# AMD Phenom II X2 550 vs. AMD Phenom II X3 720



## TheMailMan78 (Jun 4, 2009)

I'm in the market for a new CPU. I want something sub $200 and able to overclock to suit my system. (See specs.) I've been debating on AMD Phenom II X2 550 or a AMD Phenom II X3 720. I use my system primarily for gaming with the occasional Photoshop. What would you guys suggest would best suit me?


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## ShadowFold (Jun 4, 2009)

550's OC higher, but the X3's got an extra core. I can tell you that it's one bad ass gaming CPU for the price.


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## TheMailMan78 (Jun 4, 2009)

ShadowFold said:


> 550's OC higher, but the X3's got an extra core. I can tell you that it's one bad ass gaming CPU for the price.



Yeah I know but very few games use more than 2 cores currently and the 550 OC like a sum bitch. 4ghz in my crossfire system sounds sexy  

I'm so confused. Now I know how Elton John felt in puberty.


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## a_ump (Jun 4, 2009)

Review PII 550 w/720
i'd go with the tri-core, it's at stock and it pretty much is ahead or in between both the PII x2 550 stock and oc'd. So oc the 720 and you should 95% percent of the time have better performance.


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## ShadowFold (Jun 4, 2009)

Gives you 2 cores for games and the 3rd is usually used by windows


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## DreamSeller (Jun 4, 2009)

id get the 720 if i had the money... but i only can afford a 550 thats going to be in my rig till end of summer


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## farlex85 (Jun 4, 2009)

i7 920


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## erocker (Jun 4, 2009)

farlex85 said:


> i7 920



Makes perfect sense. 

Get the X3 720.  You won't find a better CPU for the price.


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## farlex85 (Jun 4, 2009)

erocker said:


> Makes perfect sense.
> 
> Get the X3 720.  You won't find a better CPU for the price.



It's got the HT, the 4 cores, da 4ghz, da........

Na I agree the x3 is a stellar choice.


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## Darren (Jun 4, 2009)

From what I've read from the numerous reviews:

Both the Phenom II X2 550 and Phenom II X2 720 have similar performance - I'd get the cheapest one of the two, presuming the price difference is substantial. Even in encoding and rendering the difference is still similar!

Here in the UK the Phenom II X2 550 is a bargain at less than £80, In comparison to the X2 720 which is £120 and the E8400 which is £135 

PS.

a_ump, in that Neo Seeker review I was suprised to see the Phenom II 550 out performing the E8400 in many tasks. Interesting read indeed.


Edit 2:



scope54 said:


> someone else brought that review to my attention, and so i compared it to other reviews and saw opposite results...



Interesting. I'm going to look through the many reviews again. Be back later in a few hours with an analysis of my findings


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## stefanels (Jun 4, 2009)

Go for the X3


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## DOM (Jun 4, 2009)

Screw it. Get a AMD Phenom II X4 955.


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## cdawall (Jun 4, 2009)

wait for this to drop in price

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...tails.asp?EdpNo=4695458&csid=ITD&body=QA#tabs


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## scope54 (Jun 4, 2009)

Darren said:


> PS.
> 
> a_ump, in that Neo Seeker review I was suprised to see the Phenom II 550 out performing the E8400 in many tasks. Interesting read indeed.



someone else brought that review to my attention, and so i compared it to other reviews and saw opposite results...


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## newtekie1 (Jun 4, 2009)

No 940?  Is the DDR3 memory support really important?


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## hat (Jun 4, 2009)

You already have a tri core... the dual core would be a downgrade in some situations, the tri core is basically what you have, only a little faster... the quad core is faster and has 1 more core than what you had before. So yeah, get the 955


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## RevengE (Jun 4, 2009)

PII 720 ftw.


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## mdm-adph (Jun 4, 2009)

I'd say screw it and get one of the X4 810's.  Not much more money for an entire extra core (or two).  Not to mention they run cooler and with less power than the 9 series X4's!

However, I voted for the X3 -- just bought one of these as a present, and it's a damn good chip for a cheap, cheap price.


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## TheMailMan78 (Jun 4, 2009)

hat said:


> You already have a tri core... the dual core would be a downgrade in some situations, the tri core is basically what you have, only a little faster... the quad core is faster and has 1 more core than what you had before. So yeah, get the 955



Thats not exactly true. I'm running a Phenom 1.



newtekie1 said:


> No 940?  Is the DDR3 memory support really important?



Need BE.


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## Assassin48 (Jun 4, 2009)

TheMailMan78 said:


> Thats not exactly true. I'm running a Phenom 1.
> 
> 
> 
> Need BE.



940 is a black edition


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## TheMailMan78 (Jun 4, 2009)

Assassin48 said:


> 940 is a black edition



Damn your right. What the hell am I thinking of.


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## RevengE (Jun 4, 2009)

I really don't think you need a 955 for a gaming rig. I've had ddr3 it's really not a big deal. Get the 720 BE and use the money you save on hookers. For gaming it's more than enough.


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## TheMailMan78 (Jun 4, 2009)

What about a 940 vs a 720?


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## ShadowFold (Jun 4, 2009)

In your case I'd get a 940.. But if you ever wanna go AM3 you'd be outta luck.


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## RevengE (Jun 4, 2009)

TheMailMan78 said:


> What about a 940 vs a 720?



I had that debate with myself as well, I came to the conclusion that the 940 with bench higher due to the "4th" core, if you don't care about benching and are only gaming/web browsing the 720 wins in terms of the  price/bang for buck field.


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## Assassin48 (Jun 4, 2009)

just go with the 955 in an am2+ board then when you want to upgrade get the board and ddr3

thats a plan!


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## newtekie1 (Jun 4, 2009)

mdm-adph said:


> I'd say screw it and get one of the X4 810's.  Not much more money for an entire extra core (or two).  Not to mention they run cooler and with less power than the 9 series X4's!
> 
> However, I voted for the X3 -- just bought one of these as a present, and it's a damn good chip for a cheap, cheap price.



I would agree, go with the 810, don't know why you need a black edition.


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## ShadowFold (Jun 4, 2009)

newtekie1 said:


> I would agree, go with the 810, don't know why you need a black edition.



They have less cache and only come in at 2.6ghz(low multi too).. That's no fun! 720BE would be a lot better for gaming. He probably wants high clocks, the 810 would be hard to get to 3ghz+, I haven't seen a 720 that doesn't do at least 3.6ghz.


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## RevengE (Jun 4, 2009)

The 720BE I got does 3.7Ghz if I remember correctly.


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## enaher (Jun 4, 2009)

Under 200 id get the 940, if you want ddr3 get the 720


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## TheMailMan78 (Jun 4, 2009)

newtekie1 said:


> I would agree, go with the 810, don't know why you need a black edition.



Ill never buy another CPU that isnt a BE man. This locked multiplayer crap sucks. I have to up my FSB to get anywhere.


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## mdm-adph (Jun 4, 2009)

TheMailMan78 said:


> Ill never buy another CPU that isnt a BE man. This locked multiplayer crap sucks. I have to up my FSB to get anywhere.



I don't see why that's such a bad thing -- if your MSI board is anything like mine, you should be able to at least run 260-270MHz FSB stable.  That's more that enough to get a real high clock with a non-BE chip.  I'm guessing around 3.3 or 3.4 GHz with a X4 810, which is about all you're going to get unless you start going with a hefty cooling setup or something.


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## Darren (Jun 4, 2009)

TheMailMan78, it depends on your budget. I voted the Phenom II X2 550 but equally the Phenom II X3 720 could be the right choice. Performance wise they are about the same speed, however you currently have the X3 8650 so it seems like a backwards step going from a tri-core to a dual core even if the dual core may be faster. The most logical step would be to go for a faster tri-core or quad core.



scope54 said:


> someone else brought that review to my attention, and so i compared it to other reviews and saw opposite results...



I took another look at the Neo Seeker's review, and I'm indecisive, both the Phenom II X2 550 and E8400 perform about the same, one could not conclusively say one is better than the other, it is more or less 50/50 across the board. 

I think I may have to wait for more reviews to be released.


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## scope54 (Jun 4, 2009)

this is one where it was different: http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=721
they used an E8500

another place that links a bunch of reviews:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/01/amd-debuts-athlon-ii-x2-250-and-phenom-ii-x2-550-black-edition-c/


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## 1Kurgan1 (Jun 5, 2009)

Once again get the 720, most games do only use 3 cores, but almost all of them will use around 20% of the 3rd or 4th cores, that slightly larger OC will be combated by the 720's slight usage of that 3rd core. Not to mention, gives you a bit more room with anything you want to run on top of the game, like WMP, or something else.


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## peach1971 (Jun 11, 2009)

Today I replaced my Athlon X2 4850e with that Phenom II X2 550.

