Help wanted: AMD advice

[Masteroderus]

I am upgrading a friend's machine, which currently has a 780 chipset (am2,2+,3, ddr2, pcie 2.0 x16) for the purpose of gaming and streaming video.

The problem is that we can't just go buy another mobo and ram and get a core i5 as it is overbudget so we are going to grab an AM3 processor.

The question is what is an am3 processor that can play the best games @ 1680x1050 with its current sapphire 2 gig 6950 toxic (880mhz factory clock vs 800)? We don't want to overspend as we are students, and really want to get the most bang for our buck while enjoying great frame rates, and allowing the 6950 to flex its muscles.

Are the x3's good enough for modern gaming? Or would we have to get an x4? And finally, would it be worth it to get the x4 980 vs a cheaper one?

Thank you for your time.

Edit: forgot to say the current processor is an x2 250 sorry

[r0k0]

the best deal ATM is the Phenom II X6 1055T in special for 129.99$ if the board accepts its that is.... if not look into the Phenom II X4 955-965 Black Edition

i had that in a Asus M4A88TD-M with a Diamond Radeon 4890 FPS never went bellow ~30's ( was averaging 40's mostly depending which battlescene i was in :P ) 64 players was more toward the 30's in BF:BC2 and such

[boggtrotter59]

Best bang for the buck would probably be a Phenom II 955 BE or a 965 BE if you get one on sale.

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Quad Core Processor 3.2GHZ AM3 8MB Cache 125W Retail Box - DirectCanada

You can probably OC it fairly easily to the 980's 3.7 Ghz so spending the extra coin on a 980 is probably not worth it. A 6 core could be had for a little more coin but is probably overkill for gaming.

[Masteroderus]

Thanks guys! As always the advice on here is rockin!

[vinsonnguyen]

i would go with the 1100t and the crosshair v formula is a good value cosidering the features and performance.