Amd Athlon II X4 640 or Amd Phenom II X4 945

[li4m53]

I currently have an amd athlon x3 440, which isn't too bad but it doesn't hold up too well in certain games. The motherboard I have only allows AM3 Processors with a TDP of 95W.

I narrowed it down to Amd Athlon II X4 640 or Amd Phenom II X4 945, and I am wondering if the increase in price from the athlon to the phenom is worth it.

I usually play games at a resolution of either 720p up to 1440*900

My GPU is a gtx 550ti, which isn't the most powerful of graphics cards but it should be good enough for that resolution.

 

[czar1991]

phenom as it has better architecture. and if price difference isn't much

 

[thomasd221]

Typically, a athlon ii x4 640 when overclocked by about 0.5GHz, will match the phenom.

I would go for the Athlon.

 

[mouse24]

I would grab the phenom if it won't break the bank. Its a bit faster than the Athlon.

 

[ocmusicjunkie]

IMO, are you sure that your motherboard is only AM3 compatible, and not AM3+? It's been a while since I've seen a board that actually didn't call itself AM3+, even if you would need to do a quick BIOS update. If that is the case, you could look at some of the new FX chips that will still meet the TDP limit. The only case I can think of where this would be unlikely is if you have a Dell or other OEM system as a platform. In that case, I'd go for the Phenom- as someone else said here, better architecture.

 

[ohyouknow]

Sounds like an OEM computer. If it is. You can pick up one of those true quad cores but the performance will be so similar to your Athlon X3. If you have a regular mobo you could try unlocking the x3 into a quad and overclock it and get the same general performance.

A waste of money to be honest if you have an HP and so on. I made that mistake on an OEM and the money went down the drain.

Use that money towards a better Graphics card IMO.