Phenom II x4 questions

[Doyo]

Hey all

I've been lurking the forums for a while, as I was previously tryign to get a build together a little earlier. Unfortunately, life happened and my build didn't... so I now regress back to looking for info.

Originally, I was trying to get an i5 2500k budget build going, but I'm afraid I just can't drop that much money on a CPU and processor anymore. It seems that everyone on these forums are steering people away from the AMD CPUs and pushing the i3 and i5 processors pretty hard, and I do understand why, since everything I've seen puts the Intel on top.

However, from browsing Newegg and Tiger, I'm seeing that I can get a decent Phenom II 955 and mobo, for the same price I'd spend on an i5 processor alone. Since my 2.2ghz dual core build (done through cyberpower, not myself... this is my first build attempt), pretty much anything will be an upgrade for me... so I'm wondering if this CPU will suffice?

I'm a casual gamer, and will be spending most of my time playing SW:TOR, and your standard internet surfing, and music listening uses. If I saved the $$ on going with the Phenom setup, and got a better video card (will be using my old 8800GT to start with, but a new card will be top priority after I get this going) would I have good enough performance? I'd like to be able to play games like Skyrim as well, but it's not a huge priority... computer is mostly for MMOs.


Thanks for any help!

 

[Motopsychojdn]

I play Wow on an x3 435 unlocked to quad and clocked to 3.2GHz so technically a 955, with a 5770 gfx card (6770 is latest equivalent) and its fine so yes, that will be a decent enough Rig for a year or two yet, and you can always upgrade gfx and overclock to tweak a little more out when needed

According to Yougamers mine will run it well at high visual settings

System: Graphics Card Processor Memory
Recommended Specifications ATI Radeon HD 4890 1GB Quad Core CPU 4096 MB
Minimum Specifications 512MB DirectX 9.0c compatible Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 (2.0 GHz) 2048 MB
Your System Specifications ATI Radeon HD 5770 Unknown model (My chip isn't recognised) 4096 MB

Moto

 

[Engima]

I run a stock 965BE at 3.4Ghz which is similar to a 955 and can run Skyrim without any problems. You won't have any performance issues with the 955 and the 8800GT.

 

[esrever]

People push the i3 over the phenom II x4 because its slightly better in gaming.

The phenom is no slow processor and will give you better performance if you do other things that can use its 4 cores compared to the 2 cores of the i3.

a 955 would be very powerful and you'd not notice much difference between it and an intel cpu unless you run skyrim. you can OC the 955 if you have a decent motherboard and get better fps in most games than an i3 but this would draw more power.

save up for a gpu, its the most important part and is where most of your money goes for a budget gaming build.

 

[megamanx00]

For a budget build with room to grow a Phenom II is still a good way to go. I say get this board

ASRock 970 EXTREME4 AM3+ $109.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157262

And then get a Phenom II X4 before they are all gone. AMD has to stop making them to transition to 32nm, but I mean really they have to be cheaper for them to make than bulldozer chips. Oh well. Just get a good tower cooler and go from there. Since this board supports SLI you can add a second 8800gt from eBay for some more performance if you want. Anyway, a Phenom II BE at 3.8 or so is going to be good enough for modern games and should keep a single GPU going for a while. We'll see if any worthwhile AM3+ chips come out in the future though.

 

[amuffin]

How about an i3-2100 and an asrock z68 extreme 3 gen 3? It will be around $230.

 

[esrever]

why get a z68 with a i3?

 

[amuffin]

why get a z68 with a i3?

So you can use your saved money to upgrade to ivybridge. And the asrock board supports ib.

 

[vdr369]

Hey all

I've been lurking the forums for a while, as I was previously tryign to get a build together a little earlier. Unfortunately, life happened and my build didn't... so I now regress back to looking for info.

Originally, I was trying to get an i5 2500k budget build going, but I'm afraid I just can't drop that much money on a CPU and processor anymore. It seems that everyone on these forums are steering people away from the AMD CPUs and pushing the i3 and i5 processors pretty hard, and I do understand why, since everything I've seen puts the Intel on top.

However, from browsing Newegg and Tiger, I'm seeing that I can get a decent Phenom II 955 and mobo, for the same price I'd spend on an i5 processor alone. Since my 2.2ghz dual core build (done through cyberpower, not myself... this is my first build attempt), pretty much anything will be an upgrade for me... so I'm wondering if this CPU will suffice?

I'm a casual gamer, and will be spending most of my time playing SW:TOR, and your standard internet surfing, and music listening uses. If I saved the $$ on going with the Phenom setup, and got a better video card (will be using my old 8800GT to start with, but a new card will be top priority after I get this going) would I have good enough performance? I'd like to be able to play games like Skyrim as well, but it's not a huge priority... computer is mostly for MMOs.


Thanks for any help!

here is the reason why all they are pushing i3

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/88?vs=289

and one more

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/203?vs=289

it had very close performance of hexacore processor.and it is very good in budget gaming.