Help me choose a CPU for Pop's...

C

ccityinstaller

Supreme [H]ardness
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Feb 23, 2007
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I picked up the Gigabyte 785G MB + free WD 500 gig HD that Newegg had on special for my dad. I am upgrading him from a P4 3.2 HT, so anything is going to be an improvement...I will be overclocking the cpu, and already have a brand new Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro (rev 2) sitting here from another project..

I need to keep this build under $250, so to do so I am looking at $60ish max for a cpu...I would love to grab a 555BE and hopefully unlock it, but it's outta budget..

I have considered either the Athlon II X2 240 or the AMD Athlon X2 7850 Black Edition..I know the 7850 is a higher wattage part, but the BE factor is pretty nice... Which would you guys choose..

 
I am willing to bet that even with the unlocked multiplier on the 7850 you will be able to get a higher overclock on the X2 240 - I have built entry-level systems for friends based on both and the 240 is much easier to work with long as your board has some headroom for an HTT overclock.

Just some sources if you don't want to base your purchase solely on my experiences:

"Overclocking the AMD Athlon X2 7850, even though it is a Black Edition processor, was a tedious task."
-OverclockersClub review

On the other hand, in this thread you can see the X2 240 reached 3.5GHz with only a mild voltage bump.

They're both good choices for the type of build you are undertaking but the 240 will run cooler and overclock with ease compared to the 7850 so if those are the factors you're considering clearly the 240 is the choice.
 
Thanks for the information. I usually don't dabble in the budget relm of things, as my list rig was a quad and now a hex core ;)
 
go with the phenom II 550 or 555 DO NOT waste your money on anything from the phenom I architecture.. its an absolute waste of friggin money and yes the athlon II 240 will out perform it in more things then just performance..
 
Nice find Dookey, you too Hoss. I think I'm going to snag the X3 425 mentioned. Now, since NE sold all the damn 785 boards that were on combo special, I need another one..

Doesn't need to have onboard video, as my spare 8800GTS resides in Pop's box. I would like to keep it cheap, but do want some form of o/c'ing ability.

 
Can purchase a Athlon II 435 2.9ghz at Amazon.com for 60$ +5.95 shipping
 
I know this mobo uses the 770 chipset, but I have it and it works great. How about this ASRock M3A770DE mobo for $59.99? Right now it hs 7.56 shipping, but the price on this always changes, so I'd expect it to go down in a week or too. I bought it about 3 weeks ago when it had free shipping. As for the CPU you made a good choice. I have the Athlon II X3 425 in my main rig (I'm not very rich :(). I got a 3.4Ghz OC out of it by upping the voltage a bit. I haven't tried to go any higher since I'm running the stock cooler.
 
not sure about that mobo and unlocking cores, but x3s are a bad investment if x2s are still unlocking as easily as they were when I got mine.

I picked up a phenom 2 x2 for 65 bux and it unlocks to 4 cores and hits 3.7 ghz on stock volts.

I just can't ever see an x3 coming close to that kind of value.
 
Thanks for all the great info guys..Another member had told me that he used this 45nm OEM X2 5000 and it unlocked to a quad easily..Hard to beat for $43 shipped right? As for the MB, I don't have to use a DDR2 board, but I was going to simply because of the amount of cheap DDR2 kits that are flooding the FS forum. Ram and video cards are two things I don't mind buying used..
 
Aaron11 said:
I know this mobo uses the 770 chipset, but I have it and it works great. How about this ASRock M3A770DE mobo for $59.99? Right now it hs 7.56 shipping, but the price on this always changes, so I'd expect it to go down in a week or too. I bought it about 3 weeks ago when it had free shipping. As for the CPU you made a good choice. I have the Athlon II X3 425 in my main rig (I'm not very rich :(). I got a 3.4Ghz OC out of it by upping the voltage a bit. I haven't tried to go any higher since I'm running the stock cooler.
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How are the temps on that board? The cooling is a bit lack luster, but I admit it has a lot going for it @ $60..The main thing that worries me is the lack of any type of HSF on the mosfets, but I suppose I could just install my own..