Attached are screenshots of Everest (5.02.1756 Beta) CPU benchmarks.
Now I´m gonna play a bit around with it...

Laters 


View attachment Phenom.X2.550.Everest.CPU.Bench.zip


(all @ *stock speeds*, CnQ enabled, Gigabyte MA-78G-DS3H, 2x1GB GEIL Ultra Dimm 800 4-4-4-12)

Memory Read	 6688	MB/s
Memory Write	 6357	MB/s
Memory Copy	 7861 MB/s
Memory Latency	   54.5 ns

CPU Queen	 11448
CPU PhotoWorxx  13698
CPU ZLib  41184
CPU AES  11043
FPU Julia  4160
FPU Mandel	  2684	
FPU SinJulia	  1353

CPU closeup: http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/1719/image1vio.jpg

BIOS (F7D 2009/04/14): http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/6158/copyofdsc08680.jpg

CPU-Z validation: http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=583884


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## peach1971 (Jun 11, 2009)

Now *Multiplier* is set from 15.5x *to 18x*
CPU clock speed: 3114 to *3616 MHz (+13.9%)*






(default Multi 15x: 22.266s)

Memory Read 6688 > 6842 (+2.3%)
Memory Write 6357 > 6583 (+3.6%)
Memory Copy 7861 > 7868 (+0.1%)
Memory Latency 54.5 > 59.6 (-9.4%)

CPU Queen 11448 > 13361 *(+16.7%)*
CPU PhotoWorxx 13698 > 14565 *(+6.3%)*
CPU ZLib 41184 > 47845 *(+16.2%)*
CPU AES 11043 > 12791 *(+15.8%)*
FPU Julia 4160 > 4868 *(+17.0%)*
FPU Mandel 2684 > 3143 *(+17.1%)*
FPU SinJulia 1353 > 1577 *(+16.6%)*


And I also like the temps, now running about two hours on >3.6GHz: 





BTW: I´ve paid only 87.28 EUR for that pile of 780/2=390 transistors.
Seems to be "worth a click"


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## MilkyWay (Jun 11, 2009)

get the x3 720BE its going to clock to 3.6ghz because most do and you can clock using the multi

its got the third core good for background tasks and running the OS ect

so its like your x3 just now only a little bit more efficient clock for clock and guaranteed a decent OC

hell it may go 3.8 and be good for a 24.hrs clock but it seems most do 3.6ghz on 1.4v or 1.375v sometimes


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## 1Kurgan1 (Jun 11, 2009)

MilkyWay said:


> get the x3 720BE its going to clock to 3.6ghz because most do and you can clock using the multi
> 
> its got the third core good for background tasks and running the OS ect
> 
> ...



Yeah, I doon't think I have seen a 720 yet that can't do 3.6, 3.8 seems to be pushing it, I would bet almost all of them can run 3.7 fine.


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## UltimaMachinaX (Jun 11, 2009)

Get the 720 and unlock the 4th core or get the 955 BE and oc it like i did


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## ShadowFold (Jun 11, 2009)

UltimaMachinaX said:


> Get the 720 and unlock the 4th core or get the 955 BE and oc it like i did



That doesn't work on the DKA790GX, or a lot of boards for that matter.


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## UltimaMachinaX (Jun 11, 2009)

oh,  THe ASUS board that can unlock the fourth core through ACC or whatever should be the combo he gets coupled with the 720 i think, thats what i would have done if i wasn't so mesmerized by the 790fx-gd70/PII 955 BE combo thats in my system


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## TheMailMan78 (Jun 11, 2009)

UltimaMachinaX said:


> oh,  THe ASUS board that can unlock the fourth core through ACC or whatever should be the combo he gets coupled with the 720 i think, thats what i would have done if i wasn't so mesmerized by the 790fx-gd70/PII 955 BE combo thats in my system



Nice system. You need a new GPU however.


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## Paintface (Jun 11, 2009)

720 BE

games actually seem to benefit from the third core alot compared to the dual core after reading many benchmarks.

4th core makes barely a difference.


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## 1Kurgan1 (Jun 11, 2009)

Paintface said:


> 720 BE
> 
> games actually seem to benefit from the third core alot compared to the dual core after reading many benchmarks.
> 
> 4th core makes barely a difference.



Thats probably because the 3rd core runs background processes perfectly, but a 4th core just isn't really needed for it.

But Mailman I'm wondering why put the 955 in the poll. If you do have the money for that pick it up, but if you don't no real point in putting it in there are most of the people are going to vote for that as it is more powerful (like what has happened). Also did you make a choice yet?


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## TheMailMan78 (Jun 11, 2009)

1Kurgan1 said:


> Thats probably because the 3rd core runs background processes perfectly, but a 4th core just isn't really needed for it.
> 
> But Mailman I'm wondering why put the 955 in the poll. If you do have the money for that pick it up, but if you don't no real point in putting it in there are most of the people are going to vote for that as it is more powerful (like what has happened). Also did you make a choice yet?



I like to think of myself a smart buyer. I don't buy the "best" but the best for me. Money isn't an issue.


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## r9 (Jun 11, 2009)

"Smart buyer" and "money are not the issue" don`t go well together. Who cares if 955 is  overkill go for it. What today is overkill in a day could be bottleneck in the beautiful world of PCs.


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## Paintface (Jun 11, 2009)

TheMailMan78 said:


> I like to think of myself a smart buyer. I don't buy the "best" but the best for me. Money isn't an issue.



that case 720BE is the right choice, up voltage by 0.1 , raise multiplier to get the CPU to 3.6 ghz and youll never regret buying the beast deal on the market


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## 1Kurgan1 (Jun 11, 2009)

TheMailMan78 said:


> I like to think of myself a smart buyer. I don't buy the "best" but the best for me. Money isn't an issue.





r9 said:


> "Smart buyer" and "money are not the issue" don`t go well together. Who cares if 955 is  overkill go for it. What today is overkill in a day could be bottleneck in the beautiful world of PCs.



Got to agree with r9 here, really one or the other. If you want to be a smart shopper the 720 is an awesome proc, I can attest to this, it will crush anything you toss at it and it clocks just as well as the other PII's.

But if money isn't an issue the 955 is going to be faster because the 4th core, who knows if you will be able to get more out of it though, seems all PII's regardless of start clocks have a wall around 3.8ghz, so in reality it just might not be any faster for gaming.


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## UltimaMachinaX (Jun 11, 2009)

apparently the 720s are the came arcitecture as 955 with one core disabled however only some of the chips had this architecture.  SO youll either get one that can be unlocked on the fourth core or one that had a bad fourth core and they just sold them as 720s after disabling the core.  And I do want to upgrade my GPU needs crossfire at least, but i can run QUAd crossfire on my MB.  I'd much rather have 4x 89$ hit on my bank for my hd 3870s than 4x $235.00 for 4890s.  Prob wont see too much of a performance difference btw the two setups once they're quad sli anyways.


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## UltimaMachinaX (Jun 11, 2009)

oops typed that one too fast sorry for the errors


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## UltimaMachinaX (Jun 12, 2009)

btw  with the 955 black I've gotten it up to 3.616 with stock voltage.  After that you need to increase and if you want a stable 3.9+ clock you either need water cooling or massively efficient heat sink.  I've gotten mine up to 3.997 with 205fsb and 19.5x multi with 1.5v on the CPU, however I've only tweaked these three options in the bios, a more thorough overclocking may result in a much more stable 3.997ghz environment.  Basically the 790fx-gd70 has an option in its bios to load the OS with only 25% clock then jumps it to the specified specs after the OS loads, this works for me somewhat but OCing isn't as exact a science as id like it to be


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## Evo85 (Jun 12, 2009)

Mailman, I feel your pain here. I am debating between the 720 and 550 myself. And money is somewhat of an issue for me. 

 Think I am going to take the extra little hit to my wallet though and go with the 720. For the little extra gaming power.....


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## 1Kurgan1 (Jun 12, 2009)

UltimaMachinaX said:


> apparently the 720s are the came arcitecture as 955 with one core disabled however only some of the chips had this architecture.  SO youll either get one that can be unlocked on the fourth core or one that had a bad fourth core and they just sold them as 720s after disabling the core.  And I do want to upgrade my GPU needs crossfire at least, but i can run QUAd crossfire on my MB.  I'd much rather have 4x 89$ hit on my bank for my hd 3870s than 4x $235.00 for 4890s.  Prob wont see too much of a performance difference btw the two setups once they're quad sli anyways.



All the phenom 2's are the same architecture, just some have different L3's. Only one batch of 720's are known to unlock, I have one and it doesn't unlock, at least stably. Usually they will only unlock on the low end 790GX boards though/ 

But quad CF is going to be pretty useless, after the 2nd card the gain you get is pretty minimal in gaming. That being said 4x 4890's would crush 4x 3870's, 2x 4890's might even be faster than 4x 3870's.


