AMD Phenom X4 9600 or AMD Phenom X4 9600 Black Edition?

[Foxtai]

I need some advice on what CPU to get for my motherboard. The both are typically the same, but:

AMD Phenom X4 9600: http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K10/AMD-Phenom%20X4%209600%20-%20HD9600WCJ4BGD%20(HD9600WCGDBOX).html

AMD Phenom X4 9600 Black Edition: http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K10/AMD-Phenom%20X4%209600%20Black%20Edition%20-%20HD960ZWCJ4BGD%20(HD960ZWCGDBOX).html

As you can see, the only difference between the two is that the Black Edition has a multiplier unlocked. I am not sure what the difference is.. and I dont plan on overclocking my processor, so which would be the more ideal one for me to purchase? Naturally, the first one is cheaper, but if the second one makes a difference, I may get that instead.

 

[whatsthatnoise]

The Black edition can be overclocked, the other one can not. If you don't want to overclock ...

As for which one to get: Neither?!? Both are really old CPUs, very outdated even for AMD.

If you want to upgrade and your board only supports those CPUs, your better of upgrading the board, RAM and CPU to new stuff, at once.

 

[Foxtai]

Sadly, I cannot afford to upgrade all of them. Even though the stuff is dated, the base for this computer still runs for about 1,000 dollars (And that is without the GTX graphics card that I put into it) As it was before, with older CPU, it could run Skyrim , WoW, and other games like a dream. So.. really, it works for me.

 

[Blahman11]

Well to be honest I would get neither. What's your motherboard? If they only support AM2+ CPUs you could get something like the Phenom 9950 or 9850. You don't want to get the older stepping Phenom 1 CPUs without the 50 at the ends (like 9650 rather than 9600) as the older CPUs have an L3 bug which really harms the performance. Also if I remember correctly the older stepping Phenom ones don't OC very well anyway. So get the Phenom 9650 rather than the 9600 if you have to.

But if your board supports AM3 CPUs I would get one of those, they really really really are lightyears ahead of the Phenom 1s.

 

[Foxtai]

I have a HP Narra3-GL8E (ASUS M2N68-LA) Motherboard

 

[Foxtai]

According to HP Specs for the motherboard:

"Phenom with Quad Core (Agena) technology (AM2+) up to 9600 (up to 95 watt)"

Is the highest upgrade I can go. I might get a new motherboard and so forth in the far future, but for now, I just want to get the computer up and running enough to play WoW and Skyrim, which these should be capable of doing

 

[Blahman11]

"Phenom with Quad Core (Agena) technology (AM2+) up to 9600 (up to 95 watt)"

Right ok I think you can't get the newer stepping CPUs. I would get a new motherboard. There are some good deals on AM2+ boards on ebay that would support DDR2 RAM and AM3 CPUs too. It would also give you new features and would generally be a good upgrade

 

[Foxtai]

Since getting a new motherboard would mean I would have to get a new RAM as well, I cannot afford to get those at the moment.. and even more so, I cannot afford the price of a more recent motherboard. What exactly is the bug that the 9600 has?

 

[Blahman11]

Since getting a new motherboard would mean I would have to get a new RAM as well

Not Necessarily. An AM2+ board would use the RAM your PC currently uses yet support AM3 CPUs. AM3 CPUs have a DDR2 and DDR3 memory controller onboard, hence why they work in the AM2+ socket. So you won't need to get new Ram!

Basically the early stepping Phenoms had a bug in the L3 cache which caused crashing. AMD released a workaround that stopped the crashing yet reduced the performance by 10%.

 

[Foxtai]

I recently bought a new HP Narra3-GL8E motherboard since my other one got ruined when I was cleaning it, but I'd really hate to think that my money for that would of went to waste. Right now, I am not sure what to do. I have also gotten a brand new AMD Phenom X4 Heatsink Fan to go along with it, but if its really not worth getting....

