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Redundant Q - 4 vs. 6 cores

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CPUs

Last response: January 2, 2011 1:41 PM in CPUs

January 2, 2011 1:24:50 AM

Hello all:

I'm interested in 2 different CPUs for my (soon to be) rig.

~ AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ955FBGMBOX

or

~ AMD Phenom II X6 1055T Thuban 2.8GHz Socket AM3 125W Six-Core Desktop Processor HDT55TFBGRBOX

I am mostly interested in the price/performance ratio (for overclocking once I figure out how to do it!). Both of these can be OC'd well, so... If I got the 4-core I could get an aftermarket cooler. If I stick with the 1055t, the stock cooler is pretty good (I hear). Any suggestions?

More about : redundant cores

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Embra

January 2, 2011 2:24:58 AM

What is the primary uses you have for this cpu? If gaming, the 955 is about the best bang for the buck.

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wigglerthefish

January 2, 2011 2:27:59 AM

Yes. But when are games going to use more cores? 1year? 6 months?

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Best solution

enzo matrix

CPUs Master

January 2, 2011 4:19:00 AM

wigglerthefish said:

Yes. But when are games going to use more cores? 1year? 6 months?

Hang on. Let me use my psychic powers.

But seriously, back when dual cores first came out, Everyone was getting single cores for gaming. I guess the turnaround was pretty quick though.
Now a few years ago, some games starting being able to use 3 cores because of consoles. Some games can use 4 cores.
Some people bought 1.8GHz quad cores in 2006 to prepare for gaming using 4 cores. That didn't help them much.
Just this year is when I've started seeing most games coming out being able to use 3+ cores.

Buy what you need now. "Futureproofing" is a gamble and overrated. Oftentimes by the time you come to the point where whatever you bought for the "future" can be used, it has already become useless in another way and you wish you would have had that extra $40 instead to put towards a new upgrade.

And I don't know where you heard that the x6 stock cooler was "pretty good" but I am willing to bet that whoever said that wasn't aware that the x6 core temp sensors are off by 10-12*C. The actual core temperature is 10-12*C higher that what is read by programs like core temp and HWmonitor.