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Offline trekiejTopic starter

Phenom II X2 550 BE
« on: April 10, 2010, 08:38:08 PM »
Has anyone here ran one of these?
I am thinking of buying one this year to replace my AMD 235e (TDP 45 Watt).
I have classes on Second Life and it hits 100 percent on my cpu meter more than I care for it too.
If not this one, which quad core do you think I should get?
I am wondering if my MainBoard is the culprit. It is an AM2+ ,I think.
The computer is an Emachines ET 1331 G 03w.
I like this little machine,
it came with 6 gigs of ram, that rarely gets fully used,
a 650 gig hd.
I add(ed) a Geforce GT240, I like (the) card, but want to get the software to over clock some day.
I also added a 400 Watt PS.
I will probably add a 650-700 watt ps when I go to Phenom.
Thanks.
« Last Edit: April 11, 2010, 01:17:07 AM by trekiej »
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Offline the_leander

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Re: Phenom II X2 550 BE
« Reply #1 on: April 10, 2010, 08:52:03 PM »
Quote from: trekiej;552812

I have classes on Second Life and it hits 100 percent on my cpu meter more than I care for it too.


Tbh I'd be more inclined to look toward your graphics card if you were having slow down issues.

Quote from: trekiej;552812

If not this one, which quad core do you think I should get?
I am wondering if my MainBoard is the culprit. It is an AM2+ ,I think.


Thing is, most games don't really take much advantage of multicores, so going quadcore probably won't make a huge amount of difference, especially given that second life is several years old (yes, I know it's not a game but the same principles apply).

Quote from: trekiej;552812

The computer is an Emachines ET 1331 G 03w.
I like this little machine,
it came with 6 gigs of ram, that rarely gets fully used,
a 650 gig hd.
I adda Geforce GT240, I like card, but want to get the software to over clock some day.
I also added a 400 Watt PS.
I will probably add a 650-700 watt ps when I go to Phenom.
Thanks.


Regardless of Phenom, you're going to get a fairly decent speed bump over your current processor. Be aware however that the black editions use a truly staggering amount of juice to get to the speeds they do. So heat dissipation really aught to come into consideration if you've got a smaller case.
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Offline koshman

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Re: Phenom II X2 550 BE
« Reply #2 on: April 10, 2010, 08:56:17 PM »
Why would you upgrade the PSU? You could fit 2 Phenoms X4 into 400W...

EDIT: @ the_leander: Actually, Black editions use the same amount of juice as the non BE versions, they only have unlocked multiplier. It's when you start overclocking, potential heat-related problems might appear, but that's what you meant, I guess...
« Last Edit: April 10, 2010, 08:59:38 PM by koshman »
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Offline mikeymike

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Re: Phenom II X2 550 BE
« Reply #3 on: April 10, 2010, 10:30:28 PM »
DDR3 or DDR2 RAM?  AM3 is DDR3, AM2+ is DDR2.  AFAIK, DDR3 gives a steady speed increase from DDR2 the further up you go in FSB MHz, though each new generation uses less power than its predecessors.

PSUs - a cheapo 400W may not be able to do anywhere near 400W, at least not in a way that matters (eg. decent ampage on the +12V rails, or "it can do 400W for about 20 seconds before it blows!  great huh!").  I always go for Corsair VX450W PSUs - virtually silent, and will probably do unless you want a high-end gaming system with multiple optical and hard disks.  It comes with a 5 year warranty too.

64-bit OS?  If not, then >3GB RAM (plus a little change) is of no use.

You haven't made it clear whether you have a GeForce GT240 or if you're just planning on getting one.
 

Offline koshman

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Re: Phenom II X2 550 BE
« Reply #4 on: April 10, 2010, 10:37:19 PM »
Corsair/Seasonic PSUs are nice, but considering that this system even with Phenom X4 will hardly draw more than 200W (significantly less, I'd say) even cheapo 400W 70% efficiency PSu should be quite enough. Stability-wise, especially when overclocking, it might be a different story though...
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Offline dammy

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Re: Phenom II X2 550 BE
« Reply #5 on: April 10, 2010, 10:45:47 PM »
Is the drive ATA or SATA?  I'm wondering if the drive could be starving the system as it waits for new files or writes to swap.
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Offline ElPolloDiabl

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Re: Phenom II X2 550 BE
« Reply #6 on: April 10, 2010, 11:33:34 PM »
It's probably a good idea to post on Toms Hardware to get all the information you want.
The best CPU for your money is the plain Athlon X3 The extra level 3 cache on the Phenom doesn't seem to do much.
Check your bios settings and see if the CPU FSB etc. is set up correctly. I always turn off eco settings etc.
Download CPU-z and see all your CPU details.
Is Second Life flash based? Flash is notorious CPU hog.
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Offline trekiejTopic starter

Re: Phenom II X2 550 BE
« Reply #7 on: April 11, 2010, 01:35:37 AM »
Thanks everyone:
FWIW:
Here are my scores.
Proc       6.3
Mem        7.1
Graphics  6.8
Game Graph 6.8
HardDrive 5.9
I do have a GF GT240, I feel it is worth what I paid for it.
I had built in graphics.
There is SecondLife 1.23.xx and then there is SL Beta 2.x.y.
Beta 2 seems to  support multi-core cpu, my frame rate is 30 to 60 fps, all over the place.
It seems to be diff. for each up date. Flash, I do not know.