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## UltimaMachinaX (Jun 12, 2009)

ok cool, that clears up some things for me.  I heard that 2x 3870s are prob going to be just as fast as running quad 3870s, but how many fps do you think I would get with 2x 3870s on a game like farcry 2 with optimized settings on highest? as opposed to getting 2x 4890s?


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## 1Kurgan1 (Jun 12, 2009)

The difference will be pretty large, I couldnt say for sure though, But I have run up to 3x 3870's before and I now have a 4870x2 and it would clean the clocks of those 3x 3870's. With your processor though and 2x 3870's I would think you could run max, but I honestly wouldn't buy another 3870 if I was you. A 4850 would be a much better buy as I believe they are around $100 now, or toss up your 3870 for sale on here and pick up a 4870, the difference will be noticeable.


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## UltimaMachinaX (Jun 12, 2009)

Thanks for the advice! yeah your prob right I had to skimp on my GPU bc I overspent on the rest of my system.  What about the new Sapphire 4890 Vapor-X have you heard anythings good about that, also how would I sell my 3870 on here??? didn't know I could do that but If I can it would be awesome! btw I get like from 32-49 fps on farcry 2 currently running on the lowest settings (which are labeled high lol) but of course I want it to be faster still skips in large battles!!!!


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## Hitman.1stGame (Jun 12, 2009)

for future gaming go for more cores u can get.. (the GHz's in calculation too here)
i suggest Phenom II X4 810 @2.6GHz are close  to X3 720 in games.. and have more power on other application .
and it sub of 200$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103650&Tpk=Phenom II X4 810
but be attention  that X3 720 OC'ed better then X4 810 ..


.


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## 1Kurgan1 (Jun 13, 2009)

Hitman.1stGame said:


> for future gaming go for more cores u can get.. (the GHz's in calculation too here)
> i suggest Phenom II X4 810 @2.6GHz are close  to X3 720 in games.. and have more power on other application .
> and it sub of 200$
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103650&Tpk=Phenom II X4 810
> ...



The 810 doesn't stick with the 720 in games. I don't think there is one game on the market that uses more than 2 cores right now. The only place that extra core is going to be beneficial is outside gaming. Which is a lot of things that it could be better at if you find yourself doing them a lot. But thats at stock clocks, the 720 is a clocking beast, the 810 shouldn't be bad either, but will be harder to work with and has a cut down L3.


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## TheMailMan78 (Jun 13, 2009)

1Kurgan1 said:


> The 810 doesn't stick with the 720 in games. I don't think there is one game on the market that uses more than 2 cores right now. The only place that extra core is going to be beneficial is outside gaming. Which is a lot of things that it could be better at if you find yourself doing them a lot. But thats at stock clocks, the 720 is a clocking beast, the 810 shouldn't be bad either, but will be harder to work with and has a cut down L3.



Thats not 100% true. There are a few games out that take advantage of more than two cores. An example would be Supreme Commander.


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## 1Kurgan1 (Jun 13, 2009)

TheMailMan78 said:


> Thats not 100% true. There are a few games out that take advantage of more than two cores. An example would be Supreme Commander.



Ah, I haven't played that, does that fully use the 3rd and 4th cores though? Most games will toss about 20% load on the other 2 cores and thats all you will ever see. I would like to hear that it puts more, would be good to hear that they are figuring out how to break the 2 core barrier.


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## ShadowFold (Jun 13, 2009)

Left 4 Dead uses all three of my cores


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## TheMailMan78 (Jun 13, 2009)

1Kurgan1 said:


> Ah, I haven't played that, does that fully use the 3rd and 4th cores though? Most games will toss about 20% load on the other 2 cores and thats all you will ever see. I would like to hear that it puts more, would be good to hear that they are figuring out how to break the 2 core barrier.



It uses however many cores you have. There are other games too but I don't remember them off the top of my head.


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## 1Kurgan1 (Jun 13, 2009)

Nice, hope that trend continues.


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## TheMailMan78 (Jun 13, 2009)

Well its a dead heat between the 720 and 955. Man this is tough.


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## Cold Storm (Jun 13, 2009)

To me, with how everything is going, I'd go with the 955 myself.. Your getting a quad core chip that will allow yourself not to think down the road if you need to upgrade to that quad or not. Yeah, not a lot of games have the ability to utilize all 4 cores, or even 3 for the matter. But, to me, going with a fact that I multi task to hell and back, it a dream come true. Yeah, I haven't had the ability to play with a Tri-core monster yet, but to me, if it's a form of if you want to future proof, then go withteh quad.
This is just IMO of how I would look at it. Yes, I may be a intel person with this one rig, but I'd still recommend a AMD system to whoever likes them, or wants to go with bang for buck..

 But, like I said, this is how I would look at it if I had to chose between those two chips.


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## TheLaughingMan (Jun 13, 2009)

*Your Budget*

If it comes down to these three as a choice, it is about what you can spend on the CPU and computer as a whole.  Is this the only piece you need to upgrade?  If so and everything else in your rig will stay the same, get the 955.  If you are upgrading other stuff and your budget is tight, go with the 720 for a balance between multi-threading and performance.  Since is it better with heat than the 955, the 720 will (proven my many posts) OC much higher on the stock cooler.  The 955 has the potential, but a decent aftermarket cooler is needed.  Finally, if this is a complete build from scratch and is a budget box then you should strongly consider the 550.  While obviously not the performer in this bunch, will out class any CPU in its price range and allow you the $30 difference in it and the 720 to be spent toward something else like a step up in the GPU market.

So I guess my point is, what are you willing to spend on the CPU?  And is this the only thing you are buying?


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## UltimaMachinaX (Jun 13, 2009)

If you buy the 720 you'll be waiting and anticipating when you can/could/should have bought the 955.  Just get the 955 then you wont be longing for the better processor bc IT is the BEST (right now at least)  

BUt of course, that's just my opinion.


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## 1Kurgan1 (Jun 14, 2009)

I don't really see it that way, he's OC'd his old X3, odds are he would OC a 720, and they OC so much easier. It's going to be quiet a while till a game pushes one of these bad boys over, that is if they re teamed with a good vid card. Not saying the 955 isn't a better proc, but same architecture, that one core will help, but gens of processors rotate into uselessness usually around the sametime, yes one core will help a bit, but it will still be seen as a dated proc around the sametime as the other Black Editions from the PII lineup.


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## UltimaMachinaX (Jun 14, 2009)

Yeah, processors become obsolete overnight, hahaha it's what makes this hobby fun right?
Can a 720 be pushed to upwards of 4 ghz? with h20 probably yes, but I can push my 955 to 3997 stable on air.......with h20 the 955 can get upwards of 4ghz that's pretty cool no pun intended.


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## 1Kurgan1 (Jun 14, 2009)

I'm pretty sure the 720 has almost identical OC potential on air, maybe a bit behind, more like on par with the 940. But 3.7ghz I would think could be made stable for just about any 720 out there with a good air cooler and 1.424v - 1.456v.


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## DrPepper (Jun 14, 2009)

TheMailMan78 said:


> Yeah I know but very few games use more than 2 cores currently and the 550 OC like a sum bitch. 4ghz in my crossfire system sounds sexy
> 
> I'm so confused. Now I know how Elton John felt in puberty.



Alot of games use 3 cores these days. Some use 4 and even if it doesn't use the third core you will be better off anyway no matter what the application. I'd go with the x3 or the x4


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## CDdude55 (Jun 14, 2009)

Might as well go for the X4 if you have the money.


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## subhendu (Jun 14, 2009)

AMD Phenom II X4 955 is the best for u ....but if u have a low budget go for AMD Phenom II X3 720 and oc it to 3.7 or 3.8 ghz....don't waste money for x2


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## UltimaMachinaX (Jun 14, 2009)

the only thing that sucks about the 955 is that you've gotta push the V to 1.5 or higher to reach speeds of 4ghz+ and that:shadedshu makes it wanna melt away into nothingness.http://forums.techpowerup.com/images/smilies/shadedshun.gif


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## Assassin48 (Jun 14, 2009)

I took mine to 3.8 @ stock volts


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## TheMailMan78 (Jun 14, 2009)

Assassin48 said:


> I took mine to 3.8 @ stock volts



Yeah I hear they do that all day. I still haven't made up my mind tho. Been thinking of a 940.


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## DrPepper (Jun 14, 2009)

940BE is good since you don't need to change your ram.


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## TheMailMan78 (Jun 14, 2009)

DrPepper said:


> 940BE is good since you don't need to change your ram.



Why would I need to change my ram anyway?


