Bulldozer Upgrade Questions

[punisher 281]

I currently have a a Phenom II 720 BE and want to upgrade to the new 6 core processor. My question has to do mainly with the CPU fan that I currently have. I want to know if it can be used on the new CPU.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118223

Any help is appreciated

 

[casualbuilder]

should be very compatible. that is a great cooler.

Question, why do you want to upgrade from a quad core to a 6 core? If this is for gaming, i would say save your money, as you will see no performance gain.

 

[punisher 281]

I've only got the triple core, and I want either the 6 core or the 3.1 Ghz 8 core. Right now it struggles with Bad Company 2 and want it to max BF3.

 

[casualbuilder]

You are better off spending money on a Phenom II x 6 than a bulldozer. Both of those games actually benefit from more cores, but 6 is optimal for the money spent. I think Phenom 1090T if you are going to OC is your best bet, and will give you optimal performance for the money.

Bulldozer architecture favors server and multi-threaded applicational use, not gaming. Best of luck!

 

[punisher 281]

That would save me quite a bit just going for the 1090T, plus I just read the benchmarks for BF3. Is there any advantages for this whole "Scorpio" AMD setup I've read about?

 

[casualbuilder]

have heard the terminology, any links you could show me to brush up on what the "Scorpio" setup is?

 

[punisher 281]

I watched a video on newegg that was off of one of the Bulldozer CPU's. The spokesperson said that if you have the latest AMD motherboard, the new processor, and a 6000 series GPU, then it's a Scorpio setup. He didn't say if there were any plus's to it, but I didn't watch the whole thing.

 

[casualbuilder]

personally, i think i would rather run a Phenom II for gaming right now. Thats just me. even with my Sabertooth MoBo and GTX560, i wouldn't pair it with anything other than either a Phenom II x 4 or an i5 2500k. Only 2 gaming chips for sale out there right now imo.

 

[punisher 281]

I guess that settles that then. Reviews for Bulldozer have been kind of disappointing. Thanks for your help!

 

[punisher 281]

Best answer selected by punisher 281.

 

[nordlead]

As far as I can tell (quick google search) scorpio is just marketing gimmick to get you to purchase all AMD products. Essentially, scorpio is just a combination of all their latest hardware (CPU, Motherboard chipset, GPU).

As for the CPU, you'd be better off with a Phenom II X4 than a X6 for gaming at stock speeds (the X4's are always clocked higher for the same price). There are only a few games that take advantage of more than 4 cores. If you can overclock both chips to the same speed, then the X6 is slightly better for general use, but doesn't seem worth it to me.

If you overclock I'd probably get the X4 970 for $130 and overclock it up to or above 980 levels. The 970 is only 200MHz slower than the 980, but it is $40 cheaper.

 

[punisher 281]

I probably should have brought this up ealier, but will my 790GX board support a Thuban processor?