Athlon II x4 640 VS Phenom II x2 555 BE

[emmanuelxian07]

Think of it this way - if your rig was totaled and you don't want to overspend right now because you're waiting for the Sandy Bridge motherboard to come out after a few weeks, which processor will you pick, the Athlon II x4 640 or the Phenom II x2 555 BE? This processor will be paired with an Asrock 890 Extreme3 motherboard and 4 GB G.Skill RAM.


By the way, if you have any idea, please also tell me if you can recommend any 4GB DDR3 1600 RAM which is compatible with the above AMD set and a Sandy Bridge rig. I'm planning to upgrade by the end of this year so I'm sure I'll have a lot of options with the Sandy Bridge rig but I still want to recycle the RAM, HDD, DVD Rom, etc.


Thanks!

 

[Onus]

With near-term plans to build a SB rig, neither. If you need something for just a few weeks in the interim, I'd get an Athlon II X2, probably a 255. If you don't already have the 890 Extreme3, I'd look for something cheaper there too.
You could probably find something cheap and tolerable on eBay or Craigslist, but temporarily replace its PSU-shaped object with the real PSU you'll use in your rig when you build it. Then when you're done you can get something like a 380W Antec Earthwatts for it and give it to a family member, donate it, or sell it.

 

[emmanuelxian07]

With near-term plans to build a SB rig, neither. If you need something for just a few weeks in the interim, I'd get an Athlon II X2, probably a 255. If you don't already have the 890 Extreme3, I'd look for something cheaper there too.
You could probably find something cheap and tolerable on eBay or Craigslist, but temporarily replace its PSU-shaped object with the real PSU you'll use in your rig when you build it. Then when you're done you can get something like a 380W Antec Earthwatts for it and give it to a family member, donate it, or sell it.

I am planning to mostly play games like Crysis, Lost Planet 2, L4D2 or even Dragon Age Origins II. If I get the processor you're suggesting, I might not be able to play anything at all. Then with regards to the motherboard, I'm going to buy SATA III HDD, and I also need it to support 1600 RAM if possible, so anything cheaper would most probably mean that I'll have a problem. What do you think?

 

[Onus]

From the context of your original question, I understood you to want to minimize expense. While you'd have a CPU bottleneck, for a few weeks until you build your SB rig, I think you'd be able to "suffer" with the Athlon II X2. From the benchmarks at http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/121, you will clearly be able to play games with that CPU. Long term, of course I'd never suggest a CPU that weak, but for short-term use, it should suffice, and then still be good for general purposes.