I'm considering buying a new ASUS motherboard with the Phenom X4 9750 processor and 4GB of 1066 DDR2. Is anyone out there using a similar setup? What kind of performance are you getting with L4?
Douglas,
I have a Phenom 9600 running with 4GB memory of 800 DDR2 and I am happy with my performance. However, I would strongly recommend you not putting your money into these first generation Phenom's and DDR2 memory. If you purchase a Phenom II chip and DDR3 memory you have upgrade options for the future, the system you are looking at is a dead end. Newegg is selling the chip you are looking at for $80, but for only a few more dollars you could get an Athon II X4 running at 2.6 Ghz for $100 or at 2.8 Ghz for $112. Both of these chips should give you better performance that the Phenom 9750.
for only a few more dollars you could get
Hi Douglas,
Though I'm a pastor now (by calling), my 1st career was Info Systems. I'd commend shopping at the kneee of the performance / price curve... where the next bump up in performance starts costing a much more significant jump in price than the last bump in performance.
Blessings on your upgrade / new system!
Hey Keith,
Thanks for the reply. I would really like to have the Phenom II but it's still a little too pricey for me right now. You really think the Athlon II X4 will do better than the Phenom? I was under the impression that the Phenom was a successor to the Athlon chips.
What I'm replacing is a 3.2 GHz Pentium D. It's been a great processor and still is for some things but I'm looking for something to give me better performance out of L4 than I'm getting on my laptop right now. It has a 2.2 GHz Turion X2 in it. It does okay with L4 until I try to hook up a second monitor to spread my books out more. Then it wants to bog down. I thought maybe the Phenom would keep me going for a while. Could also get a Core 2 Quad for about the same price. Which way to go?
I would really like to have the Phenom II but it's still a little too pricey for me right now. You really think the Athlon II X4 will do better than the Phenom? I was under the impression that the Phenom was a successor to the Athlon chips.
The Athlon II's are just Phenom II with the Level 3 cache disabled and/or one of the cores disabled. Without a doubt the Athlon II X4's which are a newer and fast chip would out perform the older Phenoms. One of the reasons I am recommending you go with a newer AMD3+ chip rather than an older AMD2+ chip is that your motherboard and memory will be ready for the newer AMD 6 core chips that will be coming out in mid 2010. If you already had an AMD2+ motherboard and DDR2 memory such as I do, the purchase of older cheaper AMD2+ chips is not such a bad move, but to purchase an outdated chip, outdated memory and an outdated motherboard is throwing your money away IMHO.
Here is an artical comparing the Athlon II's and Phenom II's http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/athlon-l3-cache,2416.html.
Another option is to wait for the new i3 and i5 chips that are coming out in January. Up until now AMD has owned the sub $200 market, all that is about to change next month. AMD is going to have to do some serious price cutting just to stay in the game in early 2010 until their new 6 core chips come out. Most anyalist don't think AMD will be able to compete with Intel again until 2011. This will give you a little idea of whats in the future for AMD: http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3673.
Wow! 6 cores. It's hard to imagine that I'd ever need that. But I can guarantee that if they make it, I eventually will. Tiger Direct has mother boards bundled with the new i5 on their web site already. What's the deal with those? Are they going to be a good fast chip? Maybe I should look into those again before I make up my mind. Thanks for the article. You've given me something else to think about and I appreciate that. I don't want to jump in uninformed. That's one reason I posted the thread. I knew someone with some experience would chime in.
