Is the AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition a bad choice?

[Espionage724]

I was building a budget computer, and was pretty interested when I heard that the motherboard I wanted to purchase (Biostar A880G+) had ACC. The motherboard is in my possession now, and I plan on buying the CPU next.

I wanted to buy a Phenom II X3, but feedback I received in another place said that triple core CPU's failed horribly, had a lot more app/game crashes and BSOD's, and were generally worse then even a slower dual core. I only have experience with dual core CPU's, so I wouldn't know.

I saw benchmarks on some CPU's, and in most cases, the triple core and quad core (I believe I was comparing a X3 720 with a X4 920 or 925) were neck-to-neck, and in some benchmarks (on the same game, different sites) the triple core beat the quad core.

I like the idea of trying to unlock cores, and even if I can't unlock the 4th core, I would imagine a triple core would be fine? Whats everyone else's feedback on triple core CPU's?

Also for the rest of my computer, I planned on getting a 4GB stick of RAM (later on I'll add the 2nd stick), some RAM heatsinks, a microATX computer case (it has a handle on it, and that might be nice to have), and possibly some ASUS sound card (it started with a X I believe, but I can't recall what it was called exactly).

 

[Espionage724]

Well thanks for the feedback all. I just now purchased the final components for my computer, I think I did an ok job at it. For $100 I got a 600watt PSU + the Phenom X3, for $25 I got the TX3 cooler, and for $33 I got a 4GB DDR3 stick of RAM.

 

[Espionage724]

Best answer selected by Espionage724.

 

[fr8mvr]

Do you mean you are able to unlock but your unlocked core is unstable? Or you are not able to unlock at all?
What is your motherboard, please.

I mean after i Unlock it it is not stable MB is a MSI88gm-e41

 

[fr8mvr]

the X3 720 also have L3. And what you show is not $10 difference but $20.
In the beginning, the locked core is really more often than not is unstable. During the early manufacturing process, defective cores are locked and the chips were sold as X2 and X3. But as the demand for X2 & X3 increased, good cores are locked just to meet the demand. With the vast improvement in the manufacturing process, the yield for fully functioning quad core increased further increasing the chance of the locked cores being good cores. Having said this, it is no guarantee that all X2 or X3 sold today will unlock.

When I posted Newegg had a code, which has now expired for an additional 10 off 😉 Regardless of better manufacturing, the price difference between x3 and x4 is so minimal now that the odds are better for the x3 to actually have a bad core.