AMD Phenom II X4 965BE or Phenom II X6 1045T

J80FAB

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I've decided to build my first PC. I'm going down the AMD route. Have ordered everything I need but I'm still unsure which CPU to go for.

I want one of the AMD Phenom II CPUs, either the X4 965BE 3.40GHz or the X6 1045T 2.70GHz. Price-wise there's little between the two with the X4 being £15 cheaper. The CPU will be coupled with an Asus 990FX Sabertooth motherboard. Can't make my mind up. I know the extra cores in the X6 become somewhat redundant.

No gaming will be going on, I just need a relatively powerful PC, and one to replace a Pentium 4 3.40GHz hyperthreading machine I have which seems to play up in a number of departments when it fancies.

Any advice would be appreciated.
 
Video encoding will benefit from the extra cores but little else springs to mind. What's the main use of your PC?
 
Video encoding would be the greatest task the machine would have to carry out. Playback of HD video. Mulitasking between applications.

I'm kind of inclined to go for the X6, I hear it's easily overclocked to 3.40GHz, though I'm not sure if I want to start overclocking, not my kind of territory. Then I hear lots of praise for the X4 from numerous reviews.
 
I would go for the newerFX processors instead ifyou don't want intel
 
Go for the Phenom X6... I run 2 of them - a 1055T and a 1090T BE, I also have a 955BE.
 
Go for the Phenom X6... I run 2 of them - a 1055T and a 1090T BE, I also have a 955BE.

OK well your X6 1055T is slightly faster at 2.80GHz, whereas 1045T is 2.70GHz stiock. And the X6 955BE is faster still at 3.20GHz stock.

Why do you recommend the X6 then ?
 
What will this sytem be used for? Why have you rule out Intel Sandy Bridge out of interest? (fast, cooler, more power efficient).
 
What will this sytem be used for? Why have you rule out Intel Sandy Bridge out of interest? (fast, cooler, more power efficient).

As mentioned above ^^^ :)

I think I'm going to go for the X6 1045T. But I'm still thinking X4 965BE !
 
I think I'm going to go for the X6 1045T. But I'm still thinking X4 965BE !

Are you intending to overclock?

My 1055T runs quite happily @ 3.5Ghz with the voltage tweaked up a bit. (FSB@250)

My 1090T runs @4Hz (18.5 x 216)

My 955BE runs @4.0Ghz (20x Multiplier)
 
Overclocking isn't a priority unless for whatever reason I want to see how much more I can get out of the CPU, and it's not something I've done before. Neither is a PC build.

The X6 as you know has Turbo Boost so for the 1045T that would go up to 3.20GHz which I understand is supposed to kick in when using applications which require 3 cores or less. So that kind of suits me if I don't want to play about with overclocking.

I have all my components - I have both the the X4 and X6 as I couldn't decide, one will go back - and intend to do the build today. Not opened the CPUs but see that the X6 must have a smaller stock fan due to the dimensions of the box compared to the one the X4 is in. As you are overclocking are you using an aftermarket cooler, and if so which one ?

If I'm opting for the X6 then this is what's going into the build. Probably could have gone for something a bit cheaper mobo-wise but with the intention of the machine having to last a good several years I went for something slightly more expensive. I know the graphics card is a bit weak but I got it couple of months ago as it was cheap and was supposed to go into a retail machine which was sent back as it was faulty. Hopefully should be OK for my needs in any case. The Antec PSU was on special offer at PC World so was a good buy.

AMD Phenom II X6 1045T 2.70GHz
Asus Sabertooth 990FX
Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz CL9 8GB
Seagate 500GB 2.5" HDD
Pioneer & Sony DVD RW
Antec TruePower 550W

Everything is going into a CiT Jupiter case.
 
What will this sytem be used for? Why have you rule out Intel Sandy Bridge out of interest? (fast, cooler, more power efficient).

Cooler? isnt the max temp of a SB processor about 100 degrees? the max on a 965 is about 60.
 

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