# AMD AM3 processor for a Athlon 64 upgrade



## jw5749 (Aug 18, 2011)

Hi, how are you, I'm new ti this community and new at building my own pc. I need some advice on getting the right AM3 processor, I'm thinking either the Phenom II X 2 555 unlocked BE or Phenom II X4 955 Unlocked BE.

One major reason for the 555 Unlocked BE is its performance is like a Phenom II X4 but for a lower price. (if I'm correct, but I'm not into gaming too much. I don't know if this consideration is necessary) I just like to edit music and watch on-line movies a lot. If there's any input to help me finish my project, I'm very appreciated.

System:
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2P
RAM: Corsair 4GB X 2 DDR3
Processor: pending on either Phenom II X2 555 Unlocked BE or Phenom II X 4 955 Unlocked BE (according to my need)
GPU: XFX GeForce 8600 GT 512 MB DDR2
Power Supply: either Cooler Master or Themaltake ATX 600W or higher?
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Extreme SB0820
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
HHD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 160 GB for C drive
        Samsung HD753LJ 7200 rpm/32m 750GB SATA/3GBs
(anything else if I missed?)

Thanks!


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## xBruce88x (Aug 18, 2011)

what software do you use for editing music? you probably wont need a 600w psu unless you plan to get a higher spec gpu. a decent 400w will probably power all of that just fine.

are these all components you already have or are looking to buy? if you haven't bought them... may i suggest an AMD A6-3650 APU setup.


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## JrRacinFan (Aug 18, 2011)

xBruce88x said:


> . may i suggest an AMD A6-3650 APU setup.



Go this route. The IGP on the cpu is about trice as good as the 8600GT and only a little more expensive than the X2 555 but yet performs quite the same. Just a tad touch slower but 4 core, nothing really going to be noticeable to the naked eye but will be able to multitask a little better.

If you do go the FM1 route, look at the fastest ram you can get preferably as close to 1866mhz as you can. Also, would only need a branded 400-500W power supply. Everything else in the build looks keen.


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## Red_Machine (Aug 18, 2011)

jw5749 said:


> One major reason for the 555 Unlocked BE is its performance is like a Phenom II X4 but for a lower price.



No.  The 555 is a dual-core and the 955 is a quad-core.  MAJOR difference.


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## jw5749 (Aug 18, 2011)

Hi, thanks for all the input. I accidently bought a Zalman ZM 450-US 450W PSU and the software for music is Wave,not for pros. and I guess I can keep the psu, just go check about the APU that you mentioned or just the 255 will do all I need. But for the budget, a $20-$30 difference is ok. 

By the way. my monitor is a Samsung SyncMaster 940 BW, should I get a new one, if my budget is about $120.00 for that, will it be a much better one?

(so far, the RAM, mobo, HDD, GPU, and sound card are set, almost with the psu. only the processor and maybe the monitor or not)

Thank you every seniors for your inputs!


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## dirtyferret (Aug 18, 2011)

i just built a new PC for my girlfriend using a phenom II x560 and that zalman 450w PSU.  It's decent enough for the price and will have plenty of power for your build.

i would get the phenom II x4 cpu, ive built a PC now using both an athlon II x3 and pehnom II x2 and neither CPU was able to unlock stable cores.


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## JrRacinFan (Aug 18, 2011)

dirtyferret said:


> i just built a new PC for my girlfriend using a phenom II x560 and that zalman 450w PSU.  It's decent enough for the price and will have plenty of power for your build.
> 
> i would get the phenom II x4 cpu, ive built a PC now using both an athlon II x3 and pehnom II x2 and neither CPU was able to unlock stable cores.



Still over the proposed build with an 8600gt, still would go an fm1 route with some casual gaming in mind. It wouldst be 720p capable with some titles @ 1080p. If its not for gaming it would be a toss up between them.


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## dirtyferret (Aug 18, 2011)

JrRacinFan said:


> Still over the proposed build with an 8600gt, still would go an fm1 route with some casual gaming in mind. It wouldst be 720p capable with some titles @ 1080p. If its not for gaming it would be a toss up between them.



it would certainty offer better video performance but the OP never mentioned gaming or AMD APUs as an option.  the 8600GT is more then capable for video playback and considering that card is rarely sold today (its rather old in GPU life cycles), i'm guessing he already owns it or its a hand me down.


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## Red_Machine (Aug 18, 2011)

Or, he doesn't know squat about computing and thinks he just bought a modern high-end card...


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## TRWOV (Aug 18, 2011)

OP, that's a curious username 





Red_Machine said:


> Or, he doesn't know squat about computing and thinks he just bought a modern high-end card...



