Phenom II 920 vs 940

[ubernoob]

So I'm upgrading on a budget, and it looks to me like the best bang for buck out there comes down to these two CPUs. Here's my question:

I've read that the 940 Black Editions offer the most flexibility for overclocking. But I've always been too frightened to overclock (my fears tend to revolve around overheating and power supply issues). I've also heard that even if I wanted to, the 920 can also be overclocked fairly easily.

So is the only real difference between the two 0.2 Ghz of clockspeed? Or is there something else I'm missing?

It seems to me, upgrading from an Athlon 64 3000+ (remember back in the day of single-core processors?) that either chip will appear to be flying through the air on wings of heavenly light by comparison.

I'm leaning in the direction of saving a few bucks and getting the 920 unless someone can convince me I'm being a fool.

Am I missing some part of the argument?

 

[mi1ez]

If you currently have an Athlon 64 single core, have you checked a phenom II is compatible with your mobo?

 

[Helloworld_98]

the 940 is unlocked so it can overclock further, easier.

but if your not overclocking the 920 is fine, but as mi1ez said, check your mobo isn't HT 1.0 and can support it.

 

[ubernoob]

If I introduced my motherboard to a Phenom II it would probably wet itself with panic. I'll be upgrading the motherboard as well.

 

[mi1ez]

lol. good stuff.

if you're mainly going to be gaming it may be worth saving the money and putting more into RAM or GPU.

 

[ubernoob]

The extent of my gaming generally consists of WoW (yeah, I'm one of those). I don't need to run Crysis at max settings or anything like that.

I'll even be keeping my GeForce 7950 GT for a while longer. And I'll be getting some DDR2 RAM, either 800Mhz or 1066Mhz, still not sure on that one. The ASUS M4N72-E I'm looking at supports 1066 up to 4 GB, but will drop to 800 if I expand past that one day. So I'm thinking it may not be worthwhile to go beyond 800 Mhz from the get go. I've heard the actual performance differences are minimal.

 

[ubernoob]

Here's something I've stumbled upon. I often see the term "Deneb" applied to the 940 but NOT the 920. I thought they both were more or less the same except for clockspeed and whether or not they're unlocked for overclocking.

 

[mi1ez]

they are based on the same architecture, yes.

 

[lashton]

to play crysis on max settings you are going to need a very good Video card, something like 4850 1GB or higer or a GTX285 1GB or higher

 

[ubernoob]

I have no intention of playing Crysis at all.

 

[rooseveltdon]

yeah i think you will be fine with the 920 the whole point of the 940 and other BE cpu's is to overclock if you are going to play at stock then you will be better off with the 920 moreover you can still over clock it too just not as much as a 940 and considering your needs i seriously doubt you will ever need to push your cpu that far....and just use the money u save on a good gpu or ram

 

[cal8949]

i just bought a 940 tonight with a $20 promo from newegg bring the price to $170. $5 more then the 920
promo code: AMD41420 i think it expires tonight tho 4/16

i saw it a zipzoomfly for $168 with free shipping http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10009843

i say go for the 940