[aoj]

First let me say gaming performance is my main concern. I'll be upgrading from a 720BE.
I was planning to get a 970BE from newegg because they are $129 right now but if the 955BE at $104 is essentially the same chip just with a lower stock multi then there seems to be no point in getting anything higher than the 955BE? Is there something else that sets these chips apart or am I right in thinking that if you plan to OC then there is no reason to go above 955. I dont mind spending the extra money(within reason) for a chip that will OC much better or stay way cooler.

[Dermen]

You should think about the 960T. It is a thuban with 2 cores disabled. You might be able to unlock those cores, if not I think thuban has a better memory controller than deneb.

[Mantis187]

they are all the same chip, just some have bigger base clocks. save urself some doe and get the 965BE happy as hell i got mine for 115.00 from newegg with instant savings. got this badboy oc'd to 4.1 stable just uped the multiplier

[a c i d.f l y]

Originally Posted by Mantis187

they are all the same chip, just some have bigger base clocks. save urself some doe and get the 965BE happy as hell i got mine for 115.00 from newegg with instant savings. got this badboy oc'd to 4.1 stable just uped the multiplier

I've seen 955BE's running similarly. 955, 965, 960T -- can't go wrong with any of them.

[aoj]

I've read that the C3 stepping was the best silicon and that you have a higher chance of getting newer silicon from a 970BE vs an older 955 or 965. Is any of that true. 960T is just a locked thuban right? I thought the x4s were outperforming them in games?

Also for those saying the 955,965 ect are the same then why are you recommending a 965 at $15 more than the 955? Dont want to gimp myself as I only upgrade ever 3 or so years but I also dont want to spend money on nothing.

[col_sanders]

Check the model numbers on the 955. Some 955BE chips are C2 while some are C3. Unless I am mistaken, all the 965 chips should be C3.

Of the 955BE the models HDZ955FBGMBOX should be C3.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong please.

I would still be tempted by the 960t though just to see how a 4 core thuban will go compared to the deneb 4 core. From everything I've seen or read on I would assume the 4 core thuban would be the way to go for overclocking basing off what the X6 can do. I see a lot of unlocking threads on forums about the 960t but not to many on overclocking it without unlocking the cores so I'm not too sure how heat plays a role in this.

[azuza001]

I went with the 965 myself, couldn't be happier. Was very easy to get it to 3.9 with no changes needed to voltage. Was a bit trickier to get it to 4.0 stable, but a slight bump in voltage to the processor fixed those stability issues. Probably could of went higher, but the whole windows 7 64 bit doesn't like speeds above 4ghz thing made me figure it wasn't worth the trouble.

I am with Mantis, get a 965 and you should be happy.

[Madengineer]

The thubans are "more advanced" and the 960T OCs better then a 965 and 955 due to its low TDP and its high Base clock.

OP, if you want a good chip to OC, grab a 960T you wont be disappointed.

[KrazyGimp]

I've been running the 960t for a month or so now and it's a great chip. OC'ed to 4.0 right off the bat at 1.344 volts. Temps are really low too. I'm using just a Zigmatek Loki with a 92cm fan and it keeps it around 30c idle and around 48c under Prime95/Orthose/etc...with ambient temp around 22-24c. (Those are core temps with a 10c offset added to account for the lower than ambient idle temps)

It seems like it still has a bit of room to go. Both the voltage and temps are low enough at 4 GHz it should hit 4.2 but I don't have any reason to shoot for that yet. 4 nice and fast.

There is a possible bug with the new Asus boards though. It does not seem to want to let you change the CPU-NB or HT multiplier. The system fails to boot when I do. I haven't heard of anyone having this issue on other boards though...

[Aberration]

I too am considering an upgrade to the CPU, running the same 720BE as the OP.

A couple of years ago (maybe longer) when I originally bought the 720, it was a good CPU. After overclocking, it became even better.

With the newer games coming out though, I'm finding the performance slacking.

How much of a difference would I notice (if there's a means to tell) going from a 720BE x3 @ 3.36GhZ to a 970BE x4 @ 4.0GhZ?

I realize that's a subjective question, but there's potentially a number of people on here who have done this exact upgrade.

Thanks in advance! Good thread!

[bigben6]

My 955BE runs 3.8 on stock voltage and only using Multi.... Thats what I would do personally.... save the extra 10-15 bucks for a hyper 212+, now, IFthe 960t can be unlocked to a hex that deserves consideration, haven't seen it myself or even heard of it but that don't make it a lie so I WOULD look into that possibility!

[Madengineer]

Originally Posted by bigben6

My 955BE runs 3.8 on stock voltage and only using Multi.... Thats what I would do personally.... save the extra 10-15 bucks for a hyper 212+, now, IFthe 960t can be unlocked to a hex that deserves consideration, haven't seen it myself or even heard of it but that don't make it a lie so I WOULD look into that possibility!

I had the same OC on my 955...Unfortunately cause of summer i had to remove my OC