Amd upgrade help

[craig009]

Hello, I have an upgrade question for you experts. I currently have an Acer aspire desktop slim (ax1420-u5832) with the athlon 2 x4 645. It has a 225 psu and 4gb of ram with a Max of 4gb.

I am wanting to upgrade to the Phenom 2 x6. I know ill have to get a bigger power supply but I was wondering if ill be able to get more ram. Minimum 12gb. Is that Max ram for the mob or the processor?

I'm looking for a budget upgrade nowif I can, otherwise ill probably splurge for a Zambezi. Any help you guys can provide would be awesome.

 

[NESHO]

You have a 225 W PSU for Athlon 2 x4 645? Are you apsolutely sure, because that is highly risky situation! You have to give more information like your motherboard name and your GPU name because it is pointless to upgrade your CPU for gaming if you have an old graphics card. Download Everest, you can get this information there. And the max 4 gb of ram is for you motherboard, it has nothing to do with your CPU. Cheers

 

[de5_Roy]

is this your pc:
http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/model/PT.SGM02.002
check this out, another thread:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/307500-30-acer-ax1420-u5832-upgradeable
psu: looks like standard atx psus won't fit your case.
your pc:
Physical Characteristics
Height 10.6"
Width 3.9"
Depth 14.5"
corsair cx 500 v2 dimensions:
Dimensions - 5.9"(W) x 3.4"(H) x 5.5"(L)
do you think a psu like this below would fit your case? check the dimensions and compare them to yours:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817104132
newegg calls them microatx psus.
i can't find a cpu support page, so i can't tell you if it will accept 95/125w amd cpus.
from athlon ii x4 645's specs - it's a 95w cpu. pc brands usually lock their pc's motherboards to certain tdp. for that reason higher tdp cpus will not run on that motherboard. for example, a motherboard that accepts only 95w cpu will not run a 125w tdp cpu. there are 95w fx cpus but most are 125w, same with phenom hexcore cpus. i am not saying your pc can run a 95w cpu, i don't have that information.
this is the only 95w hex core phenom ii i found:
http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K10/AMD-Phenom%20II%20X6%201055T%20-%20HDT55TWFK6DGR%20%28HDT55TWFGRBOX%29.html

 

[craig009]

Yes that is my pc. Thanks for the RAM thread, looks like i'm screwed.

MOB is the da061l-3d with internal graphics nForce 430. Im not using it for gaming but for video editing. The website says 220 watts max.

Thanks for your responses so far, big help. I think i'll have to get a whole new system, probly go with the Phenom 1100t x6.

 

[de5_Roy]

i can't find 1100t on newegg. amd has eol'ed most of old lineup. if you go amd route, try getting a 900 series motherboard and 16 gb ram. video editing might benefit from more ram.
if you're upgrading whole pc, you could also consider intel's core i7 2600/2600k depending on budget.

 

[iyzik]

I thought I might I also throw in a recommendation to get an Intel system (yes depending on budget ^) but even an Intel Pentium will consistently beat a Phenom x4, and any i7 will just murder it.

 

[wr6133]

I thought I might I also throw in a recommendation to get an Intel system (yes depending on budget ^) but even an Intel Pentium will consistently beat a Phenom x4, and any i7 will just murder it.

Your advice is flawed well not flawed but pure made up pulled out of your ass "facts"

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/406?vs=362

Above link Phenom x4 beating a pentium in nearly everything..... infact wiping the floor with it in most things.

and yes an i7 will beat the Phenom your comparing a £240 CPU to a £85 CPU though if this is a gaming build an i5 is the sensible choice should the budget allow Intel. Im sure if the OP had the money freely to build a brand new i7 system he wouldn't be asking about upgrading his current one.

 

[craig009]

Yeah my current system is AMD so I was hoping for an upgrade of my current system. Plus I am kinda partial to AMD/Radion, no particular reason. I was able to find a few 1100t's here and there for about $150 nib.

My next choice is def an i7 2600k. This is not a gaming pc.

Looks like i'll be scavenging my tb hd with all my sofware on it and go from there.

De5_roy is that 900 series motherboard am3 or am3+?

 

[iyzik]

Your advice is flawed well not flawed but pure made up pulled out of your ass "facts"

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/406?vs=362

Above link Phenom x4 beating a pentium in nearly everything..... infact wiping the floor with it in most things.

and yes an i7 will beat the Phenom your comparing a £240 CPU to a £85 CPU though if this is a gaming build an i5 is the sensible choice should the budget allow Intel. Im sure if the OP had the money freely to build a brand new i7 system he wouldn't be asking about upgrading his current one.

Of course it will beat it when you link a bench of the slowest Pentium vs the fastest Phenom x4 Black Edition. Seriously?? Do not say I pull facts out of my ass when you are linking completely unfair benchmarks.

And ok I actually will admit the Phenom does beat it at video editing and other things but I was thinking in terms of gaming where if you compare a phenom x4 and pentium that have same clock speed, the Pentium wins. So yes, my bad I apologize for saying 'conssitently beats it'.

