Crazy idea: a Phenom II X3 build?

[ScrewySqrl]

OK, I'm looking to make a budget build. I put this together in newegg as an experiment. The last Phenom II X3 is a 740 Black Edition OEM. I can find NO reviews of this system anywhere, but from its 3.0 GHz speed and 95W TDP, I'm guessing it should get performance similar to the Phenom II X4 940, stock. As a BE it should overclock easily as well. With only 3 cores, it should use its L3 cache more efficiently in games that only use 2 cores (which is most of them) than a X4 940. As a 95W TDP instead of 125, It might be more limited in overclock peak. Or would it be better?

Does anyone have experience with the Phenom II X3s at all?

The CPU, which is $88.99 right now
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103699

as an OEM, it needs a fan. I know next to nothing about fans, This is kind of a placeholder at $14.99, a quality one to recommend would be good. Its in a 'might as well' overclock situation. I'd probably try to leave it at 3 cores and try to reach the speed of a 965 (3.4 GHz), and be satisfied
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233061

the rest of this should look like a typical build:

ASRock 770 Extreme board: $74.99. DDR3, SATA 3, USB 3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157195

Zotac GTX 460 w/ Just cause 2 combo: $219.99. I know the Zotac was last in today's roundup, but it was also the lowest GPU speed (the only 675 GHz one tested)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.455040

Challenger case and Cheap DVD combo: $48.98
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.467039

Corsair 650W PSU and Samsung F3 Spinpoint 1TB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.466028

$592.92 total cost.

Assuming I can overclock it to 3.4 GHz, would this be a solid performer?

 

[spentshells]

looks really good wow spend a few more dollars on the heatsink

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835124022

this seems to have good reviews for a cheap cooler try it out

the one you chose looks kinda like junk

 

[False_Dmitry_II]

Usually they say that the L3 cache doesn't do a whole lot for gaming. But if you're gonna buy a cooler to overclock anyway, combined with the unlocked multiplier (for easier overclocking, not to enable it) and the price I'd say sure, go for it.

Any of the athlon II x3's would do well too. For gaming being the primary use, you mostly just need enough CPU power to feed the GPU beast.

 

[ScrewySqrl]

ok, how about this heatsink:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103064. Its $29.99, so add $15 to the build cost

 

[dndhatcher]

ok, how about this heatsink:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103064. Its $29.99, so add $15 to the build cost

That link is to a deactivated product.

 

[ScrewySqrl]

That link is to a deactivated product.

you sure? It lets me add it to a cart. the 'buy' link is active in yellow, not gray. So....It looks legit to me.

 

[dndhatcher]

I dont even get a product screen. It just says

Search Results

We apologize for the inconvenience, but the item you are looking for has been deactivated. Here are some similar products that you may wish to consider:

And I get a bunch of coolermaster products in a list.

*******
Its the period being added to the end of your link.

The hyper TX3 is a good 92mm cooler. But due to the smaller fan is not quite as good as the Kingwin 120mm linked before. Frostytech rates both of them well, but I would only go with the smaller cooler due to case size issues.

 

[fharper]

If you're gonna spend $30 just get the hyper 212 plus from amazon or mwave.

 

[budsatawny]

OK, I'm looking to make a budget build. I put this together in newegg as an experiment. The last Phenom II X3 is a 740 Black Edition OEM. I can find NO reviews of this system anywhere, but from its 3.0 GHz speed and 95W TDP, I'm guessing it should get performance similar to the Phenom II X4 940, stock. As a BE it should overclock easily as well. With only 3 cores, it should use its L3 cache more efficiently in games that only use 2 cores (which is most of them) than a X4 940. As a 95W TDP instead of 125, It might be more limited in overclock peak. Or would it be better?

Does anyone have experience with the Phenom II X3s at all?

The CPU, which is $88.99 right now
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103699

as an OEM, it needs a fan. I know next to nothing about fans, This is kind of a placeholder at $14.99, a quality one to recommend would be good. Its in a 'might as well' overclock situation. I'd probably try to leave it at 3 cores and try to reach the speed of a 965 (3.4 GHz), and be satisfied
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233061

the rest of this should look like a typical build:

ASRock 770 Extreme board: $74.99. DDR3, SATA 3, USB 3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157195



Definetly get the phenom i have an older one about a year old the 720..and it works great @ 3.2Ghz with NO voltage adjustment.

Zotac GTX 460 w/ Just cause 2 combo: $219.99. I know the Zotac was last in today's roundup, but it was also the lowest GPU speed (the only 675 GHz one tested)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.455040

Challenger case and Cheap DVD combo: $48.98
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.467039

Corsair 650W PSU and Samsung F3 Spinpoint 1TB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.466028

$592.92 total cost.

Assuming I can overclock it to 3.4 GHz, would this be a solid performer?

 

[False_Dmitry_II]

That's funny I have my 720 at 3.2 with no voltage adjustment as well.

In all seriousness it was doing just fine at stock, but I have a hyper 212+ installed because I needed to use the stock fan for a lesser CPU that no longer had it's original stock fan. I decided that since I would have to buy a fan anyway why not spend the extra money on a good one. And then it was on sale at microcenter for $20, so I really couldn't turn that down.