Phenom II x4/x6 - Craigslist? eBay? FS/FT Forum? Full Upgrade?

[DDRGamer]

Hey peoples; wanted to get your opinion.

Situation: I've an older M3A76-CM and a Phenom 9650 I received as a gift. I upgraded the GPU to an 2GB XFX 7850 and have an SSD to run Win7 at a considerable speed.

While discussing upgrade paths, I learned that moving forth, I'd be CPU bottlenecked. My motherboard is technically AM2+, so Phenom IIs were the way to go. Unfortunately, it looks like all the major retailers are finally out of stock, with no new orders coming in.

Long story short - I've seen 965s going for about $100 in various places (Craigslist, eBay) and am wondering if y'all think that it's a worthwhile (and final) upgrade to my current rig, or if I should just save up another $400 over the next few months and do a Motherboard/CPU/RAM change.

Thanks in advance for suggestions!

 

[AtenRa]

I would go for a Mobo+CPU+Memory.

Im sure you will be able to play most of the games today with your setup. wait till Kaveri comes in January and then decide what platform you go (AM3+, FM2+ or 1150).

 

[Magic Carpet]

Too late to upgrade to 965, I'd say. There are much better processors around today. At $50, I could consider it, but not at $100. Be prepared to shell out for a replacement motherboard, just in case, as well

Don't waste your time.

 

[Smoblikat]

Bad deal, Phenom 2 X6's frequently run in the 75 - 80$ range.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Bad deal, Phenom 2 X6's frequently run in the 75 - 80$ range.

Unfortunately, Thuban support isn't listed on his boards web site. I can still recommend Thubans under certain circumstances. At any case, his board isn't ideal for it, so a complete upgrade would be his best option. Really, no reason to stay in 2009/2010.

 

[SlowSpyder]

A 965 would be a huge upgrade, but I wouldn't pay anywhere close to $100 for one.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

If you could get a 965 for around $50 - $60 sure. Beyond that go for a new Ivy/Haswell setup

 

[Face2Face]

If you could get a 965 for around $50 - $60 sure. Beyond that go for a new Ivy/Haswell setup

+1

- I sold my 960T that went to 4.0Ghz for $50 or $60. Loved that chip :wub:

 

[4ghz]

Throw the 9650 and board up on ebay. Get a i5 750 and board for $140ish off the forums. Or an i5 2300-i5 2500k and board for around $175-$200.

 

[crashtech]

I've seen Phenom II X4 940s go for $50-60. They overclock OK. Maybe that would be better from a price/performance standpoint.

 

[JimmiG]

I went from a Phenom I 9650 @ 2.5 GHz to a Phenom II 955BE @ 3.6 GHz back when they had just come out. There's a huge difference performance-wise.

I finally replaced my Ph-II with a 4770K in June this year. Once again there was a huge performance difference. However in most cases, the Ph-II was still doing quite well actually. The Ph-II would be a very cheap upgrade that might tide you over until Haswell-E comes out. It depends on what games and applications you run. I wouldn't pay $100 for one, though. Keep looking until you find one going for less. If I remember correctly, the 945 and 955 exist in both 125W and 95W versions. Mine was a 125W, the 95W versions should overclock better (close to 4 GHz just like the 965).

 

[BUnit1701]

A cheap Phenom II 940 is also an option for you on AM2/AM2+. If you can get a 9x5 AM3 Phenom tho, it will likely clock higher. I was never able to get my 940 over 3.6Ghz, I picked up a 975 on eBay a few months ago, now sitting at 3.9Ghz.

 

[Magic Carpet]

I finally replaced my Ph-II with a 4770K in June this year. Once again there was a huge performance difference. However in most cases, the Ph-II was still doing quite well actually. The Ph-II would be a very cheap upgrade that might tide you over until Haswell-E comes out. It depends on what games and applications you run. I wouldn't pay $100 for one, though

Overall, Deneb wasn't a well balanced chip, some even had thermal problems running @ stock, whilst consumed heaps of power at the same time. I bought a 965 on launch date (C3 revision, down to 125w from 140w), but quickly, got rid of it when first Thubans started coming out (these I've loved). I still retain one of them, Thuban was a quality product, despite some flaws. Of course, it's just my subjective opinion. If he must upgrade this board, Propus (e.g. Athlon II X4) would be a better option (from power/reliability point of view). It's a bit slower, but maintenance wise, much more comfy to use. They run cooler and eat less watts (especially on idle).

Keep looking until you find one going for less. If I remember correctly, the 945 and 955 exist in both 125W and 95W versions. Mine was a 125W, the 95W versions should overclock better (close to 4 GHz just like the 965).

