Upgrade from Phenom II X4 - Anything AMD Worth It?

[Caviman2201]

I primarily use my rig to play games (BF3, Crysis 3, etc.). I have a Phenom II X2 unlocked to X4. Just generally speaking, with regard to gaming performance, is there anything out there worth upgrading to from my "X4"? I can't find X6's for a reasonable price (for ~3 year old technology) and the Zambezi/Vishera proc's just don't seem to be much of an upgrade. I realize the 83xx series processors may give me a couple frames, but I have an AM3 board, so spending ~$300 to get <5 fps isn't really worth it to me, as much as I'd love to upgrade for the sake of upgrading. I know Steamroller is coming and thats probably what many of you will suggest waiting for, but that supposedly won't be out for at least another year or so. I'd love to pick up a new AM3+ mobo (since that will support Steamroller) and a cheap X6, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards.

Any thoughts/opinions/suggestions?

 

[ASUS ROG]

Found this X6 for $100 from AMAZON
http://www.amazon.com/AMD-Phenom-10...id=1363290318&sr=1-1&keywords=amd+phenom+2+x6

 

[Caviman2201]

I guess I should have specified... an X6 BE...

 

[trents]

How about overclocking your unlocked Phenom II X2 555? Have you tried that?

 

[Caviman2201]

trents, absolutely... I was just getting the upgrade itch. I used to run my 555 @ X4 3.9GHz, but I was bothered by the fact that I couldn't really see what the core temps are since when you unlock, those aren't visible. I'm not unhappy with my performance at the moment - I just was wondering if an upgrade to a Vishera would even be worth the $$.

 

[ssjwizard]

I doubt you will see a substantial increase in performance upgrading to Vishera is gaming is your primary task. Id say OC what you have and see if you can wait until next year when steam roller comes out. I also would not advise buying an AM3+ board with the intention of it supporting SR as being over a year out no one really knows what AMD will do with the final product. Another point to consider upgrading to AM3+ mobo only unless you go for a first gen 9XX board you wont get Core Unlock features. All of the Asus R2.0 and the Gigabyte Rev3 boards lack those features.

 

[Mandrake4565]

All of the Asus R2.0 and the Gigabyte Rev3 boards lack those features.

Thanks wizard good to know.

 

[Caviman2201]

I doubt you will see a substantial increase in performance upgrading to Vishera is gaming is your primary task. Id say OC what you have and see if you can wait until next year when steam roller comes out. I also would not advise buying an AM3+ board with the intention of it supporting SR as being over a year out no one really knows what AMD will do with the final product. Another point to consider upgrading to AM3+ mobo only unless you go for a first gen 9XX board you wont get Core Unlock features. All of the Asus R2.0 and the Gigabyte Rev3 boards lack those features.

Thanks thats very good to know... is that something AMD made them do or do you know?

 

[RGone]

is that something AMD made them do or do you know?

AMD has been on their rears for at least 2 years to stop the unlock. Now that the FX processors are the main thing out there...they are not putting the unlock chip on the boards for unlocking old processors. AMD quit supporting the unlock at about 3 years ago.
RGone...

 

[ssjwizard]

Basically the FX CPUs cant be unlocked, and they dont make PH-II chips anymore, so why spend the time and effort building that into a BIOS that the last 4 generations of MOBO have been able to do just fine.

 

[Caviman2201]

Basically the FX CPUs cant be unlocked, and they dont make PH-II chips anymore, so why spend the time and effort building that into a BIOS that the last 4 generations of MOBO have been able to do just fine.

Good point... I'm kind of surprised the PII X6's are holding their value so well... The BE ones can't be found for under $150

 

[TeknoBug]

X6's are hard to find, I'm glad I got my 1090T a year ago just before they disappeared, you can still find the 960T which is an X4 but unlockable to X6.

I'd go with the previous comments, hold off on buying an AM3+ mobo, not sure what Steamroller is going to be. And the next line of APU might have 8 cores (the Plsyatation 4 APU is 8 cores plus GPU integrated), the current A10 5800K packs a bang for its price.

 

[Caviman2201]

X6's are hard to find, I'm glad I got my 1090T a year ago just before they disappeared, you can still find the 960T which is an X4 but unlockable to X6.

I'd go with the previous comments, hold off on buying an AM3+ mobo, not sure what Steamroller is going to be. And the next line of APU might have 8 cores (the Plsyatation 4 APU is 8 cores plus GPU integrated), the current A10 5800K packs a bang for its price.

Yea I can't really find 960T's for less than $150 either... I have a hard time paying $150 for 3-yr old tech when a brand new 8-core Vishera can be had for only $20-$30 more.

I've been a die-hard AMD fan for 10 years now... shame I've actually started to consider Intel... AMD just can't seem to put out a compelling product...

 

[ssjwizard]

Dont get me wrong an 8 core Vishera is a pretty beastly CPU. I do alot of heavy compute tasks with my computer and in most of them the FX-83XX can keep up with an 8 thread Intel CPU and in one or two its actually a bit faster.

Gaming alone though doesn't benefit from the last 4 cores nearly as much though. For someone who's most CPU intense tasks are gaming a fast quad core is ideal.

I also have a 2500K system that my wife uses. If we uncap the FPS in a game that isnt terribly GPU intense her rig will beat mine by about 20 FPS even with my having the GPU advantage(my 670 vs her 580), but Im talking about a difference between 320FPS and 340FPS which really doesnt mean a thing in terms of playability or IQ.

 

[TeknoBug]

Yea I can't really find 960T's for less than $150 either... I have a hard time paying $150 for 3-yr old tech when a brand new 8-core Vishera can be had for only $20-$30 more.

I've been a die-hard AMD fan for 10 years now... shame I've actually started to consider Intel... AMD just can't seem to put out a compelling product...

I'm a long time AMD user since the mid 90's myself but I've had a share of Intel systems too (Pentium Pro, Pentium II and III and dual Celerons), switching to Intel is ideal right now especially for heavy gaming.

 

[Caviman2201]

From what I'm seeing, the games I play would not benefit from any more CPU horsepower as it is still my GPU that is being maxxed out by BF3 @ Ultra @ 1080p. Looks like the only way to get more fps would be another 7950, so maybe I'll look at that route.

 

[TeknoBug]

What sort of fps are you getting in BF3? I was getting 50ish on the Phenom II X6 1090T with the 7850 at 1920x1080 (almost the same with the GTX560Ti but stutters if I use ultra on some settings). Toning down to 1600x900 wasn't significant in graphics quality and gave me another ~15 fps.

 

[Caviman2201]

I'm seeing mostly 60's, but it touches the mid-40s during heavy action. I'd like to get it above 60 at all times, but I doubt any CPU could do that as I'm still almost entirely GPU limited at 1080p. I've thought about giving 1600x900 or even 1280x720 a go just to see how it looks.