I can see that happening. I had an auction for a 9600 AGP and there were people asking if it was better than the HD4650 AGP DDR2 that I also had even though the 9600 was priced $15 and the Hd4650 was $60


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## jw5749 (Aug 19, 2011)

Thanks people for sharing your opinions. Yes, I had this GPU for about 3 yrs from my old system which was a AMD 64 Athlon X2, but it was burned (the board had a short circuit) recently. So, I'm trying to upgrade this old system with minimum expense.

And yes, I don't know too much about gaming and all the computer stuff. I'm pretty much an amateur. And if you don't mind, can someone tell me is it better to buy an unlocked processor, or just standard processor with similar grade. I mean the AMD AM3 series.

Thanks!


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## finfin_nemo (Aug 19, 2011)

jw5749 said:


> Thanks people for sharing your opinions. Yes, I had this GPU for about 3 yrs from my old system which was a AMD 64 Athlon X2, but it was burned (the board had a short circuit) recently. So, I'm trying to upgrade this old system with minimum expense.
> 
> And yes, I don't know too much about gaming and all the computer stuff. I'm pretty much an amateur. And if you don't mind, can someone tell me is it better to buy an unlocked processor, or just standard processor with similar grade. I mean the AMD AM3 series.
> 
> Thanks!



i see that you're budget-conscious jw5749 . well, imo with the specs that you've shown above, a standard am3 would suffice, BEs are meant for overclocking or o/c. if o/c is not on your mind, like i said, get a standard hi-clocked one. try phenom II x4 840! 
its a decent all-rounder for its price 

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/Phenom_II_X4_840/


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## claylomax (Aug 19, 2011)

jw5749 said:


> Thanks people for sharing your opinions. Yes, I had this GPU for about 3 yrs from my old system which was a AMD 64 Athlon X2, but it was burned (the board had a short circuit) recently. So, I'm trying to upgrade this old system with minimum expense.
> 
> And yes, I don't know too much about gaming and all the computer stuff. I'm pretty much an amateur. And if you don't mind, can someone tell me is it better to buy an unlocked processor, or just standard processor with similar grade. I mean the AMD AM3 series.
> 
> Thanks!



If you want to unlock your cpu, you need a motherboard that can do it, with a SB750 southbridge (off the top of my head, someone correct me if I'm wrong). There is a good chance  that it will unlock and clock high if it is a x2 555 or x2 560. If you don't want to be dissapointed if it doesn't, get a x4 955 as they are really cheap nowadays and they should overclock up to around 3.9Ghz or 4.0Ghz with decent cooling.


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## jw5749 (Aug 19, 2011)

Hi, Thanks for the advice, I think I'll go with the 955 Unlocked BE, the mobo Gigabyte 78LMT-S2P has a southbridge SB710 which also supports overclocking in its bio (hence this cpu is unlocked already) and the price difference with the 840 is $30 within my range. Although the 840 is with less risk


However, I will just use default first, and then try the difference as using the Advanced Clock Caliberation in its bio after a few smooth sail. (if it's possible)


Thank you!


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## Red_Machine (Aug 19, 2011)

I would seriously reconsider.  I wouldn't recommend anybody build a dual-core machine these days, especially not an AMD one...


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## JrRacinFan (Aug 19, 2011)

Red_Machine said:


> I would seriously reconsider.  I wouldn't recommend anybody build a dual-core machine these days, especially not an AMD one...



unless its a confirmed unlockable batch. But again, I reiterate, FM1 would be ideal. Low power and wouldn't have the additional heat from a dedicated video card.


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## brandonwh64 (Aug 19, 2011)

Hell why not build a Sandy Bridge I5-2300?

It would beat the 955 and the unlocked 555 easly


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## Dent1 (Aug 19, 2011)

I wouldnt touch the Phenom II X2, there are too many options which are just as cheap and faster i.e. The Athlon II X3 440 would outperform it easily.

Also there is no guarantee the X2 will unlock stabily. It's luck.


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## stinger608 (Aug 19, 2011)

Red_Machine said:


> No.  The 555 is a dual-core and the 955 is a quad-core.  MAJOR difference.



True. Many of the early 555's would unlock and be a real 955....In a sense. The biggest trouble now is getting one that will unlock. Most of the very first 555's that where sold had a very good chance at unlocking, but as time progressed this became less likely to happen. I personally had 3 different 555's a little over a year ago. The first two that I owned would unlock and the very first one that I purchased clocked x4 at over 4ghz! The second one would unlock to a full x4 but did not overclock massively like the first one did. The third chip would not even unlock to a x3. It of course was one of the newer 555 chips. :shadedshu



brandonwh64 said:


> Hell why not build a Sandy Bridge I5-2300?
> 
> It would beat the 955 and the unlocked 555 easly



Brandon, I would imagine it is because the member already has all of the AMD parts and is looking to upgrade as cheap as possible.


