Hi guys, i need help. My buddy is gonna build an AMD system PC. He asked me to build it, with total $1,2k. He want an AMD X2 with the latest, best  ATI Radeon graphic card (i.e HD 3870). I told him that would be best to use a Phenom core for best investment. but he is still want an X2 processor, for best gaming. And i told him,
"I'll ask Toms Hardware for info, who is the best between those 2 processors"

So... may ask you guys about that, and also any other hardware minus the HDD. Thank's for the help, you  are the best.

Real tough answer r35. I have 5000+ (2.6GHz) BE X2 on 8800GT and Phenom 9600 BE (2.3GHz) on 3870. At stock the Phenom system is faster at 10430 3DMarks compared to X2 9120. However the X2 OC's straight out to 3.0+ GHz and passes the phenom system.  
 
I can get 2.5GHz out of the 9600 and not a drop more which gets me past 11k but the X2 at 3.0 is still quicker. It's a close run thing though. Core for core Phenom is faster, but the X2 is no slouch. So if you choose Phenom over X2 make sure its the 9850 BE model without TLB errata as I have read this one is more OC friendly, but can't verify that for you.

There is no reason to wait. If you bed the platform down on a good 790FX mobo the X2 5000+ BE is so cheap that to upgrade in 12 months time to a 4000+ series is a non issue and in the mean time it will do all that's required and then some. The 3870 X2 could be worth looking at if you want beef the graphics up a bit. Its expensive, but not outrageous and could be sneaked into a 1200.00 budget, but watch that PSU though.

Well, to be honest he'll get better gaming performance with an Intel system on that budget, but assuming he is set on AMD then a faster X2 will probably be better.  Check the CPU and graphics card charts, and read Cleeve's thread "The Best Gaming Video Cards for the Money," or its companion article that comes out each month.
As for the PSU, choose one from tier-3 or better from the list at http://www.tomswiki.com/page/Tiere [...] gs?t=anon.
If he wants Crossfire, then he probably needs 600W-700W, otherwise 500W should be enough.
http://www.extreme.outervision.com [...] orlite.jsp is a PSU calculator.
 

do your friend sa favour and buy him a intel sytem, seriously. for that mcuh you could get a q9300 + 4Gb RAM, + 8800 + every thing else you need(or at least in the UK with £600)  
 
if your friend is still being stubborn, tell him he can biuld it him self.
 
failing that he is right to get the X2 over phemo, but that just shows how much of a joke AMD is right now.
 
the 3870 is a good card though, just like the 8800's you cant really go wrong.
 
by any chance is your friend; you?

 
I have just traded my son's mates C2D 6850, 650 Watt, 2 X 8800GT SLi 4Gb DDR2 800 RAM, 22" wide screen monitor and 3.1 surround system, for less than part costs because he preferred a the PS3 play station he just purchased for playing games. You might notice it isn't sitting my computer desk either.
 
I'd suggest OP might stick to instructions.

Past games, go dual.  Some Current/Most Future games, go quad.
 
If I was building a system right now I would put a quad into it.  If he's a die hard AMD fan, then a B3 Phenom is the way to go.
 
 
If he's willing to look at other brands, then of course Intel has some very good offerings he may want to consider.  Many of which can go faster than AMD's offerings.  However, at a certain price point you can probably get comperable performance from either brand.

 
i dont get hat your saying? you traded a PS3 for a gaming PC. or what. sounds like a spoiled kid

Yup Thats rights, he is a real deal AMD's die hard since college though. All of his friends also, and they live in "AMD World Of Gaming" logo's at their front door. kinda funny i think. lol.
But anyway thanks for the tips, now i can ask him to build his own PC by himself.
And i can worry my own Q6600 system heat eliminations. lol

i dont see anything wrong with wanting to get AMD.....but wanting an x2 instead of x4 is rather idiotic....
 
what about X3.....i read x3 gives beter performanc than x2

 
It's not really that idiotic.  In single threaded apps, X2s are beating X4s.  That's the issue with K10.  Notice you don't see any dual core K10s?  Why?  Because AMD failed.
 
As of right now a K8 core is better than a K10 core.  The only things that makes K10 appealing is that you get four (or three) cores compared to two.
 
Also of note, the monolithic quad design is most likely limiting them in terms of clock speeds.  That's why you're seeing tri-cores, which are really quads with a disabled core.   That way if you've got one core that won't clock high, you just shut it off and viola, a tri core that has higher clocks than the processor would have had as a quad-core.

 
K10 cores actually perform much better than K8 cores clock for clock. Take a look at the review of the X3's that was posted here today and you will clearly see that. http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 918-9.html
The 8750 X3 @ 2.4GHz handily beats the 4800 X2 @ 2.4GHz in every benchmark including the ones where only 1 or 2 threads are used. It also is only slightly behind the 6000 X2 @ 3.0GHz in those same benchmarks despite being clocked 600MHz slower.
 
The lack of dual core K10 chips is not a failure by AMD, but rather the reality of the fact that the company has limited resources. The fact of the matter is that the market for quad core processors is growing while the market for dual cores is shrinking. At this point in time it simply makes more business sense for AMD to invest it's resources in developing quad core parts rather than dual cores.

 
I second that. Wait 30 days for a 4870. That should be as fast as a 3870x2 without bothering with internal Crossfire. A 4870x2 will be even better, but it won't launch at the same time.
 
I'd go Phenom 9850BE on a board that supports it (check the board's CPU support list!) if he wants AMD with more staying power. If he wants to switch to Deneb later this year, then go with the fastest X2 he can afford to hold him over till December.
 

 
 
The 4xxx series amdfangirl refers to is due to arrive in May, and is a replacement for the 3850, 3870 and 3870x2. It's not a CPU. I agree that if he wants to go Deneb in December, then an X2 5000+BE is a good idea, but if he wants long term without upgrading the CPU, a Phenom 9850BE is a better choice.