E6550 or AM2 5000+ Black Edition?

Which should I build my PC around?

I've heard that the am2 oc's really well, but if i go for the c2d i can buy an mb that will take quads for future upgrades...

Pro's and con's for each option?

Thanks a lot.

C2D o/c's better. 5000+ black o/c's better than other AM2 chips in the similiar price range.

That's true. You can get an Abit IP35-E for 80 bucks & drop in a Q6600. The Phenom x4 will be AM2+. The true AM2+ board will cost more than 200 bucks (out next week; RD790). Some boards can support AM2+ with bios updates, but it's not true AM2+ (hypertransport 3.0 & some more features).

The other thing is overclocking: on s775, you might be able to get a stable o/c by adjusting the FSB. Say 400FSB x 8 = 3ghz; on AM2, you might get lucky with upping only the cpu mulitplier. Say 13 (x200 = 2.6ghz for 5000+ black) to 15 x 200 = 3ghz on stock volts.

If you take a look at the C2D/C2Q & AM2 overclocking guides here, you will see there are more steps involved in the latter.

To o/c C2D/C2Q, disable energy-saving/throttling features, lock down pci-e to 100mhz, adjust FSB/multiplier/ratio/voltages, run stability tests.

To o/c AM2, disable energy-saving/throttling features, lock down pci-e to 100mhz, then there are 3 more major steps to find the max stable HTT, CPU & RAM speeds with stability tests for each step, & afterwards, put the compromised overall speed settings in bios then stability tests again.

When are Penryn's and Phenoms due to be released?

Are they likely to force down the prices of the other cpu's?

So, will the phenoms run on an am2 board, or will it have to be am2+ ?

To answer the question depending on the motherboard u get... The 5000 Have alot of potential for and 120$ CPU but OC can be alot of hassle for people...you need to be an enthusiast to really buy an unlocked CPU and enjoy tweaking...that way you have the patient of OC with out damaging the CPU.

I went for the 5000+ because I'm both an OC enthusiast and an AMD enthusiast and I wanted to see the limits of the 5000+ and I got it to 3.2 GHZ from 2.6GHZ. I would push it more but I just don't want to risk it since I have no cash to buy another 1 incase the worst happens.

*ANY* C2D, and this includes the $70 E2140, will overclock better than *ANY* X2, including the X2 5000+/6400+ Black Editions.

This is gonna upset certain people, but it's the hard truth.

If you want max performance from overclocking, C2D is the way to go.

As for the topic of E6550 vs X2 5000+ BE, the fight was over before it even began. With a decent P35 mobo the E6550 will overclock to 3.5GHz or more. Along with a 30% IPC advantage over the X2, it's the equivalent of a 4.55GHz X2.

What can an X2 5000+ BE realistically expect to clock up to? 3.3GHz perhaps?

The choice is clear.

Just managed to answer my own question...

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/inte [...] 980-5.html

S775 will remain until the end of next year. During that time, you can upgrade to the 45nm 'Penryn' CPUs if you wish.