For ex: 2.8GHz on both:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/405?vs=81
Pentium as quite a bit faster on all the games except Fallout 3 it is beaten by 1 fps (not sure why)

 

[de5_Roy]

Yeah my current system is AMD so I was hoping for an upgrade of my current system. Plus I am kinda partial to AMD/Radion, no particular reason. I was able to find a few 1100t's here and there for about $150 nib.

My next choice is def an i7 2600k. This is not a gaming pc.

Looks like i'll be scavenging my tb hd with all my sofware on it and go from there.

De5_roy is that 900 series motherboard am3 or am3+?

900 series motherboards have socket am3+ that means no bios update is needed for running bulldozer (am3+) cpus if you decide to go bd route. amd will be continuing am3+ socket longer so upcoming piledriver cpus will also be am3+ supported. you might need a bios update to run pd cpus though (this is not certain until amd says so and releases pd lineup). there are plenty of 900 series (970, 900x, 990fx) mobos to choose from. for example:
ASRock 970 EXTREME4 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157262
GIGABYTE GA-990XA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990X SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128510
ASUS Sabertooth 990FX AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131736
if you can get to a microcenter:
Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 Socket AM3+ 990FX ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0366425
ASRock 970 Extreme4 Socket AM3+ 970 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0382952
fx8120
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0375765
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103961
you're lucky you found 1100t at that price. iirc those cost nearly as much as high end i5 cpus on newegg before going out of stock.

 

[sarinaide]

In all honesty if you are going to stick with AMD it would be advisable to wait a few extra months for Piledriver, it is pointless buying Bulldozer or Phenom II at this juncture to find you are hopelessly out of date in a few months time.


Other than that the above posters specs are very good.

 

[wr6133]

If you have found a 1100T for $150 I would really think about snapping it up they are like hens teeth nowdays. Sarinade has a very good point though PD is immenent. Personlly I would take the 1100T at that price though as I have little faith in PD (hopefully they surprise me) and that way least you have a solid X6.


@pentium boy or whatever it calls itself

Of course it will beat it when you link a bench of the slowest Pentium vs the fastest Phenom x4 Black Edition. Seriously?? Do not say I pull facts out of my ass when you are linking completely unfair benchmarks.

And ok I actually will admit the Phenom does beat it at video editing and other things but I was thinking in terms of gaming where if you compare a phenom x4 and pentium that have same clock speed, the Pentium wins. So yes, my bad I apologize for saying 'conssitently beats it'.

For ex: 2.8GHz on both:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/405?vs=81
Pentium as quite a bit faster on all the games except Fallout 3 it is beaten by 1 fps (not sure why)

No your comparison is the simple minded case. You compare a no longer available low end Phenom to a currently available Pentium. I compared 2 chips that are currently available if you prefer try the g840 to the 980BE you still see the pentium lose out across the board and if your recommending something for gaming why recommend a pentium locked at 2.8GHz when its beaten by a Phenom at its stock speed before you even consider the phenom can be overclocked which the pentium cant. Your trying to create shock value against AMD by saying "OMG LOOK SUPER CHEAP PENTIUM BEATS AMD" but as a blind fanboi you mistakenly use data for a older AMD CPU that isn't about nowdays rather than an actual on the shelf for sale model. Should I compare Phenom II to Pentium 4 as a basis for recommending FX? Thats the same type of dumb tactic you employ.

 

[jaguarskx]

There is no official word yet as to the release date of Piledriver except that it is going to be released in either Q3 or Q4 this year so that is anywhere from July - December.

According to the following site the poster "heard" it is supposed to be Oct 17th which means Q4.

http://nicolas11x12techx.blogspot.com/2012/06/amd-piledriver-new-release-dates.html

As of yet there is no real information about performance other than AMD expects a 5% - 15% increase in performance in every new architecture release.

 

[iyzik]

If you have found a 1100T for $150 I would really think about snapping it up they are like hens teeth nowdays. Sarinade has a very good point though PD is immenent. Personlly I would take the 1100T at that price though as I have little faith in PD (hopefully they surprise me) and that way least you have a solid X6.


@pentium boy or whatever it calls itself

Of course it will beat it when you link a bench of the slowest Pentium vs the fastest Phenom x4 Black Edition. Seriously?? Do not say I pull facts out of my ass when you are linking completely unfair benchmarks.

And ok I actually will admit the Phenom does beat it at video editing and other things but I was thinking in terms of gaming where if you compare a phenom x4 and pentium that have same clock speed, the Pentium wins. So yes, my bad I apologize for saying 'conssitently beats it'.