UnrealTournament 3 runs 50-60 fps, old software new comp. It has Nvidia support, I do believe PhysX.
edit: this is at 1600 x 900 resolution
I was hopping that the L3 would be worth it.
The price is good, about 100.00 US dollar.
I want a 635e, quad core with 45 W tdp, I do believe.
I think it is a DDR board.
The board is an HT2000. version 2.2 I think. Hard to find info. It is an AM3 chip.
« Last Edit: April 11, 2010, 01:55:03 AM by trekiej »
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Offline stefcep2

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Re: Phenom II X2 550 BE
« Reply #8 on: April 11, 2010, 03:25:49 AM »
Quote from: trekiej;552855
Thanks everyone:
FWIW:
Here are my scores.
Proc       6.3
Mem        7.1
Graphics  6.8
Game Graph 6.8
HardDrive 5.9
I do have a GF GT240, I feel it is worth what I paid for it.
I had built in graphics.
There is SecondLife 1.23.xx and then there is SL Beta 2.x.y.
Beta 2 seems to  support multi-core cpu, my frame rate is 30 to 60 fps, all over the place.
It seems to be diff. for each up date. Flash, I do not know.

UnrealTournament 3 runs 50-60 fps, old software new comp. It has Nvidia support, I do believe PhysX.
edit: this is at 1600 x 900 resolution
I was hopping that the L3 would be worth it.
The price is good, about 100.00 US dollar.
I want a 635e, quad core with 45 W tdp, I do believe.
I think it is a DDR board.
The board is an HT2000. version 2.2 I think. Hard to find info. It is an AM3 chip.


geez you have pretty high scores there. Second life is very popular and would therefore be accessable to lesser machines than yours.  I mean they wouldn't demand that everyone playing second life require your machine specs, as they would alienate many mainstream users.  Could be soemthing else other than your hardware?
 

Offline trekiejTopic starter

Re: Phenom II X2 550 BE
« Reply #9 on: April 11, 2010, 07:13:38 AM »
My AMD socket 754 2800+ has a hard time with SL. It had 2 Gig Ram and a GF FX5200 video card.
I was running Vista then.
I am not the only one that has problems with SecondLife.
I do have a large cache size and sometimes is does appear to "calm down" later on.
Sorry, I have Win7, forgot to mention it.
« Last Edit: April 11, 2010, 07:16:17 AM by trekiej »
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Offline koshman

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Re: Phenom II X2 550 BE
« Reply #10 on: April 11, 2010, 08:27:29 AM »
Maybe you're limited by your internet connection??
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Offline trekiejTopic starter

Re: Phenom II X2 550 BE
« Reply #11 on: April 11, 2010, 08:30:07 AM »
I do agree with that some, but not for a high cpu load.
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Offline koshman

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Re: Phenom II X2 550 BE
« Reply #12 on: April 11, 2010, 09:00:28 AM »
Sure, but in my experience system monitors often show 100% CPU utilization when I'm playing a game regardless of how demanding the said game actually is, i.e. even when the CPU isn't really running at its full capacity. So I wouldn't take that as a completely reliable figure.
Is it possible to change resolution, detail settings etc. in SL? I would try if it runs faster with lower settings first.
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Offline trekiejTopic starter

Re: Phenom II X2 550 BE
« Reply #13 on: April 11, 2010, 10:42:24 AM »
Thanks
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Offline the_leander

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Re: Phenom II X2 550 BE
« Reply #14 on: April 11, 2010, 12:14:53 PM »
Quote from: koshman;552815
Why would you upgrade the PSU? You could fit 2 Phenoms X4 into 400W...

EDIT: @ the_leander: Actually, Black editions use the same amount of juice as the non BE versions, they only have unlocked multiplier. It's when you start overclocking, potential heat-related problems might appear, but that's what you meant, I guess...


The last BE chip I saw reviewed on el reg had a draw of 160W at full tilt in order to punch it up to the speeds it was running at. Going from ~45W up to that, especially in a small case, means checking and double checking that the case can supply enough airflow to keep the beast from burning.

The regular chips which actually use less juice then my old Athlon64 (socket 754?) from back in the day.
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