I have been thinking about buying a budget AMD quad-core CPU for some time. It is interesting to see that the complete range of AMD desktop quad-core CPU's are squeezed between $100 and $200 price range. As an overclocker, I do not feel the satisfaction of reaching the top-end CPU performance by overclocking a budget AMD quad-core CPU when I can just buy the top-end processor at almost the same cost of a hi-performance cooler and a budget cpu. Overclocking my Opty-165 had brought its performance to several hundred dollars more expensive processors, same with my Q6600, and same with a i7-920. I think, I will buy PII-955 or 965. Just an observation ...
The point of the Athlon II series is not overclocking. They're for OEM systems, budget-conscious systems that require threaded performance (simple home video encoding), or HTPCs. For these applications, the Athlon II+785G combination is a pretty remarkable (I might even say "unbeatable") value.
I'd just like to note that the Athlon II processors do overclock quite well. They run very cool and will take a good flogging. They really are a hell of a value.
The 555 BE looks to be another win in AMDs book. Unlock the other cores if you need more threads, or ramp up the clock speed and game to your heart's content. Sure, you could buy a fancy Core i7, but the price difference to go that route is enough to move you from an older Nvidia or Radeon 4800 card to a 5850.
Sure. Valid point. I'm merely suggesting that there's a lot of performance you can pull out of these with minimal effort. It doesn't take a TRUE to push these things, especially when you're not running on 4 cores.
Thrax
🐌Austin, TX Icrontian
Comments
The 555 BE looks to be another win in AMDs book. Unlock the other cores if you need more threads, or ramp up the clock speed and game to your heart's content. Sure, you could buy a fancy Core i7, but the price difference to go that route is enough to move you from an older Nvidia or Radeon 4800 card to a 5850.