Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition 3.1GHz vs Athlon II X4 2.6GHz quad

[bradboarder5]

Quick question. will be getting my new comp soon, and just cant decide between these. will be doing some major gaming, but also will be doing some decent multitasking. can the dual core handle that? can the quad handle fallout 3 on max settings? thanks in advance.

Athlon II X4 620 Propus 2.6GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103706
or
AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition Callisto 3.1GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103680

 

[warmon6]

Your wrong. Clockspeed and L3 cache do make a big impact on games. It just depends on whether the software is coded for it or not.

http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/amdathlonii250_060109222115/19396.png

http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/amdathlonii250_060109222115/19397.png

http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/amdathlonii250_060109222115/19399.png

http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/amdathlonii250_060109222115/19398.png

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3572&p=9

Did i say clock speed didn't make a big impact on games? i was only refering to the l3 cache. As the artical shows when you underclock the phenom II's x4's to the athlon ii X4 620 speeds... To the human eye and most of the bench marks on there, you wont notice a difference. The largest difference shown in thats article was left 4 dead,

Yes there just 20 fps gain from this but scene there above the 60fps you wouldn't notice it. Yes this is much lower resolution than what the OP probably has but at resolution below 1280 x 1024, the cpu doing all the work while the gpu is twiddling its thumbs. So this will stress the cpu much more than at resolution's 1280 x 1024+.

When you do include the GPU, the difference gets less as most games are gpu dependent than cpu. As for most programs of today, L3 cache is just not all the big for now.


For the gaming side, i was showing todays games can run on the Athlon II x4 620. Not saying that speed wasn't importain. Although with a 400-500 MHz overclock, the Athlon II x4 can match the fps and maybe exceed the Phenom II x2 550.

 

[MothMusic]

Did i say clock speed didn't make a big impact on games? i was only refering to the l3 cache. As the artical shows when you underclock the phenom II's x4's to the athlon ii X4 620 speeds... To the human eye and most of the bench marks on there, you wont notice a difference. The largest difference shown in thats article was left 4 dead,
http://media.bestofmicro.com/H/C/223536/original/019_left_4_dead.png

Yes there just 20 fps gain from this but scene there above the 60fps you wouldn't notice it. Yes this is much lower resolution than what the OP probably has but at resolution below 1280 x 1024, the cpu doing all the work while the gpu is twiddling its thumbs. So this will stress the cpu much more than at resolution's 1280 x 1024+.

When you do include the GPU, the difference gets less as most games are gpu dependent than cpu. As for most programs of today, L3 cache is just not all the big for now.


For the gaming side, i was showing todays games can run on the Athlon II x4 620. Not saying that speed wasn't importain. Although with a 400-500 MHz overclock, the Athlon II x4 can match the fps and maybe exceed the Phenom II x2 550.

Sorry, your were only referring to L3 cache. But remember, not everyone feels comfortable over clocking, or even knows how.

 

[MothMusic]

Did i say clock speed didn't make a big impact on games? i was only refering to the l3 cache. As the artical shows when you underclock the phenom II's x4's to the athlon ii X4 620 speeds... To the human eye and most of the bench marks on there, you wont notice a difference. The largest difference shown in thats article was left 4 dead,
http://media.bestofmicro.com/H/C/223536/original/019_left_4_dead.png

Yes there just 20 fps gain from this but scene there above the 60fps you wouldn't notice it. Yes this is much lower resolution than what the OP probably has but at resolution below 1280 x 1024, the cpu doing all the work while the gpu is twiddling its thumbs. So this will stress the cpu much more than at resolution's 1280 x 1024+.

When you do include the GPU, the difference gets less as most games are gpu dependent than cpu. As for most programs of today, L3 cache is just not all the big for now.


For the gaming side, i was showing todays games can run on the Athlon II x4 620. Not saying that speed wasn't importain. Although with a 400-500 MHz overclock, the Athlon II x4 can match the fps and maybe exceed the Phenom II x2 550.

And thats justs Left 4 Dead. The TS wants know about Fallout 3. This was exactly what I was talking about, no one was directly answering the TS's question. He doesn't care about L3 cache, or overclocking (at least it was never mentioned in his question). He just wanted to know what cpu played Fallout 3 the best.

 

[welshmousepk]

this is getting a little out of hand, and my hangover is discouraging me from reading all the replies...

to clarify though, what i meant when i said the athlons are not gaming CPUs is simply that they arent AIMED at or designed for gamers.

AMD specifically target gamers with the phenom range, while the athlons are desgined specifically for non-gaming tasks.

im not saying an athlon 620 cant game, but in my experience its notably less of a performer.
i can see from the benchies youve posted though that my experience with them is certainly not the norm. so my assumption was out.

i think the point still stands though, L3 cache is very helpful for gaming. more so than two extra cores on most cases. and IMO, the phenom 550 should be a gamers first choice everytime.
especially since theres a possibility you can unlock to a quad.

