AMD Advice

paradisiac · 2 Feb 2011 at 12:55

ok, pros and cons for :
Athlon X4 645 - £86.20**
Phenom X4 955 BE - £101.82**
Phenom X4 965 BE - £119.04**
Phenom X6 1055T - £136.62**
Phenom X6 1090T BE - £161.04**

the price range is not huge, so is there any gains, other than benchmark scores, to go for the higher end ones?

**prices are from our supplier at work, have not shopped around so might be cheaper.

Hagar · 2 Feb 2011 at 13:10

I got my 1055T when upgrading because I needed a good processor and I will admit it was partly due to hype on the hex core which was fairly new.. My reason for upgrading really was more motherboard than processor.

Pros,
Well priced and it has not dropped much in retail since (~£20).
Easily overclocked 25%+ using busclock.
Runs cool with good aircooling hence less noise (undervolted 0.75V).
Good performance and stability.
Covered for future multithread apps.

Cons
Locked multiplier, (only a negative if you are chasing big overclocks).
More costly than quad core equivalent (unlocked multi).
Upgrade path will require new motherboard, same as all above.

Uriel · 2 Feb 2011 at 13:11

What will the PC be used for?

paradisiac · 2 Feb 2011 at 13:18

mainly gaming, and occasionally converting from dvd to divx or from divx to dvd. nothing too intense, but feel like my X2 250 is a bit weak.

Muel · 2 Feb 2011 at 13:38

I'd get a 1090t personally, but I like unlocked multis, they give you far more control over your overclocking.

Uriel · 2 Feb 2011 at 13:41

For gaming I'd probably get the 955 and clock it using the unlocked multiplier. They usually go as high as 965s anyway.

Very few games benefit from X6 CPUs over X4s. GTA IV is one. Far Cry 2 is another. Not a lot else where it makes a difference.

paradisiac · 2 Feb 2011 at 13:41

would i need to oc the 1090t loads though, surely stock should be pretty powerful?

Uriel · 2 Feb 2011 at 13:42

You don't really need to overclock but it would be a shame not to. Most 955s will go higher than 965 stock even without altering voltage.

paradisiac · 2 Feb 2011 at 13:44

is there any chance, that any time in the next 12-18months, games will be released with 6 core optimization?

233 · 2 Feb 2011 at 13:47

theres already a good few games that will take advantage of a hex core

f12010 for example and as previously mentioned gtaIV

google is your friend i remember seeing a list of 15 or so games that were hex core optimiesed and that was circa 3 months ago

Uriel · 2 Feb 2011 at 13:51

Yes - as mentioned there are some games that already take advantage of it.

Console ports are often optimised for more than 4 threads.

paradisiac · 2 Feb 2011 at 13:52

ooo i have F1 2010 and did find it a tad laggy maxed out, but thought that was more my gfx card, X6 might be way to go.
difference between the 1055T and 1090T worth the £25?

Uriel · 2 Feb 2011 at 14:01

If you're willing to overclock - no. You would probably get just as much headroom with either CPU.

At stock, I suppose so. Clock speed is still very important for games - more so than number of cores in many cases.

I suggest having a play with the Anandtech bench. You can see the difference between various CPUs in easily accessed benchmark results there: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU/59

paradisiac · 2 Feb 2011 at 14:04

i am happy to OC, got my 250 running at 3.6GHz before it hit a wall

but if 99% of my stuff runs ok on my current cpu, surely any of those should be as good if not better at stock?

Uriel · 2 Feb 2011 at 14:16

I think the point is you can pay less to get the same performance if overclocking.

Seems like a no-brainer to me - but then I'm running an Athlon X2 5200+ 45nm(£31)* unlocked to quad and overclocked to a little bit faster than a 965...

* Caveat emptor: They don't all do that.

paradisiac · 2 Feb 2011 at 14:19

Uriel said:
I think the point is you can pay less to get the same performance if overclocking.

Seems like a no-brainer to me - but then I'm running an Athlon X2 5200+ 45nm(£31)* unlocked to quad and overclocked to a little bit faster than a 965...

* Caveat emptor: They don't all do that.

but, if i can get a 1055T and OC it to a 1090T, or a 955 and OC to a 965, then surely i would be better getting a 1090T or 965 as that even with minimal OC would be better than the 1055T or 955 with maximum OC :confused:

LordAzathoth · 2 Feb 2011 at 14:21

I have the 1090t and I must say it is really easy to overclock to 4Ghz. Really happy with it. I bought 6 core because I don't change my Rig very often

Uriel · 2 Feb 2011 at 14:22

Maximum overclocks of the 965 and 955 are usually about the same.

I think it's the same with a 1055T and a 1090T.

If you've got a Black Edition, you only need to clock the CPU multiplier. No bus overclocking required.

paradisiac · 2 Feb 2011 at 14:24

LordAzathoth said:
I have the 1090t and I must say it is really easy to overclock to 4Ghz. Really happy with it. I bought 6 core because I don't change my Rig very often

i had a E5400 for ages, then made the jump to an i7 just after xmas last year. was happy with it for a few months, but never really had it stable, even when at stock. so i sold it to my boss and bought a ps3. then, as i always do, i missed not having a pc to play with, so i got donated a cheap motherboad, x2 250 and 6gb of ram (1 2gb stick was dead). so i built one around that, and got bored, so got a new mobo and my HD6850. now i am thinking 2x4GB sticks and a cpu and should be a pretty decent machine.

Uriel · 2 Feb 2011 at 14:26

Given that you've mentioned you have a cheap motherboard, have you checked the maximum TDP CPU it will take?

Lots of cheaper motherboards are limited to 95w or 125w, which could limit both the CPU it can take and overclocking.