Help choosing a new cpu

[sartho]

Hi, I want to upgrade my cpu/motherboard and I'm having trouble choosing a cpu.

The motherboard I've chosen is this:

ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO AM3 AMD 785G

I chose it because it was at a decent price, and I've read good things about it.

I've narrowed it down to 2 Athlon II cpus:

AMD Athlon II X3 435 Rana 2.9GHz,

and

AMD Athlon II X4 630 Propus 2.8GHz.

Would I see a major difference with 1 core less and 100mhz speed increase?

I do plan to overclock, and use this rig for gaming. I do multitask, but not to the extremes that I've seen used in reviews.

Each of these cpu's have a combo with the mobo, but the 630 costs about $35 more.

Any advice would be helpful.

 

[enzo matrix]

Especially since you intend to overclock, I would recommend the Athlon IIx2 620 instead of either of those CPUs. I have mine at 3.25GHz on stock cooling with stock voltage hitting 50C on load, 25 idle. I must also say good choice on the motherboard.

Also I found this online. The records for overclocking the Athlon IIx4 do not seem to depend on getting the one with the higher multiplier.
http://www.overclock.net/amd-cpus/604845-official-amd-athlon-ii-x4-club.html

Also, I would not think that you would be able to push the x3 much further in overclocking than the x4. Games are also starting to become more optimized for more cores. Right now notables are Dragon Age, GTA4 and FSX. I think in the long run you would be better with a quad core than a higher clock frequency. The x4 is definitely worth the extra $35.

If you really want one of those two and would not consider the 620, go with the 630. The extra core will be well worth it.

If you would like to take more of a risk and pay $35 less, then go for the x3 and try to unlock the 4th core

Good luck with whichever you choose.

Just an additional note: With gaming, the L3 cache of the Phenom IIs is worth a lot more than it is with non-gaming. Up to 10%. Not worth the extra cost for me though.

 

[masterjaw]

Get the X4 630. More cores, the better. Plus, you're gonna overclock it anyway so the clock difference won't matter. It's just the X4 630 would give you an extra core for of course, extra performance.

 

[sartho]

Best answer selected by sartho.