Cheap 4-core upgrade

blue.dot · Jun 17, 2011

I want to upgrade my current PC - with as the new CPUAMD Phenom II X4 955. I would like to OC it, so I think good MB is necessary. I wanted to buy MB with new AMD 970 chipset. But since official AMD roadmap says the next generation (Komodo) of CPU's will switch to FM socket and AM3+ will die next year, I find buying this as a waste of money (UEFI sounds great but I can live without it)? Next year I'm going on University and there I will use notebook, not my home PC.
So again, I want this cheap and I want to run BFBC2 fluently on high. My GPU is, I think, enough for my screen, only the CPU doesn't catch.
Some advice on MB+RAM? AM3 socket? Or I should buy AM3+ (I wont upgrade my PC after this for some time, and Zambezi is expensive)?
AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE will cost me ~100€, so for MB and RAM I can spend not more than 150€.
Thanks

Dent1 · Jun 18, 2011

blue.dot said:
I want to upgrade my current PC - with as the new CPUAMD Phenom II X4 955. I would like to OC it, so I think good MB is necessary. I wanted to buy MB with new AMD 970 chipset. But since official AMD roadmap says the next generation (Komodo) of CPU's will switch to FM socket and AM3+ will die next year, I find buying this as a waste of money (UEFI sounds great but I can live without it)? Next year I'm going on University and there I will use notebook, not my home PC.
So again, I want this cheap and I want to run BFBC2 fluently on high. My GPU is, I think, enough for my screen, only the CPU doesn't catch.
Some advice on MB+RAM? AM3 socket? Or I should buy AM3+ (I wont upgrade my PC after this for some time, and Zambezi is expensive)?
AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE will cost me ~100€, so for MB and RAM I can spend not more than 150€.
Thanks

Find the cheapest Athlon II X4. It's only slightly slower than the Phenom II X4 at stock and with a small overclock the Athlon II X4 can be just as fast or even faster.

Check out my spec, I max out BFBC at about 50-80 FPS @ 1440x900 (non-crossfire mode)

blue.dot · Jun 18, 2011

Thanks for reply
But the cheapest AMD Athlon II X4 640 is only slightly cheaper then PII 955. And won't be Phenom better at OC (I mean more MHz)?

Fourstaff · Jun 18, 2011

Phenom II is indeed better, the price difference is small enough to warrant the purchase of the Phenom II over the Athlon II in some cases. However, given that you will be changing your rig again next year, I strongly suggest you review whether upgrading is necessary. My train of thought tells me that you will get a new rig now, let it sit around doing nothing for the next 3+ years and then by the time you are done with higher education you will need to build a new rig from scratch again. Another alternative is to get a decent laptop now and then last through your uni.

Another alternative is to scrounge around for 2nd hand budget boards and also a budget processor to tide you over, but I understand its a bit harder to find these in Slovakia.

Mindweaver · Jun 18, 2011

I would get the pII 955 chip and a am3+ board (GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD5 AM3+ AMD 990FX around 90€ and some cheap ddr3 1600 2x2gb 50€.. and be done with it.. You're only gaming on a 19" monitor. This upgrade would last you for some time and be a huge upgrade from the 3800+.

EDIT: I was off a little on my conversion.. heheh the board above is around 132€.. so, maybe just go with a am3+ 8xx board for around 100€.

Dent1 · Jun 18, 2011

blue.dot said:
Thanks for reply
But the cheapest AMD Athlon II X4 640 is only slightly cheaper then PII 955. And won't be Phenom better at OC (I mean more MHz)?

Then get the cheaper athlon X4 620. Overclocking an Athlon II X4 is equally overclockable as a Phenom II X4 non BE.

Mindweaver · Jun 18, 2011

Dent1 said:
Then get a cheaper athlon X4 620. Overclocking a Athlon X4 id equality overclockable as a Phenom II X4 non BE.

