Phenom II x4 vs. c2d/c2q?

[uli2000]

Im trying to upgrade my s939 which is about to die on me on a bit of a tight budget. I have 4gb of ddr2 667 Ive had forever and never got around using, so looking at compatable mobos and cpus. Wont be doing any OCing, mostly playing source games/mods, cod4/waw, and the occasional dvd rip. I will probably be upgrading in a year or so when work picks up and Ive got some house projects done, so yesterday's tech is ok with me for awhile. Which would be the better way to go. Would dual core suffice of should I go quad (I went with the Phenom II quad cause there was only a marginal price difference between the x2/x3/x4s, but not opposed to other AMD cpus).

 

[VirtualLarry]

If you have a Microcenter near you, they are running a special, Athlon II X4 630 2.8Ghz, and a free Biostar A760G M2+ mobo, for $100 + tax, in-store only. It's a pretty good deal if you already have the RAM. (Note: It only has two slots for DDR2.)

If you want to game on it though, you should probably pick up a Phenom II, due to the L3 cache helping in games. But for ordinary desktop tasks, the Athlon II X4 should suffice.

 

[cloudzero]

Woah, I was just looking at the same thing. What's your budget?

I found a DDR2 compatible Mobo for the Phenom II X4 - an ASRock A785GXH. Here is the Newegg link:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157180


I have 4 sticks of DDR2 800 already, but I really wonder if it's just worth doing a full upgrade to an i5 or i7 system? Seems kind of silly to base an upgrade around the type of RAM we have.

I think you're right, if you go this route, might as well go for a quad over the dual, the price difference isn't that much.

 

[uli2000]

I cant remember the exact mobo at the moment, but the one I was looking at was an Gigabyte. Newegg had a number of compatable mobos, I chose the gigabyte since it had decent ratings, 4 ram slots, and had a combo deal with the low end Phenom II x4.

edit:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.407448

Also, budget of ~$250. I also need a new PSU and would really love to keep the who enchalada under the $250 mark if possible, but gonna reuse the case and dvd drive and just got a new HDD, plus Ive had the RAM for 3 years or so. I bought the first 2 gb when it hit $100 thinking Id never see ram that low again. Bought the next two gigs when it hit $60, and cried when ram was going for like $20/gig a year or so ago.

 

[uli2000]

If you have a Microcenter near you, they are running a special, Athlon II X4 630 2.8Ghz, and a free Biostar A760G M2+ mobo, for $100 + tax, in-store only. It's a pretty good deal if you already have the RAM. (Note: It only has two slots for DDR2.)

If you want to game on it though, you should probably pick up a Phenom II, due to the L3 cache helping in games. But for ordinary desktop tasks, the Athlon II X4 should suffice.

Sadly, no Microcenter or Frys within 250 miles of me. Though I will be going to see my parents in a month or so which will put me near a frys, if only this s939 will last that long.

 

[cloudzero]

Thanks uli2000, that motherboard looks better than the asrock. For games and the other stuff I do, like photo editing and occasional 3d rendering, I bet this would be a nice upgrade from the old C2D E6300 I have now.

I will probably talk myself out of upgrading though...if I did, then I'd have the justification to upgrade my GPU

Edit: Yeah, if you go with that combo deal, you could use the rest on a PSU. Depending on what you get, it might be slightly over your $250 if you have to pay for shipping, but I wouldn't try to get a 'cheap' PSU. Everyone here will tell you not to overlook the importance of a good power supply, even if you go over budget.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I found a DDR2 compatible Mobo for the Phenom II X4 - an ASRock A785GXH. Here is the Newegg link:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157180

hmm, that's nice board. only x16/x4 crossfire though, but at least it's cf-capable.
Doesn't list thuban support yet, but it does have an 8pin power connector.

 

[cloudzero]

Doesn't list thuban support yet, but it does have an 8pin power connector.

It would be nice if they can add support for Thuban through a bios upgrade.

It's silly, but at the top of the screen now, there is an ASRock ad about upgrading from 4 cores to 6 cores with their 860GX Extreme3 board. I just have to become a fan on their Facebook page and I can win it...

I have read a little about the Thuban CPUs and they seem to be well received. Luckily, my system is running fine, even if it is a little old, but uli2000 is in a more ugent situation it sounds like. Keep looking for a good deal! I think you're on the right track with an AMD setup because you can still use the DDR2 RAM you have.

 

[daveybrat]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.407496


Here's a great budget priced combo that should be plenty of speed for you.

For $144 this combo is a great price.

GIGABYTE GA-MA78LM-S2H AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 760G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

AMD Athlon II X4 630 Propus 2.8GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Processor

The processor is probably one of the best bang for the buck Quad's out right now.

No need to spend $40 more on the other combo IMO.

 

[manimal]

Let me let you guys onto a well known secret. If you stay up late on thursday nights. Frys Lists a few of their combos in small numbers for shipping. If you are on midnight eastern exactly you usually have 30 mins or so to get a combo shipped at the special price. So wait a week, make some coffee, and hit refresh and have your cc or a frys.com account already regged.

 

[Krakn3Dfx]

Picked up one of the Phenon x2 555 BE combos for $100 from Microcenter and unlocked the extra 2 cores on the chip without a problem. Was a gamble, but well worth it, upgrade over my son's lower end C2D setup was pretty substantial.

 

[uli2000]

I ended up buying the combo I linked to above. I thought about the Microcenter combo as I have a friend who lives kinda near one, but at the end of the day I was worried about OCing and unlocking cores. My last forte into OCing didnt go so well. Thanks to all for the help and info.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Picked up one of the Phenon x2 555 BE combos for $100 from Microcenter and unlocked the extra 2 cores on the chip without a problem. Was a gamble, but well worth it, upgrade over my son's lower end C2D setup was pretty substantial.

Will the Biostar 760G mobo unlock cores? I didn't think it did.

 

[formulav8]

Yes i'm pretty sure it does. It runs the 710 southbridge and i'm pretty sure acc is implemented in the bios.