His board wasn't even designed for K10.5 arch to begin with, he needs a new board to make any kind of overclocking, feasible.

Throw the 9650 and board up on ebay. Get a i5 750 and board for $140ish off the forums. Or an i5 2300-i5 2500k and board for around $175-$200.

This makes more sense.

if u need to wait... your system can wait with you

Well said.

 

[aigomorla]

where and who told u the 9650 with overclocking would bottlenecked a 7850?

My general rule of thumb is this...
If it uses 8pin PCI-E power plugs in the rear... it requires a monster CPU.
If it uses 6pin PCI-E power plugs in the rear... it just requires a moderate CPU.
If it doesnt require any power plugs on the rear... then just about any cpu can run it.

If anything id be more worried about if u had PCI-E 1.0 or 2.0 ... but seeing how ur on the AM+ u'd most likely be on PCI-E 2.0.

I would personally do with what u want to do at this point.
You can hold onto the machine.. and i bet u if u upgraded now, you'd be upset because you wouldnt see much of a difference after u overclocked the 9650.

So i would save and save... and save as much as i could...then spoil myself on a new board + cpu as a "spoiling myself package"... instead of trying to get a lower package now..
Basically... get what you wish / want for... and if u need to wait... your system can wait with you and u wouldnt feel the difference...
Because when u do get your dream package... something u couldnt buy now... u will notice a difference.

 

[Headfoot]

Phenom I is dog slow. It'll definitely bottleneck a 7850 in any cpu bound game. I'd try to find an old Phenom II 940 for $50 and call it a day for now until you can afford to upgrade to a solid modern build.

 

[crashtech]

Phenom I is dog slow. It'll definitely bottleneck a 7850 in any cpu bound game. I'd try to find an old Phenom II 940 for $50 and call it a day for now until you can afford to upgrade to a solid modern build.

I love it when someone agrees with me. I'm going to mark my calendar, this is a day to remember!

Seriously, a clocked up Ph II X4 will run a single 7970 no problem, not to mention a 7850.

 

[Arkaign]

I love it when someone agrees with me. I'm going to mark my calendar, this is a day to remember!

Seriously, a clocked up Ph II X4 will run a single 7970 no problem, not to mention a 7850.

Ditto.

People underestimate the pain the arse it is to take a working system down and change mobo, which most people end up not being able to properly boot windows afterwards, requiring a bunch more effect/nonsense to get it back operational.

Most of us on these forums can do it in their sleep, even transferring windows to vastly different hardware without losing settings/apps/etc. But someone coming and asking this kind of question probably is not that experienced. Nothing wrong with not being experienced with that kind of thing, but it does change what's advisable for sure.

Going to a new mobo/cpu/ram+OS/driver/app/data reload is a big undertaking, and will suck down both dollars and hours.

Dropping a decent used PhII 940 in there will breathe plenty of life into the setup, and can serve well with a 7850 for sure. I built a 945 stock 6GB DDR2-800 w/6770 1GB for free for a friend, and it played BF3 like a boss at 1600x900.

 

[Arkaign]

Also agree that $40-$55ish is about what you want to pay though. It's that $100 number that has some people scratching their heads.

Even so, a PhII + 7850 will game infinitely better than dumb garbage like the A10-6800K. And that's a $150+ CPU.

 

[Arkaign]

Another cheap middle ground option for peanuts :

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2335713&highlight=phenom

$35 shipped PhII X3 720

 

[DDRGamer]

Another cheap middle ground option for peanuts :

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2335713&highlight=phenom

$35 shipped PhII X3 720

I'd love to pick that or his 965, but he won't ship north of Washington.

I'm close to the Border - I may see if they're just willing to ship it to those cross border PO Boxes.

I've definitely done my share of system migrations, and I'd be willing to take the $50 if it means I just have to do a CPU switch.

On a side note, I've been an AMD user for so long that unless it's a locked choice (iMacs and MacBooks for family), i don't mind the performance differences (it's even easier when AMD has better mid-low range options)

 

[aigomorla]

OP then do that..

do a light / inexpensive cpu switch until u can afford a better package.

Dont settle for the lesser package now, when u can get what u want later and actually see a drastic improvement.

If this was a notebook, id say get cheaper, replace and rebuy every 2 yrs.... however on a desktop which is completely customizable,
you shouldnt replace the core until you realize u've actually outgrown the core.

Core = Motherboard -> cuz this also spells a OS reinstall.

 

[engaya]

I have this configuration, here my results with various games

https://www.youtube.com/user/engayafps