Phenom II x2 555 vs Phenom II x3 720 vs Athlon II x4 635

[doje1999]

My goal is to purchase a cpu under $100 and have come down to these three primary cpus. I will mainly be doing graphic design and gaming. Nothing hardcore like intense rendering or motion for graphics, i just mainly do advertisements and illustrations. I would get the higher priced CPUs but would rather put that money into a banging video card and I know any of these three would be fine. I'm just trying to find justification for which one to get.

Here are the 3:

Phenom II x2 555 BE 3.2 ghz - $99
Phenom II x3 720 BE 2.8 ghz - $99
Athlon II x4 635 2.9 ghz - $99

I'm not sure which to get and which I would benefit the most from. I will get a mobo to try and unlock cores and also plan on OCing slighty if I feel the need to. I'm steering towards the 555 hoping to unlock the cores. Unless there is reasoning to get the other two which I'm looking for. How important is L3 cache since the Athlon II lacks that? Thanks for your input.

 

[amirp]

i would say get the 720 processor, since you only need to unlock one more core on it to get it to quad, or you dont even have to unlock a core because from 3 to 4 is not a big difference, however if the 555 fails at unlocking any cores then your stuck with a dual core which is slower than 3/4 cores for sure. I would get the 720 and overclock it to over 3ghz.
Im not sure if getting the slower athlon would be worth it for an extra core tho -maybe

 

[doje1999]

i would say get the 720 processor, since you only need to unlock one more core on it to get it to quad, or you dont even have to unlock a core because from 3 to 4 is not a big difference, however if the 555 fails at unlocking any cores then your stuck with a dual core which is slower than 3/4 cores for sure. I would get the 720 and overclock it to over 3ghz.
Im not sure if getting the slower athlon would be worth it for an extra core tho -maybe

Thanks for the reply. Say I don't OC at all and was unable to unlock any cores. Would the 720 outperform the 555 for gaming? I also plan on getting the HD 5770.

 

[amirp]

hmm it could be a little game dependent but if you take a look at some of toms charts for your favourite games you would be able to tell the difference.
like I just looked at gtaIV which is a very cpu dependant game and from the looks of it the number of cores is the most important in that game so the athlon x4 even performs the best then the x3 then the x2.
also check out toms recent article, "building a balanced gaming pc" their result was that regular amd or slower intel cpu's were not holding back any video cards other than dual gpu models like a gtx295 for example,
so neither the 720 or the 555 would hold back your 5770 i dont think, but for general pc usage the 720 is going to be faster as well (considering you cant unlock a core because it is a risk)
also the other best piece of advice i can give you is to get the gtx 460 card unless you are planning a crossfire system on an amd platform in which case I would tell you to wait until october-ish when the new ati 6000 series cards are arriving.

i just sold off a 4850 and am using a piece of *** 8600gt until the 6000s come out. the 5770 is too small a jump and 5850 is too expensive for me.

 

[r-sky]

The higher stock clock speed of the 555 would be better in most games...

The 720 @ 3.2 would be simple to do... cpu multi -> 16.

 

[amirp]

also bro consider this: lets say in even if in most games the 555 wins due to clock speed, how many fps do you think the 720 is going to lose out on? my bet would be very little.
but then look at some games (like gta4) that are optimised to use more cores, the performance increase of adding a core even at lower clock speed makes a large difference, so I would choose the 720 simply because the games you would lose on would only show a small unnoticeable decrease and the games you win on would show a large increase.

 

[popatim]

x3 720 gets my vote plus your graphics arts proggys (esp Adobe stuff) will love the extra core.

 

[doje1999]

thanks for the replies guys. i'm going to bring in a new chip to add in to the mix. the athlon II x3 rana 3.0ghz. its only $76 and this way i can invest the extra money into a good mobo and from what i've been reading, i'm looking to get the gtx460 now instead of the hd 5770.