Quad core or dual core

[imported_tornado]

Right now at Newegg they are selling the 9600 Phenom Quad Core at the same price
as the Athon X2 6400+ CPU, $119. Which one do you suggest? I do moderate gaming,
a lof of internet use, listening to music and watching movies.

thanks!

 

[Markfw]

What motherboard do you have now ?

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Originally posted by: tornado
Right now at Newegg they are selling the 9600 Phenom Quad Core at the same price
as the Athon X2 6400+ CPU, $119. Which one do you suggest? I do moderate gaming,
a lof of internet use, listening to music and watching movies.

thanks!

Phenom 9600? With the TLB bug, heat, etc...? Yuck.

Best value would be to get the X2 5400+ Black Edition and overclock it. Since you are looking at that X2 6400+ for $119, I'm assuming you have/plan to buy a separate HSF.

If you don't want to overclock, there's the X2 6000+ with HSF for $92. Probably just as good of a value as the X2 5400+ Black Edition.

 

[Gillbot]

Seriously, can't people search for this? A thread a week on this EXACT topic at least.

 

[Markfw]

Actually, I was wondering why he was going AMD. If he needs to upgrade the motherboard also (hence my question above) then AMD is the only way to go.

 

[Gillbot]

Originally posted by: Markfw900
Actually, I was wondering why he was going AMD. If he needs to upgrade the motherboard also (hence my question above) then AMD is the only way to go.

I understand, but the whole dual/quad debate applies to either AMD or Intel when it comes to core utilization in software.

 

[Drsignguy]

Someone should write up a Dual OR Quad thread and sticky it. "A must read for your needs" thing...... It is getting rather old.....

 

[DSF]

Originally posted by: Drsignguy
Someone should write up a Dual OR Quad thread and sticky it. "A must read for your needs" thing...... It is getting rather old.....

That worked so well with the Speedstep sticky.

 

[Drsignguy]

Originally posted by: DSF

Originally posted by: Drsignguy
Someone should write up a Dual OR Quad thread and sticky it. "A must read for your needs" thing...... It is getting rather old.....

That worked so well with the Speedstep sticky.

Good Piont.....

 

[Markfw]

Actually, those have dropped a lot, but the quad vs dual has so many variants, its harder to address globally.

If someone wants to take a shot at it, I will sticky it, if it looks good !

 

[Gillbot]

Originally posted by: Markfw900
Actually, those have dropped a lot, but the quad vs dual has so many variants, its harder to address globally.

If someone wants to take a shot at it, I will sticky it, if it looks good !

There are a lot of variables yes, but the general rules remain the same. The user needs to determine their software usage and see if it will actually utilize 1, 2 or even 4 cores. Many people automatically buy a quad core assuming it's "better", then they only use it for solitaire, internet and email.

Markfw900
CPUs and Overclocking Moderator

Looks like a great person to write a sticky to me!

 

[imported_tornado]

No, no mainboard yet (Socket 939 board failed recently - Even though MB failed, X2
AMD 4800+CPU survived.) I decided to upgrade mainboard/CPU/memory because I have not touched my system for a long time and prices are very good - also wanted to be able to switch over to Windows Vista eventually and figured my 4800+ would not be enough.


I know the X2 6400 needs a quality aftermarket heatsink/fan. Do you know if all of the quad core Phenoms have heatsink/fans from the factory? And, is the 9600 the only one that is problematic, or have you heard bad things about the other Phenom X4's.



Below was quoted by a Newegg customer very recently:



"Other Thoughts: I don't think the processor is bad, but the woman I spoke with at amd (after dodging my question of is there any known compatability issues between the 9600 be phenom and windows vista 64 bit?) she finally fessed up and said they are quietly telling their customers "if they have the opportunity to return the processor, do it and wait for the new ones to come out with the bug fixes and compatability issues fixed"


John

 

[Gillbot]

Originally posted by: tornado
No, no mainboard yet (Socket 939 board failed recently - Even though MB failed, X2
AMD 4800+CPU survived.) I decided to upgrade mainboard/CPU/memory because I have not touched my system for a long time and prices are very good - also wanted to be able to switch over to Windows Vista eventually and figured my 4800+ would not be enough.


