Phenom II v Athlon II

[DeathViperX]

My friend asked me and I haven't had an athlon since the athlonx2 4200+ one of the best selling CPU's ever.. so I've been told....

He is interested in a new build.. he really doesn't do anything high end like me but wants something good... and noticed while looking at newegg that both of them are QUADs.... does anyone here know if there is any major difference other than the noticeable slower clocks between the two?

Like do the Phenom's have better headroom for overclocking if he wanted to do that etc... things like that...

Thanks in advance...

[ppuff]

Re: Phenom II v Athlon II

I have no experience with either of these but from what I've read the major difference between Athlon II and Phenom II is Athlon II has no L3 cache, and because of this the Athlon II has better head room for overclocking. If speeds are going to remain stock then the Phenom II is a better choice.

[artdrivers]

Re: Phenom II v Athlon II

Hi DeathViperX This is something I noticed.
Some AthlonII's and PhenomII's have 2, 3, and 4cores. Below are some specs on a AthlonIIX4 and a PhenomIIX4 The cash shows a large difference in the 2
Also the PhenomBE is a black box edition. The BE means it has an unlocked CPU multiplier. This allows you to simply turn the multiplier up for OCing. When you adjust the cpu multiplier it does not effect the HT link, Northbridge, and memory speeds. Therefore on the PhenomIIBE you can turn up the bus a little and the cpu multiplier for a more effective OC. This is very easy to do.

If it's not a blackbox edition the only way to OC is to increase the bus speed. When you increase the bus speed it also will increase the HT link, Northbridge, and memory bus speed. We have to adjust the HT link, Northbridge, and memory multiplier down to obtain the OC.
I don't know if this info helps your friend decide, but there it is.
AMD Athlon II X4 620 - ADX620WFK42GI (ADX620WFGIBOX)
AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition - HDZ965FBK4DGI (HDZ965FBGIBOX)

[konnerbelly]

Re: Phenom II v Athlon II

The Athlon II X2 240 with 4 GiB of memory and Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium is a nicely responsive system.. The Athlon II X4 is better then the Phenom II X2 in programs that utilize those 2 extra cores in which most cases unless you do heavy audio, video editing or do a lot of heavy gaming, then you prob won't even need those two extra cores.