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I did not know that, good to know.

/Doesn't use AMD.

I know they are not the most powerful, but they are always a better long-term investment than Intel. Their platforms stick around longer and are less costly than Intel, and you get as much performance as you could need barring special requirements.

Just because Intel releases new chipsets more often doesn't make the older ones any less viable than their AMD counterparts though. My Socket 775 is two chipsets and 6 years old and still running strong and powerful.

I know. But I like to know I have the best that my chosen platform has to offer and that I can always update it as needed. When Intel changes sockets every other year, they throw a wrench in that plan because now I have to get a new motherboard, too. I can't just slap in a new CPU and be done.

That's why you do what I do and build a system with the best of the best every 6-7 years. Doesn't matter if the sockets change because you've already got a setup that will last that long at least.

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Originally Posted by Pooky

Dear Modacity:

I'm looking for a new dual core CPU to put in this PC in order to speed up gamecube emulation (I miss Metroid Prime since I sold my wii :saddowns:) but I only want to spend about 100 dollars. I found this one here, and it seems like exactly what I want. Thoughts, advice?

I've got a 600 watt power supply with nothing overclocked, and I don't plan to do any overclocking. Is that enough? I'm kind of a newb at this stuff.

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I own the 550 since 2009 and it's pretty much the same thing cept mine has 0.1GHz less of a clock. Runs L4D2, ME2, Dragon Age, number of things all on high on stock w/ good frames and if you want to get into it these chips can get ~3.8GGHz OC real easy with a decent cooler. Only thing it's really chugged on is BC2 at 1080p which is a CPU intensive game that supports quads.

I do believe AMD has a $100 Athlon II X4 quad core part...

@Freelancer: I like to update more often than that. If I get a new GPU, chances are a new CPU will follow soon to limit bottlenecking. =þ

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Warsaw

@Freelancer: I like to update more often than that. If I get a new GPU, chances are a new CPU will follow soon to limit bottlenecking. =þ

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Extreme Edition Core 2 Quads still don't bottleneck iirc, not very much if they do. :)

They do. Even the newest i5s bottleneck. The only way to get out of it is to use an i7. I refuse to drop money on second-tier platforms (1156, 1155).

Anandtech does some very thorough testing.

I've decided to upgrade my CPU, and I don't need anything flashy or expensive, so I found this one, what do you think? Should I change my mind? Does it have good stock cooling, overclockable etc.

How well would it run newer games?