Yea i would go with a AMD Athlon II X4 630 ($79.99 / 55.87€) they are $33 dollars cheaper then a pii 955 on newegg. I've got one and it's overclockeds to 3.4gz with cheap cooling.. I've had it crunching 24/7 for months now.

blue.dot · Jun 18, 2011

Fourstaff said:
My train of thought tells me that you will get a new rig now, let it sit around doing nothing for the next 3+ years and then by the time you are done with higher education you will need to build a new rig from scratch again.

Yes I want it just like you said now!

Fourstaff said:
Another alternative is to get a decent laptop now and then last through your uni.

I want to buy laptop next year, not now, mainly because when I buy it now, I don't think it will be enough for next 3-5 years (speaking of mid-priced).

Fourstaff said:
Another alternative is to scrounge around for 2nd hand budget boards and also a budget processor to tide you over, but I understand its a bit harder to find these in Slovakia.

Yeah, was thinking about this too. It's not hard to find/buy 2nd hand budget mobo here, but:
1) It's hard not to be scam'd/trolled :laugh:

2) I gues budget mobo is not that good for OC?

Mindweaver said:
I would get the pII 955 chip and a am3+ board (GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD5 AM3+ AMD 990FX around 90€ and some cheap ddr3 1600 2x2gb 50€.. and be done with it.. You're only gaming on a 19" monitor. This upgrade would last you for some time and be a huge upgrade from the 3800+.

EDIT: I was off a little on my conversion.. heheh the board above is around 132€.. so, maybe just go with a am3+ 8xx board for around 100€.

Yes, only a little :toast:

Dent1 said:
Then get the cheaper athlon X4 620. Overclocking an Athlon II X4 is equally overclockable as a Phenom II X4 non BE.

Mindweaver said:
Yea i would go with a AMD Athlon II X4 630 ($79.99 / 55.87€) they are $33 dollars cheaper then a pii 955 on newegg. I've got one and it's overclockeds to 3.4gz with cheap cooling.. I've had it crunching 24/7 for months now.

Hmm ok but:
1) Can't find these 620/630 here in Slovakia
- I saw some but only very limited - and - with higher price that PII 955!
2) You, people in USA/UK and other countries with big economies don't have problems with budget upgrading :rolleyes:

. But here, its sometimes really horrible. We are slowly getting there (but the future doesn't look bright).
- For example, Athlon II X4 640(there isn't lower model) is around 85€! Thats really big difference to 56€

-----------

So, I ended with this basket (can change):
- AMD Phenom II X4 955 Quad-Core BOX Black E - 95.93 €
- ASUS M5A97 PRO - 93.32 € - Out of Stock currently, but should come around 1st of July so maybe even the price will drop
- ADATA OC Gaming DDR3 1600G 4GB (2x2GB) CL9 - 38.45 €

For CPU cooling, I'll use my current AC Freezer 64 Pro
Btw, will be my 400W Fortron PSU enough for this all?

/Ah and sorry for my english if you don't understand something :banghead:

Mindweaver · Jun 18, 2011

Very nice! You can't go wrong with that upgrade. :toast:

You will notice a big improvement over your current system. That's a kickass board for the price! Dave aka "cadaveca" just did a review on that board here.

blue.dot · Jun 19, 2011

Yup I read that, the only difference between EVO and PRO are some switches and few connectors...
Will be my 400W Fortron PSU enough for this all? Thanks

blue.dot · Jun 23, 2011

What is differnet between C2 and C3 revisions of PII 955?

BarbaricSoul · Jun 23, 2011

blue.dot said:
Yup I read that, the only difference between EVO and PRO are some switches and few connectors...
Will be my 400W Fortron PSU enough for this all? Thanks

if it handled your system before, I'm pretty sure it'll handle this upgrade. The athlonII shouldnt use much more power than your 3800

HossHuge · Jun 23, 2011

blue.dot said:
What is differnet between C2 and C3 revisions of PII 955?