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## finfin_nemo (Aug 20, 2011)

jw5749 said:


> Hi, Thanks for the advice, I think I'll go with the 955 Unlocked BE, the mobo Gigabyte 78LMT-S2P has a southbridge SB710 which also supports overclocking in its bio (hence this cpu is unlocked already) and the price difference with the 840 is $30 within my range. Although the 840 is with less risk
> 
> 
> However, I will just use default first, and then try the difference as using the Advanced Clock Caliberation in its bio after a few smooth sail. (if it's possible)
> ...




955 is one hell of cpu indeed, 4cores full.. go for it then..!
and goodluck with the clock calibration on the SB710, i hope its stable.

wish i could own one...


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## JrRacinFan (Aug 20, 2011)

stinger608 said:


> Brandon, I would imagine it is because the member already has all of the AMD parts and is looking to upgrade as cheap as possible.



This has never occurred to me nor did I ask for that I apologize. With that said, I would go 555 with the s2p only due to the choice in board & in question. It's (no offense) a cheap board without VRM heatsinks, don't want to overpower the board with it. Most of the 555's hit 3.6-3.8Ghz on stock voltages so if overclocking is a without a doubt the unlocked multiplier would assist with that the board would be able to handle that easier than overclocking a 965 BE.


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## jw5749 (Aug 21, 2011)

Hi, I'm getting the 955 BE but to install using bios default first. and preparing myself for the unclocking.

Please give any input about the site of unclocking.

http://blogs.amd.com/play/2009/04/2...-amd-phenom-ii-x4-955-black-edition-processor


Thanks everyone!


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## claylomax (Aug 21, 2011)

jw5749 said:


> Hi, I'm getting the 955 BE but to install using bios default first. and preparing myself for the unclocking.
> 
> Please give any input about the site of unclocking.
> 
> ...



What's unclocking?


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## Dent1 (Aug 21, 2011)

jw5749 said:


> Hi, I'm getting the 955 BE but to install using bios default first. and preparing myself for the unclocking.
> 
> Please give any input about the site of unclocking.
> 
> ...



The 955 BE  is a good choice, again without a GPU (video card) upgrade it wouldnt be enough to suffice gaming. You'd be better off dropping down to a lesser quad core or tri-core if it means you'll have enough money for a video card too. However, if gaming isn't a priority maybe put the entire budget into a Phenom II X6!

I'm confused what you mean by unlocking, the 955 doesn't need unlocking because its already a quad core. There is nothing to unlock!

Maybe you mean "overclocking??" which is something else.


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## eidairaman1 (Aug 21, 2011)

If he means unlocking. Grab a Ph2 555 or higher n unlock it. Now im not sure if those Oc like the quads do...


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## jw5749 (Aug 21, 2011)

yes, the 955 is unlocked already, and this (cheap) board from Gigabyte has a overclock option in its bios. I'm not into gaming, and I'm not planning on spending too much more money if I failed the *overclocking* (which means either the mobo or the cpu could be damaged, or both). But, I'm just interested in it to see if I can just enhanced it a bit--the speed of the cpu, that's overclocking. 

Of course, there's a lot of considerations, the system voltage, some factors related to the VGA core......and the performance of the board---also the NB760G.

For the unlocking of the 255, I think I need to study more if this mobo is able to.


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## Dent1 (Aug 23, 2011)

jw5749 said:


> For the unlocking of the 255, I think I need to study more if this mobo is able to.



Your motherboard needs the ACC feature to potentially unlock.

But my advice is to forget about unlocking the Athlon II X2 255. If it fails you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Either get an Athlon II X4 or a Phenom II X4/X6 to begin with.


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## JrRacinFan (Aug 23, 2011)

jw5749 said:


> For the unlocking of the *5*55, I think I need to study more if this mobo is able to.





Dent1 said:


> Your motherboard needs the ACC feature to potentially unlock.
> 
> But my advice is to forget about unlocking the *Phenom* II X2 *5*55. If it fails you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Either get an Athlon II X4 or a Phenom II X4/X6 to begin with.



Corrected a little bit 

 I agree with you Dent1 only if it isn't a confirmed unlockable batch. I would still get an Athlon II x4 if buying new and not 2nd hand. If it is a 2nd hand 555 you have that option to ask the seller if it does possibly unlock and/or what batch it is.


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## jw5749 (Aug 24, 2011)

hi, today I got a bargain with Micro Center, the mobo is qualified to get a Phenom II x 4 840 with a total of $110.00 even I bought a board first (but it's within a week). So I took the advantage to get the 840 and use the difference to get a better psu--OCZ MODXStream-Pro 600W and a Zalman CNPS5X CPU Cooler, after installation, all the signals went through, but my C-drive needs to change into a SATA drive, cuz the mobo doesn't have IDE plug, same as my DVD drive. 

