Athlon II VS Phenom

[ewl2]

Its been awhile since I crunched, but i'm getting back in the game a little.
I am building a new fairly cheap rig to be used by the kids for nickjr and SETI the rest of the time.

At the price point i'm aiming for its either Athlon II X3 maybe X4 or a Phenom II X2. Which is better for crunching? the extra cores of the Athlon II or the better processor of the Phenom??

[Voodoo Rufus]

Assuming similar clock rates its doubtful that the improved core of the Phenom will make up for the larger number of cores of the Athlon II.

[QuietIce]

I agree - number of cores will trump L3 any day at the same speed. :)


But if you're talking a 3 GHz Athlon II X3 compared to a 4 GHz Phenom II X2 that's getting a little closer ...

[TomWoolford]

Most of the Phenom II X2's are actually Phenom II X4's with 2 of the cores disabled. Most of the AM3 Motherboards produced now-a-days has an unlocker tool in the Bios that will allow the 2 cores to run essentially giving you a Phenom II x4 for the price of an X2.

My opinion, get a Board off newegg or somewhere that Advertises the Core Unlock feature and grab a Phenom II X2 and have at it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103846

And it's a Black Edition with an Unlocked Multi for sweet oc'ing.

[ewl2]

thanks guys.
that phenom looks good. any idea on the success rate of unlocking the extra cores?

[QuietIce]

Almost guaranteed for unlocking an X2 to an X3.

X2 to X4 is a little more dicey (still not bad) and often results in a lower OC (than with two or three cores), In this case more cores would beat even 300 MHz of OC top end, if that's what it costs - and it doesn't always. ChanceCoats123 managed a 3.8 GHz quad at stock vCore out of a 555BE.

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=664106

[ewl2]

wow,

that is a nice chip. I think i will grab that. i will update with how it goes....

[TomWoolford]

wow,

that is a nice chip. I think i will grab that. i will update with how it goes....

Just make sure when you pick the board that the user reviews show cases of successful core unlocks just to be safe. Quite a few boards don't advertise that they do have that option in the Bios but can do it.

[ewl2]

thanks for help guys....

here is what i think i am going with:

proc:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103846

mobo:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157200

ram:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231303

[TomWoolford]

Looks like a solid setup for what you will be doing. In the future you should throw in a cheap Cuda card to give your Seti crunching a nice nudge.

[ewl2]

Thanks for the advice !!!!!!!

I got all the bits on tuesday (got an MSI board instead) and got to play with core unlocking tonight.

I now have a $90 phenom II X4 @ 3.2 :clap:

http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=1579226

so far stable 30 min + of prime95 temps in the low 50s that ok for the phenoms?

[QuietIce]

Congrats on your unlock! :beer:

A low-50s load core temp is good. I wouldn't push much past that.

[Saaby900t]

Congrats on your unlock! :beer:

A low-50s load core temp is good. I wouldn't push much past that.

Why does everyone say low 50's core temp when amd says 62 is the max?:confused: