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Fx 4100 or Phenom II X4 960T
I'm having a hard time deciding which setup to go along with; one week ago, I made a post about compatability; and such. and decided to go along with it . . Until I read tons of reviews [Researched] Fx-4100 4-Core Processor is not meeting expectations and such; so I went ahead with a new buy; Basically I need help piecing together a new motherboard/processor.
PREVIOUS BUY:
Motherboard : Gigabyte AMD 760G [$60]
Processor : Fx 4100 3.6GHZ [$110]
Physical Memory : Corsair 4G/1333Mhz/DDR3 [$20]
CURRENT BUY:
Motherboard : ASRock Socket AM3/AMD 880G [$60]
Processor : AMD Phenom II X4 960T [$110]
Physical Memory :Corsair 4G/1333Mhz/DDR3 [$20]
[Reserve Parts; Already Owned]
Video Card : 9400 GT
Operating System : Windows 7 Ultimate/32-bit
Midtower ATX Case
PSU 300
160GB Sata Hard-Drive
Iv read tons of reviews on the FX-4100 and most of them are QUITE poor indeed, and everyone keeps saying 'GO for the Phenom II X4 960T' In my eyes the 3.6ghz to 3.8ghz turbo looks promosing; but reviews are saying 'Do Not Be Fool'd by the GHZ; it does not run like a Quad-Core should.'
I also understand that; the topics title, is directed towards which processor to get; but I am also having trouble figuring out if the selected parts for the Phenom II X4 960T will run with it.
Phenom II X4 960T
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103995
ASRock 880GM-LE AM3 AMD 880G Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157199
Questions
1 ) Confirmation Motherboard/Processor/Ram work together
2 ) Phenom x4 960T or Fx 4100
3 ) Can 250 - 350 PSU - Watts handle the reserve/setups?
4 ) 880G Motherboard Offers a 'One Button' Unlock Core/Overclocking option; would it work with the Phenom 960T?
That's about it; My eyes are switching to my current buy~ perhaps its due to the 'CHANCE' of unlocking two extra cores, and seeing as the current buy offers an auto overclocking/unlock core feature; I would think it would make a SEXY pair; would it work though.
OFC; Id never overclock/unlock cores without a 500-PSU Watt + and better than a stock cooling fan; and such; ^^ plus its just a chance at unlocking the extra cores;
OVERALL reviews say the Phenom is better than the FX-4100; and its all priced the same.
Comments
I'd like to suggest that you're going about this all wrong. If you're on such a severe budget that everything else in your system is ancient and/or garbage, then you shouldn't be spending $110 on a processor.
You didn't say what power supply or case you have, and given that you're not exactly looking for nice parts elsewhere in your system, I'd worry about those first. What power supply and case do you have?
well considering that the windows OS is coded to use intel chips better than AMD' I'd wiat and see.
My budget has raised quite a bit, however I'm looking to get it as cheap as possible. I have been looking up a few reviews on processors and am currently still researching. Id also like to point out; that switching between the two selected setups would actually save me $3.72 ^_^
I found a pretty cool site; with some professional benchmarking ^_^ http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html
Seeing as my graphics card is so outdated; my eyes slipped upon AMD A8-3870K APU >Though Its best to keep things simple xD<
Never heard of it; but it would seem it has some pretty good scoring; :O
Edit:
The Fx-4100; it is an amazing processor; and it has been packaged together with a working motherboard. ^_^ Cheap and Effective;
Honestly its all of the reviews that made me take a step back; :_: and think of my purchase; ^ >
Basically; why pay $110 for a processor; when you can buy a better, faster, stronger. processor & motherboard FOR THE EXACT same price.
Pricing is the same; keep it about the Fx-4100 vs Phenom x4 960T; which is the better buy.
If your primary purpose is to save money, then you could get something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157247
That's a motherboard, processor, and graphics all at once. But that's probably not your only purpose.
