Processor Question

[Deleted User]

AMD Phenom II X3 720 and clock it as far as you can keep it stable and cool, it's a great processor with a hell of a lot of cache.

HappyIdiotTalk

weegie.geek wrote: »

Depends what you're going to be using it for. Some apps and games will utilise 4 cores, so 4 2ghz cores will run better than two 3ghz cores, but for apps that will only take advantage of one or two cores, the speed of the individual cores is more important than the number of cores.

The i7's have a turbo mode feature. If the processor is running a single thread app on one core and the others are idle, then it will dynamically overclock the core thats doing all the work and shut down the other cores. This increases the performance of your single-threaded app, and doesn't fry your processor as the other 3 cores wouldn't be producing any heat.

Heres some more detailed info:
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Turbo-Mode-Intel,6193.html

weegie.geek

HappyIdiotTalk wrote: »

The i7's have a turbo mode feature. If the processor is running a single thread app on one core and the others are idle, then it will dynamically overclock the core thats doing all the work and shut down the other cores. This increases the performance of your single-threaded app, and doesn't fry your processor as the other 3 cores wouldn't be producing any heat.

Heres some more detailed info:
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Turbo-Mode-Intel,6193.html

Interesting stuff. I had a google, but all I could find were references to this, no actual benchmarks. Got any links?

HappyIdiotTalk

I'm afraid I dont have any links either, I've read a few articles describing what it does, but no actual numbers as yet. Its surprising, you'd think the tech sites would be all over this.

weegie.geek

Yeah, especially seeing as how a lot of games will only use one thread, it's surprising they're not benching those.

epz_2

weegie.geek wrote: »

Interesting stuff. I had a google, but all I could find were references to this, no actual benchmarks. Got any links?

Most reviews i have seen say the cpu tends to sit at least 200mhz over the speed they are sold at, so basicly they run threads 5-8% faster than you would expect.

i7's are basiclly an design jump like going pentium to PII rather than bumping the speed or clock like PII to PIII.

The benchmarks on serious apps are frightning, SAP saw a 114% jump and thats on unoptomised code, anyone buying a server these days would be mad not to get one.

The problem is i7's are bloody expensive, the cheapest mobos start at £150, ddr3 still aint cheap and there is talk of the socket being discontinued after the i5's come out. The x5500 mobos start at £200, take ecc memory and have a definate upgrade path for years.

mulldoonuk

Okay.....

Would this processor....http://www.oyyy.co.uk/product.php/47439/amd-athlon-64-x2-dual-core-6000+-3.0ghz-2048kb-l2-cache-socket-am2-processor--boxed-?CAWELAID=242992666

but okay with my motherboard....http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=ALIVENF6G-DVI

[Deleted User]

That processor is a bit old hat now, you could get this this which is faster and half of the price.

Edit:

This motherboard is a good, reliable one that wouldn't be a bad purchase. Got a bit of flexibility to upgrade to the later Phenom II's later down the line if you want to upgrade, by then they'll have fallen in price too.

mulldoonuk

anewhope wrote: »

That processor is a bit old hat now, you could get this this which is faster and half of the price.

Edit:

This motherboard is a good, reliable one that wouldn't be a bad purchase. Got a bit of flexibility to upgrade to the later Phenom II's later down the line if you want to upgrade, by then they'll have fallen in price too.

I would rather not change my mobo...

would the cpu you recommended be okay with my current motherboard?

Edit:
just found an intresting thread here...http://www.avforums.com/forums/motherboards-cpus-cases-psus/938148-amd-dual-core-advice.html