[CPU] Update Phenom II X3 720 BE

[ltdementhial]

Hi guys this is my first post on this forums as i have now almost 4 years of knowin this page that has been very useful to me but now i have a little pain in the ass with my pc.

i have my build 3 year old but last month i updated it on many aspects for a better performance mostly in games my current specs are this:

AMD Phenom II X3 720 BE with 4º core unlocked and overclocked @ 3.6Gzh (Multiplier x18)

Cooler Master Hyper TX3 (i hate the contact of this thing but im a little scared of lapping it)

Asus M5A97 the base motherboard non EVO or Pro.

6GB DDR3 1 Stick 4Gb Kingston Hyper X Blu + 1 Stick 2gb Kingston Hyper X Blu both 1333 @ Dual Channel.

Sapphire HD 5750 Vapor X

1 Western Digital Caviar Black 500gb Sata III + 1 Samsung 1TB Sata II (backup) + 1 Western Digital Scorpio 320 2.5" Sata II (from a broken laptop used for backup mostly backups of games)

Pixxo Jaguar 600 Watt PSU (Is not a firecracker you can compare it to a Cooler Master xtreme power plus 500 watt max wattage is 460 and amps. 36 or 38 i dont remember.

NZXT Lexa S Case

I will update the Grapichs car to an HD 7850-7870 when they come out since this card is doing fine and i play at 1366x768 due to my 19" monitor.

I will update the Power Supplie to an Antec 750 Watts or an Cooler Master GX 750 Watts or even a Cooler Master Silent Pro 700 watts all depends of the buget.

so this is my main question...should i update my CPU to an X6 or FX 8150 i don't say this merely because of the HotFix but because me as many of you i have waited for BD a "long time" and i think i have an hipotetical X4 965-975.

and if you tell me a good PSU instead of the ones im having in mind that would be useful too.

oh yeah and i forgot due to my location (Monterrey, Mexico) if i buy something from US it would be from TigerDirect or Amazon...of curse this things can be purchased here but with prices 3x higher...like the Antec 750 i can buy one here for around...140-160 USD the FX thankfully is 10-20 USD more expensive and sometimes even cheaper. so what CPU and PSU would be fine for me?

oh and excuse my bad english.

 

[Headspin_69]

Phenom II x4 is still the best gaming CPU AMD has to offer and any PSU from Corsair, Enermax, Antec etc are good

 

[keha12]

I think far as the cpu upgrade. You'll be wasting your money. Unless you want bragging rights with benchmarks. But if that was the case, you wouldent have an AMD.

Then if the 4th core is unlocked. Then its a 4th core. Now the cache with it, is another story.
From my understanding. That x3 was actually made as a x4. Some failed on 1-core, so they made them x3. Then supply and demand, made them put out good x4 as x3.
So you either have a legit 4th with cache. Or you have one that might fail under heavy load, with or without cache.
Then personally for me. Id never buy the top of the line. When it comes to cpu and graphics cards.
Id buy 1 step under. Or top of the line, last generation.

Then unless they changed something. Last time I checked. You need identical RAM chips(atleast size/speed) to utilize dual channel memory.(Ive been out the loop, for 2 years. Just getting back to PC-gaming) So on paper. Your missing half your memory bandwidth.

If your dead set on upgrading. Id look at a SSD drive. Thatd be worth while. Or seeing if your ram configuration, is indeed wrong.

Or a better monitor. That does atleast 1920x1024. Plenty of decent ones 21-23inch around $120.

Then depending on what else you have hooked up. Id say your power supply is fine, for a 1 graphics card config.

But you know. If all you want is a reason, to have a newer computer. Just flip the off switch on the PSU. Then tell your wife, we need a one!

 

[ltdementhial]

Best answer selected by Ltdementhial.

 

[Headspin_69]

Hi guys this is my first post on this forums as i have now almost 4 years of knowin this page that has been very useful to me but now i have a little pain in the ass with my pc.

i have my build 3 year old but last month i updated it on many aspects for a better performance mostly in games my current specs are this:

AMD Phenom II X3 720 BE with 4º core unlocked and overclocked @ 3.6Gzh (Multiplier x18)

Cooler Master Hyper TX3 (i hate the contact of this thing but im a little scared of lapping it)

Asus M5A97 the base motherboard non EVO or Pro.

6GB DDR3 1 Stick 4Gb Kingston Hyper X Blu + 1 Stick 2gb Kingston Hyper X Blu both 1333 @ Dual Channel.

Sapphire HD 5750 Vapor X

1 Western Digital Caviar Black 500gb Sata III + 1 Samsung 1TB Sata II (backup) + 1 Western Digital Scorpio 320 2.5" Sata II (from a broken laptop used for backup mostly backups of games)

Pixxo Jaguar 600 Watt PSU (Is not a firecracker you can compare it to a Cooler Master xtreme power plus 500 watt max wattage is 460 and amps. 36 or 38 i dont remember.

NZXT Lexa S Case

I will update the Grapichs car to an HD 7850-7870 when they come out since this card is doing fine and i play at 1366x768 due to my 19" monitor.

I will update the Power Supplie to an Antec 750 Watts or an Cooler Master GX 750 Watts or even a Cooler Master Silent Pro 700 watts all depends of the buget.

so this is my main question...should i update my CPU to an X6 or FX 8150 i don't say this merely because of the HotFix but because me as many of you i have waited for BD a "long time" and i think i have an hipotetical X4 965-975.

and if you tell me a good PSU instead of the ones im having in mind that would be useful too.

oh yeah and i forgot due to my location (Monterrey, Mexico) if i buy something from US it would be from TigerDirect or Amazon...of curse this things can be purchased here but with prices 3x higher...like the Antec 750 i can buy one here for around...140-160 USD the FX thankfully is 10-20 USD more expensive and sometimes even cheaper. so what CPU and PSU would be fine for me?

oh and excuse my bad english.

I owned a Phenom II x3 720 BE and it sucked washed out colors in Bioshock and crappy slow performance and I did not understand why with CFX 4890 HDs then when I upgraded to a Phenom II x4 940 3.0ghz my problems were solved and that was how I found out the value role of a decent CPU for a gaming rig.