Again, what power supply and case do you have? You'll likely need to replace them if you want a decent gaming system, or they may severely limit your options if you insist on keeping them.
Alright; I guess ill take a step-back, bend over; and just accept the Fx-4100 REGARDLESS of reviews. Disappointed to get zero feedback about the processors selected above; and just about my budget and other minoritys; which have already been solved, In my previous post.
Quizzical: appreciate your help; but a 1.6GHz, Dual-Core...well....alright; perhaps my in my info; I should of added; I'm looking for a slightly stronger processor than a Intel Core2Duo E8400 3.0GHZ; Honestly; It's not a matter of which processor to get; my eyes are semi-locked onto the FX-4100; which was released October 11th 2011; not only does it have two extra cores; they run at 3.6ghz/3.8ghz; which is also great for rendering videos with; In programs like sony vegas and such. ^_^>
According to the site listed above; the E8400 scores a nice 2300; while the FX-4100 scores 4350 and the Phenom 4000; o_o; which gives me reason to believe the FX-4100 is better than the 960T; just people are disappointed with the not so big JUMP in speed and such; [Those who already owned one]
Truly you reconfirmed my purchase; I know I could secure a $65 processor; and a simple $50 mobo; but the games and threads needed today simply require a little more beef. ill prolly have to secure myself a better graphics card; in the future.
My powersupply currently would be: 300 Watts. lol; but Hey! the processor runs at like 95w/125w and the 9400GT is like well its not SLI that takes like 60w xD; right? I'm hoping I can get away with just using my current wattage; =o
The site I use most when it comes to pc stuff is extremeoverclocking.com. If I was you tho, I would have spent an extra $160 and gotten the Asus Sabertooth MB it has great heat dispursion on it.
Also would have gone with corsair 16gb for $99
Upgraded the GPU to an nvidia 440 for $80 or a Radeon 6570 for $80
And A Corsair 600W PSU for $60
So that would put your build at about $600 and you most likely wouldnt have to upgrade for atleast a couple of years, where as right now I will guess that your MB will need to be replaced in 6 mths - a year.
The 4100 in my opinion is the better of the two CPUs but either one would do fine, neither will excel . I would go with the fx 6100 or the 1055
Fine then, I'll be as specific as you are. You should get an x86 processor. As opposed to ARM, Power, or Itanium.
300 W isn't a power supply any more than 1 GB is a video card. If you don't know what power supply you have, then open up the case and read the label. Report the exact brand name and model.
Your current processor might already be the best component in your system. That's probably not the priority if you're looking to upgrade. If you need a faster processor than that, you should probably be looking at replacing the whole system outright, not upgrading it.
By the way, if you get the processor and motherboard you're looking at and the system fries, then the processor wasn't the problem. The power supply would be the most likely culprit, followed by the motherboard, and then the case. Even if the only symptom is a dead processor. Which is why I'm asking about your other components.
Right now I'd have a hard time recommending a Bulldozer to anyone for a general purpose or gaming computer (which is what the FX is). The Phenom II's perform better for general purpose and gaming, can be overclocked fairly well for decent gains, perform well enough in their own right versus most budget Intel offerings, and have a huge amount of motherboard support. The Bulldozers aren't bad processors, if they had com out 4 years ago we'd be calling them amazing. But they didn't, they came out this past year, and they failed to outperform the CPU series they were attempting to upgrade at almost all of the most commonly performed tasks for general purpose or gaming computers. They make great server CPU's, and for the few people who actually need 6-8 cores they are great choices, but that isn't the general purpose or gaming community.
The Phenom II X4 remains my budget CPU of choice for gaming systems right now. That said, the Bulldozer will have very similar performance - within single-digit percent leaning towards being slightly slower now (you'd likely not even notice), and when the Windows 7/8 patches for Bulldozer hit, performance could go to edging just slightly (again, single-digit percent) faster. Again, nothing huge, you probably wouldn't really notice while playing but you may see framerates go up from like 52 to 55 in games or something similar - but the date that hits is unknown, and the amount of increase is likely to be small. The Phenom II isn't going to see any future increase, you get what you pay for now.