So, I'm pretty much able to get into the overclocking process, plus, a friend of mine gave me a 2nd hand 945 (he's switching to intel) for free, it seems to be a bit faster than the 840--8 MB vs 2 MB total cache. I've decided to use the 945 instead of 840.

Does anyone have any suggestion about the basic CPU voltage set range (change) for the overclocking? (obviously, I give up the unlocking part). 

After all, I'm really appreciated for all of your advises, it helped great deal!


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## JrRacinFan (Aug 24, 2011)

For basic overclocking 1.55v Max with 55c on core temps. The cooler it is the better. What board did you get?


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## jw5749 (Aug 24, 2011)

Gigabyte GA 78LMT-S2P REV 3.1


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## Dent1 (Aug 24, 2011)

Congratulations on the upgrade, huge upgrade from what you had.

In case you are not aware. The Phenom II 840 is actually a renamed Athlon II X4, so it's missing the L3 cache. AMD thought they could be smart and trick consumers into buying a slightly lesser processor. So from a financial position the deal wasn’t that great because you could buy a genuine Athlon II X4 for cheaper and overclock to the same level or a genuine Phenom II X4 for almost the same price.

Either way, not really a Phenom II, a little overpriced but still a worthwhile upgrade performance-wise.

Edit:

My Athlon II X4 needs 1.45v for an overclock of 3.5GHz (2.6Ghz stock).


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## JrRacinFan (Aug 24, 2011)

jw5749 said:


> Gigabyte GA 78LMT-S2P REV 3.1



Oh! Thought you said you were getting a different board.


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## billcat479 (Aug 28, 2011)

*timming?*

I might wait a bit and see how the new AM3+ cpu's work. Unless your using a older motherboard and want to use a compatible cpu now. Go with the 955BE. The extra cores will be useful in music if you want to run lots of tracts. A friend of mine just had this problem with a 2 core AMD and had to load one track at a time which made putting the music together very bothersome. 
  I also am not to happy with the low power suggestion. How long do you plan on using this system and what future do you think your video card and hard drive count. 
  Today's video cards are power hungry, I wouldn't go under a 550W and would prefer to go as far as a 750W supply if you ever think of adding a modern video card and doing RAID setups. 
  Most newer video cards require a 500W min. supply and you don't want power related problems, they will drive you nuts. 
  The load on the 12v line of modern computers takes most of what the power supply does these days and it's getting pretty demanding.
    Get a high quality one while your at it. Line noise is a pain and how well they can hold their voltage under a fast heavy current load is massive important with today's computers. Cheap PS have poor caps and regulation and overcurrent protection also.


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## eidairaman1 (Aug 28, 2011)

ok about the boards, You will need a 900 Series or a Revisioned 800 Series AMD Board to support AM3+ CPUs (Black Socket). AM3+ Socket is Backwards Compatible with AM3 CPUs

Check out this thread and my reply to it

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2379326&posted=1#post2379326


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## jw5749 (Aug 31, 2011)

Hi, after getting a new SATA hard drive and a SATA DVD-rom, my system is finally all set, and the installation was smooth. I've running it for a few days now, and I'm very satisfied. As for the music application, I won't use RAID and I mostly only use one track, only edit, no mixing or recording. The 8600gt gpu doesn't work with Windows 7, the driver couldn't be found either on-line or on XFX's own webpage, so I have to take the on-board GPU--ATI Raden 3000 512 MB.

           The Bios of the mobo has no ACC feature, but still, it has IGX with almost same feature as ACC, and AMD's "Overdrive" software kind of doing the similar work or more, but I really don't think I have the need to overclock the CPU--AMD Phenom II x 4  945 so far, so I'm just happy with the way it is working now.

system build:

PSU: OCZ: MODXtreme-Pro 600W (new)
CPU: AMD Phenom II x 4 945 3.0 GHz 8.0MB total cache (almost new)
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2P socket AM3+ (mATX) (new)
RAM: 4 GB x 2 Corsair DDR3 (new)
GPU: on-board ATI Raden 3000 512 MB
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi
C-Drive: Seagate Barracuda 500 GB 7200 RPM 16 MB cache (new)
DVD-ROM: Lite-On 22X SATA DVD+/_ DVD Burner (new)
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
Zalman CNPX5X SZ CPU Cooler (new)

The psu and the mobo were the first two components I bought, I didn't have any ideas at that time, my old units were burned one day and my friend told me it should be mostly the psu or the mobo, then I joined the forum and then found a bargain of $40 less if I buy the mobo with the 840, then I got all the advises here to put the rest parts together. I probably wouldn't change or add anything for a while, I'm not into gaming, just by watching movies on line, this is quite good enough for me, thanks everyone!


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## billcat479 (Sep 2, 2011)

*Glad to hear it*

if everything is going well you can't ask for much more than being happy with your system, good to hear. Have fun.


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