For ex: 2.8GHz on both:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/405?vs=81
Pentium as quite a bit faster on all the games except Fallout 3 it is beaten by 1 fps (not sure why)

No your comparison is the simple minded case. You compare a no longer available low end Phenom to a currently available Pentium. I compared 2 chips that are currently available if you prefer try the g840 to the 980BE you still see the pentium lose out across the board and if your recommending something for gaming why recommend a pentium locked at 2.8GHz when its beaten by a Phenom at its stock speed before you even consider the phenom can be overclocked which the pentium cant. Your trying to create shock value against AMD by saying "OMG LOOK SUPER CHEAP PENTIUM BEATS AMD" but as a blind fanboi you mistakenly use data for a older AMD CPU that isn't about nowdays rather than an actual on the shelf for sale model. Should I compare Phenom II to Pentium 4 as a basis for recommending FX? Thats the same type of dumb tactic you employ.

I am not a fanboy or 'pentium boy' I do not even like Pentiums in terms of modern CPUs and I do not understand what you are trying to say with 'Should I compare Phenom II to Pentium 4 as a basis for recommending FX?'. All I am saying is if you compare the two processors at the same exact stock speed, no oc, the Pentium wins in gaming. Thats all Im trying to say I dont care about price I'm no cheapo, thats just all I'm tryin to say. And you are still comparing the fastest Phenom Black Edition on ther to a mid range Pentium which is not what I am saying, if you are comparing a Pentium to Phenom BE sure the Phenom BE will murder it.

 

[wr6133]

No your original post was telling somebody not to buy an AMD CPU and your basis for this was flawed data by comparing an older AMD CPU thats not available now. That would be the same as me comparing a Pentium 4 at 3 GHz to a AMD Phenom II X4 at that speed, your logic is not just flawed it full on window licking retarded. When somebody is asking about buying a new CPU you compare models that can easily be purchased now not 1 that can and one that has been out of the mainstream pipeline for a while. You intentionally skewed the results using this tactic and even then your hyberbole filled statement was incorrect. Tactics like that simply serve to misinform people that come looking for a genuine answer. If you really want to make your pentium comparison look good try comparing to a dual core athlon at least those are still easily bought

 

[iyzik]

Phenom ii x4 vs Pentium of similar speeds (not sure if this phenom is still available but anandtech does not have any of the quicker Pentiums for me to fairly compare to a phenom 955)
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/404?vs=80

And I did not say 'do not buy an AMD CPU becuase Pentiums totally rape the fastest phenom quad core black edition', please, quote where I said that. I only said that I would RECOMMEND getting an Intel system becuase they are generall much more powerful.

And it is not full on window licking retarded when I didn't even know they don't make those anymore

 

[wr6133]

but even an Intel Pentium will consistently beat a Phenom x4

Your own words

Now if your going to compare things the readily available phenom II X4's to buy now are 965's and 980's (BE) seeing as a small child can OC the 965 to 980 speeds on its stock cooler compare your pentium to the 980BE.... hell in the OP's case as gaming is not a concern compare it to just the 965

 

[iyzik]

And it does in terms of gaming at same clock speeds. I did not know they stopped making the lower end phenoms so hey u learn sometin new every day and that is where I was wrong. I apologize for saying they consistently beat a modern phenom I was wrong and I was comparing a modern Pentium to an old phenom which I did not know.
Atleast I can apologize where you were completely un called for, unecessarilly insulting, and a complete jerk.

 

[wr6133]

They have stopped making all phenoms the ones we see now are just leftovers. Anyway I suppose I should have been less militant but please in future consider your comparisons better lke you could argue that at the pricepoint the pentium does infact beat out AMD a similar costing current AMD which would be one of the lower end Llano's heck off the top of my head it probably beats out the higher end Llano's

 

[iyzik]

Yes I will do a bit more research next time I make a comparison, I just had no idea they makin em since I still see them for sale.
Anyway @craig009 I would actually also recommend a 1100T if you find one, my friend has one and it is certainly pretty beast.

 

[craig009]

Well I just hypothetically built an 1100t system and a 2700k system. Both budget. On newegg. The 1100t came out to about $540 without HD and disk drive. The k- came to about $720 without HD and disk drive. I gave each 3 gigs of ram per core, an 850 Watt Paul, and a mid range mobo with a small sad. The price difference isn't that much really.

The thing is when I'm rendering video my current CPU runs all 4 cores at 100%. Does that mean I need more cores? If that's the case my only options are 1100t x6, Zambezi x8, and i7 3930k 6 core.

What do you guys think?

 

[craig009]

I meant ssd and 850 psu

 

[craig009]

Also wanted to add that I will be using the on board graphics in case you were wondering about that price point. I don't do any gaming on my PC.

 

[Proximon]

The i7 is hyperthreaded. The two CPUs are not really comparable at all.

Which program are you using to render?

Your shopping list is unclear. You do not need anything beyond a 380W PSU for a modern system with no gaming GPU.

Instead of discussing which CPU is the best, we need to talk about which CPU is best for YOUR SOFTWARE.

 

[craig009]

Running Sony Vegas pro and some Photoshop and after effects. I have heard hyper threading does make a big difference. Especially with editing. I also am sure more cores will be better.

Sorry about the build description. I already have a desktop I'm scavenging a TB HD and DVD drive off of. The only thing left for me to get is the CPU, psu, mobo, ram, case, and small ssd. Don't need graphics card.