 

[MothMusic]

this is getting a little out of hand, and my hangover is discouraging me from reading all the replies...

to clarify though, what i meant when i said the athlons are not gaming CPUs is simply that they arent AIMED at or designed for gamers.

AMD specifically target gamers with the phenom range, while the athlons are desgined specifically for non-gaming tasks.

im not saying an athlon 620 cant game, but in my experience its notably less of a performer.
i can see from the benchies youve posted though that my experience with them is certainly not the norm. so my assumption was out.

i think the point still stands though, L3 cache is very helpful for gaming. more so than two extra cores on most cases. and IMO, the phenom 550 should be a gamers first choice everytime.
especially since theres a possibility you can unlock to a quad.

That just depends on the game your playing. There are many modern games that don't really care about L3 cache at all, and having an extra two cores does make a difference.

 

[MothMusic]

this is getting a little out of hand, and my hangover is discouraging me from reading all the replies...

to clarify though, what i meant when i said the athlons are not gaming CPUs is simply that they arent AIMED at or designed for gamers.

AMD specifically target gamers with the phenom range, while the athlons are desgined specifically for non-gaming tasks.

im not saying an athlon 620 cant game, but in my experience its notably less of a performer.
i can see from the benchies youve posted though that my experience with them is certainly not the norm. so my assumption was out.

i think the point still stands though, L3 cache is very helpful for gaming. more so than two extra cores on most cases. and IMO, the phenom 550 should be a gamers first choice everytime.
especially since theres a possibility you can unlock to a quad.

Did your friend have his 620 overclocked?

 

[welshmousepk]

@moth, yeah i know GTAIV is one of the worst games in histroy for requiring 4 cores. its performance can be terrible on dual core systems (my phenom for instance)

and yes, my friend had his athlon overcloked. i dont remember exactly but i think he was at 3.2-3.4. whereas i was at 3.6. so i guess that also would have explained it.

 

[MothMusic]

@moth, yeah i know GTAIV is one of the worst games in histroy for requiring 4 cores. its performance can be terrible on dual core systems (my phenom for instance)

and yes, my friend had his athlon overcloked. i dont remember exactly but i think he was at 3.2-3.4. whereas i was at 3.6. so i guess that also would have explained it.

EDIT: I noticed you had your 550 overclocked, nvm

Just one question, where you using the stock cooler?

 

[MothMusic]

@moth, yeah i know GTAIV is one of the worst games in histroy for requiring 4 cores. its performance can be terrible on dual core systems (my phenom for instance)

and yes, my friend had his athlon overcloked. i dont remember exactly but i think he was at 3.2-3.4. whereas i was at 3.6. so i guess that also would have explained it.

Hmm... Thats odd, I heard alot of people saying on the forums here that the 620, once overclocked, would be almost as strong or stronger than a Phenom II x4. In fact that was one of the whole points of getting a 620, was to over clock it. But if you can overclock a 550 and get better performance than an overclocked 620, then whats the poing of a 620 oc for games? If thats true that the 620 is mediocre at games even when overclocked, then alot of the $600 rigs that were recommanded to people in the homebuilt forum may be wrong. If you knew that, how come you never recommended the 550 in those threads for $600 rigs?

What other games does your friend play, that your 550 can do better? (For some comparison besides Crysis)

 

[MothMusic]

According to this review by TPU at highest resolution a Athlon II X4 @ 3.63 GHz performs just as well as a Phenom II X4 964 @ 3.4 GHz

http://tpucdn.com/reviews/AMD/Athlon_II_X4_620/images/residentoc_evil_5_1920.gif

http://tpucdn.com/reviews/AMD/Athlon_II_X4_620/images/hawxoc_1920.gif


Notice how in Cenebench the Athlon II performs the same as the Phenom II
http://tpucdn.com/reviews/AMD/Athlon_II_X4_620/images/cinebench_oc.gif

In Handbrake the Athlon II is superior.
http://tpucdn.com/reviews/AMD/Athlon_II_X4_620/images/handbrake_oc.gif

If you are capable of overclocking for $99 you can not go wrong, you are essentially getting a premium CPU after a few tweaks.

Did they use the stock heat sink, or a different one? And how warm did the overclocked 620 get? And can you provide a link to the article please?

And do you know of any articles that show what a overclocked 550 can do?

The problem with OC, is that not everyone knows how, or feels comfortable going into the bios and playing around with the settings there. So I agree that a OC 620 can do just as well as a Phenom II x4, but if you need a $40 heatsink + shipping it may break the budget... (assuming the TS has one for buying the cpu)

So I think a 550 at stock setting would be fine if the TS doesnt mind going into the bios. But if he doesnt mind playing with the bios, and buying a heat sink (not sure if you need one to OC a 620 to 3.6Ghz) then get a 620.

 

[bradboarder5]

pretty cool to see that this is still going, haha.