Which CPU for the best price/quality?

[spledang]

Hello, I'm looking to update my PC for black friday (day after thanksgiving for those who don't know) @frys when everything goes cheap. I am a competitive gamer, but I don't want my update to be based on that. I am transferring to CSUN or CSULA soon for film (yay). I do some editing now with Sony Vegas, After Effects, avid, etc. I have about $150-200 to spend. I wanted to know if I will see a BIG, HUGE, AMAZING, RIDICULOUS difference if i get a quad core. Meaning difference as in rendering, encoding, and all video editing aspects. This is my setup now...

System Specs
Budget: 160-200
VGA: ATI HD4830
Monitor:18 inch soyo lolololol
MB: ECS NFORCE6M-A(2.0) AM2 NVIDIA nForce 520LE ATX AMD
OS: Windows XP PRO
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ Windsor 2.8GHz Dual Core Processor
CPU Purpose: Competitive gamer + studying film for editing, screen writing, director, etc
Memory: KINGSTON 4GB 800
PSU: Rosewill 600w PSU
HD: 150gb seagate
Cooling: none i wish

(totally copy pasted this from my newegg forum account)

So yeah... here is my setup and I was wondering if getting a quad core (and most likely a mobo required for am3 since my current mobo doesn't support) would be worth it. I don't need an answer immediately, but Black Friday is next week and hoping to get some help tips on what's best to get today. I need some BANG FOR THE BUCK recommendations. Post any links, reasons, comments, pm me, or whatever. Thanks in advance to any answers given.

P.S. if you reply to this thread please have some experience with editing or at least building a comp

 

[jj463rd]

You might be able to get a lower end Athlon II X4 CPU and a AM2+ motherboard for that extremely limited $150 to $200 budget if there is a deal.Besides with an AM2+ motherboard you could use your DDR2-800 memory on it.If you went with an AM3 motherboard you would have to add in DDR3 memory which would cost an extra $70 to $100 for 4 gigs of RAM.Already I see some under $200 deals at newegg for the AMD Athlon II X4 620 Propus 2.6GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Processor and a couple of motherboards.In addition there is a deal on the faster AMD Athlon II X4 630 Propus 2.8GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Processor and a motherboard in a combo deal at newegg.
I am not sure about Fry's though but it would be likely that you could swing this.
I see that at Fry's they have some AM2+ motherboards for a pretty cheap price already.
You would have to check the manufacturer's website to see if there were BIOS updates to support those CPU's first though on selecting a motherboard.

 

[spledang]

Been doing some research of what I can find and found these 2 links

I'm going to check my local frys today and see if this is real based on price and if it is, then I'll just match this with a quad.
http://www.frys.com/product/5854653?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

This is what the combo was like LAST YEAR for black friday. If that was a year ago, I am hoping for something a bit better for similar price.
http://www.frys-electronics-ads.com/ads/2008/11/27/38333/Intel-Core-2-Quad-Quad-Core-Processor-Q8200-ECS-G31T-M-Motherboard

 

[jj463rd]

Good choice on the motherboard at a inexpensive price too.
You never know. I did get the Phenom II X4 955 BE for about $130 on a CPU/Motherboard combo deal.

 

[Wisecracker]

At stock clock the Athon II 620 Propus should be around 45% faster for Vegas encoding. A combo deal with the Asus ASUS M4A785-M AM2+ 785g matx will run you around $175 w/shipping.

I think the only way you can come close to budget with AM3/DDR3 would be the 620 with the ASRock M3A770DE AM3 770 motherboard and a single stick of Crucial 2GB DDR3 1333.

You could then sell off your current mobo/cpu/RAMs and buy another 2x2Gb kit of the Crucial (assuming you have a 64-bit OS).

 

[BadTrip]

I wouldnt put 3 sticks in a dual channel motherboard, but other that that it is a good suggestion.

 

[Wisecracker]

I wouldnt put 3 sticks in a dual channel motherboard, but other that that it is a good suggestion.

That's actually a really good point. You didn't realize you were that smart, did you? :lol:

The way to overcome the loss of dual channel 'performance' with the AMD Phenom arch is to upclock the NB/IMC. For each 10% increase in the NB/IMC speed memory bandwidth is increased 3-4% and latency is reduced 3-4%. You can see where this speed could quickly overcome the performance loss from the lack of dual channel.

This phenom-ena, I imagine, is partially due to the L3 cache operating at a lower speed than the CPU core. Cranking the NB/IMC (some folks are surpassing 3000MHz) really makes the Phenom shine.