----------



## werez (Jun 15, 2009)

"would you guys suggest"
The PHENOM II x2 550 really hangs in there , it`s a good mainstream CPU that delivers good performance and it`s really cheap . Since you will use your computer for gaming i am assuming that you will go for a high end video card . Well if you overclock the 550 you will get great performance increase , but remember that you can get a bigger performance increase if you overclock the 720 . I do like the 720 and i consider it a "high" end CPU for gaming , as long as you have a decent video card .  Since most of the games are GPU dependent i suggest to go for the 720 so you can gain the best performance . If you are planning to go for a mainstream video card , the x2 550 is enough , since both processors in high resolutions in  high demanding games like crysis or far cry 2 , deliver the same performance because the GPU limits performance gain . So if you go for a HD4870 512MB , you will get the same performance in high resolutions , but the 720 will give you a boost only in low resolutions with "eye candy turned off" , where you can`t really tell the difference between 100 fps and 110 fps . If you are planning to buy a GTX 275 or a GTX 260 216 sp , and probably want to overclock the card , you should go for the 720BE . Also if you are going for SLY or CROSSFIRE you should pick the 720BE . And the prices are pretty close , you can`t say 720 costs a fortune . If you noticed the AMD is doing it`s periodic price cuts , and in EU a 720BE is around 110 or less and the HD48** prices dropped with a 20% . We can find the XFX HD4870 at around 107 EUROS . So prices are falling , get the 720 and go for a high end video card so you can enjoy the games that will come in late 2009 - early 2010 like SPLIT SECOND , MAFIA II , A CREED II , and so on . Also a third core is good , so you get more future proofed . And with some luck you can unlock the 4th core , and with decent cooling you can have a really great processor for less money . So .. to sum things up : x550 for a mainstream video card . 720 BE for SLI , CROSSFIRE , Or any other high end card like GTX 260 216 , GTX 275 , HD4890 . Both processors are great value anyway .

I have the Zerotherm NIRVANA NV120 PREMIUM COOLER and the 720BE clocked at 3600 MHZ . GREAT VALUE , GREAT PERFORMANCE . Enjoy your new CPU


----------



## El_Mayo (Jun 15, 2009)

TheMailMan78 said:


> I'm so confused. Now I know how Elton John felt in puberty.



sig quoted


----------



## UltimaMachinaX (Jun 15, 2009)

the best video card ever Sapphire HD4890 Atomic Vapor-x Kills Nvidia GTX any, im buying next week, then ill be a true dragon


----------



## DrPepper (Jun 15, 2009)

UltimaMachinaX said:


> the best video card ever Sapphire HD4890 Atomic Vapor-x Kills Nvidia GTX any, im buying next week, then ill be a true dragon



Truly Irrelevant.



TheMailMan78 said:


> Why would I need to change my ram anyway?



Forgot 955 was backwards compatible. I thought you would be getting an AM3 board but you can use your current.


----------



## UltimaMachinaX (Jun 15, 2009)

not really truly irrelevant, its not like I said my system bones your system minus GPU but after i get my SAPHHIRE  HD 4890 ATOMIC VAPOR_X it will bone your system and your sisters and your moms little p3 and your dads overclocked p2!!! YOU lil INTEL FANBOY, nvidias reign is OVER SON!!(don't get mad i'm just kidding around) but you were rude


----------



## cdawall (Jun 15, 2009)

UltimaMachinaX said:


> not really truly irrelevant, its not like I said my system bones your system minus GPU but after i get my SAPHHIRE  HD 4890 ATOMIC VAPOR_X it will bone your system and your sisters and your moms little p3 and your dads overclocked p2!!! YOU lil INTEL FANBOY, nvidias reign is OVER SON!!(don't get mad i'm just kidding around) but you were rude



yea this was a bit odd of a comment.....and the 4890 still gets its ass handed to it by several cards

my opinion on all this is







thats not doable on a 720BE with air stable


----------



## UltimaMachinaX (Jun 15, 2009)

your not THINKING, the Sapphire HD 4890 ATOMIC VAPOR-X is the only GPU with 1000mhz CORE CLOCK (OCable to 1100mhz), DO your research 1 GB DDR5 ram at 1050mhx STOCK( OCABLE 200mhz) 4200 excessible, BUST IN YOUR FACE i have a 955 BE anyway ill post some screen shots i have all air cooling right now.


----------



## cdawall (Jun 15, 2009)

UltimaMachinaX said:


> your not THINKING, the Sapphire HD 4890 ATOMIC VAPOR-X is the only GPU with 1000mhz CORE CLOCK (OCable to 1100mhz), DO your research 1 GB DDR5 ram at 1050mhx STOCK( OCABLE 200mhz) 4200 excessible, BUST IN YOUR FACE i have a 955 BE anyway ill post some screen shots i have all air cooling right now.



your an idiot



cdawall said:


> got a couple of rigs i was testing unluckily a dead copy of XP cut the benchmarks short
> 
> specs:
> 
> ...





cdawall said:


> meh AMD will win it just watch
> 
> 
> 
> ...





cdawall said:


> http://img.techpowerup.org/090525/Capture015.jpg
> 
> 
> 
> ...





cdawall said:


> 1840 2.4v




and i have a 4870X2 which still smokes your card


----------



## UltimaMachinaX (Jun 15, 2009)

YEah well what if i bought 2x Sapphire Atomic VApor x in crossfire BYEBYE 4870x2


----------



## cdawall (Jun 15, 2009)

UltimaMachinaX said:


> YEah well what if i bought 2x Sapphire Atomic VApor x in crossfire BYEBYE 4870x2



i have a 4850X2 as well so your not going to win this just give up


----------



## UltimaMachinaX (Jun 15, 2009)

but was your cpu on liquid cooling, of course


----------



## cdawall (Jun 15, 2009)

UltimaMachinaX said:


> but was your cpu on liquid cooling, of course



no my cpu was on dry ice that makes no difference on you getting that cocky little foot out of your mouth. trust me of anyone on this board you will not beat me with a phenom.


----------



## UltimaMachinaX (Jun 15, 2009)

or did you just get all those off your favorite image shack hahaha


----------



## UltimaMachinaX (Jun 15, 2009)

i know your a PIMP but i still think 2x Sapphire 4890s Atomic Vapor-x would beat anything with 2 GPU at 1100mhz OC i just don't see that setup loosing anytime soon, especially if I had my rig open air in a test bed like your (if u call it that) with was that Liquid nitrogen on it? probably. but whatever its cool wit me i'd just like to see you put 2 sapphire 4890s atomic Vapor-x's in crossifre and test that shit.....


----------



## freaksavior (Jun 15, 2009)

UltimaMachinaX said:


> or did you just get all those off your favorite image shack hahaha



i took those so no, no image shack...


----------



## Assassin48 (Jun 15, 2009)

UltimaMachinaX said:


> i know your a PIMP but i still think 2x Sapphire 4890s Atomic Vapor-x would beat anything with 2 GPU at 1100mhz OC i just don't see that setup loosing anytime soon, especially if I had my rig open air in a test bed like your (if u call it that) with was that Liquid nitrogen on it? probably. but whatever its cool wit me i'd just like to see you put 2 sapphire 4890s atomic Vapor-x's in crossifre and test that shit.....



Cdawall when did you start doing Liquid Nitrogen?
LOL


----------



## cdawall (Jun 15, 2009)

UltimaMachinaX said:


> or did you just get all those off your favorite image shack hahaha



want a pic of my rig and dry ice pots?



UltimaMachinaX said:


> i know your a PIMP but i still think 2x Sapphire 4890s Atomic Vapor-x would beat anything with 2 GPU at 1100mhz OC i just don't see that setup loosing anytime soon, especially if I had my rig open air in a test bed like your (if u call it that) with was that Liquid nitrogen on it? probably. but whatever its cool wit me i'd just like to see you put 2 sapphire 4890s atomic Vapor-x's in crossifre and test that shit.....



and i still think you are acting like a 14 year old that daddy just got him a shiny new pc.

the cpu was on dry ice for the 3rd time and those are not the fastest cards out there are others that can do 1100mhz cores. esp with the k|ngp|n GPU pot i have sitting next to me



freaksavior said:


> i took those so no, no image shack...



good thing it is hosted on TPU but maybe i should sign my name to them all next time



Assassin48 said:


> Cdawall when did you start doing Liquid Nitrogen?
> LOL



well i appear to be using it to cool the DICE


----------



## Damian^ (Jun 15, 2009)

can someone delete Ultimafag's posts as they are irrelevant and a frankly, a waste of all the unlimited storage TPU provides. 

To make my post relevant:
I had the choice to pick an Intel Core 2 Duo or Quad since i had a spare P45 board but I went with the AMD 550 mainly because it was so cheap  compared to the E8*** series and cheaper than the 720 as well.  

It also performs the same as an E8500 in gaming (which is mostly what I do).