 

[whatsthatnoise]

Don't get an AM2+ board. It's really outdated stuff. BADLY. Besides AMD has less memory bandwidth than intel , sticking with DDR2 on an AM3 CPU will hurt your performance, even if your new CPU is faster than your old one.

Just wait and save up some money. Get a motherboard with a Z77 (or at least a Z68) Intel chipset, a cheap Pentium CPU and 4 GB DDR3 RAM, all of that shouldn't cost you more than 200 bucks at most. But gives you the option to simply throw in a really fast 2500k or similar later on.

Besides, what CPU do you have at the moment?

E: Having wasted money on such an old board is a pity, but don't waste even more money on that system. It's not worth it.

BTW, I'm on a Phenom x4 9750 myself.

 

[Foxtai]

None, my computer isn't working period at the moment.. so my main goal is to get it up and working with something decent enough to play Skyrim and WoW. Considering my last CPU was an AMD Phenom X3 8450.. it sounds like a step up, but I'm guessing the bug wasn't present in that CPU?

If I were to get one at all, would getting the 9550 be better than getting the 9600?

 

[Foxtai]

I also want to add that I've already been doing 2 weeks worth of saving up to get the motherboard, fan, and CPU. It was better than what my computer had before, and it ran things well enough. I am just basicly saying that I am too far in this already to turn around and throw away 100 dollars worth of stuff.

 

[whatsthatnoise]

Ebay got some 9550's for ~55$. If it get's your system back up and running, get one of those ...

 

[Foxtai]

What do you think would happen if I threw an AMD Phenom X4 9650 onto it?

 

[Foxtai]

If I were to grab an AMD+2 AMD +3 motherboard, what motherboard would you suggest? Or if I could find a AM3 technology and DDR3 ram bundle for cheap..?

 

[SteveH3671]

The 9650 is a later stepping, which means your mobo won't support it. Just buy the 9600 (or the K if you see it cheaper, but otherwise no point in getting the unlocked one).

You will certainly notice a slight improvement from the 9600 relative to an 8450, so go for it.

 

[Foxtai]

Someone said in an above post that the 9600 has an L3 cache bug.

 

[SteveH3671]

Don't feel too pressured to spend more than you initially planned. Lots of people here are mad keen to get latest-gen stuff. If you weren''t massively annoyed by the performance of you old 8450 why spend loads?

 

[selayan]

I have the AMD Phenom II X4 B95 at work and my machine is slow as molasses. They run windows xp and all but we develop in java and I can tell you getting something done on my computer takes hours. Its just horrible, not sure if its the processor or that they just threw in 8gb or ram that XP can't even be used. Its used as a virtual drive though.

 

[SteveH3671]

Someone said in an above post that the 9600 has an L3 cache bug.

But this simply leads to a minor slow-down once the bug was fixed. Given that the 9600 is 10% faster per core than the 8450 (2.3 vs 2.1 GHz), but has an extra core, you should see equal or better performance.

Strange that your mobo accepts the 8450 as that is the later B3 stepping.....makes you wonder about whether the 9550/9650 might work.

 

[Foxtai]

Does anyone know if the 9650 will work on it? If so, I might actually consider getting that instead. The 8450 came standard with my computer when I bought it.

 

[Foxtai]

Also, if I were to upgrade to a very good, new motherboard that has AM3+... what would you all suggest?

 

[whatsthatnoise]

If you'd bought a new AM3+ board you couldn't use a phenom x4 on it, since it's not downward compatible. You'd have to get a Phenom II X4 ... and DDR3 RAM. So while you are on it, you could as well just do what I suggested above already: Do it right and go Intel ...

 

[Foxtai]

You guys are not going to believe this, but someone actually managed to get a Phenom II X4 945 (95W model, HDX945WFK4DGM) to work on the Narra3 motherboard, though it says that it doesn't recognize the CPU, it is still fully functional. It really makes me wonder...

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktop-Hardware/Changing-CPU-on-Asus-M2N68-LA-Narra3/td-p/237790/page/2

Think this is legit?