2.7Ghz Phenom II X4 or 3.6Ghz Athlon II?

[Aaron11]

I am one of those fortunate ones that has a Athlon II X3 425 that can unlock to a Phenom II X4 with 6mb L3 cache. I just recently got my Athlon II X3 to 3.6Ghz. The problem with my 4th core and L3 cache unlock was that I had to lower the nb and ht link to 1000mhz to get it stable at 2.7ghz (stock speed). I tried doing a light OC with the fourth core enabled and it didn't even like 3.0Ghz. I suppose I could probably get it stable @ 2.8. I think what kills it is that for whatever reason. it becomes unstable with the nb above 1000mhz.

My question is, in everyday computing and gaming would I see better performance from a 3.6GHz Athlon II X3 or a 2.7ghz Phenom II X4? Personally I think I'd be better off with a 3.6ghz athlon but what do you guys think?

 

[cerwinvega]

Unless you're doing tons of video rips/encoding, the higher clocked X3 should serve you better.

 

[Pieter3dnow]

Gaming benefits from extra cache that the phenom has over the Athlon, the only time you are going to see increased performance from a faster cpu is when the game is not GPU limited but CPU.
So depends on largely which games you play.

 

[lightp2]

in every day computing (common typical consumer/office usage), you will see minimal practical difference so Phenom 2.7GHz maybe better than Athlon II X3 at 3.6 Ghz. A value low capacity SSD will give you more satisfaction than the raw clock.

The issue being you also may need to raise voltage to go higher at 3.6Ghz in comparison to 2.7GHz, Extra energy/heat dissipation for little gain. For 2.7GHz, you probably can try undervolt slightly as well.

However, there are situations where high clock does help. Maybe you can go for the 3rd option if the BIOS allows this. Unlock to gain the 6MB cache (indicated in your original post), but still disable the unstable core. Then you can raise the clock to 3.2GHz, thus end up with X3 at 3.2GHz with 6MB cache.

I suggest 3.2GHz as example because it seems many feel AMD 45nm processors are able to reach 3.2GHz with minimal effort given the right mix, many times with stock voltage so you do not need complication of energy demand. If energy/heat is no issue, obviously you can raise to reach 3.6GHz as originally intended.

Cheers