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[Solved] Help Me Choose Please

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Best answer from jennyh.

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wintermint   10-14-2009 at 12:25:16 AM

I limit my choice down to:
a) Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition
b) Athlon II X4 620
I'm doing a budget build so I want the CPU to be around $100. I am wondering which CPU is better and why. Suggestion guys?

Many people opted for Athlon II x4 but they also suggested the Phenom II x2 if I'm using my PC for gaming. If I were to go with the Athlon II x4 then should I buy the 620 or 630? o.O


Message edited by wintermint on 10-14-2009 at 03:07:12 AM
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Best answer from jennyh

4745454b wrote :

You can always overclock, you can't always unlock cores. I personally would rather have the quad and hit the PhII's 550 frequency. If you buy the PhII 550, you might not be able to unlock the cores.



You can't always overclock.

In gaming terms, a 550 BE will still be better than an x4 620 even at the same clocks.

There is no 'best' here, only best depending on what the user needs.

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loneninja   10-14-2009 at 12:36:57 AM

What do you plan to use the computer for? Personally for me the 620 is better but thats because I make use of 4 cores regularely with software like 3ds max, however if your a gamer your going to want the 550.

Reply to loneninja
jennyh   10-14-2009 at 12:38:15 AM

I would suggest you get the 550 and a 785G mobo, giving you a chance at unlocking the other two cores. (From a gamer perspective)


Message edited by jennyh on 10-14-2009 at 12:38:35 AM
------------------------------ AMD to make $1.5bn profit Q4, *gauranteed*
 Reply to jennyh
4745454b   10-14-2009 at 01:44:36 AM

You can always overclock, you can't always unlock cores. I personally would rather have the quad and hit the PhII's 550 frequency. If you buy the PhII 550, you might not be able to unlock the cores.

Message quoted 1 times
------------------------------ The voice of REASON
Do NOT feed the TROLLS!
Always a DEMON!
 Reply to 4745454b
rolli59   10-14-2009 at 02:50:18 AM

Go for the x4 unless it is only for gaming overclock ability of the 550 is useful there.

Reply to rolli59
wintermint   10-14-2009 at 03:07:51 AM

Hm If I do buy the Athlon II x4.. then which one do I pick? 620 or 630 :)

Reply to wintermint
warmon6   10-14-2009 at 03:24:54 AM

i say 620. if you want the 630 Ghz then all you have to do is some minor overclocking.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103706

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103704


Message edited by warmon6 on 10-14-2009 at 03:26:41 AM
------------------------------ I blow up your reality and make my own. :gun:
 Reply to warmon6
jennyh   10-14-2009 at 03:31:13 AM
Best answer

4745454b wrote :

You can always overclock, you can't always unlock cores. I personally would rather have the quad and hit the PhII's 550 frequency. If you buy the PhII 550, you might not be able to unlock the cores.



You can't always overclock.

In gaming terms, a 550 BE will still be better than an x4 620 even at the same clocks.

There is no 'best' here, only best depending on what the user needs.

------------------------------ AMD to make $1.5bn profit Q4, *gauranteed*
 Reply to jennyh
wintermint   10-14-2009 at 04:06:47 AM

thanks :) I don't really play games (on pc) so I'm going to go with the Athlon II x4 620 because I might not be able to unlock Phenom II x2's other 2 cores ;x now all I need is to learn how to overclock..

Reply to wintermint
4745454b   10-14-2009 at 08:07:55 AM

With aftermarket boards, you can always overclock. Your odds of overclocking are a lot better then unlocking. You might not be able to overclock as far as you want, but with the current chips there is always headroom.

If your not into gaming, the x4 is better.

------------------------------ The voice of REASON
Do NOT feed the TROLLS!
Always a DEMON!
 Reply to 4745454b
fatkid35   10-14-2009 at 06:38:39 PM

why not look at the 710 triple core phenom II ? i have two and they rip! one is in the cheaper msi 785g board, it unlocks the extra core with acc and it will overclock to 3 ghz pretty reliably. got this last one at frys on sale for 49.95! with the core unlocked i got a quad phenom II with 6 mb of L3 FOR 50 BUCKS! 3d mark scores are close to my 955 BE when the 710 is overclocked and it was a fifth the price. it's a nice chip, you chould check it out!

Reply to fatkid35
k2r   10-14-2009 at 06:47:51 PM

There's a new tool that plots CPU price against performance. It might be useful to you

http://brapp.appspot.com/

Its actually pretty cool in that it allows you to compare price, performance, and power consumption all at once.
The prices are updated regularly and they have direct links out to newegg if you see something you want right then and there. (but a little comparison shopping never hurt anyone)

- k


Message edited by k2r on 10-14-2009 at 06:59:09 PM
Reply to k2r
Devastator_uk   10-14-2009 at 07:44:54 PM

Whatever you go for, ensure you get an AMD chipset since they are generally better than any others.

------------------------------ CPU: PhenomII X4 955 BE ; RAM: 8GiB
OS: BSD, Linux, Solaris & Windows (use VirtualBox)
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