Help me choose a CPU

[dencio]

Hi everyone!!
I was planning to build my 1st PC. At first I wanted the athlon 445. Now I'm a little confuse, hope you guys can help me

These are my choices:
AMD AM3 ATHLON II X3 445 3.1 GHZ

AMD AM3 ATHLON II X4 640 3.0GHZ

AMD PHENOM II X4 840 3.2GHZ

AMD AM3 Phenom II X2 555 3.2GHz


Comments and suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks in advance

 

[rolli59]

X3 450 would give you 3.2GHz and 3 cores. Out of those the X4 840 is the best (it should though have been named Athlon II X4 650 since it is a regor)

 

[dencio]

I'll be using it for games like Gta4 and crysis

 

[dencio]

The phenom 840 or athlon 650 is the highest cpu i can afford.

 

[dencio]

Sad to say they don't have the 925, and I can't buy in newegg because I'm not from the U.S anyway they have a phenom II x4 945. Is that good?

 

[ghnader hsmithot]

why dont you go for Sandy bridge socket 1155??How come?
Something wrong with SB?

 

[dencio]

Like you said, i need to save more money. lol

 

[Wisecracker]

The PhII 840 'Propus' quad is a nice chip and will OC like a champ if you are so inclined. Nothing wrong with an X3 Rana. It comes down to your RAMs as much as anything.

For a 240MHz system clock go DDR3 1600 --- for a 250MHz system clock go with DDR3 1333.

 

[dencio]

I don't really know anything about overclocking, cause I'm just a newbie and this will be my 1st time choosing my pc, anyways thanks for the help guys but I haven't really decided in what i will choose. lol

 

[dencio]

The PhII 840 'Propus' quad is a nice chip and will OC like a champ if you are so inclined. Nothing wrong with an X3 Rana. It comes down to your RAMs as much as anything.

For a 240MHz system clock go DDR3 1600 --- for a 250MHz system clock go with DDR3 1333.

Excuse me for being such a noob but how do i know if my system clock is 240mhz or 250mhz?

 

[rolli59]

If I was building a budget AMD system I would use the X3 450. Next CPU I would consider is the X4 955BE.
This might be of help http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-overclocking-processor-recommendation,2866-2.html

 

[ghnader hsmithot]

nevermind

 

[dencio]

955BE definitely..

I don't have a huge range of choices. Because the shop don't have that Cpu. they only have 965BE which is too expensive for me

 

[dencio]

ohhh ok. i guess i'll just go with the athlon 445 then. since i think it can run the games i want to play at least at medium settings

 

[dencio]

Thanks man. Btw. I was planning to buy an Asrock 880gm-le. I'm just asking if the onboard 4250 is enough for the meanwhile

 

[rolli59]

^+1 The X3 is a good budget choice and start saving for that GPU!

 

[Raidur]

Sad to say they don't have the 925, and I can't buy in newegg because I'm not from the U.S anyway they have a phenom II x4 945. Is that good?

If the 945 is in your price range, that would be a good choice as well.

 

[Wisecracker]

Excuse me for being such a noob but how do i know if my system clock is 240mhz or 250mhz?

The stock system clock is 200MHz. The CPU, hypertransport links, memory controller/north bridge, and system memory use 'multipliers' to set their speeds based upon the system clock.

When over-clocking you may adjust those multipliers to maintain stability and increase performance. You may look at it like this:

At stock DDR3 1333 operates at 6.67x200MHz. If you raise the system clock to 250MHz, in order to operate your memory within spec you may drop the memory multiplier (or 'ratio') one notch down to 533

5.33x250MHz = 1333MHz ---- your memory is operating at spec.

The PhII 840 Propus quad at stock is 16x200MHz or 3.2GHz (and you wish to run the system clock at 250MHz). For a 'noob' you may simply drop the cpu multiplier to '14' with the system clock at 250MHz. Congratulations. You are now running at 3.5GHz.

The PhII 840 will easily run 15x250MHz (as will the X3 Rana). It may stress that AsRock 'LE' motherboard a bit so DDR3 1600 will help you, here.

At stock it is 8.00x200MHz. Raise the system clock to 240MHz and drop the ratio to 667 (and 6.667x240MHz = ??? )

And your PhII 840 cpu at 15x240MHz should feel quite 'snappy' -- past that you will most likely need some after-market cooling to keep things smooth and easy

[:jaydeejohn:5]