Which CPU?

[italianstallion]

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.

 

[italianstallion]

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?

 

[italianstallion]

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.

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 so factor that in aswell.

 

[italianstallion]

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.

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.

 

[italianstallion]

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

 

[italianstallion]

the only difference between the two is, that i have read anyway, is that the 880 has better on board graphics having an HD 4200, while the 760 has HD 3000. think il go with the 760

 

[italianstallion]

and what if i wanted to start gaming? i like the look of Black Ops purely for Zombies would a dual phenom do alright for that? i understand id need a graphics card though because that mobo probably wouldnt keep up.

 

[italianstallion]

its not so much the money im worried about, i just want whatever is best for the money ive given for it and for what i want it to do

 

[italianstallion]

but will the bigger cache and better overclockability on the 555 make more of a difference than spending 70 now on the x4 630 only to have to spend more on another processor later on?