Athlon II X2, Phenom II X2, L2 vs. L3 Cache, Minor OC'ing

Furiosity

Furiosity

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I'm going to get a new processor within the next 30-60 days, probably around thanksgiving in hopes for a sale, and I'm stuck between an Athlon II X2 240 or a Phenom II X2 545, I know the Phenom is better, but I don't know how much better, and how huge the difference in performance will be between having 2MB L2 Cache (Athlon) or 1MB L2 + 6MB L3 (Phenom).

The reason I'm stuck between them, is I want to buy Dragon Age: Origins when it releases, which will drain $50 from me, leaving only enough for the Athlon II X2. The Phenom is 89, and the Athlon is 63. Is there any huge performance difference? If I get the Phenom I will not be able to get Dragon Age, but that'd be pk with me if an Athlon isn't able to run it properly. DA: O recommended a Tri-Core+ so it makes me really afraid to get an Athlon since I don't know the perf. difference between Athlon + Phenom.

I also want to know, with the Athlon II X2 240, if increasing the Frequency by 200 (to reach 3.0 GHZ on the Stock Fan), will cause any noticeable difference in its life expectancy and if any voltage tweaking is needed. I have NEVER OC'd before.

Most games I see recommends Athlon I X2's which makes me wonder why DA: O recommends a Phenom II X3, the game is a HUGE game though.

There's a near 0% chance I can add on any extra funds to get both or a tri-core.
 
blizbiggy said:
why not get a athlon II x4 (amd's bran new quad core, only $100)
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I was just about to edit and ask that, but being how I am, when I see things like a Phenom II X2 for 89 and an Athlon II X4 for 99$, it makes me wonder what the difference in performance is, the price is small ,but i have no idea on performance. Chances are I will not be able to upgrade for another 2-3 years. I want some clarification of performance between the 3 processors. benchmarks don't help me much, the number differences are so small in difference, that I don't get the reason why the prices vary so much.
 
A quad core processor would be the best to get if you want it to last because it should be able to run most games for a while. Im not sure how the Anthalon II x4 would compare to a Phenomx4 or a Phenom II x4, I have a Phenom 8650 x3 @ 2.3GHz processor and so far it runs any game I throw at it.
 
i have the athlon II 240 and have OC'd to 3.01GHz stable.
and all you need to do is bump the voltage by .2 and change the HT Clock to 215.
pretty easy. and all of the games i have played so far get 30-60 frames, but only because of my somewhat bottlenecking HD 4650
EDIT: oh and also, im using an AM2+ mobo with DDR2 ram, so i could get more whenever i upgrade my motherboard and memory
 
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Too bad you aren't near Atlanta, GA. Our Frys just had the PII X3 710 on sale for $79, followed by the PII X4 810 on sale for $79.
 
torzak said:
What really I live near Atlanta, Link please?
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Sorry, no link, it's a local area store sale only, came with the newspaper.

Also, it's the PII X4 805 on sale for $80, not the 810. Prices are only good thru Oct 8. You have to physically go to the store to get it. There are 2 Frys stores in the Atlanta area. Go to Frys.com and use the store locator to find the store nearest to you. They always have their ads posted in the store, so look for it, but you shouldn't need the ad to get the price. Verrry good deal. They also have Nvidia GTS 250 512 for $80. Another deal is Athlon II X4 620 + Gigabyte MB for $140.
 
bigwilly said:
Sorry, no link, it's a local area store sale only, came with the newspaper.

Also, it's the PII X4 805 on sale for $80, not the 810. Prices are only good thru Oct 8. You have to physically go to the store to get it. There are 2 Frys stores in the Atlanta area. Go to Frys.com and use the store locator to find the store nearest to you. They always have their ads posted in the store, so look for it, but you shouldn't need the ad to get the price. Verrry good deal. They also have Nvidia GTS 250 512 for $80. Another deal is Athlon II X4 620 + Gigabyte MB for $140.
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ARGH! :( I live in Florida, SW part :( And no way of mobile transportation other than bus maybe lol.

Is lacking L3 going to make a huge performance impact? For games anyway. Some games care more about clock speed than amount of cores and the quad is 2.6GHZ :( I'm afraid to OC and then something happens and my warranty is void :(
 
Furiosity said:
ARGH! :( I live in Florida, SW part :( And no way of mobile transportation other than bus maybe lol.

Is lacking L3 going to make a huge performance impact? For games anyway. Some games care more about clock speed than amount of cores and the quad is 2.6GHZ :( I'm afraid to OC and then something happens and my warranty is void :(
Click to expand...

having no L3 cache will affect on the newer games and the more processor heavy games. and crysis.
 
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