As far as the rest of your system - you really shouldn't skimp on the power supply. That can easily (and frequently does) backfire on you, and end up costing a lot more money and heartache down the road.
Poor or generic power supplies can cause system instabilities, random reboots and BSOD's, even hardware failure (motherboard and RAM most commonly). Spend an extra $30-40 on a good, well reviewed power supply - there's still a chance it could be bad, but the odds go up considerably in your favor for protecting your investment.
As far as the Llano goes (The A8) - they make decent budget laptop systems, but even with your ailing video, for desktops it's generally better to go with the stronger CPU (the Phenom or Bulldozer) and a discrete card. The A8 has capable video, but it's still integrated, and even low end discrete video will be able to out-perform it for roughly the same total cost.
Passmark is a decent benchmark which gives some very loaded information. I use it when just getting a general idea of CPU vs CPU, or GPU vs GPU, but you have to realize it has some preconceptions. It is heavily multithreaded, and will tend to weight CPU's with many cores over ones with fewer (or hyperthreaded) cores. Most real-world applications and games struggle to use more than one core (even the latest games rarely go over 3 cores) - so any cores past that (and their associated performance that you see in Passmark) are useless. Also, Passmark is just one program, different CPUs/GPUs, and system builds will run different programs differently - so just because one piece of hardware runs amazing (or poorly) on Passmark doesn't mean it will do that on every other piece of software out there. It's a tool, just one indication of a full spectrum of tools and information you should use when trying to evaluate any hardware.
Also, as a side note: the Phenom II and Bulldozer (FX) can use the same exact motherboards, so long as they are AM3+. The Llano (the A8) would require a different motherboard (Socket FM1). So the motherboard you list for the FX in the OP could be used for either CPU, but the one for the Phenom II could not (it's not AM3+ if I'm reading it correctly). Also note that in either case, you will need DDR3 RAM, it's entirely likely that your old RAM was DDR2 (I didn't see any mention of what CPU or mobo you were upgrading from) and would not transfer.
You may wish to be aware that they're disappearing. New Egg only has 12 Socket AM3 processors in a box in stock right now. For comparison, they've got eight Socket FM1 processors in a box in stock, even though that's only one die rather than four, and 28 LGA 1155 processors in stock, which is only two dies rather than four for Socket AM3.
Yeah, I've not noticed that it's hard to get a Deneb or Thuban yet, but the models that are available have certainly been declining. I doubt they will go away entirely, at least until Piledriver shows up. Budget builds I generally recommend the lowest priced bin I can find anyway - and they still have the X4 925 available for $95, it's not a Black Edition, but those can still be had for a bit more for people who are certain they are going to push overclocking.
If they do go away entirely, I'll probably have to slide over to the Core i3 2100 or so... same price range as the quad core Bulldozer and the Phenoms where, not quite as much bang for general purpose (dual core hyperthreaded looks like 4 cores, but isn't quite), but competes against the Bulldozer well enough in gaming in the same budget price range, and I still don't see the value (or performance) of Llano in a desktop system. Still undecided about this - probably will remain mostly apathetic until I have to pull away from the Phenom. The odd thing is that I feel this way, even though Bulldozer and Phenom performance and price are fairly similar - I think I just have a bad taste in my mouth still with regard to Bulldozer.
This is fairly interesting: Anadtech comparison tool pitting the Phenom II X4 965 BE (lowest bin BE they have) against the FX-8150 (8-core top bin)
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/434?vs=102
Bulldozer is not a bad chip and its only going to get better over the coming months. I would definetly get the FX4100 over the Phenom II today. The problem with the Core i3 is that you have to get an Intel Motherboard. Right now AMD Motherboards are definetly better designed.