Which CPU for gaming?

Hmmm. I was going to say whatever dual core processor you wind up getting, looks
like it might as well be a black edition so you can adjust the multi. The prices aren't
that much more than for the locked processors. But I see that some black edition
procs still are sold without heatsink/fan, so I guess you'd have to add that in to the
equation.

If I had 80 bucks to just blow on upgrading hardware, I think I like the 7750 black edition.
Looks like my MA78GM-S2H will support it with a BIOS upgrade, which was just released
within the past few days. Which brings up an interesting point, for a new build, unless
you are sure your motherboard BIOS supports it, the 7750 could be a dicey
proposition if you don't have any spare, older CPUs to flash update the BIOS.

Great point BZ!!

He can just update the bios with his current chip though...

Oh yeah, I was just speaking in general for anyone who might stumble upon this thread
and think that some of this conjecture is a good idea.

Thanks for all the input guys...

I have herd and read alot of mixed reviews about the 7750+BE, and the 6400+. So I think I will stay away from both of them for right now.

But from all that I have been reading, I think I am leaning towards the 6000+. Just still cant decide between the Windsor or the Brisbane.
So ill beat my head against my desk for a few more days and then go ahead and order one or the other.

I think I am liking the 6000+ Brisbane over the Windsor, even though Windsor has more cache. But the Brisbane will run cooler and overclock better? Any other inputs over one or the other?

I would look into the 6000+ and maybe another XFX 7900 GS somewhere. You can probably pick up one of those for around 10-15 bucks off eBay.

i have a windsor oced to 3.2 on air zalman 9700.. antec 900 case .. peaks at 47c under load. she runs hot... but does great for me

http://www.donanimhaber.com/AMD_Athlon_X2_7750_Black_Edition_incelemesi-11983.htm

This review is limited

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/850/1/

This review is better but still it is lacking what toms did.

I don't usually trust tom's as their site reads like an add for Intel and Nvidia 90% of the time and their methodology, like so many other sites is usually pretty bad. But here goes:

orignial 9600 Agena Vs the 6000+ Windsor using only 1 core and testing them at the same Mhz http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-phenom-athlon-64-x2,1746-10.html

And again using more cores: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/phenom-athlon-core-scaling-compared,1759-6.html

The Windsor design is from May '06 while the Brizbanes first dropped in December of '06.

Kuma is a Phenom with 2 dud cores.

Either way, depending on what he plays he will probably be better served by a faster GPU then that 7900GS OC, even if he gets another cheap for SLI, it'll still be a bit slow for current games then dropping a little more on a new gpu with more beef and unloading the 7900GS to an unsuspecting n00b.

[EDIT]
Archer, that first link is a bunch of useless synthetics, those don't really tell you what gains it will have in real world applications, though the legit reviews testing is much better, doing things like video encodes and ray tracing, though it does lack game data.

synthetics are often not optimized properly and they also assume a best possible situation. You can gather more meaningful data by grabbing Blender, Audacity and VirtualDub, grabbing some creative commons unrendered files and letting the comp have at it.

LmpPns said:

I would look into the 6000+ and maybe another XFX 7900 GS somewhere. You can probably pick up one of those for around 10-15 bucks off eBay.

Click to expand...

Duo Maxwell said:

Either way, depending on what he plays he will probably be better served by a faster GPU then that 7900GS OC, even if he gets another cheap for SLI, it'll still be a bit slow for current games then dropping a little more on a new gpu with more beef and unloading the 7900GS to an unsuspecting n00b.

Click to expand...

Yea like I stated in the original post, I am upgrading my CPU "amongst other things". Some of them other things will be a "EVGA 260(216)Superclocked" video card and a bigger powersupply.

But still looking like its gonna be the 6000+ Brisbane.

Eh, save some cash and get the non OCd version and just grab a superclocked's bios and flash it.

The normal version should be able to get at least as fast as the super clocked.

Duo as I already said I like toms because they run a full battery of benchies.

I also know that these links are limited and that there really needs to be a more well rounded and complete set of benchies from more than just toms. It is just (as you feel about Toms) that everybody runs all the benchies and only posts the ones that back up the point of view they have.