Phenom 9600 BE, 5000 BE, 6400 BE, or move to Intel

I will be buying a new amd CPU. I don't mind the price of any of them. I wouldn't mind overclocking. If I overclocked each of them to the max, which would be best for gaming? Which should I buy? I play crysis soo.. I would be buying in May.

I'd wait till April and the first B3 steppings of the Phenom's if you want a quad core. If you need it right now, then get one of the better X2's with a 770 or 790 motherboard with DDR2 1066 memory so you can benefit from an upgrade to Phenom. You won't get the full benefit of 1066 with an Athlon X2, but you won't have to buy new RAM when you do go Phenom.

45nm Phenom's arriving 3rd quarter 2008 are reported to be clocked at 3.2 (quite a speed bump). Triple and dual core's based on the Phenom are arriving in April, but some will be B2 and others B3 steppings. The B2 have the TLB errata, which mostly affects those who virtualize. You can tell a B3 from a B2 by designations like 9650 vs. 9600 for the B2's. The Triple cores will be 8xxx series, and the dual's 7xxx.

In my personal experiences, don't expect much (if any) OC out of a Phenom 9600BE. There is also that rumor (a thread I myself started) about some of them shipping with bunked 3rd cores.

Personaly I'd go for the 6400BE, having owned one it is an awesome chip for a dual core. Yeah it runs hot, and yeah it drains some juice... you'd need a zalman to go with it if you got it, but the 5000+BE doesn't come with a HSF either.

yep... highest i've sen for a phenom 9600BE is 2.7ghz . shame, considering it's a BE, but still...

I went from a 5000BE @ 3.2ghz to a Phenom BE @ 2.6ghz

If you primarily use your computer for games, go with the 5000BE @ 3.2. It runs way cooler than the phenom, and performs better in single threaded apps like games.

For a very noticeable gain in multitasking, video/audio encoding, file compression, etc. performance, and a slightly noticeable decrease in gaming performance, go with the Phenom BE @ 2.6ghz.

Hope that helps.

Obligatory Intel statement: Of course you'd be better off with a Q6600, but I'm sure you knew that.

I'd be buying in may. I play crysis.

My advice, if you must buy now, is switch to Intel if you have no social or legal gripes against the company. If you really want AMD, then wait for 45nm Phenom and then decide. Personally, I think your current CPU is just fine, but if you need the performance now, then an Intel motherboard that can accept a nice 45nm quad down the line is a good idea.

Never buy anything at the end of it's lifecycle, unless you have to go budget (ie don't get a Q6600).

Never be the first to buy untested tech unless you thrive on the risks of early adoption (ie B2 Phenom).

I think you are in a good place with that 5600 to just wait awhile and see how things pan out. If Intel gets off there arses and produces somthing new like they said they would you could go Nahelem end of this yr or early next. I think you should be ok until then.

If you just cant wait and want more performance, just upgrade the video card with one of the Big time cards coming out in a few months. That should help tide you over until the Big Guns come out (amd next gen and Intel next gen)