Upgrade Question

heflys20

[H]ard|Gawd
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Aug 27, 2010
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One of the computers in my house is running an Athlon II X4 620, but I was wondering if I should upgrade it to a Phenom II X4 955 or 965. Upgrading to Phenom II X6 isn't out of the question either, since the motherboard supports it. Also, the computer might be used for gaming.

Does it make any sense to upgrade?
 
what is it used for primarily ?

If you do basic internet stuff, no

if you do Video work, yes.....however I would say wait until next year and if Bull Dozer does drop, prices on those will come down.
 
what is it used for primarily ?

Well.....Mostly burning, surfing and the occasional game. It is starting to become a gaming machine.

if you do Video work, yes.....however I would say wait until next year and if Bull Dozer does drop, prices on those will come down.

Yeah I was thinking about Bulldozer, but that will require a new motherboard and new memory.....Decisions, decisions.
 
sorry for being vauge, i ment, wait until bulldozer is released because at that poitn a CPU upgrade will be cheaper and more cost effective than it is now, so if you can hold of maybe a year, you can save yourself some change, probably atleast 50 on the hex cores, but they are not very badly priced as they stand now...
 
No real point going from a 620 to a 955 or 965. You won't really notice the difference.
 
Have you tried unlocking the cache. It's worth a shot to see if it has it.

From what I heard, these don't possess the L3 cache.

sorry for being vauge, i ment, wait until bulldozer is released because at that poitn a CPU upgrade will be cheaper and more cost effective than it is now, so if you can hold of maybe a year, you can save yourself some change, probably atleast 50 on the hex cores, but they are not very badly priced as they stand now...

I guess that makes sense, particularly if results from upgrading aren't worth it.
 
well they are worth it depending on what you do....


In some tasts a Phenom II will kill an Athlon II.....in some they will be even...... for "weekend warrior" video encoding and stuff you will not need more power, however if your going to be doing a bunch of it, it may be worth it since it will save some of your time and it will add up.......that said i would say just wait and see what bull dozer brings, and at which point decide if you want to stay with AM3 or go to bulldozer
 
By upgrading to the 955 or 965 BE your gain would be 6MB of L3 cache and an unlocked multiplier. The cheapest an unlocked Phenom II X4 can be had right now is $137 at fryshttp://www.frys.com/product/6071348?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG In my opinion not a cost effective upgrade.Spending any more than that to buy a Thuban is foolish IMO because Bulldozer will be coming in a year. If you want a healthy boost in performance and don't mind overclocking, then the most cost effective upgrade for you would probably be a good CPU cooler. OCing your quad core would get you 90% of the performance per clock that a 965 would have, at 1/4 of the cost.

Sorry for being so off topic in my solution, but a new CPU fan is the most valuable upgrade you can make right now.

Link to all AM3 compatible CPU fans @ NewEgghttp://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=Property&Subcategory=574&Description=&Type=&N=100008000&IsNodeId=1&srchInDesc=&MinPrice=&MaxPrice=&PropertyCodeValue=3710%3A57921&PropertyCodeValue=3710%3A48941&PropertyCodeValue=3710%3A55407&PropertyCodeValue=3710%3A57799&PropertyCodeValue=3710%3A50570&PropertyCodeValue=3710%3A47509
 
Some 620's were actually Deneb core Phenom 2's. I put a box together for my dad with a 620. He got lucky and got a Deneb core 620. The L3 cache unlocked at stock volts. Passed prime and memtest just fine. And it overclocked to 3.8 Ghz with ease. Of course I put it back to stock frequency because, well, he doesn't need that much.
 
you m ay want to remember that only some of the FIRST run of 620's were Phenom II's and even then the unlock rate was not high....chances of getting a retail one now is very slim, if any at all
 
Yeah, I seriously doubt mine can be unlocked, plus, I believe I already checked. Anyway, I'll probably wait for the 1090T to go down in price, because I really don't want to go through the headache of getting a new motherboard (unless Bulldozer/Bobcat is that incredible).
 
get a cheep 870 motherboard and a phenom 2 555 when bd dropps grab a new board
 
Yeah, I seriously doubt mine can be unlocked, plus, I believe I already checked. Anyway, I'll probably wait for the 1090T to go down in price, because I really don't want to go through the headache of getting a new motherboard (unless Bulldozer/Bobcat is that incredible).

if your not shy of overclocking you can get a 1055t, save some coin, and clock it to 1090T levels, and higher if you want to go farther.....
 
you m ay want to remember that only some of the FIRST run of 620's were Phenom II's and even then the unlock rate was not high....chances of getting a retail one now is very slim, if any at all

Well, when I ordered the one for my dad, it was like 6 to 8 months after they said that they went to native Athlon X4's. I never expected it, just the luck of the draw. Nice suprise though.
 
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