OP: Don't be fooled, just because the 720 x3 has an extra core does not mean it always performs better or vice versa


----------



## cdawall (Jun 15, 2009)

Damian^ said:


> can someone delete Ultimafag's posts as they are irrelevant and a frankly, a waste of all the unlimited storage TPU provides.
> 
> To make my post relevant:
> I had the choice to pick an Intel Core 2 Duo or Quad since i had a spare P45 board but I went with the AMD 550 mainly because it was so cheap  compared to the E8*** series and cheaper than the 720 as well.
> ...



it can help though and seeing how he already has a damn good AMD mobo intel would be a good price jump in the wrong direction


----------



## Assassin48 (Jun 15, 2009)

I would like to see him dry ice his gd70 and see what would happen


----------



## cdawall (Jun 15, 2009)

Assassin48 said:


> I would like to see him dry ice his gd70 and see what would happen



i might get that with 4x4890's on it but i haven't decided yet and i did find a source or LN2 so


----------



## Assassin48 (Jun 15, 2009)

cdawall said:


> i might get that with 4x4890's on it but i haven't decided yet and i did find a source or LN2 so



those boards die way to easy 
i have seen some well insulated boards still die

thats why i sold mine 
too big of a chance to burn it out


----------



## cdawall (Jun 15, 2009)

Assassin48 said:


> those boards die way to easy
> i have seen some well insulated boards still die
> 
> thats why i sold mine
> too big of a chance to burn it out



i dont want to drop the money on a M4A79T and i don't like the pci-e spacing on it i wish GB had a good quad pci-e board out but they don't so i have two options risk the MSI or spend the $20-50 on the asus with bad spacing


----------



## Assassin48 (Jun 15, 2009)

i would just save it for something better 
i was getting to pick one of these up but i might be going with another i7 rig


----------



## cdawall (Jun 15, 2009)

Assassin48 said:


> i would just save it for something better
> i was getting to pick one of these up but i might be going with another i7 rig
> http://www.fudzilla.com/images/stories/2009/May/General News/crosshairiiiformula.jpg



thought about it as i love my crosshair II to death but it only has 2 pci-e slots  though the lack of a pci-e lane switch means higher clocks so you win some and loose some with that lol


----------



## Assassin48 (Jun 15, 2009)

just go with the crosshair III
you wont look back again 

then get the OC station and your set.
then wait for the next x2 cards and rape the competition


----------



## cdawall (Jun 15, 2009)

Assassin48 said:


> just go with the crosshair III
> you wont look back again
> 
> then get the OC station and your set.
> then wait for the next x2 cards and rape the competition



OC station? whats wrong with the box i use?


----------



## Assassin48 (Jun 15, 2009)




----------



## cdawall (Jun 15, 2009)

Assassin48 said:


> http://www.blogcdn.com/es.engadget.com/media/2009/05/20090520-a-1.jpg



yea not happening i see those as useless

however that box would look really nice under my mobo


----------



## Assassin48 (Jun 15, 2009)

i would use this one






Gives my board a nice look


----------



## t77snapshot (Jun 15, 2009)

I would get the X3 720, but wouldn't it be worth it to throw in $50 more and get e X4 940?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103649
                                       <<< or >>>
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103471


----------



## 1Kurgan1 (Jun 15, 2009)

t77snapshot said:


> I would get the X3 720, but wouldn't it be worth it to throw in $50 more and get e X4 940?
> 
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103649
> <<< or >>>
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103471



The $50 is all in the eye of the beholder, it will give better performance, but is that worth $50 for an extra core? If you do a cost per core, 720 vs 940

720 - $139 = 46.33
940 - $189.99 = 47.49

Not a huge difference and you could say the diff is the 940 starts with higher clocks.


----------



## ShadowFold (Jun 15, 2009)

I wouldn't get a 940 at all. Get something AM3. If you're gaming, just go with the 720.


----------



## Assassin48 (Jun 15, 2009)

the way i see it, if your upgrading cpu now go with am3.


----------



## UltimaMachinaX (Jun 15, 2009)

dude cd wall is an idiot if i put two of these (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102839&Tpk=sapphire HD 4890 atomic) on my rig with DRYICE whata fag unpratical i would rule it all day long, someone gotta get my back on that especially with my MSI 790fx-gd70a nd i already got the 955 bBE i could run 4x http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102839&Tpk=sapphire HD 4890 atomic AND IT WOULD RULE, I DONT' SEE WHY CDWALL IS SO MEAN


----------



## Assassin48 (Jun 15, 2009)

UltimaMachinaX said:


> dude cd wall is an idiot if i put two of these (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102839&Tpk=sapphire HD 4890 atomic) on my rig with DRYICE whata fag unpratical i would rule it all day long, someone gotta get my back on that especially with my MSI 790fx-gd70a nd i already got the 955 bBE i could run 4x http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102839&Tpk=sapphire HD 4890 atomic AND IT WOULD RULE, I DONT' SEE WHY CDWALL IS SO MEAN



yea and with all that money you spend on 4 gpus with dry ice pot 

i could just get an i7 rig with 4 gtx 295 and rape your setup all day long

dont come in here calling people idiots if you dont know


----------



## UltimaMachinaX (Jun 15, 2009)

Assassin48 said:


> i would use this one
> 
> http://i.neoseeker.com/neo_image/166489/article/sapphirehd4890atomic/image011_thumb.jpg
> 
> Gives my board a nice look




SEE at least someone knows what the best is


----------



## UltimaMachinaX (Jun 15, 2009)

cdawall said:


> your an idiot
> 
> 
> 
> ...



He called me one first, but whatev, i see how it is on here pick on the noobs when my system isn't any worse than yalls


----------



## Assassin48 (Jun 15, 2009)

UltimaMachinaX said:


> SEE at least someone knows what the best is



i would use that box under my asus board LOL

you should really read post before posting nonsense


----------



## UltimaMachinaX (Jun 15, 2009)

and i would use four of them on mu MSI 790fx-gd70 so who would win?


----------



## Assassin48 (Jun 15, 2009)

UltimaMachinaX said:


> not really truly irrelevant, its not like I said my system bones your system minus GPU but after i get my SAPHHIRE  HD 4890 ATOMIC VAPOR_X it will bone your system and your sisters and your moms little p3 and your dads overclocked p2!!! YOU lil INTEL FANBOY, nvidias reign is OVER SON!!(don't get mad i'm just kidding around) but you were rude





UltimaMachinaX said:


> your not THINKING, the Sapphire HD 4890 ATOMIC VAPOR-X is the only GPU with 1000mhz CORE CLOCK (OCable to 1100mhz), DO your research 1 GB DDR5 ram at 1050mhx STOCK( OCABLE 200mhz) 4200 excessible, BUST IN YOUR FACE i have a 955 BE anyway ill post some screen shots i have all air cooling right now.





UltimaMachinaX said:


> He called me one first, but whatev, i see how it is on here pick on the noobs when my system isn't any worse than yalls




if you want to start blame on who started first it was you 

and 4 gtx 295 WOULD beat your 4890s 
really

i HATE people who come in here thinking they know everything and start talking there mouth


----------



## UltimaMachinaX (Jun 15, 2009)

really, even at 1100mhz clock on all four and my 955 ocd to 4.2


----------



## Assassin48 (Jun 15, 2009)

UltimaMachinaX said:


> really, even at 1100mhz clock on all four and my 955 ocd to 4.2



yes with my i7 920 @ 4.2 HT on 

you should really read about the components you have then start a war you will lose


----------



## UltimaMachinaX (Jun 15, 2009)

DrPepper said:


> Truly Irrelevant.
> 
> 
> 
> Forgot 955 was backwards compatible. I thought you would be getting an AM3 board but you can use your current.



actually he called me irrelevant first.


----------



## Assassin48 (Jun 15, 2009)

UltimaMachinaX said:


> the best video card ever Sapphire HD4890 Atomic Vapor-x Kills Nvidia GTX any, im buying next week, then ill be a true dragon





UltimaMachinaX said:


> actually he called me irrelevant first.



you post something that dosent belong here 
he states what cpu he wants and you bring up gpus?

