any AMD 6000 Series users on the fence?

[grinder]

incase some of you 6000 series AMD X2 users are on the fence about upgrading to the Phenom 2 here are some numbers for you... compared side by side with my 6400+



anyone with a E8500 C2S and P45 chipset motherboard? That was my other choice... wondering how that would stack up instead.

[1Tanker]

No doubt that a PII X4 920 would be a nice upgrade from an X2 6400+, but SANDRA results are nowhere near real-world benches/scenarios.

[Lachigan]

I would add a subjective report. Upgradeing from a Phenom 9550 to a Phenom II 940 has brought Vista 32 bit to a very snappy level. On 2 Gigs of ram, Adobe Photoshop Elements and Adobe Premier Elements now run very fast. I have lots of data, so a virus scan with AVG 8 was taking upwords of 40 min. It now takes 20-25 min. Also, it runs cooler. Idle 34c - load 45c...

[Exmortis]

I just upgraded from the 6400+ X2 to a Phenom II 940. I noticed the upgrade for sure but remember, CPUs are all equal once you hit the 1920x1600 range, or at least they are all close. The limiter is your GPU, why do you think they test cpus at 1024x768 and GPUS at 1920x1600 and above? Because the Core I7 would look like the worthless overpriced behemoth it is for gamers.

How ever if you are a media encoder, well then i7 rocks the house, hands down. To bad it requires yet a new socket once again, boy and so many blame AMD for dropping the 939 and all say Intel is better.....really?

For any CPU bound game you have you will notice the diff, I also now run my 940 at 3.4GHz with a mild over voltage of .5. I have got it to 3.6GHz stable but it hits 50 degress and needs 1.42v, I have a warm Apartment which is the crux of my cooling issues, summer would be much better since my apartment is 21 not 26 degrees. With newer games abl eto use more cores, it will go along ways to helping them run better too.

Considering you need to do nothing but drop it in, I would say the Phenom II is a win. I bought a new board also because my last one tanked, but thats not a CPU issue it was a PSU issue. With the recent price drop ( I paid full price) the PHII is one hellouva deal for an upgrade especially with a AM2+ board where you get the faster HT link. But even an older AM2, being able to buy a 3rd generation CPU same socket? pretty sweet I would say.

The 940 even comes with a decent 4 heat pipe stock cooler, not that it will replace my TR 120 extreme, but I used it on my buds new 6400+ x2 system (yeah he got all my old parts). But would suffice for a decent nonOC system, or if your on a budget (like we all are, I hate that word lol) it will be great in the short term until you buy a new one.