AMD Phenom II X2 55 BE vs Athlon II X3 455

[SirSpanky]

Hi all,

Just planning a new budget gaming build (my first in years) and am having real trouble deciding between the two. I know from what I've read that you can't bank on the Phenom giving you more cores to play with, but if I overclocked/unlock neither (for example), which perform the best? Also how easy is it/how likely is it to actually be able to play with these secret cores?

The build is based on gaming but will obviously need to perform alright at day-to-day tasks as well. I can get the Phenom for £70 and the Athlon for £60 if that makes a difference?

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[o1die]

I wouldn't count on unlocking the extra cores. Lots of posts lately about problems when unlocking cores. I would spend the extra for the phenom II, unless you find the 550 used. Someone sold a 545 used for only $40 on my local craigslist. A phenom II at 2.8 is currently listed for $80 used here in austin tx.

 

[SirSpanky]

My main question really is though, is the Phenom X2 555 a decent CPU without unlocking any cores? Is it worth the 'phenom' name over the Athlon with an extra core?

 

[1965ohio]

The Phenom is better. The Athlon you mentioned might be clocked a little faster... but the Phenom 555 has 6MB L3 cache that will speed it up a bit!

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/97?vs=202 550 vs 455
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/120?vs=202 555 vs 455

Check the benches. 😀

 

[Guest]

as i can see at the benches.
Athlon is better for gaming and phenom better for normal tasks.
But that phenom is a proccessor that you can unlock to an quad core so i will go for an Phenom.

 

[Raidur]

Here in the states the Phenom II X4 is down to near the X2 prices (nearly impossible to pass up here), how close is it for you?

 

[Motopsychojdn]

I run a x3 435 unlocked and clocked, it shows up as a phenom x4 b35 now, not an athlon,
it kills WoW and I've not had any stability issues
a 455 should be better if you can unlock and clock it,
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/best-gaming-cpu,review-32195-2.html and its still on the Toms recommended list too
Raidur,
http://www.amazon.co.uk/AMD-Phenom-3-2GHz-Processor-Boxed/dp/B002TQYUAE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1306619315&sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_6?url=search-alias%3Dcomputers&field-keywords=x2+255&sprefix=x2+255
still a fair difference this side dude
Moto

 

[Haserath]

Here in the states the Phenom II X4 is down to near the X2 prices (nearly impossible to pass up here), how close is it for you?

I agree with Raidur, you should look at X4 prices. Here it's like $30 difference for a X4 that you know is stable and could probably overclock to 4ghz or at least higher than an unlocked X2.

 

[Motopsychojdn]

I would go for the 955 myself, but as Op was between two other chips, I decided on those, if he has budget its 955 all the way
Moto

 

[pratyaksa]

If I were to unlock cores, do I need extra cooler for cpu? I heard the cpu temp might increase when it's unlocked.