I know the X2 6400 needs a quality aftermarket heatsink/fan. Do you know if all of the quad core Phenoms have heatsink/fans from the factory? And, is the 9600 the only one that is problematic, or have you heard bad things about the other Phenom X4's.



Below was quoted by a Newegg customer very recently:



"Other Thoughts: I don't think the processor is bad, but the woman I spoke with at amd (after dodging my question of is there any known compatability issues between the 9600 be phenom and windows vista 64 bit?) she finally fessed up and said they are quietly telling their customers "if they have the opportunity to return the processor, do it and wait for the new ones to come out with the bug fixes and compatability issues fixed"


John

Don't trust newegg reviews, many times you don't even need to have purchased the item for the review to be posted on there.

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: tornado
No, no mainboard yet (Socket 939 board failed recently - Even though MB failed, X2
AMD 4800+CPU survived.) I decided to upgrade mainboard/CPU/memory because I have not touched my system for a long time and prices are very good - also wanted to be able to switch over to Windows Vista eventually and figured my 4800+ would not be enough.


I know the X2 6400 needs a quality aftermarket heatsink/fan. Do you know if all of the quad core Phenoms have heatsink/fans from the factory? And, is the 9600 the only one that is problematic, or have you heard bad things about the other Phenom X4's.



Below was quoted by a Newegg customer very recently:



"Other Thoughts: I don't think the processor is bad, but the woman I spoke with at amd (after dodging my question of is there any known compatability issues between the 9600 be phenom and windows vista 64 bit?) she finally fessed up and said they are quietly telling their customers "if they have the opportunity to return the processor, do it and wait for the new ones to come out with the bug fixes and compatability issues fixed"


John

OK< You need a motherboard and cpu and ram, and you game. There are a FEW games that use a quad core, otherwise duals. What games do you play ?

Also, I would count out AMD at this time, as the C2D's are better. An Intel E7200 is $2 less than the ones you suggest, and they OC to ~3.6 pretty easy, and blow away the X2@3.2 easy. Unless you play games that are quad enabled, then I suggest that is a great ship.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: tornado
And, is the 9600 the only one that is problematic, or have you heard bad things about the other Phenom X4's.

All of the Phenom 9x00's have the TLB "bug". None of the Phenom 9x50's have it. And it seems that the 9x50's have a few more fixes, but I can't remember what they are. The TLB bug was the biggest one, and the people who bought the 9x00's swore they never encountered any problems with it. Here's an entire article about the TLB errata.

 

[Markfw]

OK, You guys talked me into it. I have made a stickied thread. Please add anything I missed as a comment post in reply.

Highly desired: List of multi-threaded software, I don't have it all memorized.

 

[Drsignguy]

Originally posted by: Markfw900
OK, You guys talked me into it. I have made a stickied thread. Please add anything I missed as a comment post in reply.

Highly desired: List of multi-threaded software, I don't have it all memorized.

Nice job Mark.....

Thanks !!!
Markfw900

 

[GeezerMan]

Not that I'm telling you to keep your socket 939 4800+ X2, but it can run Vista just fine. It makes sense to upgrade.

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Originally posted by: tornado
Below was quoted by a Newegg customer very recently:



"Other Thoughts: I don't think the processor is bad, but the woman I spoke with at amd (after dodging my question of is there any known compatability issues between the 9600 be phenom and windows vista 64 bit?) she finally fessed up and said they are quietly telling their customers "if they have the opportunity to return the processor, do it and wait for the new ones to come out with the bug fixes and compatability issues fixed"


John

Here's the thing: the Phenom 9600 is a leftover. It's been discontinued for months now. All the current Phenoms - the ones whose model #'s end in "50" do not have the TLB bug, as myocardia pointed out.

The X2 4800+ will run Vista just fine.

Either get a new mobo for the X2 4800+, or go Core 2. I say this as someone who is currently running 2 AMD-based systems. Unless you're an AMD fanboy or are getting something for free, there's no good reason to go AMD at the current time.

 

[SlowSpyder]

I have a Phenom and really like it. There isn't a game that it can't play without any problems. I'd go with a Phenom over an A64 as they do seem to have an IPC advantage over the A64's. They're cheap enough now that they're probably a better value then the A64's. I have a 9850, it came with a heatsink/fan. I don't know how likely you are to run into problems with a 9600, the tlb bug fix kills performance.