Is an Athlon X3 445 3.09 upped to Phenom Ii X4 965 Black 3.4 Worth it?

[Lunarbob19]

I have been stuck with this Asrock M3A770DE motherboard for a long time, and I don't see that changing anytime in the near future. Since it has an AM3 socket I am greatly limited in upgrade choice.

So what kind of an improvement in cpu intensive gaming would this net me, think it would be worth it, I see it on ebay for around $50.

MoBo: Asrock M3A770DE
Cpu: AMD Athlon II X3 445 Rana, 3 core, 3.09GHz
Video: Radeon HD 6850, IceQ X Turbo, 1Ghz
Ram: 16GB
OS: Windows 10 64bit Home
PSU: Seasonic S12II Bronze 520w

Thanks in advance for any help rendered.

 

[Robert17]

The 965BE runs pretty hot so if you decide that's your next CPU be sure to cool it well. I ran mine at 3.8GHz with an AIO and pretty much maxxed the temps. Anything past that throttled. What games do you intend to play?

 

[Mr.Scott]

It is worth it just for the extra core and speed.
Will it make a huge difference?.......No.
But still better than what you have.

 

[OptyTrooper]

$50 bucks is WAY TOO HIGH! There are other cheaper Phenom II quads that have the potential to match or even exceed that chip. For exampmle a 960T or B95. Everybody wants too jump on the "BE" bandwagon with Phenom II but the fact is with very little time invested a locked one has the potential too do the same clocks in most any decently power featured AMD 7-9 series chipset motherboard.

I'd venture to say you could push a B95 too 4.2ish with decent air.

 

[Mr.Scott]

Overclocking a 125w processor on that board will kill it.

 

[OptyTrooper]

Overclocking a 125w processor on that board will kill it.

Mayhaps I didn't look up it's specs. I was just going by my MA770-DS3.

 

[Mr.Scott]

It is roughly the same board. Neither are very good.
4+1 phase and anything much over 120w don't last that long.

 

[Alaric]

Handy VRM reference for AM2>AM3+ boards, with FM1 and FM2 thrown in there.
https://www.overclock.net/forum/11-amd-motherboards/946407-amd-motherboards-vrm-info-database.html

 

[OptyTrooper]

It is roughly the same board. Neither are very good.
4+1 phase and anything much over 120w don't last that long.

Well... I did kill the Gigabyte..Perhaps you have something..Perhaps..

 

[Mr.Scott]

Probably fine for a 24/7 stocker though.

 

[Lunarbob19]

Thanks for all the replies everyone. Not exactly sure of the consensus reached here, but I appreciate the effort.

In regards to games I play, things like Shadow of Mordor and Fallout 4, and some flash based games. Things where my cpu is the thing holding me back and not my Vcard. I know my GPU isn't the greatest anymore, had it for several years now, but I'm sure it isn't what holds me back on these things. I also just remembered, I would really like to be able to play Cities Skyline in the later game. As things are now, the game slows to a crawl after getting too big a population and that is 100% my CPU's fault.

 

[storm-chaser]

My suggestion is go with a 960T. You can overclock all 4 cores to 4.0Ghz (in most cases) and it's based on a Thuban chip where as the 965 is based on the Deneb.

This means you should have good luck with the IMC and you should be able to hit 2.8- 3.0Ghz on the CPU-NB speed.

Maybe I missed it, but what kind of CPU cooler do you have?

 

[Lunarbob19]

My suggestion is go with a 960T. You can overclock all 4 cores to 4.0Ghz (in most cases) and it's based on a Thuban chip where as the 965 is based on the Deneb.

This means you should have good luck with the IMC and you should be able to hit 2.8- 3.0Ghz on the CPU-NB speed.

Maybe I missed it, but what kind of CPU cooler do you have?

Is the reason you are suggesting the 960T because it has a 95w power instead of the 125w of my ask? I've never really done any actual overclocking, I just find this forum to be really nice for these kind of questions.

Right now I am using an aftermarket cooler fan on my cpu. Soon I'm getting a Cooler Master Hyper T4 CPU Cooler since my current one has started to randomly make lots of noise. Aside from that, I just have various case fans mostly top and behind.

 

[ShrimpBrime]

I think the 965BE is a great choice. It's stock 400Mhz faster than your x3 Athlon. This is where you best improvement will be. If you are Not overclocking, there's really nothing more you need to know.