I think you should just quick now and stop posting and start reading


----------



## UltimaMachinaX (Jun 15, 2009)

i have read plenty you patronizing asshole and the highest lvl DRAGON Platform will beat the i7 GTX  its been proven, BESIDES AMD kills I7 AMD HAS THE WORLD RECORD BENCHMARK USED WITH LIQUID HELIUM, I7 WOULD FUCKING CRACK AT THAT TEMP. INtel fanboys gotta love em, but not really, if you don;t believe me do some research that's what the internet is for besides jacking off to the the i7 sticker on you shitty ass case fuck all im OUT, you all should love me bc im the Donkey slanging OCr and these bitches are all HATERS. especially PNsmall and ASSFAGGIN69


----------



## Assassin48 (Jun 15, 2009)

hahaha
you call me intel fanboy 
yet i have the same setup as you HAHAHAHA

you should read FIRST then talk


----------



## UltimaMachinaX (Jun 15, 2009)

Assassin48 said:


> yes with my i7 920 @ 4.2 HT on
> 
> you should really read about the components you have then start a war you will lose



well what the fuck is this then ASSFAGGIN


----------



## Assassin48 (Jun 15, 2009)

i cant have 2 computers now?

wow

you should also look at my sig really look


----------



## UltimaMachinaX (Jun 15, 2009)

oh yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh why don't you make up another one that runs at 7.1ghz with liquid helium next week then youll be SOOO much better eveyrone else, you ass


----------



## Assassin48 (Jun 15, 2009)

I am sorry for going off subject OP

my vote is for 955 because of future proofing in case you want to go am3 later on in the future


----------



## sneekypeet (Jun 15, 2009)

Stop it now fellas. This isnt a place to have a slap fight, pull hair, or call names. Act civil to each other or there will be more action taken. I promise


----------



## UltimaMachinaX (Jun 15, 2009)

i sorry i just was talking about a cool new gpu and got told it was irrelevant it pissed me off my i'm over it i was talking about a good system to go with either the 720 to unlock the third core if your lucky before and didn't think my GPU comment was that out of line, whatev

Then i was told to read more or some shit like this guys a jesus in the flesh, im uploading pics now peace out


----------



## UltimaMachinaX (Jun 15, 2009)

CHECK THESE OUT maybe he wont think I'm such and IDOT anymore, i got this on my air system.


----------



## UltimaMachinaX (Jun 15, 2009)




----------



## Athlon2K15 (Jun 15, 2009)

why your ram timings suck so bad?


----------



## Assassin48 (Jun 15, 2009)

AthlonX2 said:


> why your ram timings suck so bad?



dont go there 

just let it be

OP did you get the cpu yet?


----------



## UltimaMachinaX (Jun 15, 2009)

do you guys offer help or just act like pretentious assholes all the time, what ram timings should i have


----------



## Athlon2K15 (Jun 15, 2009)

im just trying to help man,pointing out that your timings are high IMHO


----------



## Chicken Patty (Jun 15, 2009)

TheMailMan78 said:


> I'm in the market for a new CPU. I want something sub $200 and able to overclock to suit my system. (See specs.) I've been debating on AMD Phenom II X2 550 or a AMD Phenom II X3 720. I use my system primarily for gaming with the occasional Photoshop. What would you guys suggest would best suit me?



Hola señor.  I suggest getting the 720.  I would just think that a tri core will provide slightly better performance while gaming and your usual daily usage.  Just my two cents.


----------



## DrPepper (Jun 15, 2009)

wth happened to this thread last night  

Anyway manofthemail78 what cpu are you getting or going to get ?.


----------



## cdawall (Jun 15, 2009)

UltimaMachinaX said:


> CHECK THESE OUT maybe he wont think I'm such and IDOT anymore, i got this on my air system.
> 
> [url]http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/5408/screenhunter01apr270019.th.gif[/URL]
> [url]http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/2503/img1462c.th.jpg[/URL]
> ...




i did that more than a month ago



cdawall said:


> 4ghz stock volts!





UltimaMachinaX said:


> i have read plenty you patronizing asshole and the highest lvl DRAGON Platform will beat the i7 GTX  its been proven, BESIDES AMD kills I7 AMD HAS THE WORLD RECORD BENCHMARK USED WITH LIQUID HELIUM, I7 WOULD FUCKING CRACK AT THAT TEMP. INtel fanboys gotta love em, but not really, if you don;t believe me do some research that's what the internet is for besides jacking off to the the i7 sticker on you shitty ass case fuck all im OUT, you all should love me bc im the Donkey slanging OCr and these bitches are all HATERS. especially PNsmall and ASSFAGGIN69



and AMD hasn't got any of the WR's in anything but fastest quad right now intel has every 3Dmark bench there is


----------



## TheMailMan78 (Jun 15, 2009)

DrPepper said:


> wth happened to this thread last night
> 
> Anyway manofthemail78 what cpu are you getting or going to get ?.



No nothing yet. Fathers day is this weekend so Ill decide then. Also I'm depressed I missed all the fireworks with UltimaMachinaX. The flame banter must have been a riot to see realtime. Plus I wonder how much the mods had to clean up. 

To be honest I wish it was Dan that got involed instead of Sneekypete. Dan always cuts them down to size and THEN bans them  Petes to nice. He gives warnings and shit. Anyway I'm sorry my thread attracted such people. I bring out the best in people I guess.

On topic what do you think is faster? A 940BE or a 720BE. I ask because the caches are different.


----------



## Assassin48 (Jun 15, 2009)

this is what i would do go here

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=HDZ955FBBX
and use this little code SIZZLE15 for $15 off
244-15 = 229 w/free shipping

I think its a no contest now


----------



## Darren (Jun 15, 2009)

TheMailMan78 said:


> No nothing yet. Fathers day is this weekend so Ill decide then. Also I'm depressed I missed all the fireworks with UltimaMachinaX. The flame banter must have been a riot to see realtime. Plus I wonder how much the mods had to clean up.
> 
> To be honest I wish it was Dan that got involed instead of Sneekypete. Dan always cuts them down to size and THEN bans them  Petes to nice. He gives warnings and shit. Anyway I'm sorry my thread attracted such people. I bring out the best in people I guess.
> 
> On topic what do you think is faster? A 940BE or a 720BE. I ask because the caches are different.



Realistically, in raw performance they are about the same speeds as they share similar architectures. The 940 BE would appear faster overall due to it being clocked 200 MHz higher and the extra core which will help performance in specially optimised multi-threaded applications however in games the Phenom II 720 BE is faster. They both overclock well so I'd get the cheapest of the two. 

Considering that the 720 BE supports both AM2 and AM3 it is the better of the two alternatives if you plan on keeping the processor once you move to an native AM3 motherboard.

PS also take note of the new "Phenom II X3 705e" and "Phenom II X4 900e". The *e *is for energy efficiency apparently.


----------



## erocker (Jun 15, 2009)

cdawall said:


> i did that more than a month ago
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Don't care.  Member is banned, let it go unless you want to join him. Anything else that isn't on topic or doesn't follow the rules is going to result in me having to do more moderation.


----------



## t77snapshot (Jun 16, 2009)

What are the odds of getting a Phenom X3 from the batch of chips that are able to unlock the 4th core?


----------



## TheMailMan78 (Jun 17, 2009)

Well now its between a 940 and a 720. The only thing that has be concerned is the caches. Also DDR3 is of no concern to me so please do not take this into consideration.


----------



## mdm-adph (Jun 17, 2009)

TheMailMan78 said:


> Well now its between a 940 and a 720. The only thing that has be concerned is the caches. Also DDR3 is of no concern to me so please do not take this into consideration.



Well, now the only question is that of price, since you're still not going to see much more of a advantage with 4-cores than you are with 3, unless you're doing tons of video transcoding or something.


----------



## TheMailMan78 (Jun 17, 2009)

mdm-adph said:


> Well, now the only question is that of price, since you're still not going to see much more of a advantage with 4-cores than you are with 3, unless you're doing tons of video transcoding or something.



Well some games are going to be multi-threaded. The tech5 engine for example. Also I use this PC for heavy Photoshop and Illustrator work.


----------



## mdm-adph (Jun 17, 2009)

TheMailMan78 said:


> Well some games are going to be multi-threaded. The tech5 engine for example. Also I use this PC for heavy Photoshop and Illustrator work.



Well, price, then.  Either way, go ahead and buy something, jeebus.


----------



## TheMailMan78 (Jun 17, 2009)

mdm-adph said:


> Well, price, then.  Either way, go ahead and buy something, jeebus.



Shut up you socialist bastard! I need to know! Will the cache make any real difference?


----------



## TheLaughingMan (Jun 17, 2009)

Yes, the cache makes a difference, but not enough to matter between a 720 and 940 (which is what you are down to if I am not mistaken).  If you do a lot of photo editing work, then the 4th core will help a great deal with file converting because Photoshop is multi-threaded very well.  While some games are multi-threaded, its performance is like 85% your graphics card.  The frame rate difference is not noticable going from 3 cores to 4.


----------



## mdm-adph (Jun 17, 2009)

TheMailMan78 said:


> Shut up you socialist bastard! I need to know! Will the cache make any real difference?





It certainly will.  Your wallet will have less of your God -- sorry, I mean your money inside it.

Seriously, other than that -- no, the extra 512 KB of cache won't make much difference.


