Athlon II or AMD A-Series?

[ChaseCTech]

I own an Athlon II X3 455 and don't know if it will unlock to 4 cores or not. I can sell it on eBay and get an AMD APU or FM1 Athlon II with 4 cores, or stick with my Athlon and gamble that it does unlock so that I can get the 500 MHz bonus it offers. If I take the gamble, it also means that I need a more expensive motherboard. I hope to get a graphics card a few months after I build the computer, so the APU has an immediate advantage, although I do not need to do this. What option should I go with? And if I sell my Athlon, what price should I sell it for? (It is opened, but not used) THANKS!

 

[jemm]

There is not a big difference in performance between Athlon II X3 and Athlon II X4, so it is not a good deal investing in a new motherboard to unlock the Athlon II X3. Use or keep the money to get a good graphic card.

Picking A Sub-$200 Gaming CPU: FX, An APU, Or A Pentium? http/www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-fx-pentium-apu-benchmark,3120.html

Gaming CPU Hierarchy Chart http/www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-5.html

 

[ChaseCTech]

There is not a big difference in performance between Athlon II X3 and Athlon II X4, so it is not a good deal investing in a new motherboard to unlock the Athlon II X3. Use or keep the money to get a good graphic card.

Picking A Sub-$200 Gaming CPU: FX, An APU, Or A Pentium? http/www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-fx-pentium-apu-benchmark,3120.html

Gaming CPU Hierarchy Chart So]http/www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-5.html

So which one should I go with, FM1 Athlon or AMD APU?

 

[$hawn]

So which one should I go with, FM1 Athlon or AMD APU?

First of all, unlocking gives you an extra core (if it's not defective in the first place that is). It does not give you an extra 500MHz. Increasing the clock speed higher than what its rated for is called overclocking
Your x3 can BOTH overclock, as well as possibly unlock , BUT the power draw will increase quite a bit, so make sure your PSU can handle the extra wattage, and that you have adequate cooling for the chip.

An FM1 athlon will NOT be an upgrade for you, it'll be a waste of time and money. My recommendation is that you get an A10 trinity desktop chip, and sell your current mobo/cpu/ram. Get new 1866 rated RAM for the trinity chip. Forget about a discrete GPU for a year or so, the APU graphics will be good enough for you

You can probably sell your x3 for around $45.

 

[ChaseCTech]

First of all, unlocking gives you an extra core (if it's not defective in the first place that is). It does not give you an extra 500MHz. Increasing the clock speed higher than what its rated for is called overclocking
Your x3 can BOTH overclock, as well as possibly unlock , BUT the power draw will increase quite a bit, so make sure your PSU can handle the extra wattage, and that you have adequate cooling for the chip.

An FM1 athlon will NOT be an upgrade for you, it'll be a waste of time and money. My recommendation is that you get an A10 trinity desktop chip, and sell your current mobo/cpu/ram. Get new 1866 rated RAM for the trinity chip. Forget about a discrete GPU for a year or so, the APU graphics will be good enough for you

You can probably sell your x3 for around $45.

The Athlon II X3 455 that I own has a 3.3 GHz, while the FM1 Athlon II X4 has only 2.8 GHz, which is why I said it has an extra 500 MHz.

 

[wr6133]

Keep your current CPU and motherboard and get a decent GPU

Then save up for a new motherboard and CPU later on (which you can carry over the GPU on this)

Reason I say this is getting FM1 or even the newer trinity FM2 now and using integrate graphics is not going to game as well as just shoving a good GPU with what you have.

Remember for most games GPU is more important

 

[jemm]

Keep the Athlon II X3 455.

 

[rdc85]

wait about a month or two there will be more option to choose, also holiday sales...

 

[ChaseCTech]

Jeez, so many different answers... a link to an article would be helpful, like jemm's reply

 

[rdc85]

well choosing parts always difficult when u want to get the best of your money..

The reason I'm suggest to wait, are the new pile driver line up (APU and Desktop) scheduled to launch somewhere at October....

It nice improvement, also it will drive some price down .............

 

[ChaseCTech]

Best answer selected by ChaseCTech.

 

[ChaseCTech]

thanks everyone!