my 810, stock 2.4, at 3.1 for a while now.

good deal if you need a budget upgrade, for sure

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Precisely why I don't buy RAM with big hair.

I wouldn't exactly call kingston value ram "big hair" lol. Doesn't even have heat spreaders.

Every review on the Corsair A70 shows it covering first slot no matter what kind of RAM you use. My case is smaller too so height for 120mm coolers might be an issue.

However XIGMATEK LOKI SD963 92mm @ the egg for $5 shipped after rebate might do the trick http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835233081

 

[maniac5999]

I wouldn't exactly call kingston value ram "big hair" lol. Doesn't even have heat spreaders.

Every review on the Corsair A70 shows it covering first slot no matter what kind of RAM you use. My case is smaller too so height for 120mm coolers might be an issue.

However XIGMATEK LOKI SD963 92mm @ the egg for $5 shipped after rebate might do the trick http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835233081

MEASURE! I know the CCF120 is as big as I can get. I glued a 1/4" thick fabric pad to the inside of the door to my case when I bought it, I had to cut it off from above the CCF when I bought the cooler, it's still much cooler and quieter thanks to the big, slow fan.

 

[watek]

This is a damn good deal for a quad core with the L3 cache. It's still going on locally.