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## TheMailMan78 (Jun 17, 2009)

So other than the DDR3 capability there's no real advantage. I figured by the time I need to upgrade my board Ill need a new CPU anyway. Thats why DDR3 isn't a concern.....yet. Out of curiosity where would the extra cache make a difference? No spun commie answers. I need Fox facts.


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## erocker (Jun 17, 2009)

C'mon man!  There's plenty of reviews out there.  Get the 720BE already!!


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## 1Kurgan1 (Jun 18, 2009)

TheMailMan78 said:


> So other than the DDR3 capability there's no real advantage. I figured by the time I need to upgrade my board Ill need a new CPU anyway. Thats why DDR3 isn't a concern.....yet. Out of curiosity where would the extra cache make a difference? No spun commie answers. I need Fox facts.



Gaming, here's some chartage, looked at the 710 vs the 810, since they have the same clock. Yes the 710 is missing a core and even games not setup for 4 cores will use a bit of 3 and 4, but even that extra core still looses out to the extra 2MB L3.







Even the 710 beats the 910 here.... 






I can't find a ton of other 710 benches as thats the fair thing to compare since the same clocks, but the 720 cleans clock pretty well on the 810's. The quad like said will be better for photoshop and such, but really my 720 rips that up, unlike the freaking macs at my college  Also on the plus side look what 200mhz does for the 720, 5fps more in 1st bench and 3 more in the 2nd, thats really nice. And like erocker said, just get it, the thing is dirt cheap at $139, can't go wrong, not like something way more. I refuse to get rid of my 4870x2 because I put down $500 on it and could maybe get $250 now, but for $140 I spent on the 720 maybe I will use it as a coaster for my drinks, be a screaming fast coaster.


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## TheMailMan78 (Jun 18, 2009)

Well Ive decided I'm going with........................................................................................720


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## Chicken Patty (Jun 18, 2009)

TheMailMan78 said:


> Well Ive decided I'm going with........................................................................................720



good choice


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## MohawkAngel (Aug 10, 2009)

I just bought a Phenom 2 X2 socket AM3 at 3.1gigs and was able to overclock to 4.05gigs


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## Chicken Patty (Aug 10, 2009)

MohawkAngel said:


> I just bought a Phenom 2 X2 socket AM3 at 3.1gigs and was able to overclock to 4.05gigs



any screenshots or some settings you would like to share with the crowd?

Any benchmarks?  was it stable?


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## Zubasa (Aug 10, 2009)

mdm-adph said:


> I don't see why that's such a bad thing -- if your MSI board is anything like mine, you should be able to at least run 260-270MHz FSB stable.  That's more that enough to get a real high clock with a non-BE chip.  I'm guessing around 3.3 or 3.4 GHz with a X4 810, which is about all you're going to get unless you start going with a hefty cooling setup or something.


The Phenom II 810 comes with a 13x multi I don't see any problem either. 
My board can run stable on a 320 FSB without extra cooling and 320*13 = 4160 Mhz its likely more than the CPU can take on air anyways.

The L3 Cache hardly makes a difference, and in fact this is where the ACC fun comes in. 
There really isn't that many chips with 4 intact core and L1+L2 but a faulty L3 cache.
The chance of unlocking the L3 is actually really good.


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## MohawkAngel (Aug 10, 2009)

Chicken Patty said:


> any screenshots or some settings you would like to share with the crowd?
> 
> Any benchmarks?  was it stable?




No i dont have everything is setted automatically in my bios i jsut upgradedthe number from 200 to 265...dont remember what the hell it means but it did lol 
Motherboard somewhat good for overclcokers and as it overclock the ram automatically also then i passed from 800mhz ddr2 to 1150mhz


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## Chicken Patty (Aug 11, 2009)

MohawkAngel said:


> No i dont have everything is setted automatically in my bios i jsut upgradedthe number from 200 to 265...dont remember what the hell it means but it did lol
> Motherboard somewhat good for overclcokers and as it overclock the ram automatically also then i passed from 800mhz ddr2 to 1150mhz



so you upped the bus speed and thats it?  The motherboard did everything else?


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## Wile E (Aug 11, 2009)

Chicken Patty said:


> so you upped the bus speed and thats it?  The motherboard did everything else?



Man, I bet the volts are cranking.

@Mohawk - You need to learn more about clocking. You need to know what voltages your cpu is running at, and the temps, and everything else. Most Phenoms do not hit 4GHz stable at safe voltages.


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## 1Kurgan1 (Aug 11, 2009)

Yeah, 4ghz without knowing what anything means scares me. Granted it is a dual core, but still, 4ghz is pretty hard, especially I'm assuming on air and a stock cooler?


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## snyderrich (Aug 11, 2009)

Originally posted by: snyderrich 
Sorry to use someone elses post, but I too am doing a build and need some thoughts...I have $500 to spend and here's what I've chosen so far........................PSU: Antec EA650......RAM: Kingston 2x2Gb 1066MHz.......CPU:AMD Phenom 2X3 tricore(heard it had good overclocking results)I believe its a black edition 770?......Mobo: ECS Black GF8200A......Video Card: HIS Radeon 4850 1Gb 256Mb Q cooler included(also heard of this card being overclocked with success.........Well fella's what do you think and can I improve this with the same budget? Oh btw...Price total from Newegg.com like $450... Thanx in advance....PS already have case, dvdr, and hd only need PSU CPU Mobo and RAM Well decided to go with this http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814161245 http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817371015 http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?ItemList=Combo.234483 http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?ItemList=Combo.234024 Any comments???


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## MohawkAngel (Aug 11, 2009)

Everything adjust automatically when ou change bus speed...fan speed change, ram change, cpu controls change ..everything   go to see on Asus website for my mothrboard youll understand


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## Wile E (Aug 11, 2009)

MohawkAngel said:


> Everything adjust automatically when ou change bus speed...fan speed change, ram change, cpu controls change ..everything   go to see on Asus website for my mothrboard youll understand



That doesn't mean it changes everything to good settings. Automatic voltage settings are almost always higher than they should be. If you don't monitor voltage and temps, you can kill your mobo and cpu, even on auto settings, and even on your mobo, and especially on the stock heatsink. I would bet money your overclock is unsafe.


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## Chicken Patty (Aug 11, 2009)

Wile E said:


> That doesn't mean it changes everything to good settings. Automatic voltage settings are almost always higher than they should be. If you don't monitor voltage and temps, you an kill your mobo and cpu, even on auto settings.



Auto is great for beginners and for very mild overclocks.  Once you start to clock high, AUTO is a no go.  I suggest trying to do some reading and research, and setting voltages yourself mohawk.  For the sake of your components.


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## Wile E (Aug 11, 2009)

Chicken Patty said:


> Auto is great for beginners and for very mild overclocks.  Once you start to clock high, AUTO is a no go.  I suggest trying to do some reading and research, and setting voltages yourself mohawk.  For the sake of your components.



Yeah, especially since he's on auto at 4GHz, on the stock cooler. I'm willing to bet that it's not safe.


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## boomstik360 (Aug 11, 2009)

MohawkAngel said:


> Everything adjust automatically when ou change bus speed...fan speed change, ram change, cpu controls change ..everything   go to see on Asus website for my mothrboard youll understand



 :shadedshu

Yeah this can't be good.


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## 1Kurgan1 (Aug 11, 2009)

MohawkAngel said:


> Everything adjust automatically when ou change bus speed...fan speed change, ram change, cpu controls change ..everything   go to see on Asus website for my mothrboard youll understand



http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=103

Give Prime95 a shot and see how stable it is. I have my 720 under watercooling and I can't break 3.8ghz even manually tweaking bios settings. 4ghz is a massive OC like said the auto adjustments can really only get you so far. Just a good idea to check your stability.


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## Chicken Patty (Aug 11, 2009)

yeah, I hope the dude don't think we are bashing him, but seriously, don't think it is safe


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## Zubasa (Aug 11, 2009)

MohawkAngel said:


> Everything adjust automatically when ou change bus speed...fan speed change, ram change, cpu controls change ..everything   go to see on Asus website for my mothrboard youll understand


We are telling you to check the settings because I know that the Asus Bios is crazy enough to put 1.65+V to your CPU on auto. :shadedshu
That is an awful lot of volts for any 45nm procs there.


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## MohawkAngel (Aug 11, 2009)

The voltage always remains the same 1.328volt  For now ive overclocked only to 3.720 gigs but tomorrow ill do the test as i did 2 days ago. As you can see my DDR2 800mhz also overclocked to 960mhz.Its only a beginnign but it could give you an idea. For now cpu temperature is at 38 celcius and motherboard at 40 celcius
http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=648138


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## Zubasa (Aug 11, 2009)

Well this is my concern....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoQsomMAuy8
This guy's Asus board is always saying 1.3x volts in windows but the bios hardware moniter says its running 1.65+ volts.

