AMD Athlon 2 X2 vs X3

[blkhogan]

Funny you mention that, those are the two im deciding between, the X2 250 and X3 450.

If those are your options, I recommend spending the extra 20 bucks and spring for the 450. Mine is not a stable unlocker, but it will do 3.6 to 3.7GHz on stock voltage. So you take a chance if your looking for that 4th core, but they clock pretty well at minimal changes.

 

[Dogshitjoint]

how? more cores isnt faster in this case. the 445 doesnt have L3.

I am with u on this one man

 

[cdawall]

I have tried more of these chips than a lot of people a high clocked athlon x3 will do well they can be deneb or propus based. The phenom ii dual cores are good chips but are getting rarer and rarer to unlock...

 

[Dogshitjoint]

I have tried more of these chips than a lot of people a high clocked athlon x3 will do well they can be deneb or propus based. The phenom ii dual cores are good chips but are getting rarer and rarer to unlock...

I agree teh x3 445 is in fact very fast & can reach high OC no doubt as I have one. (in my warderobe now) I am only referring to teh missing L3 cache which are in my own humble opinion "teh good stuff" which made me go for a CPU w. L3 & my choice fell on teh x4 965BE (price/perf. is great)

Well now TS wants to have a good CPU which surely teh x3 445 is, if he were in my proximity he could have teh chip dirtcheap. (but alas it wont unlock)

& Yeah if TS can get his hands on an older propus based C2 silicon based 445 he might get it unlocked, but then again there is teh instability issue again

This is tiresome...L3 Cache FTW!

TS: I wish u all luck in finding what u are l00king for & I beleive u will! [Jedi-Mindtrick]

//Dog

 

[eidairaman1]

If you can unlock the 4th core on an X3 is it a permanent solution? or like is it very unstable and you can only do it for a short amount of time like overclocking. I ask this because I'm going away to school in September so if o do unlock the core and leave it will it crash on my parents while I'm gone?

Also the 790FX chipsets on a mobo, what does the chipsets do?
And what's an SSD? -_- (retard question, I know)

To me Your Asking about having a stable/reliable machine more so than a fast one. Dont get me wrong the Fastest quad and fastest hex are more than enough power to feed the video card without requiring overclocking. TBH go with Reliability vs Performance which means dont overclock N Also Nowadays unlocking those tricores into quads is a mix bag cause you dont know if that 4th core is unreliable.

The Chipset is like the communications link between the Video Card, Ram, Harddrives, IO Ports on the back of the computer

check this link out for a description of what a chipset is and what it does

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chipset.

SSD is a Solid State Drive- A Harddrive with Memory Chips instead of a Moving Internal Disk with a Moving Head (Look at a Vinyl Record Player for a Good Idea of what a regular Harddrive is)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid-state_drive

 

[Dent1]

how? more cores isnt faster in this case. the 445 doesnt have L3.

Subjective matter really. How many applications take advantage of the third core and how many applications take advantage of that L3?

Going by TPU review of the Athlon II X3 425 (2.7GHz/no L3 cache) vs the Phenom II X2 550 (3.1GHz/6MB cache). The Athlon II X3 425 beats the 550 X2 with ease overall despite the clock speed and cache handicap.

Remember, lower is better, higher is better where appropriate.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/Athlon_II_X3_425/1.html




Edit:

The L3 Cache is to compensate for the latencies of the DDR3.

The 550 X2 has a 400Mhz advantage over the 425 X3 and still is slower so the extra core has to be the deciding factor. If the OP went for the 445 X3 which will match the 550 X2s clock of 3.1GHz, the X2 wouldnt have a chance.

 

[eidairaman1]

Subjective matter really. How many applications take advantage of the third core and how many applications take advantage of that L3?

Going by TPU review of the Athlon II X3 425 (2.7GHz/no L3 cache) vs the Phenom II X2 550 (3.1GHz/6MB cache). The Athlon II X3 425 beats the X2 with ease overall despite the clock speed and cache handicap.


http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/Athlon_II_X3_425/1.html

The L3 Cache is to compensate for the latencies of the DDR3.

 

[saadzaman126]

is there a noticable difference between DDR3 1333 or DDR3 1600 gaming or regular everyday use wise? Also, G.Skills RipJaw X or OCZ Gold?

 

[Dogshitjoint]

is there a noticable difference between DDR3 1333 or DDR3 1600 gaming or regular everyday use wise?

I noticed a diff. but well teh main reason were teh upgrade from 1x2GB SC to 2x2GB DC...

However if ya OC, then it´s alright to have a "headroom".

BUT mainly u won´t get WOW exp. when upgrading mems compared to upgrading CPU/GPU.

Then again I cannot advice u to get 1333MHz mems when teh 1600MHz mems are better overall + if ya MB can handle it It´s swell to have 1600+ mems. (I would like 2000+ but teh price premium is too high for me)

As always other members here on TPU are much more exp./pro than me, so this is just my 2 cents...



//Dog

 

[saadzaman126]

My mobo Asus M4A78LT-M LE says "The motherboard supports DDR3 memory that features data transfer rates of 1800 (O.C.)/1600(O.C.)/1333/1066 MH" What does the (O.C.) mean? Does it mean i have to overclock for it to be able to support that memory?

 

[Dogshitjoint]

My mobo Asus M4A78LT-M LE says "The motherboard supports DDR3 memory that features data transfer rates of 1800 (O.C.)/1600(O.C.)/1333/1066 MH" What does the (O.C.) mean? Does it mean i have to overclock for it to be able to support that memory?

Yeah right, but I wouldnt say OC per def. cuz all DDR3 Modules are 1333MHz in teh build & as teh MB recieves info about teh mems.

