Best AMD Gaming CPU for Max

[mmkmmk3]

I'm looking to buy a new CPU for my computer Build. The one I was going to buy was deactivated by newegg & I can't seem to find it anywhere else.
What do I plan on doing with this CPU? Well I want it run BF3 on its max setting.
My question is, what should I look for in a gaming CPU? It's speed or its cores? & how can I tell if it will bottleneck my geforce 550 or 560.
Please give me your opinions on what I should buy with the budget of $150 for a cpu in mind.

 

[goombaxiv]

Just for the record I'm playing BF3 at ultra setting 1680 X 1050 with a phenom x3 740 oc 3.8 Ghz with a OC HD 7850 (better performance than a 570) and I have FPS higher than 40 every times in multiplayer.

In Benchmark the GPU seems bottlenecked but my GPU is always running at 99% in BF3.

 

[kajabla]

If you don't already own an AMD mobo, you really have to go 2500K.
"Maxing" means 60fps, not 40.

 

[amuffin]

Do you already have the motherboard?

 

[mmkmmk3]

IMO you need to get a Black Edition Phenom II x6 and overclock it to ~4.0 GHz in order to play BF3 on max settings (assuming you have the GPU muscle). However, prices are starting to skyrocket on these CPUs since AMD has stopped making them so that they can instead sell their inferior faildozer models.

The answer to your question about speed or cores is neither. CPU architecture is the most important thing for games (Sandy Bridge > Phenom II > Faildozer). After that, core count is most important up to 4, and then speed is more important than cores in general.

BF3 multiplayer, however, does like the extra cores on the Phenom II - it performs a lot better on a Phenom II x6 than it does on Phenom II x4.

I don't live near a microcenter.
It's a budget & $50 more actually blows this budget off. I wanna keep within the $500-$600 pricerange.
I was going to take the risk of buying the X4 980 Black edition in hopes of unlocking to a 6th core & trying to keep the speed. The X6 1045T seems like a good buy, although it has 2.7GHz & I'm still unsure on if I should get it based on speed. If I might add you say that bf3 loves the extra cores even when you say that when you have 4 cores you go to speed, care to expand?
So what is the minimum speed I need if I have the cores?

 

[Hydroc10]

A x4 965be for $125 on newegg w/free shipping, that'll leave you enough to get a nice cooler(212+) etc..

 

[mmkmmk3]

Do you already have the motherboard?

No, but I don't plan on buying intel based on reviews, price, & upgrade range(which probably shouldn't be a factor in retrospect)

If you don't already own an AMD mobo, you really have to go 2500K.
"Maxing" means 60fps, not 40.

Sorry I wasn't sure on that. I really only need it at 35+ FPS, but I do want it at 60+Fps, which should I get if I want it at 60+Fps

Just for the record I'm playing BF3 at ultra setting 1680 X 1050 with a phenom x3 740 oc 3.8 Ghz with a OC HD 7850 (better performance than a 570) and I have FPS higher than 40 every times in multiplayer.

In Benchmark the GPU seems bottlenecked but my GPU is always running at 99% in BF3.

Thanks for this, that was my original CPU I was gonna get. Do you think that most of this is coming from your 7850 Radeon? I'm probably gonna get a 560 or 550 Nvidia so.

 

[mmkmmk3]

A x4 965be for $125 on newegg w/free shipping, that'll leave you enough to get a nice cooler(212+) etc..

Please don't worry about the cooler & other accessories & keep on the main question. Can it run BF3 with max settings & if so what's your FPS

 

[mmkmmk3]

best AMD gaming processor is the Phenom II X 4 980BE....
(965-980)BE will do followed by the Phenom II X6 Thuban's 1090T and 1100T as second best.
gaming specific..

Thank you. I was considering the 980 Black Edition, but still wasn't sure compared to the X6's. Can you expand on why it's the best for gaming, if it's not too much of a burden? If I was to get an X6 would you still recommend 1045T even though. Those two, the 1090T's & 1100T's, on newegg since they've been deactivated & I really hate buying on ebay.

