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955BE or unlock 555BE

belial8321

belial8321

belial8321

Associate
Joined
25 Jan 2011
Posts
757
Location
Solihull, Birmingham
Hey guys, choosing -

Is it worth spending £105 on a phenom ii x4 955BE or should i just get this and unlock it - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-265-AM&tool=3

It is for my new low budget gaming rig :o

Anyone know how the x2 performs unlocked? - i am gonna unlock it then prob clock it up around 4ghz or more, saves a fair bit of money, but i heard the 955BE is quite a beast of a chip, too many decisions!
 
Also as far as unlocking success - does it matter which board i unlock it with? I am building the new rig onto an asrock n68c-s ucc board, which boasts its cpu unlocking feature, but i also have the much more expensive board in my main gaming rig, crosshair iv 890fx - should i unlock the cores in this? Do cores stay unlocked?
 
If you want a quad core then I would strongly suggest getting a chip that is sold as a quad core - the 955BE you mention is an excellent chip at a great price.

As for unlocking the CPU, its not a done deal- though it is relatively likely. Also, an unlocked X2 usually doesn't overclock as well as a stock quad core and I believe they often need more voltage to achieve the same clockspeeds.

In terms of motherboards for unlocking - you need a board that supports it (the asrock board you mention does seem to support unlocking). Unlocking cores is basically a software thing, you can't unlock the chip on one board and then transfer it to another board without needing to unlock it again on the new board.
 
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I went for the unlock, no regrets!

It's not a done deal as said, there's no garantees with the unlock same as there's no garantee with how much it will OC.
I paid £40 new for my chip (BE X 2, 100mhz slower than the one you linked) 4ghz would need at least 1.5v :eek: I haven't tried anything above 1.45v but I think it would struggle with 4ghz.
 
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The 7 series chipsets offer better chances of unlocking.

But getting a stable quad is rather rare :p

I would definitely (and did :D) just spend the extra bit on the X4 955BE.

Another option, to save more monies to go on gfx would be the X3 445. A member on here built a budget gaming rig around it and a HD5850 and maxes BF:BC2 - so it's not a bad performer :p
 
I think im gonna go for a 955BE, not gonna skimp out on the most important feature, i need a graphics card still though, i know its off topic but this is my thread :P i was thinkin - i gave my GF my old GTX260 when i got my new gaming rig, shes had it around a year, but the most intense graphic game she plays is dragon age 2 on low, she said if i need i can have it back for this rig im building and buy her a card that will still handle dragon age 2 ok, questions..

1. will the gtx 260 handle games such as, BFBC2, Amnesia, WoW, CoDBO, Dead space 2 etc?

2. what is the cheapest card i can get that could handle dragon age 2 for my gf?
 
That sounds like a good plan- the 955BE is a good chip. That said, have you already bought the motherboard? Since if you are buying new then the Sandy Bridge i3 2100 + a cheap s1155 board would cost about the same and perform better in most games.

As for dragon age 2, may I ask what resolution your GF plays at and why she is playing the game at low? as a GTX 260 should play DA2 smoothly on medium/high so long as the resolution isn't above 1080p. Is there a CPU bottleneck?

As for a new card, have you considered buying a HD 5830 for £86 for yourself at letting your GF keep the GTX 260? If you want to buy her a new card and take back the GTX 260 then the cheapest option (before gaming performance hits the floor) is the HD 5670 for £65. However, for £21 more you can get a much more powerful graphics card (HD 5830) and your GF gets to keep the GTX 260 (which is still a nice gaming card and much better than a HD 5670).
 
cmndr_andi said:
That sounds like a good plan- the 955BE is a good chip. That said, have you already bought the motherboard? Since if you are buying new then the Sandy Bridge i3 2100 + a cheap s1155 board would cost about the same and perform better in most games. - i do have a board already yea :o

As for dragon age 2, may I ask what resolution your GF plays at and why she is playing the game at low? as a GTX 260 should play DA2 smoothly on medium/high so long as the resolution isn't above 1080p. Is there a CPU bottleneck? - cpu is a bottle neck, i think its a sempron 5050e? or is it athlon? either way its a dual core at 2.6 with 2gb ram :( - the card i know is a beast for its age :P

As for a new card, have you considered buying a HD 5830 for £86 for yourself at letting your GF keep the GTX 260? If you want to buy her a new card and take back the GTX 260 then the cheapest option (before gaming performance hits the floor) is the HD 5670 for £65. However, for £21 more you can get a much more powerful graphics card (HD 5830) and your GF gets to keep the GTX 260 (which is still a nice gaming card and much better than a HD 5670).
Click to expand...
 
Is there no card, even nvidia equivalent that is around 60-70 that fits my needs? :(

I was even considering a second hand 8800gtx or something
 
belial8321 said:
Is there no card, even nvidia equivalent that is around 60-70 that fits my needs? :(

I was even considering a second hand 8800gtx or something
Click to expand...

Unfortunately not, the closest nvidia card in terms of performance is the GTX 550 which costs £114.

Even the GTS 450 for £90 is a terrible deal compared to the HD 5830 for £86.

As for using an older card, yes this would work but yet get no warranty and when they break (and they will break) you (or your GF) will be left with no GPU.

As for the older ATI that you mention with issues after 30min, that sounds very much like its on its way out. I don't think your GF would thank you too much for swapping out the GTX 260 for that :)

Here is a comparison between the performance of the GTX 260 (216 core) and a HD 5830, and here is a comparison between an 8800GT (same level as a GTX 8800) and a HD 5830.
 
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If you can't buy a HD 5830 immediately then I would suggest hunting on the bay and the MM for a £20-30 card to tide you over until you can (something like an 8800GT, 8800GTX, 8800GTS or HD 4850). This won't come with any warranty and will be a bit old - but it will be much faster than the 2900 - so your GF could still play modern games like DA2 and it won't have the issues your 2900 seems to be experiencing.
 
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