[U can push your MB over 1800MHz on teh mems ,but u have to have good c00ling & check stability...although, as u are rather (as u make questions about it) inexperienced in this area I say DONT push it man!] No offense bro (I am no mastah myself)

Don´t worry m8 u will get teh hang of it sooner or later...

//Dog

 

[Dent1]

My mobo Asus M4A78LT-M LE says "The motherboard supports DDR3 memory that features data transfer rates of 1800 (O.C.)/1600(O.C.)/1333/1066 MH" What does the (O.C.) mean? Does it mean i have to overclock for it to be able to support that memory?

Is the M4A78LT-M LE the motherboard you have now or the one you're going to buy?

It means that the board supports 1066MHz and 1333MHz auto detect or by manually configuring it to the suppliers recommended parameters in the bios. However you can run 1600MHz and 1800MHz and maybe higher via a overclock. The Gskills and OCZ ram you was talking about earlier (maybe in another thread) will typically overclock to those speeds without issue.

Edit:

It's the board i'm going to buy. So the cpu is overclocked so that it can use the ram at 1600 MHz speeds?

If the memory is rated at 1600MHz by default you shouldn’t have stability issues overclocking the motherboard to the rams rated speed of 1600MHz

If you are trying to overclock say a 1333MHz module to 1600MHz or a 1600Mhz module to 1800MHz+ stability will depend on the motherboard, memory brand & model, compromising on latencies, heat, voltage etc.

Bear in mind as you overclock the processor via the FSB the memory's bus will also OC too synchronously. There will also dedicated OC'ing section specifically for the memory. There are plenty of articles on overclocking around here I would advise becoming familiar with it on a theoretical level before pissing around with the bios.

PS. The M4A78LT-M LE is a good board, but be careful, it's still a old 760G chipset and it only has 2 memory expansion slots, which might hinder you from upgrading to 8GBs of ram in a 2GBx4 configuration in the future. (unless you are prepared to throw your memory away for 2x4GB). Just a thought.

 

[Dogshitjoint]

Is the M4A78LT-M LE the motherboard you have now or the one you're going to buy?

It means that the board supports 1066MHz and 1333MHz autodetect or by manually configuring it to the suppliers recommended parameters in the bios. However you can run 1600MHz and 1800MHz and maybe higher via a overclock. The Gskills and OCZ ram you was talking about earlier (maybe in another thread) will typically overclock to those speeds without issue.

+1 Nicely explained

//Dog

 

[saadzaman126]

Is the M4A78LT-M LE the motherboard you have now or the one you're going to buy?

It means that the board supports 1066MHz and 1333MHz autodetect or by manually configuring it to the suppliers recommended parameters in the bios. However you can run 1600MHz and 1800MHz and maybe higher via a overclock. The Gskills and OCZ ram you was talking about earlier (maybe in another thread) will typically overclock to those speeds without issue.

It's the board i'm going to buy. So the cpu is overclocked so that it can use the ram at 1600 mhz speeds?

 

[Dogshitjoint]

It's the board i'm going to buy. So the cpu is overclocked so that it can use the ram at 1600 mhz speeds?

Yeah youre good to go m8...as long as your mem is specced @ 1600MHz that is...

//Dog

 

[saadzaman126]

If the memory is rated at 1600MHz by default you shouldn%u2019t have stability issues overclocking the motherboard to the rams rated speed of 1600MHz

If you are trying to overclock say a 1333MHz module to 1600MHz or a 1600Mhz module to 1800MHz stability will depend on the motherboard, memory brand & model, compromising on latencies, heat, voltage etc.

Bear in mind as you overclock the processor via the FSB the memory's bus will also OC too synchronously. There will also dedicated OC'ing section specifically for the memory. There are plenty of articles on overclocking around here I would advise becoming familiar with it on a theoretical level before pissing around with the bios.

Yah the G.Skills RipJaws X is 1600 standard speed. Just i've never OC'd before, hell, this is my first build so I'm just trynna being cautious, i dont wanna have to spend extra on 1600 mhz and find out i cant end up using it. So im ocing the mobo's bus speed in the bios to match the 1600 of the RAM? Is this difficult to do? Will it make the mobo or anything unstable, causing a shorter lifespan? cause after i leave to uni it'll be my parents computer

 

[Winston_008]

is there a noticable difference between DDR3 1333 or DDR3 1600 gaming or regular everyday use wise? Also, G.Skills RipJaw X or OCZ Gold?

I have gskill ripjaws 1600mhz modules myself and i have run them at both 1333 and 1600, i can honestly see no noticeable difference in speed between them.

for the processor id definately suggest to go for the x3, as it will better future proof you for whatever your gonna be using it for, and value wise it has one of the best price/performance ratios.

And as for changing the bus speed, its easy, all it needs is changing a few settings in the bios. And i dont think ocing the bus so you can run your memory at 1600 will affect your mobo in any way.

 

[saadzaman126]

I found this deal for a AMD Athlon II X4 640 & MSI 870-G54 CrossFire DDR3 Motherboard. Would that be best? And for$139 is it a good deal? Lastly, they offer a free $10 pre-activated gift card can that be used on that purchase for the$139.99 or will i have to use it later?

 

[Hayder_Master]

pickup the athelon x4 don't go with trying to unlock 4th core of x3 there is no guarantee at all, i switch from phenom ii x3 after falling to unlock it to athelon ii x4 630, very nice cpu even can run 3.3ghz on stock voltage.
more cores is the only way out to get high FPS in games.

 

[Dent1]

I found this deal for a AMD Athlon II X4 640 & MSI 870-G54 CrossFire DDR3 Motherboard. Would that be best? And for$139 is it a good deal? Lastly, they offer a free $10 pre-activated gift card can that be used on that purchase for the$139.99 or will i have to use it later?

Yeah its a good deal