I've been thinking of going with a low-budget upgrade over my current 4-year-old e4300, and I can get a very good deal on either the X2 560 BE or the X4 840. I've been trying to weigh the pros and cons of each to determine which would be the better gaming CPU. I know the X4 840 will be better with games like BC2, GTA IV, Dragon Age, and future titles that are optimized for quad-cores. But the X2 560 seems like it'll be better with most current games that don't go beyond dual-core support, thanks mostly to its L3 cache. Assuming I can't unlock the X2, which do you guys think would be the better CPU from a purely gaming standpoint? I'm leaning slightly toward the X4 840 but I'd prefer to have some additional input before pulling the trigger.
My buddy unlocked an X2 black edition no problem. Didn't really save much though. I would go for the X2 only if it was cheaper than the X4.
Go with X4 840 ........... Dual core will massively bottleneck current Gen games ....... Just look at these charts Crysis 2 : - http://www.techspot.com/review/379-crysis-2-performance/page8.html Mafia II :- http://www.techspot.com/review/312-mafia2-performance/page8.html Black OPs :- http://www.techspot.com/review/336-cod-black-ops-performance/page8.html Medal of Honor :- http://www.techspot.com/review/324-medal-of-honor-performance/page9.html
+1 Phenom II 840 (rebranded Athlon II 650). unlocking the dual cores are not guaranteed and AMD dual cores don't give enough power for current games so it'd be foolish if you game on an AMD dual core until either you get Llano or Bulldozer (due within 2 months). deltatux
I just install my new Phenom II x4 955 C3 OC to 3.7 on stock 1.4v and now i have 70-80% more FPS on Crysis 2 CoDBO and other games over my old Phenom II x2 550. Go for the QUAD i prefer the 1 model C3 955 fast and cheap.
Thanks for the replies, guys. Looks like the X4 840 is the one to choose. I can get the X4 840 + MSI 880G-E45 (which will be AM3+ compatible with a BIOS update) for $150 USD after tax, or as low as $130 with rebate. So I'm thinking that's the best way to go considering the budget I've set.