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Help me decide!

WildgooseUK

WildgooseUK

WildgooseUK

Associate
Joined
17 Jan 2007
Posts
250
Location
Nottinghamshire
I'm looking to upgrade my CPU as I got a AM2+ MB with 800Mhz Memory

The two I'm interested in are as following-

AMD Athlon II X2 250 3.0G

or

AMD Phenom II X2 550 3.2G


The latter is 18 pounds more, but will I benefit??

Which would you choose, or would you recommend another CPU?

My budget is around between 60-70 pounds.
 
The 550 has :

a larger cache

an unlocked multipler which makes overclocking much easyier

Could have 1 or 2 extra cores which can be unlock with a sb 710/750

For those 3 reasons its worth the £18 more

ps have you cheaked your mobo bios for support?
 
Thanks for the reply Pwndirect.

I can get the Phenom X2 550 for 60 pounds or the Athlon II X2 250 for 40 pounds, but wasn't sure which would be best for gaming now and future.

I currently have 2GB of Ram, running on Vista 64bit with a Radeon HD4670 512MB Graphics card.

Am looking to get another 2GB of ram, but am happy with current GC as it's only running on a monitor with an 1280/1024 resolution.
 
WildgooseUK said:
Yes I have,it's a Biostar MCP6P M2+ 6.X mb and supports AMD CPU's upto Phenom II X4 x945
Click to expand...

you flashed the bios yet?

& yes another 2gb would be idea but i would advise you just to buy a 2x2 gb & sell your old ones rather than another 2x1gb.

Also what cpu cooler do you have or are you just planning on running stock?

nvm just googled your mobo & it only has 2 dimms so yeah new 2x2gb set
 
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The Bios has already been updated and have 1x2GB of memory with 1 spare.
I would be running the CPU on stock level as i'm not too bothered about overclocking. However, I heard that the X2 550 can be overclocked to an 3.8Ghz from a stock 3.2Ghz, but depends on what MB you're using.
 
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Yurihyuga said:
the 550 can be unlocked to have 3 or 4 cores. the 550 is just made of win.
Click to expand...

I third that. I don't have one but if I were getting a budget system then this is the CPU I'd get (if buying new rather than second hand).

I looked up Athlon X2 550 in the dictionary earlier today and it said "see win".
 
Thanks for all those's who replied.:D

Despite my budget Biostar MCP2P M2+ which is compatible right upto the AMD Phenom X4 945 CPU (95W), will I be able to unlock the two remaining cores on the Phenom X2 550 to a B50 on this mb:confused:


Also, I have a ATI Radeon HD4670 512mb which is fine at the moment as it's runnning at a resolution of 1280 x 1024.

I'm looking to play all the Crysis collection, World in Conflict (which I currently have), MS Flight Sim X and hopefully Flashpoint 2:rolleyes:

Do you think I have a good chance of the playing these at a acceptable framerate with the specs I would have if I proceed with the 550 cpu:rolleyes:
 
Superewza said:
Are you sure that's the model number? No results on Google. It would have to have AAC for one thing, and a 710 or 750 SB chipset.
Click to expand...

It has a Geforce 6150SE/nForce430 chipset. I know it's not mind blowing but it does the job.

See Link
http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/content.php?S_ID=370

Also this,which lists all supported CPU's
http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-Biostar/MCP6P_M2+_6.x.html


I have a budget of £100 towards a CPU. At the moment, the Phenom X2 550 is currently my favorite. But, are there others that may be beneficial other than the 550?

Please note that my motherboard colour differs from one shown in Biostar site, also supports DDR2-1066 aswell.

It's a budget one but does the job well.

Thanks
 
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I bought the 550 found it easy witha bios update to get four cores unlocked its running at an easy 3.6ghz which makes it faster than the 955 and a lot cheaper....no brainer really unless you want to waste money :) by the way it runs games superb.
 
volrider said:
I bought the 550 found it easy witha bios update to get four cores unlocked its running at an easy 3.6ghz which makes it faster than the 955 and a lot cheaper....no brainer really unless you want to waste money :) by the way it runs games superb.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your comment Volrider.

I went ahead and ordered the Phenom 550 and should be arriving within the next few days. However, I am abit concerned that the 550 is too powerful for the ATI HD4670, which at the moment, is all I can afford.

I sure the Phenom X2 550 will be phenomenal compared to my current AMD Sempron LE1250 :D
 
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