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Which CPU?

italianstallion

italianstallion

italianstallion

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Joined
5 Nov 2010
Posts
47
Basically need a bunch of advice about which cpu would be best suited. Ive pretty much decided i want an AMD because of the bang for buck. I want to spend about £80 on the processor, motherboard im pretty much set on. I NOT going to use it for gaming, simply running a bunch of programs. but it needs to be snappy and i want it to load and run stuff quickly, mainly because i cant be bothered waiting for the computer to do something. I want something that is fast now and will be for a while until im forced to overclock to squeeze more juice out of it.

Im trying to decide which out of the following is better:

So far im favoured towards an Athlon II x4 640. Purely because it has 4 cores and 3ghz and is a good price for the power. Overclocks quite well and will last a while, or at least until a new OS and applications comes out that maxes out all 4 cores.

However ive been looking at others like a Phenom II x2 560BE, 3.3ghz and loads of cache. However is the cache size difference going to make much of a difference between this and the athlon 640? does the whole less cores more power theory work better than more cores and a bit less power?

Less powerful tri cores are also a good option, ive read lots of good stuff about the Phenom 2 x3 720BE but cant seem to find many of them about. Still a bit expensive though.

Are there any other options about? I dont particularly want to go intel because the motherboards are just as expensive as the chip and all i can get for that price is an i3.

Im pretty much set on this board:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-245-GI

Supports AM3 so if i ever want to whack in a x6 phenom i can, supports ddr3, built in graphics which is more useful to me than having to fork out loads for a decent graphics card, as well as a bunch of other nice stuff. Good strong boards for the money.
 
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Get an athlon x3 from elsewhere, get the cheaper one, x3 430 or 435, shouldn't be more than ¬58quid.

Probably the best option if you're not planning on gaming or full time encoding / editing.

x4 is a nice CPU but I don't think it's worth 50% extra for just 1 more core over x3.
Board is alrightish as well for the price.
 
if im not going to quad on an athlon then il get whatever is fastest for my 80 quid :)

If a quad is overkill, then maybe the x2 560BE is the better option?

How do they run in terms of smoothness and speed?

Im doing a computer science course at uni, first year, so i want it to handle whatever intensive programs that is going to throw at me. i MAY play the odd game or two depending on how im feeling.

Any other recommendations on a better board?
 
Get the BE 555 and unlock it into quad.
Get a tri core and unlock it into quad.

If you're going to be running intensive programs then you should go with a quad as most times their coded to take advantage of multiple threads and lots of ram. I imagine you'll probably going to have to use VM quite a lot.

Err, the l3 cache of a phenom is not better then 2 cores however, I'd still get them and unlock. Just make sure you get a 700 chipset MB as AMD made it much harder to unlock with the new 800chipset boards. If you really keen on going 800 then atleast get the gigabyte UD2H 880 instead of the one you linked as it's really ****ty.
 
my x2 550 is lovely without quad, games run lovely and so does all the copying and archiving and such :)

get one and clock it like me
 
franco_22 said:
Get the BE 555 and unlock it into quad.
Get a tri core and unlock it into quad.

If you're going to be running intensive programs then you should go with a quad as most times their coded to take advantage of multiple threads and lots of ram. I imagine you'll probably going to have to use VM quite a lot.

Err, the l3 cache of a phenom is not better then 2 cores however, I'd still get them and unlock. Just make sure you get a 700 chipset MB as AMD made it much harder to unlock with the new 800chipset boards. If you really keen on going 800 then atleast get the gigabyte UD2H 880 instead of the one you linked as it's really ****ty.
Click to expand...

why a 555 instead of a 560? surely the 560 would give a slightly better overclock? or doe sit not unlock? That mobo i linked is a 700 chipset, 760g.

the 555 and a ud2h880 comes to £130, same as a 560 and a ud2h760. which one would be a better setup then?

I DONT want to overclock it yet. Im going to use an overclock as a last resort when i have to if the processor cant keep up. Thats why i want to get something thats powerful enough to last me a few years and then think about OCing it if i cant afford to upgrade the processor at the time.

And yes i probably will be using Virtual Machine a lot, some of Photoshop, a few graphical programs like povray, and a lot of visual studio, office, and browsing. And since it will be quick enogh to play games, il probably want to play COD WaW, purely because it has Nazi zombies aha :D so factor that in aswell.
 
I said unlock not overclock :).

OcUK doesn't sell the 560 I think that's why I didn't mention it :). I'd get the UD2H just look around and make sure they can unlock CPUs, I think I read some forums saying they can but just to be sure 'd still check.
 
the board the op linked to in his first post is a fantastic little board, i had a sempron 140 unlocked and sitting at 3.5 on one and it didn't have any issues with temps or anything.
 
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franco_22 said:
I said unlock not overclock :).

OcUK doesn't sell the 560 I think that's why I didn't mention it :). I'd get the UD2H just look around and make sure they can unlock CPUs, I think I read some forums saying they can but just to be sure 'd still check.
Click to expand...

but which is better from a processing point of view? does the 555 have anything the 560 doesnt?

Yeh i have read a few reviews and some say it does and others say it doesnt :/

The board i linked to does it though. Its either spend less on a cpu and get a better mobo or more on a cpu and less on a mobo.
 
ok fair enough may aswell spend a tenner less and go for a 555.

Mobo options, the one i posted, or the 880? both have similar features, which is better for stability, overclocking features, value for money etc
 
as i said earlier i have used the one you linked to a couple of times and its a great little board that is easy to unlock and overclock on.

this unlock and overclock of a sempron 140 was on that board and i eventually got it prime stable at 3.5ghz (260 fsb)


never used the 880 so can't comment on that one though.
 
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Just get the cheap x3 for now.
Don't ask why, just trust me ;).
I probably won't be buying 555/560 atm unless you can get one 2nd hand that's confirmed to unlock.

The x3 430/435 is where the best bang for buck now is if you're buying new.
If you want to spend 80 then add 25 on top and get 955be.

Don't get fooled by the low price of the x3, its very good chip. Put ur money elsewhere like bigger monitor, ssd, gpu, good headphones or w/e.
 
and what if i wanted to start gaming? i like the look of Black Ops purely for Zombies :D would a dual phenom do alright for that? i understand id need a graphics card though because that mobo probably wouldnt keep up.
 
Had to maker a decision on a CPU over the weekend, and found an AMD Athlon II X4 630 on another website brand new delivered for £66. Thought it was worth spending the extra £8 to get a guarenteed extra core over the X3, as unlocking cores is far from guarenteed. ;)
 
I would not go down the "hope" to unlock a core route.

If it was my dosh i would be +1 on a Athlon II X4 630 for a solid everyday snappy workhorse machine. If it was low on performance if I then decided to go "heavy" gaming I would take the option that you outlined at the start - upgrade using the same MB! :) Siiiiimplessssss :)


EDIT

The X3 was discontinued at the beginning of this year so getting hold of one "new" will be harder now :)
 
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