Anthlon ii x3 or phenom ii x2

I would go with the X3 in the long run you are going to benefit more from the extra core than the L3 cache on the phenom. http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/119?vs=120

i have the athlon II X3 in one PC (phenom II x4 in my other one). its an excellent CPU and rolli is correct, its better in the long run

that being said I would take the phenom II in a gaming machine. most games today still just use two cores and that won't change until new consoles come out. by that time I would upgrade the CPU anyways (the athlon X3 most likely would need an upgrade around the same time).

with all that being said, you really can't go wrong with getting either CPU. both are an excellent value

^+3. Grab the X3. UNLESS, you are running some programs that are really sensitive to cache. (There are VERY VERY few programs like this).

X3 445. If you are lucky, you'll be able to unlock the 4th core and cache on it. If you are unlucky, you still have a pretty good CPU w/ 3 cores.

The Phenom II dual core offers the same chances of being lucky, but only two cores if you're not.

.