It your voltage is correct then grats you have a good OC.


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## Lionheart (Aug 11, 2009)

if it was me, I'd go for the X4 965 when it comes out hehehehe!!!


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## MohawkAngel (Aug 11, 2009)

With that board the max i can go is AM3 socket processor up to 145 watts. 8 gigs of pc6400 ddr2 800mhz on four slots or 4 gigs of ddr2 1066mhz on 2 slots due to chipset limitation. http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=L8sWyNMUTe1HHyAc&templete=2


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## 1Kurgan1 (Aug 11, 2009)

MohawkAngel said:


> The voltage always remains the same 1.328volt



Here's the issue with that, that is 1 notch above factory voltage. Vdroop isn't the only thing to worry about, giving the processor the correct amount of voltage is the other thing. For me to run my 720 at 3.7ghz it requires at least 1.425v and depending on room temp, might require a bit more to be stable. Did you run Prime 95? A CPU-Z validation doesn't prove stability. You really need to put some stress on that, run Prime 95 for even an hour, see what happens. With a stock cooler and that low of volts, you could possibly have the best 550 ever made if it really is stable, but I just can't see it being stable.


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## MohawkAngel (Aug 11, 2009)

No problem ill do the test tomorrow...i thin ktht the stepping model is good but not sure ill have tp check the production history of the 550


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## 1Kurgan1 (Aug 11, 2009)

Better to be safe then sorry, if that thing comes back stable, I might crap my pants. You could probably unload it for more than the brand new buying price as it would be a massively binned chip.


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## MohawkAngel (Aug 11, 2009)

in th bios specs .... 39 celcius for the cpu , 1.328 volts and 2732 rpm for the stock fan on the stock heatsink at the specs above overclocked


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## Chicken Patty (Aug 11, 2009)

i agree, if that setup is stable,  to your CPU


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## DrPepper (Aug 11, 2009)

Chicken Patty said:


> i agree, if that setup is stable,  to your CPU



Yeah if its stable at 4ghz on the stock heatsink its


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## MohawkAngel (Aug 11, 2009)

*New specs*

http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=649311

tested it again look


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## DrPepper (Aug 11, 2009)

There's no way thats on stock cooling.


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## MohawkAngel (Aug 11, 2009)

this is yes
Dont believe me if you dont want


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## DrPepper (Aug 11, 2009)

MohawkAngel said:


> this is yes
> Dont believe me if you dont want



It's hard to believe unless they sent you a water cooling loop for a stock cooler. I mean the stock cooler is pretty basic at best. Can you get a picture of it ?


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## Chicken Patty (Aug 11, 2009)

its possible on stock cooler, I did 4ghz on stock cooler on my 940.  boot into windows.   raise the clock and voltage, validate, and then it crashes 

what load does the cpu take to validate,  3% usage?.  Come on.  stock cooler, any load will make temps skyrocket at that clock.


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## MohawkAngel (Aug 11, 2009)

im trying to post the picture


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## MohawkAngel (Aug 11, 2009)




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## DrPepper (Aug 11, 2009)

Christ thats totally crazy 4ghz on a stock cooler


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## Chicken Patty (Aug 11, 2009)

yep thats stock cooler alright.


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## Chicken Patty (Aug 11, 2009)

DrPepper said:


> Christ thats totally crazy 4ghz on a stock cooler



dude its just a validation


look, done on a quadcore, stock cooler.

http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=530713


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## DrPepper (Aug 11, 2009)

Chicken Patty said:


> dude its just a validation
> 
> 
> look, done on a quadcore, stock cooler.
> ...



I know its a validation but still its crazy to attempt it on a stock cooler.


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## MohawkAngel (Aug 11, 2009)

pictures posted look up


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## suraswami (Aug 11, 2009)

MohawkAngel said:


> pictures posted look up



nice OC there.  one quick suggestion, may be you can route that main power ATX cable somewhere else so it won't block the CPU Mosfet area and gets some cooling?


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## 1Kurgan1 (Aug 11, 2009)

MohawkAngel said:


> pictures posted look up



Post a Prime95 screenshot, I can validate my 720 at 4ghz, but it isn't stable at anything over 3.8, even 3.8 itself is only stable for maybe 20min. Validation is for world records, push it to the brink, get the screen, then comp crashes. Not saying yours is crashing, but checking idle temps in bios, when you most likely have CnQ on, would ramp down your speed of your proc and make it run chilly when your doing nothing, which is why it also seems stable in Windows. 

But I am willing to bet 20 monopoly dollars that when you game for a while on it, or Prime test it, it isn't going to hold, and your temps will go through the ceiling.



Chicken Patty said:


> dude its just a validation
> 
> 
> look, done on a quadcore, stock cooler.
> ...



And the difference between yours and his is, you didn't just auto clock it  I'm not trying to be mean, but I just guarantee that his isn't stable for even 5min.


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## MohawkAngel (Aug 11, 2009)

suraswami said:


> nice OC there.  one quick suggestion, may be you can route that main power ATX cable somewhere else so it won't block the CPU Mosfet area and gets some cooling?



dont need to do it i get my air outside form the RAM air tube on the side panel and afterward the big ass fan on the bakc suck the hot air. Its a micro ATX case


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## suraswami (Aug 11, 2009)

MohawkAngel said:


> dont need to do it i get my air outside form the RAM air tube on the side panel and afterward the big ass fan on the bakc suck the hot air. Its a micro ATX case



sure, but you are still blocking that area with a fat wire


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## MohawkAngel (Aug 11, 2009)

yes thats what i do to my girlfriend sometimes


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## DrPepper (Aug 12, 2009)

MohawkAngel said:


> Its a micro ATX case



Actually its ATX tower  If it was matx your mobo would be tiny.


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## Chicken Patty (Aug 12, 2009)

1Kurgan1 said:


> Post a Prime95 screenshot, I can validate my 720 at 4ghz, but it isn't stable at anything over 3.8, even 3.8 itself is only stable for maybe 20min. Validation is for world records, push it to the brink, get the screen, then comp crashes. Not saying yours is crashing, but checking idle temps in bios, when you most likely have CnQ on, would ramp down your speed of your proc and make it run chilly when your doing nothing, which is why it also seems stable in Windows.
> 
> But I am willing to bet 20 monopoly dollars that when you game for a while on it, or Prime test it, it isn't going to hold, and your temps will go through the ceiling.
> 
> ...



i wasnt stable neither, crashed very soon after validation.  the highest I treid stable after I dropped in a cooler was 3.8 Ghz 1.425v crunching 24/7 for about a week.  I sold the rig after that.


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## MohawkAngel (Aug 12, 2009)

no man ..ATX is old style motherboard  Micro-atx is like me 9.6 X 9.6 inches and you are talkign aout mini atx and pico atx


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## 1Kurgan1 (Aug 12, 2009)

Chicken Patty said:


> i wasnt stable neither, crashed very soon after validation.  the highest I treid stable after I dropped in a cooler was 3.8 Ghz 1.425v crunching 24/7 for about a week.  I sold the rig after that.



Yeah I figured yours wasn't stable either, I just can't see that high on the stock cooler. But my asking for a Prime95 screenshot has been ignored, so I figure it just isn't stable.


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## IINexusII (Aug 12, 2009)

i wanna see some temps, i think an open of 3 windows explorer windows will be enough of a benchmark


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## Chicken Patty (Aug 12, 2009)

MohawkAngel said:


> no man ..ATX is old style motherboard  Micro-atx is like me 9.6 X 9.6 inches and you are talkign aout mini atx and pico atx



no matter how much air it sucks in, you still have the cable on top of the mosfet.  Meaning, air don't hit the mosfets as it should.  Forget it it can be atx xta or axt.   Cable is still there.  We just giving a little tip dude.  Nothing else


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## suraswami (Aug 12, 2009)

Chicken Patty said:


> no matter how much air it sucks in, you still have the cable on top of the mosfet.  Meaning, air don't hit the mosfets as it should.  Forget it it can be atx xta or axt.   Cable is still there.  We just giving a little tip dude.  Nothing else



why can't I hit Thanks twice


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## Chicken Patty (Aug 12, 2009)

suraswami said:


> why can't I hit Thanks twice



because after the first time, it dissappears! damn


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## TheMailMan78 (Aug 12, 2009)

Oh hell I can hit 4Ghz all day. Not stable however


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## Wile E (Aug 12, 2009)

MohawkAngel said:


> http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=649311
> 
> tested it again look



There's no way that's stable.

Download OCCT: http://www.ocbase.com/download.php?fileext=exe

Install it

Run the CPU:linpack test on default settings.

If it passes an hour, I'll believe it's stable. Until then, it's not a stable clock.

I am willing to bet money it is NOT stable. OCCT will crash, the PC will bluescreen, or it will thermal shutdown.


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