Quick question on salvaging a gaming rig

[Thor_Odinson]

My cousin said he "overused and fried" his Phenom II (I believe it was the 3.5ghz one) and went ahead and bought replacements. Anyway, he bought 2 alternative choices, much to my dismay... as I would have preferred an Intel mobo/cpu overhaul, since he had the spending power. Yup, he bought 2 because he said they were cheap. Anyway, to cut this short, I am left with two downgrades and I don't know what to install:

Athlon II X3 460 (3.4 ghz) and an Athlon FX 4100 (3.6 ghz). Both are obvious downgrades, but it is too late and too far for a refund. I've been an AMD-person all my life, so I'm familiar with the X3, but I know next to nothing about the FX. I've skipped the whole bulldozer line as I've read only nasty reviews about it. The only glancing knowledge I possess is that it only has 2 cores and that it is made to function as if it had 4.

So, with these in mind, I still don't know which is the faster CPU. Common sense points to the 3.6, but I don't know how the architecture functions in a gaming sense. Also, how is the power consumption and temp rating. After his accident, my cousin now wants the one that is less-prone to overheating even on a stock cooler. Finally, this will be paired with an AM3+ Gigabyte mobo, 4 gb DD3, and a GTX 560 vanilla.

Thanks!

 

[daveybrat]

Both the X3 and the FX are 95Watt TDP parts. The FX chip actually comes with a bigger and nicer heatsink/fan.

Also the FX has 8MB of L3 cache memory whereas the Athlon II X3 has no L3 cache.

Definitely the FX 4100 over the X3.

 

[Thor_Odinson]

Thanks! Although I'd probably end up convincing him to get an aftermarket cooler.. So, despite being a bulldozer, I wouldn't need a reinstall/update of the mobo chipset drivers or bios, right?

The mobo is an 880gm-d2h. Saw that it was a revision 4.0 and that the bios was an f3 (used CPUZ and read the post). According to the supported cpu chart, f3 was the one listed.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

If should work (bulldozer) if not, pop in the x3 and update BIOS

 

[frozentundra123456]

My cousin said he "overused and fried" his Phenom II (I believe it was the 3.5ghz one) and went ahead and bought replacements. Anyway, he bought 2 alternative choices, much to my dismay... as I would have preferred an Intel mobo/cpu overhaul, since he had the spending power. Yup, he bought 2 because he said they were cheap. Anyway, to cut this short, I am left with two downgrades and I don't know what to install:

Athlon II X3 460 (3.4 ghz) and an Athlon FX 4100 (3.6 ghz). Both are obvious downgrades, but it is too late and too far for a refund. I've been an AMD-person all my life, so I'm familiar with the X3, but I know next to nothing about the FX. I've skipped the whole bulldozer line as I've read only nasty reviews about it. The only glancing knowledge I possess is that it only has 2 cores and that it is made to function as if it had 4.

So, with these in mind, I still don't know which is the faster CPU. Common sense points to the 3.6, but I don't know how the architecture functions in a gaming sense. Also, how is the power consumption and temp rating. After his accident, my cousin now wants the one that is less-prone to overheating even on a stock cooler. Finally, this will be paired with an AM3+ Gigabyte mobo, 4 gb DD3, and a GTX 560 vanilla.

Thanks!

Yea, unfortunately neither of these is a great gaming cpu, but I would definitely go with the FX. I believe the 4100 is the first BD realease as well. Gaming improved considerably on the 4300, 6300, etc Vishera update.

If you dont mind using (relatively) a lot of power and your mb supports it, you could try to overclock the FX, but if he is really paranoid about overheating, that might not be a good idea. I think the FX4100 should be able to match up with a GTX 560 fairly well though. If you were using a really high end graphics card the CPU would limit you, but with a GT560 I would think you should be OK.

 

[Thor_Odinson]

If should work (bulldozer) if not, pop in the x3 and update BIOS

The x3 is already in there for now, since I needed it to check the bios version. Should I go ahead and update the bios before installing (don't want to have to switch back and forth)?

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4000#bios

This is the version it's currently on:
F3
1.08 MB
2011/09/26
1.Fixed EFI CD boot issue

FX4100 was released in Oct, I think, so I don't know if there is a new microcode. Also, I've read that Steam users complained about BSODs with bulldozers until they upgraded to CPU AGESA 1.1.0.2, which is the next bios version of the mobo (F4, 2/22/12).
http://scalibq.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/amd-bulldozer-can-it-get-even-worse/
I don't know if I should leave it as is or if I should just take a precaution and go ahead with the upgrade. Not sure whether it's a problem with the bios itself, the game, or the OS (Win 7, not sure about Vista/XP ... http://www.techpowerup.com/158534/New-Windows-7-Bulldozer-Patches-Available..html). Also, I'm just leery about flashing the bios and making things worse. Speaking of flashing, any recommendations for the best method? There seems to be no q-flash menu in the bios now, so I'll need to find another way.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

You don't need to update bios

I just checked and the FX 4100 is supported with the F3 bios.

it should be plug and play!

 

[2is]

If that X3 can be unlocked, it may be the better choice even without L3. I'd attempt an unlock and if successful, run some benches on both CPUs and decide which is better suited for him.