The C3 revision uses less power (95w vs. 125w)

blue.dot · Jun 23, 2011

Except Black Edition?

happita · Jun 23, 2011

blue.dot said:
So, I ended with this basket (can change):
- AMD Phenom II X4 955 Quad-Core BOX Black E - 95.93 €
- ASUS M5A97 PRO - 93.32 € - Out of Stock currently, but should come around 1st of July so maybe even the price will drop
- ADATA OC Gaming DDR3 1600G 4GB (2x2GB) CL9 - 38.45 €

For CPU cooling, I'll use my current AC Freezer 64 Pro
Btw, will be my 400W Fortron PSU enough for this all?

/Ah and sorry for my english if you don't understand something

If your not going to overclock at all, I think the 400w should be able to power up this system. If there are instability issues, you might have to undervolt and downclock the processor so that the PSU can handle the power delivery. But if you just want to be safe, you might have to tag on an extra expense of getting a new power supply.

blue.dot · Jun 25, 2011

What about RAM? Is there any significant performance difference between 1333MHz and 1600MHz?
Btw, which of these two would be better?
ADATA OC Gaming DDR3 1600G 4GB (2x2GB) CL9 or 4GB DDR3-1600 Kingston non-ECC CL9 HyperX XMP GreySeries 2x2GB? They both costs the same

claylomax · Jun 25, 2011

How about this one just released?: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/amd-phenom-ii-x4-quad-core-850-am3-330ghz-2mb-cache-95w-retail

Nesters · Jun 25, 2011

That one is an Athlon i believe, it doesn't have L3 cache.

blue.dot · Jun 25, 2011

claylomax said:
How about this one just released?: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/amd-phenom-ii-x4-quad-core-850-am3-330ghz-2mb-cache-95w-retail

Not available here, only 840

Nesters said:
That one is an Athlon i believe, it doesn't have L3 cache.

Yup plus costs only a few € less than 955

JrRacinFan · Jun 25, 2011

blue.dot said:
ADATA OC Gaming DDR3 1600G 4GB (2x2GB) CL9 or 4GB DDR3-1600 Kingston non-ECC CL9 HyperX XMP GreySeries 2x2GB? They both costs the same

The 1600's do help but where you will notice that help more is if you were to overclock your cpu's IMC northbridge frequency. What really really help these chips are latency mixed with bandwith for example:

1333 CL6 or 7 > 1600 CL9 at stock cpu-nb frequency.

Nesters said:
That one is an Athlon i believe, it doesn't have L3 cache.

IIRC, The 8xx series has 4MB L3 cache.

Hayder_Master · Jun 25, 2011

Agree with athelon II X4, many of my friends bulit them systems with this cpu, the 640 model can easy overclock it up to Y
3.2ghz on same voltage or a bit more.

Nesters · Jun 25, 2011

JrRacinFan said:
IIRC, The 8xx series has 4MB L3 cache.

JrRacinFan · Jun 25, 2011

Nesters said:
http://tpucdn.com/reviews/AMD/Phenom_II_X4_840/images/stock.jpg

M y bad. After looking further I remember when the chips were announced to have 4mb. Amd must have canned the thought of doing that. Winder why they are marketed as ph2 though.....

blue.dot · Jun 28, 2011

Mobo is finally available, but I still don't know which RAM to buy. Single or Dual channel? 1333 with smaller latency or 1600 with bigger latency?
If someone has time, look here. The cheaper the better, thanks

JrRacinFan · Jun 28, 2011

If Phenom II, stick with 1333 and try to get the lowest latency possible in dual channel. From the link you posted it looks like all that is available is Kingston ram anyways.

