What Is The Genuine Difference Between Phenom X4 and Phenom II X4?

godbrother

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Hi,

Where I live, the highest Phenom X4 costs half the price as the lowest Phenom II X4. Which is geniunly worth it? I want to build a budget gaming PC for a friend. (I live in the U.K, so no newegg... The cheapest I found was for £45 for the PX4 and around £100 for the PIIX4)

Please compare me the differences, and if its really worth it. (NO DDR3 please, I will use either on a DDR2 board.)

Thanks!
 

B-Unit

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No, he probably means the original Phenom X4 9000 series. They run hot and slow. They are built on the older 65nm process, making them less efficient and not able to clock as high as the newer 45nm chips. For gaming, they are not a good bet.

If you want to save money, look to the AthlonII X4 for quads or to the Phenom II X3 and X2 chips.
 

CooLWoLF

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I would say get the Athlon II X4, BUT getting a Phenom I X4 would not be as bad as people make it out to be. If its cheaper to get an original Phenom (like a 9850 or a 9950) then go for it. They are certainly not as bad as people say they are and if it saves you money, its a good choice.

To make this discussion/decision easier, which Phenom I X4 are you looking at? Can you get a Athlon II X4? Price compariosn for the two where you live?
 

godbrother

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http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=105&p2=21

Not to far behind I would say. And so what if it was 65nm? The Q6600 was also 65nm and look how that turned out :D I look at geniune performance... If I can get the clock to around 3.1/3.2Ghz (is it possible?) Then I'm 100% happy with it.

The price for A II X4 is around 40-50 bucks more.
 

loneninja

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As long as your motherboard supports ACC(advanced clock calibration) and you've got an aftermarket cooler you should be able to reach 3.2, maybe a little higher on a Phenom 9850/9950. You need the SB710 or SB750 to have ACC and these are only on motherboards with ATI chipsets.

The Phenom aren't bad, I never understood why everyone claims PII to be so much more powerful, a mere 10-15% increase in performance at the same clock speed isn't too much to brag about. Only really good thing about 45nm is the lower power consumption and higher clock speeds.
 

godbrother

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Well, as you can see from the last link I posted, its not so different from the Q6600. Infact, the Phenom beats it in most decoding etc.

I'm looking on ebay for bids, instead of buying new as they would be no point in a new one, they'll cost the same as a Phen-II.

I hope I don't exceed 80 bucks for it. a Phenom II costs around 160 bucks here.