 

[mmkmmk3]

gaming, I'll definitely take the X4 over the 1045T.
very few games utilize mor than four cores, some do take advantage but it's not impressive and overall the quad is better.

the Deneb C3 stepping per core is better than the Thuban E0 stepping even though the Thuban does scale well in comparison
but the Deneb is slightly better.
a X4 Deneb (965-980)BE in-particular with it higher clocks are better than the X6 Thuban (10xx-1100)T than it's lower clocks but more cores.
1100T is the only choice if going 6 cores.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/362?vs=147
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/362?vs=146

Much appreciated.
So I should go with Sheer power in gaming.
Perhaps I was too run a small minecraft server (8-12 people) While Playing BF3, should I just lower the settings down to medium or high if this were to happen? Or should I go with the more cores?
If my choice was to go with the X4 980 should I take my chances & unlocking it to 6 cores or keep it at 4 cores & perhaps overclock it (take into consideration that I may be hosting a small minecraft server & if possible answer for both if I am & if I'm not.) Also I will have 16 GB's of Ram
If I may ask you to check out my Graphics card topic & perhaps answer that if you can, sorry if it's a burden to you.

I am buying a msi am3+ & Ty for the charts

 

[mmkmmk3]

X4 980BE will not unlock to a 6-core.
960T is the X4 that possibly unlocks into 6-core, I am not a fan of this or this chip.
several people have had success with it.

I eBay often and as long as you look for seller ratings and by with protection/insurance and return policy, then look for a 1100T.
overclocking a 1055T to compensate for lower clocks might bring in added heat and power consumption.
I didn't read or know about the MC server.

Your probably right there, I get mixed up a lot. I just mentioned the MC server now because I haven't been thinking about it. Well even so based on your review I probably will buy the 980 Black Edition & when my buddy gets a new comp just use the old one has a server.

 

[mmkmmk3]

Best answer selected by mmkmmk3.

 

[mmkmmk3]

You asked two different questions:
1) What do I look for in a gaming CPU?
and
2) What AMD CPU should I get for maxing BF3?

The answer to the first is not necessarily the answer to the second.

As to the first, you look for CPU architecture --> Core count (up to 4) --> CPU speed

As to the second, I recommended a black edition Phenom II x6 that you overclock. A 4 GHz six core phenom II is going to perform better than a 4 GHz Phenom II x4 by far. See here for why I recommend the Phenom II x6 (I could bench my CPU at 4 cores to show you the difference too, if you like... it's significant).

I may have been too quick to judge, although yes Malmental did answer about games in general. I was skeptical on your answer that BF3 would go to cores instead of power, unlike most games. I did look at that website along with a few more reviews & they agreed that the more core the better. Would you still suggest an X6 with lower speeds to an X4 with higher speeds with Newer games as a broad spectrum?

 

[Hydroc10]

Please don't worry about the cooler & other accessories & keep on the main question. Can it run BF3 with max settings & if so what's your FPS

I mentioned the cooler becaus although the stock cooler works the fan is very loud.

 

[mmkmmk3]

those are stock settings and the 980BE clock higher.
but I said 1090T or 1100T and if not then it has to be the 980BE.
BF3 is a demanding game.

You said the X6's as a second choice though, what is your entire final thought?

I'd say that you need to overclock and that you can hit 4.0 GHz on the Phenom II x6, which I think will perform better than a 4.4 GHz Phenom II x4. Just my thoughts - I don't have any benches to back that statement up. I'm not disagreeing with mal, just saying that at 4 GHz, I get much better performance with 6 cores than with 4 in BF3.

If I get some spare time in the next week, I'll bench with 6 cores @ 3.6 GHz and then 4 cores at 4.0 GHz and post which variable BF3 responds better to. I expect, from the benchmark above (where the 980 is 400 MHz faster yet performs significantly worse than the 1100T) that BF3 multiplayer likes the extra cores more than the extra potential clock speed possible from the better stepping.

Either way, you need a good black edition phenom if you want AMD... stay away from things like the 1055t that don't have the unlocked multiplier.

Which X6's do you use, & are you playing on max?

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/ - Says the benchmark overall is to the X6's, but for the price which X6 should I go with, or for the price just the X4 980T (In both your opinions)

 

[mmkmmk3]

this is exactly how I feel:
a X4 Deneb (965-980)BE in-particular with it higher clocks are better than the X6 Thuban (10xx-1100)T than it's lower clocks but more cores.
1100T is the only choice if going 6 cores.

meaning if you can get the 1090T or 1100T to 980BE speeds then it's a no brainer, get the 6-core.
if you have to settle for a lesser 6-core like 1055T or less then I'll take the 980BE.

That's answer the question basically, all now is to find the price & speeds. But thanks to both you & "bigmack70"

One final question though, the FX-8k series, would you put it on a lower ranking (for gaming) that the X4 & X6's? Even though it has a higher benchmark than any Phenom.

I mentioned the cooler becaus although the stock cooler works the fan is very loud.

Fair enough