AMD Phenom II X3 720 BE vs AMD Athlon II X4 630

[shakari]

Im upgrading my system in a week or so, decided to go with amd scince im on a pretty tight budget, but I just cant decide which cpu to get. Im going to be useing the machine primarly to do a bit of vm work etc, with light gaming on the side(wow, eve online, mass effect). I know that some x3's have an unlockable 4th core, but im not counting on it anyway. Just wondering on which is the better cpu on paper at stock etc, though I probably will try a little overclocking, but only on the heat sink that comes with. Theres a $4nz differnce between them both( http://www.pp.co.nz/ is the place im shoping with).

Basicly will a 4th core be much of a help with running vms etc(im thinking yes), and is there really a perfomance boost with the x3 having a l3 cache. http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=ef0qgvMIwOUagAVl is the mother board im going to be useing.

 

[Bluescreendeath]

At stock, the PhenomII will have an advantage in single and dual threaded applications and programs that don't use 4 cores. For the few programs that actually do use 4 cores, I'd say the AthlonIIx4 has a slight advantage.

If there is only a $4 difference, I'd probably get the PII x3 and try to unlock the 4th core. If not, the PIIs are good overclockers. (same with AthlonIIs)

 

[p1n3apqlexpr3ss]

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=105&p2=83&c=1

Pretty similar for most results, athlon wins for encoding video and such, but phenom wins on gaming results, rest is really really close..

 

[shakari]

Thanks for the replies and thanks for the benchmark link. I'll more than likley be getting the x3.

 

[shakari]

Have you considered this one:?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103843&cm_re=x3-_-19-103-843-_-Product

No i hadnt considered it, but any way its not avalible from were im going to be getting it ( www.pp.co.nz )

 

[p1n3apqlexpr3ss]

Wow more kiwis then i expected there to be lol XD
And yea, for some reason new zealand hasnt got the 4860s or the athlon tri cores... kinda sad really