The Athlon IIs, of course, have no L3 ---- BUT, some folks over at XS are still cranking the NB/IMC on the Athlon IIs as much as 35%.

I bumped this Athlon II OC thread over at XS to see if someone will run Everest for us and find out ....

 

[BadTrip]

Thats interesting. I did not know that.

 

[spledang]

I went to frys and they discontinued the first link i posted which was this
http://www.frys.com/product/5854653?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

They have the "deluxe version" which was priced at an amazing $120 with ddr3 ram requirement though.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131363&cm_re=m4a79t_deluxe-_-13-131-363-_-Product

As far as black friday ads go... they said its possible they leak out the day before, but no guarantee as it is kept private usually.

I found this mobo for 80bucks at frys (limited to am2+, but i believe still capable of some older phenom x4 cpus).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131323&Tpk=m3n72-d

@wisecracker Thanks for the 2 combo suggestions. I am actually thinking to getting them, but I dont like the fact that the mobo doesn't have any crossfire/sli possibilities. Although, my video card looks to be discontinued on newegg and isn't even being sold anymore. So at this point, I guess I'm fine with single gpu mobos, but would prefer 2 for future preferences.

If i get an AM3 mobo, then my 2 choices are between these 2.

AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz 3 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Black Processor (ONE less CORE)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103649&cm_re=Phenom_II_X3_720.-_-19-103-649-_-Product

or like previously stated

AMD Athlon II X4 630 Propus 2.8GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Processor (NO L3 CACHE)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103704&cm_re=athlon_ii_x4-_-19-103-704-_-Product

Thanks for everyone who has replied and those who continue to give suggestions.

 

[jj463rd]

Spledang that's a superb discounted price on that ASUS M4A79T Deluxe AM3 DDR3 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard.I would jump on that in a heartbeat as it is quite feature rich and most likely will support the upcoming 6 core AMD Thuban CPU if you should ever decide to upgrade.

You might want to consider the Athlon II X3 435 CPU for $87 (you might even get it on sale cheaper) instead of the
Phenom II X3 720 BE because of the lower cost and the fact that it performs pretty much like it.Tom's Hardware did a review about it as you can see here.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/athlon-ii-x3,2452.html

 

[spledang]

Yeah that deal is pretty sweet for the am3 mobo, but I would need ddr3 ram which would be another 50 and I would be stuck with my duo core. I don't think having a great mobo with decent cpu would do much, but bottle neck my video card more than it is now. Besides trying to get a fast cpu for editing conditions, I am also trying to find a stable setup for my video card because I noticed my processor is so slow compared to my vid card (hd 4830). I actually went to frys and found that my cpu is only 20bucks now haha. Thanks for the recommendation though on that Athlon. I was actually considering it since its cheaper, but i believe no L3 cache.

 

[jj463rd]

Yeah well the earlier motherboard the Asus M4A79 Deluxe AMD 790FX one was very sweet too and feature rich and luckily it was an AM2+ one so that would be the better choice if you're stuck with DDR2 memory plus that price was outrageously low too.I would say jump on the M4A79 Deluxe then in your circumstance as the price is dirt cheap for store pickup.

 

[Wisecracker]

That is a great deal on the Asus 790FX AM2+. The series has held their value well.

The only issue I see is how long will the vendors keep updating the BIOSs ---- the boards are now 2 years old. It would be great if Asus would confirm support for the 6-core (like that is gonna happen - LOL). MSI 'archived' my 790FX AM2+ (but it's still a tank!)

What may be a great alternative is to take your chances with the AMD Chip Lottery --- the Asus 790x Evo AM3 / Phenom 550BE combo is $182 AR. It busts your budget but not terribly so, and the 550BE at stock should be at least 15% faster that your 5600+.

And if that puppie unlocks ??? . . . . . Yippee!

 

[spledang]

@wisecracker

I'm doing Black Friday so thanks for suggestion, but we'll see what happens. The negative problems with your suggestion though would be DDR3 ram is required (50 more dollars) and dual core doesn't interest me as I don't want anything less than 3 cores for editing. I'm hoping to see something similar to this if not better

http://www.frys-electronics-ads.com/ads/2008/11/27/38333/Intel-Core-2-Quad-Quad-Core-Processor-Q8200-ECS-G31T-M-Motherboard

q8200 vs the Phenom 550BE results
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=52&p2=97

The L3 CACHE shows 550BE helps beat it in games, but the 4 cores is what helps win in most of the render options (which is why i want more cores for editing ). Based on newegg reviews it sounds like I can over click to 3.4ghz even though I don't like to overclock.