x3 440 vs phenom 9850

Wouldn't it be fairly easy to overclock to similar speeds? And the l3 cache help for gaming?
 
You could OC that Phenom 9850. But you can also OC that X3 440 as well. Any setup that can OC the Phenom 9850, can OC the X3 440 as well.

The AMD X3 440 is based on the newer and faster Rana core. So while yes that extra core will help the Phenom 9850 overtake the X3 440 in video and 3D rendering, in games, the X3 440 clearly outpaces the Phenom 9850.

How much is the Phenom 9850 you're looking at?
 
Well, the story Is I was stupid and bought the x3 440 (thinking it would unlock) to upgrade my x2 250. It didn't unlock, and I was left with a very minimal upgrade in my opinion. I only paid $67 shipped for the x3 440, so I'm thinking about starting it on ebay for $60, and looking at phenom quad cores which seem to be a far more substantial upgrade. Ok I guess I made a mistake looking at phenom 1 series.

The cheapest I can find is x4 945 for $125, or x4 955 BE for $135... but im still shopping for a better deal
 
kaptnkain said:
Why not look for a cheap 555 BE? They seem to have a high unlock rate...
Click to expand...

It's soooooo tempting, but I think I learned the mistake of buying with the hopes of unlocking, and if it didn't, it would almost be a downgrade from the x3 440 correct?
 
YamahaAlex37 said:
It's soooooo tempting, but I think I learned the mistake of buying with the hopes of unlocking, and if it didn't, it would almost be a downgrade from the x3 440 correct?
Click to expand...

Depends on the game really. As kaptnkain noted, the X2 555 can OC pretty high. Some games require sheer clock speed while others will be fine with multiple cores.
 
I can't overclock my x3 440 at all because my ram is gay...

Any other opinions? Is this a good upgrade?
 
YamahaAlex37 said:
I can't overclock my x3 440 at all because my ram is gay...

Any other opinions? Is this a good upgrade?
Click to expand...

What? the X2? Hmm, really depends on whether or not you think a 75% successful unlock rate will be worth it. Yes you can OC that Phenom II X2 555 pretty high. Yes kaptnkain is right that many games do only scale with clock speed (i.e SC2) but a bit of moot point if you can't even OC the X3 440 let alone the Phenom II X2 555. At stock speeds, I do not think the X2 555 is worth the $90 over the X3 440.
 
It wouldn't be $90 more dollars, it would cost about $80, and I could sell the x3 440 for at least $60. I'm sure I could overclock the 955 easily, because it is BE and has unlocked multiplier. My x3 440 I am unable to OC, because FSB fudges my gay ram and I can't figure out the correct settings in my Biostar TA785 A2+: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1546641
 
You sure it's just not the motherboard? That Biostar isn't exactly made for overclocking.
 
Yeah, but I think it's mostly the fact that the BIOS is confusing and I can't figure out how to decrease the RAM mhz, because my RAM doesn't like higher than 800mhz.
 
Drop the RAM multiplier. With the 667 MHz multiplier you can raise the HT reference clock to 240 MHz to get your RAM back at 800 MHz effective.
 
Can you explain to me how I calculate that? Like how you get it to add up to 800mhz exactly?
 
forget about the phenom I series. It's like getting a 65nm C2Q. It's not something you should do if you have to by new hardware. Even so, the Phenom I series is so crappy compared to the intel offerings at the time and compared to the Athlon II. I wouldn't bother with a x2 555 either. Then you'd be stuck with a dual if you can't unlock it.
 
Biostar labels the RAM multipliers with the speed the RAM would be at if you are using the stock HT reference clock of 200 MHz. So the multipliers will called "667" "800" etc. Those are the effective speeds (double the actual speed, RAM manufacturers use the effective speed whereas CPU-Z gives you actual).

667 -> 200 HT * 3.333 = 667 MHz effective
800 -> 200 HT * 4 = 800 MHz
667 -> 240 HT * 3.333 = 800 MHz
800 -> 240 HT * 4 = 960 MHz (why this won't work unless your RAM overclocks well or you get DDR2 1066 sticks)

Since the 440 has a 15x core multiplier that gives you room to go up to 3.6 GHz core speed before you would have use the next lower RAM multiplier..
 
L3 cache don't matter a lot in gaming...So try to forget about ever getting a Phenom I CPU...Go for the athlon or if possible Phenom II series
 
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