$1000 gaming build

[ShadowFold]

Oh and FYI, Phenom II 550 performs the same and overclocks higher than the 720BE
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103680
Cheaper too, I'm gonna sell my 720BE and get one myself.

 

[Kenshai]

The reviews I saw were that the 720 at stock matches or bests an oc'ed 550 granted I only read 2 reviews. And it will bottleneck a gpu less, you're really better off with more than two cores on a phenom, unless your not doing anything cpu intensive.

 

[Assassin48]

the 550 are dual cores and the 720be are tri cores

so the extra core should be better
3>2

thats why the 550 can oc higher since its only 2 cores

i would keep the 720be or upgrade to the next thing 940 for am2+ boards or 955 for am3+ boards

 

[n-ster]

What I say was that that dual-core was a bit more powerful core for core, but all around, 720BE is better except in single threaded apps... with dual thread apps + background stuff, the tri-core is better...

I'm not sure if I heard this from someone else or a review though... I'd go with a tri core to be safe

 

[Lalindo]

Do I want AM3 for the 720?

 

[n-ster]

if you mean AM3 board yes you do...

 

[Kenshai]

What I say was that that dual-core was a bit more powerful core for core, but all around, 720BE is better except in single threaded apps... with dual thread apps + background stuff, the tri-core is better...

I'm not sure if I heard this from someone else or a review though... I'd go with a tri core to be safe

I find it hard to believe when they use the same chip just with disabled cores that one is going to be faster core for core.

Do I want AM3 for the 720?

I'd recommend it just for future upgrade path if AMD decides to make AM3 chips with only DDR3 controllers. Or if allow AM3 chips to work in the next socket.

 

[Lalindo]

Okay good because my board is AM3. Just wanted to make sure

 

[ShadowFold]

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/phenom2x2_athlon2x2/4.htm

Even beats the 720 in some synthetics.. And look at some other user reviews for overclocking, I've seen some crazy 4ghz-4.2ghz OC's on air with these.

 

[douglatins]

No need for OS just use windows 7 when its starts shutting down you buy it or else, i already sold my vista copy

 

[RevengE]

I just got a 720 BE can't wait to OC it.

 

[Kenshai]

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/phenom2x2_athlon2x2/4.htm

Even beats the 720 in some synthetics.. And look at some other user reviews for overclocking, I've seen some crazy 4ghz-4.2ghz OC's on air with these.

Look back at the review of the 720 here and you'll see that even at 3.7ghz, it beats it in those synthetic tests. Minus the single threaded Apophysis. Clock for clock on single threaded apps, they will be very similar. But on multi-threaded apps, the 720 will obviously take a step ahead of the 550.

Also noting that WinRAR isn't truly using more than two cores. Compressing a file I get cpu usage of ~70% with 3 cores or with 4th core unlocked only ~55% fluctuating.

I'm not saying that the 550 isn't a great chip from the looks of it, but I'll take my 720be over it any day, especially if I need more processing power I just bump up voltages a bit and bump up to 4ghz, I just don't feel comfortable running the voltage necessary to keep it stable at 4 ghz.

 

[n-ster]

Not to mention it will be better for the future... even for now! many games use at least 2 cores... which means that all the other background stuff is on the 3rd core