Processor	AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE C3 3.2GHz
Motherboard	ASUS M5A97 PRO AMD970/950
Cooling	CPU: AC Freezer 64 Pro / VGA: Accelero S2 + Scythe Kaze Jyu - 100 mm - 2000rpm
Memory	2x2GB Kingston HyperX DDR3 1333MHz
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte AMD Radeon HD 6850 OC 1GB GDDR5 Windforce 2X
Storage	WD Caviar Blue 160GB 7200RPM, Samsung 1TB
Display(s)	LG L1953TR Flatron 2ms 2000:1 19"
Case	Some old 3R System Mid-Tower
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	Fortron 400W PFC FSP400-60GLN
Software	Windows 7 x64 Ultimate

System Name	My baby
Processor	Athlon II X4 620 @ 3.5GHz, 1.45v, NB @ 2700Mhz, HT @ 2700Mhz - 24hr prime95 stable
Motherboard	Asus M4A785TD-V EVO
Cooling	Sonic Tower Rev 2 with 120mm Akasa attached, Akasa @ Front, Xilence Red Wing 120mm @ Rear
Memory	8 GB G.Skills 1600Mhz
Video Card(s)	ATI ASUS Crossfire 5850
Storage	Crucial MX100 SATA 2.5 SSD
Display(s)	Lenovo ThinkVision 27" (LEN P27h-10)
Case	Antec VSK 2000 Black Tower Case
Audio Device(s)	Onkyo TX-SR309 Receiver, 2x Kef Cresta 1, 1x Kef Center 20c
Power Supply	OCZ StealthXstream II 600w, 4x12v/18A, 80% efficiency.
Software	Windows 10 Professional 64-bit

Processor	AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE C3 3.2GHz
Motherboard	ASUS M5A97 PRO AMD970/950
Cooling	CPU: AC Freezer 64 Pro / VGA: Accelero S2 + Scythe Kaze Jyu - 100 mm - 2000rpm
Memory	2x2GB Kingston HyperX DDR3 1333MHz
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte AMD Radeon HD 6850 OC 1GB GDDR5 Windforce 2X
Storage	WD Caviar Blue 160GB 7200RPM, Samsung 1TB
Display(s)	LG L1953TR Flatron 2ms 2000:1 19"
Case	Some old 3R System Mid-Tower
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	Fortron 400W PFC FSP400-60GLN
Software	Windows 7 x64 Ultimate

System Name	Orange! // ItchyHands
Processor	3570K // 10400F
Motherboard	ASRock z77 Extreme4 // TUF Gaming B460M-Plus
Cooling	Stock // Stock
Memory	2x4Gb 1600Mhz CL9 Corsair XMS3 // 2x8Gb 3200 Mhz XPG D41
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Nitro+ RX 570 // Asus TUF RTX 2070
Storage	Samsung 840 250Gb // SX8200 480GB
Display(s)	LG 22EA53VQ // Philips 275M QHD
Case	NZXT Phantom 410 Black/Orange // Tecware Forge M
Power Supply	Corsair CXM500w // CM MWE 600w

System Name	Tower of Power / Delliverance
Processor	i7 14700K / i9-14900K
Motherboard	ASUS ROG Strix Z690-A Gaming WiFi D4 / Z690
Cooling	CM MasterLiquid ML360 Mirror ARGB Close-Loop AIO / Air
Memory	CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4 3600 / DDR5 2x 16gb
Video Card(s)	ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti / GeForce RTX 4080
Storage	4x Samsung 980 Pro 1TB M.2, 2x Crucial 1TB SSD / NVM3 PC801 SK hynix 1TB
Display(s)	Samsung 32" Odyssy G5 Gaming 144hz 1440p, 2x LG HDR 32" 60hz 4k / 2x LG HDR 32" 60hz 4k
Case	Phantek "400A" / Dell XPS 8960
Audio Device(s)	Realtek ALC4080 / Sound Blaster X1
Power Supply	Corsair RM Series RM750 / 750w
Mouse	Razer Deathadder V3 Hyperspeed Wireless / Glorious Gaming Model O 2 Wireless
Keyboard	Glorious GMMK with box-white switches / Keychron K6 pro with blue swithes
VR HMD	Quest 3 (512gb) + Rift S + HTC Vive + DK1
Software	Windows 11 Pro x64 / Windows 11 Pro x64
Benchmark Scores	Yes

