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couple of AMD questions

almoststew1990

almoststew1990

almoststew1990

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Joined
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Southampton
I am building a second hand computer on the cheap, and was wondering which processor is best (or put them in order of gaming performance). My motherboard can unlock the cores.

Athlon II X2 260 @3.2 GHz
Athlon II X3 435 @2.9
Athlon II X4 @ 3
Phenom I x3 @2.1

is there any gaming performane boost with a tri core over a dual core?
 
The only one that can be unlocked there is the 435 as far as I'm aware.
That's a deneb with locked L3 cache and a locked fourth core.

Athlon II X2 can't be unlocked, and the Athlon II X4 I can't remember if that has no L3 cache (So no chance of unlocking it)

The Phenom I x3 isn't worth getting since it's a previous generation Phenom and at a very low clock.

The best CPU out of the 4 you have is the Athlon II X4 @ 3GHZ

I'd aim at getting a second hand Phenom II X2 BE which has been proven to unlock, that'll be your bang for buck CPU.
 
What is unlocking? I am a bit confused because I thought that unlocking meant unlocking the deactivated cores, but I can't unlock a phenom II x4 because all the cores are unlocked? Or is unlocking something else too?
 
I'm confused by your post, carefully read what I've put.
You do indeed unlock the deactivated cores.
However, in some CPU's you unlock the deactivated L3 cache (This is some Athlon II CPU's only).

Not sure why you're saying unlocking Phenom II's X4 when there isn't a Phenom II X4 (Or even a phenom II in your OP.

The unlocking Phenom II's are Phenom II X3, Phenom II X2 and also the 960T.

There is also an AM2+ Athlon X2 that I believe unlocked to a fully fledged Deneb (What you'd call a Phenom II X4) core (AM2+ one) Although I can't for the life of me remember the name
 
You can tweak the Athlon II x4 to run very close to Phenom II performance. The cache doesn't make a huge difference to gaming if you overclock the CPU-NB and run with tight memory timings. I was pushing 7-7-7-20 @ 1333 with 2400 CPU-NB at 3.4GHz on my athlon II x4 635 and it was at most 5% slower than a stock 3.4GHz PII. It's quite surprising how effective CPU-NB tweaking is for increasing performance on AMD chips.

If you have a C3 athlon II you should be able to clock it at close to 4GHz
 
the motherboard is a ASROCK 760GM-GS3.

Sorry Martini, I get what you're saying now, I got my x4 and x3 confused.

Sadly Phenom IIs are out of my price range, otherwise that is what I would be going for.

In the end I got an AMD Athlon II X4 651K Black Edition @3GHz for £40 used. The BE means it has its multiplier unlocked, is that correct?
 
There is a number of Athlon II X2 based on the deneb core and some do unlock to a full functional Phenom II X4. Mine unlocked to a Phenom II FX5000 which i still have.

Athlon II X2 5000 and 5200 are an example.
 
Phatzy said:
There is a number of Athlon II X2 based on the deneb core and some do unlock to a full functional Phenom II X4. Mine unlocked to a Phenom II FX5000 which i still have.

Athlon II X2 5000 and 5200 are an example.
Click to expand...

They're not Athlon II's.
They're Athlon X2's, as I noted in my post.
 
almoststew1990 said:
the motherboard is a ASROCK 760GM-GS3.

Sorry Martini, I get what you're saying now, I got my x4 and x3 confused.

Sadly Phenom IIs are out of my price range, otherwise that is what I would be going for.

In the end I got an AMD Athlon II X4 651K Black Edition @3GHz for £40 used. The BE means it has its multiplier unlocked, is that correct?
Click to expand...

Umm why did you do that? The 760GM-GS3 is an AM3 motherboard and you just bought a socket FM1 processor. IE the CPU will not physically fit into your motherboard
 
Im actually amazed no one on this forums has told you to throw the AMD parts away and get sandy or ivy or pine or oak or what ever they are calling it these days, quite refreshing :p
 
DF1986 said:
Im actually amazed no one on this forums has told you to throw the AMD parts away and get sandy or ivy or pine or oak or what ever they are calling it these days, quite refreshing :p
Click to expand...

There is still time for them to come in shouting. Anyway indeed refreshing atlease.
 
DF1986 said:
Im actually amazed no one on this forums has told you to throw the AMD parts away and get sandy or ivy or pine or oak or what ever they are calling it these days, quite refreshing :p
Click to expand...

Is there any need?
This forum isn't anti-AMD or pro-Intel, it's time people started getting that into their heads.
 
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