What would you recommend as the best AMD CPU choice ?.

The top of the line Phenom II X4 Processor 965 3.4 GHz ?.

OR

The one of the new Phenom II X6 Processor's ?.

The fastest X4 or a X6 CPU ?.

I was planning on buying the X4 & I think it's much cheaper BUT I might be willing to hold off for a X6 if its a much better choice for running BOINC.

Just like some input from the bigtime crunchers.

TY. Ron,SJ,NB.

Hi Ron.

It all depends on your budget. I've been testing out the 1055T & 1090T X6's, so if you can afford to wait, I'd suggest the 1090T.

Edit: - I forgot to mention this....

Should you go for an X6, DON'T use the stock HSF, get a 3rd party cooler. I've found with the X4's & X6's, the stock cooler just doesn't cut the mustard. They tend to overheat, causing various problems including several BSOD's.

How comparable are they on speed?, the P2 X4 965 & the X6 1090T ?.

I also play Everquest & plan on playing the new Biowares StarWars the old republic MMO etc. but I also run BOINC 24/7/365. both are very important to me.

Right now I run a Phenom 9750.

Is the GHz of the processor the main stat when it comes to crunching CPU WU's ?. does the extra two cores of the 1090T make up for the loose of GHz type thing ? or ?.

TY.

I can't make any comparison regarding Phenom 2's (X4's) as yet, because I haven't built one yet.

Currently running the following on production rigs: -

Phenom 1 9500,9600 & 9950
Athlon II X4 630
Athlon X2 3800,4200,5000, 6000(3x)
Testing: -

X6's 1055T & 1090T

The 1055T is about to go to production mode running SBS2008 & will not be running boinc or any other program that is not relevant to my business.

The 1090T, I'm still having problems with but that's not down to the cpu. I've been testing it with Win 7 Ultimate 64bit & unfortunately like XP 64, have driver problems & other BSOD's. If I cannot get these resolved, will switch over to 32bit where I'm pretty sure I'll have no problems & will run boinc on that.

One of the best chips AMD ever produced was the Athlon 6000+ @ 3.2ghz (which is why I've got 3 of them) & still compete well with the Phenom 1's.

The Athlon II 630 was built in January 2010 & all my rigs run the same project( either POTM) or one of my choosing if I'm not attached to a project that team is running for the current month.

As an example, the 9500 has been running Einstein since it was built (but not continuously) with the 630 since build date. It has scored 51,750 compared to the 9500's 60,563. So in my view, the 630, will outdo the 9500 on the next Einstein run.

From what I've seen so far of the 1090T, I'm pretty sure that it will out perform all the other rigs on the lan, as I think both the speed & the 6 cores will make a big difference.

As a system builder, all I can say to people is to get the best components that meets their budget requirements at that time & ensure that they build a rig that will last for a considerable time & is able to do what they want that computer for.

Saying that, I do have an advantage (depending on budget restraints of course) is replace my own rigs every 12/18 months but was thinking of replacing all my rigs with the 1090T, but will be holdiing off on that until next May when AMD will be bringing out the X12's (unless they put it back).

As for normal use, I bought 10x 1055T's & 1x 1090T. 9 of those were retail rigs & have been sold with the customers stating that all uses, including games were pretty fast & were a lot better than the Intel 3.0ghz P4's they replaced(whether or not that was just their perception, I don't know, for me a happy customer is a regular one..lol).

As for the Phenom II 965, I orginally intended to buy 6 of them to replace all my main rigs as I liked the spec of that chip, but the X6's were released so went for them instead.

It boils down to the fact: - do you need a new rig now or can you afford to wait until your budget allows an X6.......

ONE IMPORTANT FACT TO CONSIDER

Many people buy the best cpu they can afford/want then destroy that effort by buying cheaper components for the rest of the rig, especially PSU's. If your going to build a quality rig, make sure all the components are up to the task.

Nothing more enjoyable than having your "money saving" PSU fry your "pay through the nose" GPU shortly after the warranty expires...

@Sirius B

Hmm ok TY for all your thoughts etc.

This is the first PC I'm building, have closet full of new personally chosen components, its a great feeling.

As I stated above I've been planning on buying the P2 965 & have left the CPU to one of the last components to let the price go down a bit, no hurry.

BUT I'd work towards a X6 if I thought it was really worth it.

One last thing, any problem associated with running an X6 & BOINC ?. I know AQUA for example caused some problems with the Multi Thread deal etc.

TY

Nice Ron, yes it really is a great feeling once you get all what you need & the satisfaction when you've built it (& it runs without a hitch), is even better.

good tip - Don't rush the build, also most mobo's come with an anti static foam. Use that on a table & insert, cpu, hsf & ram before you install in the case, it'll save u a few curses & possibly sliced fingers.

As for Aqua, I'm sure they got that problem resolved as there are a few i7's running the project.

I normally wait for the prices to come down as well, but there is a negative side to that - (depending on the length of wait) new chips come out & as with the 965 for me, the X6's were released.

As you've stated that there is no hurry, I'd suggest an X6, preferably the 1090T. in my view, that will be worth it, but please note, this is just my opinion.

Well the PC I'm running now works well but I only really had input into the choice of CPU & GPU. being my like third PC I think?, it still left me feeling unsatisfied as to the case,MOBO,etc.

So with my first build I've hand picked each component after really doing my research into each. so after I'm done I'm sure like most on this forum I'll be truly happy with the final product.

I'm far from making my final choice on CPU with the new X6's now in the mix, I just wanted to get some input from the more hardcore BOINC users when it came to the choice between an X4 & X6 in overall speed of crunching BOINC stuff.

All I have left to get is the CPU,HD & OS(windows 7 64bit I guess?).

Thanks. Ron.

If you're happy to stay on top of Win 64 bit, then it should be ok. With the many different configuarations out there, Win 64 can be a total dream or a total nightmare.

I have used 3: - XP Pro X64/Vista Ultimate 64/Win 7 Ultimate 64. Of these, I only have XP X64 still running as the others were a royal pain especially with NVidia display drivers. Kept getting numerous BSOD's, so said stuff it & reverted to 32bit.

One problem I have found with Win 7 32 or 64 is the Windows Auto update. With an NVida gpu installed, it wants to keep installing MS's version which I have found corrupts my machine, so have updates set to download but let me install. i disable the display driver & always go to NVidia's site for the latest driver. I have had no problems doing it that way.

Both the 965 & 1090T are available as Black Editions, handy for overclocking. The 965 is a 3.4ghz with 2mb L2 cache & 6mb L3, whereas the 1090T is only a 3.2ghz but with an L2 of 3mb & L3 6mb.

With the 50% more L2 & 2 extra cores, I'd say the the difference of .2ghz between the 2 is minimal, but the 1090T would crunch more wu's.