What do you guys think about coupling this board with an X3 8850? I can get the cpu from a guy here for $50, so we'd be talking like $110 for the combo..



EDIT: Just realized I couldn't make this work since the processor is AM2+ and the board is AM3..Boy AMD can get confusing sometimes..
 
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Where are you located? Any Fry's or Microcenters nearby? Fry's runs various cpu+mobo combo deals, and microcenter has been running their 630/555+free mobo deal for what seems like months.
 
ccityinstaller said:
Thanks for all the great info guys..Another member had told me that he used this 45nm OEM X2 5000 and it unlocked to a quad easily..Hard to beat for $43 shipped right? As for the MB, I don't have to use a DDR2 board, but I was going to simply because of the amount of cheap DDR2 kits that are flooding the FS forum. Ram and video cards are two things I don't mind buying used..
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3btech is local for me....and they now own PC-Direct.com which also have local retail outlet stores...

I'd honestly go with either the Athlon 240/250 or the X3-4**series if its in budget...

I have a Athlon 250 and its a nice chip...
 
ccityinstaller said:
How are the temps on that board? The cooling is a bit lack luster, but I admit it has a lot going for it @ $60..The main thing that worries me is the lack of any type of HSF on the mosfets, but I suppose I could just install my own..

What do you guys think about coupling this board with an X3 8850? I can get the cpu from a guy here for $50, so we'd be talking like $110 for the combo..



EDIT: Just realized I couldn't make this work since the processor is AM2+ and the board is AM3..Boy AMD can get confusing sometimes..
Click to expand...


please for the love of god quit thinking about buying a phenom I processor.. I understand its a fellow [H] member selling it but they are an utter pile of god damn shit and arent even worth wasting a dollar on them.. the only way they should be sold is on fleabay not a tech forum.. 1. they use way more power then they are rated at.. 2 they dont overclock for shit and even when they do the power usage increases exponentially and not linearly due to a huge voltage leak in the phenom I processors.. 3.. they create way more heat then they should be due to the voltage leak in the processors.. and last but not least.. a 50 dollar athlon II dual core would smoke the shit out of that x3 processor while creating less heat, and using less power..

the only biostar board id honestly recommend is the biostar TForce 780g M2+.. preferably the version with the heatpipe cooling but its hard to find in the states..

the 700 series chipsets dont create shit for heat.. my biostar TForce 780G(non heat pipe version) board never exceeded 35C and that was with me running it at 1.25v instead of the stock 1.15v which it ran below 30C at 1.15v..
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
please for the love of god quit thinking about buying a phenom I processor.. I understand its a fellow [H] member selling it but they are an utter pile of god damn shit and arent even worth wasting a dollar on them.. the only way they should be sold is on fleabay not a tech forum.. 1. they use way more power then they are rated at.. 2 they dont overclock for shit and even when they do the power usage increases exponentially and not linearly due to a huge voltage leak in the phenom I processors.. 3.. they create way more heat then they should be due to the voltage leak in the processors.. and last but not least.. a 50 dollar athlon II dual core would smoke the shit out of that x3 processor while creating less heat, and using less power..

the only biostar board id honestly recommend is the biostar TForce 780g M2+.. preferably the version with the heatpipe cooling but its hard to find in the states..

the 700 series chipsets dont create shit for heat.. my biostar TForce 780G(non heat pipe version) board never exceeded 35C and that was with me running it at 1.25v instead of the stock 1.15v which it ran below 30C at 1.15v..
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Well stated:D..I'd forgotten how crappy the PI processors were. I moved to intel after my 3800X2 and never looked back until I picked up the X6. AMD really screwed the pooch with these crazy product lines.


 
ccityinstaller said:
Well stated:D..I'd forgotten how crappy the PI processors were. I moved to intel after my 3800X2 and never looked back until I picked up the X6. AMD really screwed the pooch with these crazy product lines.


Click to expand...

Actually the B3 Phenoms like the 7850/8750 weren't THAT bad, the power is just a tad higer than rated, it could hit 2.8-3.2Ghz for OCs and you can find them dirt cheap occationally.

But the B2 Phenoms sucked, period.

The Athlon 2s are still much better buys nonetheless however.
 
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