In upgrading my motherboard I managed to break the pins on my Athlon X2 5600+ cpu. The cpu stuck to the bottom of the heatsink…
Anyways, I need a new AM2+ CPU now. I was perfectly happy with the performance of my old CPU so it isn’t like I need the fastest Quad ever built.
I would like to spend $50 – $100 for a new CPU. Low power is nice. I can undervolt the CPU with software. There will be no overclocking.
Usage is mostly office work. Some minor trans-coding, which seems to be limited by the access speed of the DVD drive and not the old 5600+
Gaming is not a concern, but it does get occasional play when a friend comes by. Maybe 10 times a year or so.
I’m looking at the Athlon II X2s for around $50-$60, the Athlon II X3s at around $85, or the Athlon II X4s for $99. The X2s and the X3s are higher clocked to 2.8-2.9 ghz vs the 2.6 ghz X4 which could help with a lot of single threaded applications which is mostly what I run. The X2s are 65W and probably enough CPU for me, but the X3 is tempting for that extra core. And then once you go X3 why not go X4 right? I’m favoring the X3 right now for the high clock and lower price. Plus, I feel like a 3 core CPU is kinda unique and interesting.
Thoughts?
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