x4 955 c3 worth $10 over the c2?

[Pollux]

I won't be overclocking. Is there a difference in stock performance between the 2 steppings?

 

[Dolk]

You won't be overclocking? Your buying a Phenom II and you won't be overclocking..?

Go with the C2 if your not because you don't deserve the potential ability of the C3.

 

[Xtreme Barton]

You won't be overclocking? Your buying a Phenom II and you won't be overclocking..?

Go with the C2 if your not because you don't deserve the potential ability of the C3.

bahqhahaha .. sorry

 

[Pollux]

You won't be overclocking? Your buying a Phenom II and you won't be overclocking..?

Go with the C2 if your not because you don't deserve the potential ability of the C3.

I'm building a gaming rig. I want to play games. I don't have the time anymore to tinker around with the hardware.

 

[]-[itman]

To answer your question, you shouldn't notice any difference between the steppings as far as I know. Perhaps c3 will run slightly cooler or more stable for overclocking but in a stock system there shouldn't be much difference. Hope it performs well for you.

 

[Archer0915]

If I am not mistaken, and I could be, the C3 has IMC improvements with 4 sticks above 1333. Other than that and voltage for oc, I don't think there is anything else.

 

[Malakai]

Why swear off ocing? Even on stock heatsink & with stock voltage, you can expect maybe 400mhz oc on the C2 and more on the C3. For ~30 extra bucks, and 5 extra mins added to the time to assemble the pc, you can add a quality aftermarket cooler and get 4ghz with a bump of the multiplier with a C3 955.

All I have to say is, why not? Its free performance, and 3.2 -> 3.8-4ghz is quite a significant performance increase for a few minutes here and hours reading about & tweaking stuff there.

All the info you need to get a good overclock, and much more, is freely available right here in the pages of these forums!!

The main prerequisite for overclocking is buying quality components that can handle the overclocks, dont you want quality components anyway? They arent even expensive on the amd side, just do a bit of research before ordering the parts, which again you should do anyway!!

Good luck. I remember the first time I built a pc, I read these forums every day for a week, ordered, built. Most of my troubles were with the pc and parts and getting it all together, but once you got it working at stock, overclocking seems easy. Just changing a few bios settings here, reading about a problem or how to properly benchmark & stability test there.

Even at stock, the C3 is only 95w. But you can expect maybe 200mhz or more better of an oc at stock voltage on the c3. If nothing else, at least get yourself the c3 and 400+ free mhz at stock volts on stock cooling.

 

[DragoXT]

TBH if all you are doing is gaming, just get a dual core. The Athlon II 250 or the Phenom II 550 would work, and save you a good chunk of change.

 

[senorbum]

Why swear off ocing? Even on stock heatsink & with stock voltage, you can expect maybe 400mhz oc on the C2 and more on the C3. For ~30 extra bucks, and 5 extra mins added to the time to assemble the pc, you can add a quality aftermarket cooler and get 4ghz with a bump of the multiplier with a C3 955.

All I have to say is, why not? Its free performance, and 3.2 -> 3.8-4ghz is quite a significant performance increase for a few minutes here and hours reading about & tweaking stuff there.

All the info you need to get a good overclock, and much more, is freely available right here in the pages of these forums!!

The main prerequisite for overclocking is buying quality components that can handle the overclocks, dont you want quality components anyway? They arent even expensive on the amd side, just do a bit of research before ordering the parts, which again you should do anyway!!

Good luck. I remember the first time I built a pc, I read these forums every day for a week, ordered, built. Most of my troubles were with the pc and parts and getting it all together, but once you got it working at stock, overclocking seems easy. Just changing a few bios settings here, reading about a problem or how to properly benchmark & stability test there.

Even at stock, the C3 is only 95w. But you can expect maybe 200mhz or more better of an oc at stock voltage on the c3. If nothing else, at least get yourself the c3 and 400+ free mhz at stock volts on stock cooling.

He will almost certainly not notice the performance difference. And you are implying he isn't buying quality components because he is asking about the difference between the steppings.

I'd actually recommend to the OP that you get a slightly downgraded CPU and either a better GPU or more ram, or just save the money. If its mainly for gaming, no need to pay more for slight increases in clock speed.

 

[Dooms101]

Uhm... why wouldn't you OC? Just like these people have said, it's so ridiculously easy and free! Just bump the multiplier up a notch or two and get 200mhz - 400mhz without any voltage increase while on the stock cooler. But if you ask me, I would definitely buy the PhenomII x2 550BE instead of the x4 955 or 965 if you're only gaming. And even then... you can OC that just the same without too much effort. Unless you're going ultra budget on the board and getting the bare minimum AM3 system with the best quad you can find (just like Dell and HP love doing...), if that's what your planning, then stick with stock (and I am not implying you're getting bad components, I am just saying.) But if you must get a 955 pr 965, pay the 10 bucks more for the C3, there might be a chance in the future when you do want to OC it, or add faster ram.