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Phenom X4 or Phenom II X2, which one to get?

3do

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I have a Gigabyte 770-UD3 AMD motherboard which i just got the other day and i have 2 CPU's i'm looking into getting cheap from a friend to use with the board but i need advice on what one is the better to go for?

The first CPU he has is a Phenom II X2 545 (which i was also looking at online) but he also has a Phenom X4 9550.

Is it better to go for the dual core Phenom II X2 545 which i was probably going to get before he said he had one (it has bigger cache at 6mb, bigger frequency and is 45nm compared to 65nm) or should i go for the Phenom 9550 since it is a quad core?

I know both CPU's will work in the board i just got as i check the gigabyte website and i will be doing a fair bit of gaming once i switch my GPU for something newer.

Cheers.
 
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if its mainly for gaming i would go for the x2 545 as unless the game is well optimized for quad core cpu's the 545 will be a fair bit faster with the cache and 800 mhz clock speed advantage it has.
 
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i'm using the same motherboard as you are and i managed to unlock the 550 be i have in it with no problems on stock voltages so you may be lucky and it will unlock.
 

3do

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Cheers for the reply's looks like the 545 is the one to for.

It also seems like i can unlock CPU's with my board as its the Rev 2.0 with sb710 or whatever its called but not sure about the CPU and whether than can be unlocked as i have no idea about which CPU's can and cannot be unlocked so will check that out.
 
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all phenom II x2s and x3s can be unlocked (assuming the extra cores are stable)


I have tried mine and it wont boot, restarts saying 'unleashing failed', however i have not tinkered with the voltages on CPU or NB much as I didn't know if it would make a difference. Do you have any ideas on things to try to get it unlocked?
 
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the basics are, ACC>auto, unleashing (for gigabyte)>on, CnQ>Off, C1E>off, and a small bump in vcore.

with my board i need to lower the HT link down to 8x, but i think that a bios bug of some description.

if it still throws up errors/wont boot, then it seems you have a duff chip :/
 
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I have tried mine and it wont boot, restarts saying 'unleashing failed', however i have not tinkered with the voltages on CPU or NB much as I didn't know if it would make a difference. Do you have any ideas on things to try to get it unlocked?

Yes, more voltage is safe to use(within reason) and several people have to bump voltages a bit to get stable use of the other cores.

The 545 is definately the one to go to, on newer mobo's, and newer chips FSB can go more than high enough to get max speed out of the chip without needing to up the multiplier, better chip, should hit a very decent speed overclocked, and if it unlocks turns into a pure bargain.

Loving my 555BE(couldn't find a new 545 in stock cheap enough to be worth it), unlocked easily and does 4Ghz stable with little extra voltage and staying under 55C full load, awesome chip/value.
 
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<snip> extra voltage and staying under 55C full load, awesome chip/value.

What kind of cooler are you using Drunkenmaster? I just ordered one of the 555s for my first from-scratch build, just waiting for the go ahead to pick it up from the shop (quite excited!)

@the OP I also thing the 545 is the better choice here too (for what little it's worth :) )
 
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Agreed with the general opinion here. Even if it doesn't unlock, with a clock speed bump the X2 would still see you better in most games. :)

I'd usually always be one to back the first release of Phenom chips, but with a chance of unlocking and the far better power useage/TDP, the X2 is the wisest choice.
 

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Will be going for an X2 because from the outset i had planned on only Overclocking it due to not realizing all X2/X3's could be unlocked.

Therefore if i unlock it but can't get it stable then that's fine as the chip will get used like i originally planned but if i do unlock it and it turns out to be stable i will have something extra that i wouldn't have though about/realized right away.

Cheers for the replys.
 

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Well i finally got a Phenom II X2 545 and successfully managed to get it unlocked into a X4 B45.

I have so far ran prime95 for 6 hours without any BSOD or crashing so once i know its fully stable i will look into a new cooler for overclocking it.
 

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I had to use the EC setting (set to hybrid) that was added with the new bios update in order to get my cpu unlocked as the standard ACC setting on the old bios wouldn't do anything despite enabling them.

Now very happy to see Phenom II X4 displayed in windows and CPU-Z plus also happy to see it run stable in prime95. Once i get a new GPU and extra memory i'll hopefully have a decent system in which to do some gaming on without having to use really low settings.
 
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