System Name	Barb's Domain
Processor	i9 10850k 5.1GHz all cores
Motherboard	MSI MPG Z490 GAMING EDGE WIFI
Cooling	Deep Cool Assassin III
Memory	2*16gig Corsair LPX DDR4 3200
Video Card(s)	RTX 4080 FE
Storage	500gb Samsung 980 Pro M2 SSD, 500GB WD Blue SATA SSD, 2TB Seagate Hybrid SSHD
Display(s)	Dell - S3222DGM 32" 2k Curved/ASUS VP28UQG 28" 4K (ran at 2k), Sanyo 75" 4k TV
Case	SilverStone Fortress FT04
Audio Device(s)	Bose Companion II speakers, Corsair - HS70 PRO headphones
Power Supply	Corsair RM850x (2021)
Mouse	Logitech G502
Keyboard	Logitech Orion Spectrum G910
VR HMD	Oculus Quest 2
Software	Windows 10 Pro 64 bit
Benchmark Scores	https://www.3dmark.com/spy/34962882

Processor	AMD Ryzen 5 2600
Motherboard	MSI B450 Gaming Plus
Memory	GSkill 8GB Dual Channel DDR4-2800
Video Card(s)	MSI GamingX RX580 4GB
Storage	Kingston V300 240GB SSD + WD Green 2TB
Display(s)	ACER K212HL 27" + Haier 55" + Lenovo Explorer Mixed Reality Headset
Case	Enermax Ostrog (Red)
Power Supply	EVGA SuperNOVA B2 750W
Software	Win10 64bit

Processor	i5-7600k
Motherboard	ASRock Z170 Pro4
Cooling	CM Hyper 212 EVO w/ AC MX-4
Memory	2x8GB DDR4 2400 Corsair LPX Vengeance 15-15-15-36
Video Card(s)	MSI Twin Frozr 1070ti
Storage	240GB Corsair Force GT
Display(s)	23' Dell AW2310
Case	Corsair 550D
Power Supply	Seasonic SS-760XP2 Platinum
Software	Windows 10 Pro 64-bit

System Name	Jaspe
Processor	Ryzen 1500X
Motherboard	Asus ROG Strix X370-F Gaming
Cooling	Stock
Memory	16Gb Corsair 3000mhz
Video Card(s)	EVGA GTS 450
Storage	Crucial M500
Display(s)	Philips 1080 24'
Case	NZXT
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	Enermax 425W
Software	Windows 10 Pro

System Name	Snow White
Processor	Ryzen 7900x3d
Motherboard	AsRock B650E Steel Legend
Cooling	Custom Water 1x420
Memory	32GB T-Force Deltas
Video Card(s)	PowerColor 7900 XTX Liquid Devil
Storage	20+ TB
Display(s)	Sammy 49" 5k Ultrawide
Case	Tt CTE 600 Snow Edition
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	EVGA 1200W P2
Mouse	Corsair M65 RGB Elite White
Keyboard	Corsair K65 Mini
Software	Windows 10
Benchmark Scores	Avermedia Live HD2

System Name	MASTER
Processor	Core i7 3930k run at 4.4ghz
Motherboard	Asus Rampage IV extreme
Cooling	Corsair H100i
Memory	4x4G kingston hyperx beast 2400mhz
Video Card(s)	2X EVGA GTX680
Storage	2X Crusial M4 256g raid0, 1TbWD g, 2x500 WD B
Display(s)	Samsung 27' 1080P LED 3D monitior 2ms
Case	CoolerMaster Chosmos II
Audio Device(s)	Creative sound blaster X-FI Titanum champion,Creative speakers 7.1 T7900
Power Supply	Corsair 1200i, Logitch G500 Mouse, headset Corsair vengeance 1500
Software	Win7 64bit Ultimate
Benchmark Scores	3d mark 2011: testing

Cheap 4-core upgrade

New Member

New Member

Moderator

Moderato®™

Moderato®™

New Member

Moderato®™

New Member

New Member

New Member

New Member

New Member

Served 5k and counting ...

Served 5k and counting ...

New Member

Served 5k and counting ...