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New Athlon II x4's

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  • 16-09-2009 1:55pm
    #1
    Slutmonkey57b
    Registered Users Posts: 5,560 ✭✭✭


    Quad core chips for ~€90!

    Since I've roundly ignored AMD reviews for years, what's the situation on AM2/AM3 builds?

    Will the AM3 chips get a performance hit from dropping into an AM2 board?

    On a budget level, are you still better off going for the p43/E5300 followed by a cheap upgrade to a second hand Intel Quad?

    How messy are the AMD chipsets to overclock?


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    #2
    Solitaire
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 18,377 Mod ✭✭✭✭Solitaire


    Slutmonkey57b wrote: »
    Since I've roundly ignored AMD reviews for years, what's the situation on AM2/AM3 builds?

    They're finger-lickin' good. Controls the mid-range on a value basis and vies for supremacy over the low-end with Core2. i5/i7 still control the high-end, but are largely unneccessary for us gamers ;)
    Will the AM3 chips get a performance hit from dropping into an AM2 board?

    No, although OC headroom may or may not be affected, depending on chipset age more than anything.
    On a budget level, are you still better off going for the p43/E5300 followed by a cheap upgrade to a second hand Intel Quad?

    At the low-end its a bit messy. If you have ~€100 for a CPU and no more just go straight for an X3-720BE and OC. Problem solved :P Direct comparisons are a bit unfair here as there aren't tons of cheapie Phenom2s to buy second-hand ;) As a CPU-to-CPU comparison you can drop a X2-5** into AM2/AM3 for €50-60, then upgrade to a X4-945e or similar later for under €150. Which puts Intel's chip prices into dispute - that's a 3GHz 95W quad there for under €150, not €250 :P So Intel control the second-hand market and AMD dominate the new :D
    How messy are the AMD chipsets to overclock?

    Not. Quite a few desirable models (550, 720, 940, 955, 965) are Black Edition and have unlocked multipliers, so that's a no-brainer. There are still a few that aren't though (particularly the X4-945e), but its not a worry as OCing is pretty much identical to Core2 so long as you make sure to drop the HyperTransport bus speed multiplier to keep the predicted bandwidth under the maximum. Even AMD-haters Toms have put up an article on hardware-OCing Phenom2s. Decent results eh?

    One final note: those A2 quads are really meant for HTPC apps as they lack cache and the Energy Efficient models conk out at 2.3GHz. Mind you, those are 45W TDP quads :D


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    #3
    Slutmonkey57b
    Registered Users Posts: 5,560 ✭✭✭Slutmonkey57b


    Given my current usage, a €300 upgrade for e5200/p43/4850/corsair VX and have money put aside for a Vertex still looks like the best bet. Having got stung in the whole 754/939/DDR/DDR2 debacle, I'm wary of HT/QPI chipsets and their tendency to obsolete themselves for no good reason. I was just very impressed with a no-cache AMD chip keeping pace with the q8200 in encoding tests.


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    #4
    Solitaire
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 18,377 Mod ✭✭✭✭Solitaire


    The fact that the Q8200 kinda sucks helps :P

    And AM3 is a new platform, plus the CPUs themselves are now actually worth the time and effort.

    EDIT: Sweet effing Jebus! OCing the outgoing C2-stepping X4-620 reached 3.25GHz without any additional voltage, but increasing the voltage wasn't worth it according to Anand. But TweakTown may have had the shiny new-stepping C3 X4-620 and validated at 3.9GHz! :eek:

    The question on literally everyone's lips: Which stepping and what voltage?!


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