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Thread: Athlon II vs Phenom II

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    Sprouts are not food Attila the Bun's Avatar
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    Athlon II vs Phenom II

    Morning all,

    I'm building an AMD based home PC for a friend whose total budget is £350.

    He doesn't play games (as yet) but does download lots of music and films.

    This is the current spec:

    Win7 64 OEM - £70.82 - Aria

    Ezcool 727-03B Piano Black micro-ATX Tower Case with Ezcool 500W PSU ( Hey! he likes it, what can I say, at least I persauded him to buy a decent psu) - £23.98 - SCAN

    1TB Hitachi 0F12957 Deskstar 5K1000, SATA 3Gb/s, CoolSpin, 8MB Cache - £33.59 - SCAN (TO)

    MSI 880GM-E41 AMD 880G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Micro-ATX Motherboard - £49.63 - Aria

    450W XFX Core Edition 80PLUS Bronze Power Supply - £34.80 - Aria

    4GB Mushkin Silverline #996768 (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz 9-9-9-24 - £16.99 - Aria

    Samsung S222AL SATA Lightscribe 22x DVDRW with Black Bezel OEM - £15.50 - Aria

    Microsoft LifeCam HD-3000 (he want HD video to chat with his girlfriend in the states) - £20.36 - SCAN

    That leaves about £75 for the CPU. Should I go Phenom x2 with L3 cache or Athlon x3 because I'm not sure which would be best for his requirements.

    Any advice gratefully received.
    Of course I'm perfect you just need to lower your expectations.

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    Re: Athlon II vs Phenom II

    Is he a student or have any brothers or sisters in full time education or anyone in the family? if so www.software4students.co.uk might be cheaper for windows.

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    Sprouts are not food Attila the Bun's Avatar
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    Re: Athlon II vs Phenom II

    Quote Originally Posted by no_numb View Post
    Is he a student or have any brothers or sisters in full time education or anyone in the family? if so www.software4students.co.uk might be cheaper for windows.
    Thanks for the link...I already asked him that question and no he hasn't.
    Of course I'm perfect you just need to lower your expectations.

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    Re: Athlon II vs Phenom II

    Go for the Phenom 2 and with a suitable board you might be able to unlock it to a quad core?

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    Re: Athlon II vs Phenom II

    he downloads music and films but is paying for the OS

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    Re: Athlon II vs Phenom II

    Quote Originally Posted by Sputnik View Post
    Go for the Phenom 2 and with a suitable board you might be able to unlock it to a quad core?
    Nice idea but I'm not playing around with unlocking cores on somebody elses new pc
    Of course I'm perfect you just need to lower your expectations.

  7. #7
    Sprouts are not food Attila the Bun's Avatar
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    Re: Athlon II vs Phenom II

    Quote Originally Posted by [GSV]Trig View Post
    he downloads music and films but is paying for the OS
    He's a DJ so likes to keep things legit...but yes that has a certain irony.
    Of course I'm perfect you just need to lower your expectations.

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    • Sputnik's system
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    Re: Athlon II vs Phenom II

    Quote Originally Posted by Attila the Bun View Post
    Nice idea but I'm not playing around with unlocking cores on somebody elses new pc
    That board you have chosen has facilities to do it practically with the flick of a switch! well, A couple of Bios setting anyway.

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    Re: Athlon II vs Phenom II

    Quote Originally Posted by Sputnik View Post
    That board you have chosen has facilities to do it practically with the flick of a switch! well, A couple of Bios setting anyway.
    I didn't chose it, he did, because it was the cheapest 880 chipset. Chosen because it's intergrated graphics will handle his requirements without the need for a discrete card.

    But I will point out the option available to him as well as clearly explaining the liability is all his
    Of course I'm perfect you just need to lower your expectations.

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    Re: Athlon II vs Phenom II

    I suppose I could get him to spend an extra fiver and get a Phenom II X4 955 BE.

    But that would be like putting a V8 in a Reliant Robin as far as his usage is concerned.
    Of course I'm perfect you just need to lower your expectations.

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    Moosing about! CAT-THE-FIFTH's Avatar
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    Re: Athlon II vs Phenom II

    That RAM is very cheap!!

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    Sprouts are not food Attila the Bun's Avatar
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    Re: Athlon II vs Phenom II

    Quote Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH View Post
    That RAM is very cheap!!
    Comes with a lifetime warranty and has been reduced from £25 (Corsair XMS3 Classic territory)...I thought it worth a pop.
    Of course I'm perfect you just need to lower your expectations.

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    Re: Athlon II vs Phenom II

    Possible outcomes:

    It works - yey - quad core
    It doesn't work - boo - reset bios and use as bought

    No chance of damaging anything.

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    Re: Athlon II vs Phenom II

    Quote Originally Posted by Attila the Bun View Post
    I suppose I could get him to spend an extra fiver and get a Phenom II X4 955 BE.

    But that would be like putting a V8 in a Reliant Robin as far as his usage is concerned.
    Or you could say it's like spending £70 on a reliant robin, instead of £75 for a BMW

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    Re: Athlon II vs Phenom II

    Quote Originally Posted by cptwhite_uk View Post
    Or you could say it's like spending £70 on a reliant robin, instead of £75 for a BMW
    It might be a £75 BMW but it would still have Mother Teresa driving it
    Of course I'm perfect you just need to lower your expectations.

  17. #16
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    Re: Athlon II vs Phenom II

    I would stretch to the 955BE if possible.

    You never know, he might start doing his own encodes or start gaming. Why penny-pinch now if it could cost substantially more later?

    I believe the BEs come with a better cooler as well and an unlocked multiplier for extremely easy overclocking.
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