Phenom ii or athlon ii?

The Opus and zosma are the code names for the chips.

The phenoms will perform better than the athlons because of the added L3.

the 960t can be unlocked to a 6 core thuban sometimes.

please note that AMD has stopped producing the true Phenom II CPU's except for the 960T and the x6 cores which are really a Thuban or a Zosma which is derived from Thuban and not a phenom at all... so there is only 1 current cpu to answer your question with and its a phenom II x4 980. All thats left aren't really phenoms at all... LoL

The 960T runs just a tad slower that the 955 if i remember right making the 1100t the king of the current 'phenom' cpu's though you can still find the 980 in the market.

the 960t is slower than the 955 because the 955 is clocked higher than the 960t.

i looked on newegg it's a bit more expensive then the athlon cpu's, it's $160 and seems great but the reson im asking is beacause i posted before asking about building a computer for a friend and and athlons don't have any x6's but are cheaper and im guessing deneb is better than thuban or zosma so are these better? i might go for a cheaper athlon and which is better thuban or zosma? im guessing zosma but anyway can the 3.7GHz deneb x4 980 black edition be unlocked to a x6 cpu?

no the 980 does not unlock to an 6 core. Only the 960t can.

intel. . .

get a 970, fastest stock Phenom II.