AMD (First Timer) Socket AM2

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GlobalRegion256

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Mar 24, 2006
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Ive been working on building a new computer rig for gaming and college and other computer usage.

Ive been having a hard time decideing on which CPU I should choose. Just recently have heard all the news about Conroe, but i reallly dont care since ive got amd Socket AM2.

Anyways I currently own The Asus M2N32-Sli Deluxe motherboard , and was wondering what CPU i should purchase. Since the prices on the AMD have dropped i have lots of choices to choose from. I would like to go with dual core , even though Dual Core is not for Gaming, I should probably go with single core since it is for gaming but who knows,

What I am wondering is which Dual Core should I purchase? I looking to spend About $300 dollars.

How well does the Althon X2-5000 perform?
 
Whoever told you that DUAL CORE is not for gaming was fibbing.

Dual core works just fine on all my games.

Try dual core QUAKE 4, FEAR, PREY, CS, etc.
 
I vote for 4600+ or 5000+, if you go single core then 3800+ is the max you will find...games are more video card limited these days anyway, a single core with a high end GPU will smoke an fx-62 with a lower end card like a 7600GT/x1800GTO.
 
Don't do get a 5000+ because it'll have to underclock your RAM. Go with a 4600+ or something similar. Dual Core is not for gaming the sense that usually games don't really take advantage of the dual core but it can help greatly.
 
Here is an explanation of Thin Man's comment about avoiding odd multiplier AM2 cpu's.

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/328

The problem is when the CPU clock multiplier is an odd number. For an AM2 CPU with a clock multiplier of 13x, theoretically its memory bus divider would be of 6.5. Since the AMD64 memory bus doesn’t work with “broken” dividers, it is rounded up to the next higher number, seven in this case. So while this CPU will work at 2.6 GHz (200 MHz x 13), its memory bus will work at 371 MHz (742 MHz DDR) and not at 400 MHz (800 MHz DDR), making the CPU to not achieve the maximum bandwidth the DDR2 memory can provide.
Click to expand...
 
I'd save some money, nearly half your $300 budget, and go with the X2 3800+. Most games now are more GPU limited than CPU limited. You can get away with a lower end CPU and do perfectly fine, especially if its dual core. Put that extra $150 toward a higher end graphics card or just save it. My brother's AM2 I built for him does extremely well with a X2 3800+. With that, 2gb ddr2-800, and a 7900gt, I set up F.E.A.R. on it with pretty much max settings at 1280x1024 (4xAA, 16xAF, softshadows on), and he gets 83% of the frames above 30fps in their little benchmark thing.
 
Hi Guys, I also have the same board GlobalRegion256 and I bought it along with a AMD 64 X2 4400+ later realised it had 939 Socket and the M2N32 requires a 940 Socket, so for us the 4400+ is a no go.
Now I've ordered a 4800+ which ebuyer.co.uk says has 940 Socket and I also confirmed in at Anandtech.com.
Let me know if you have any concerns regarding compatibility.
Thanx.
 
The odd mulitplier issue doesn't effect socket 939 X2 processors?
Right?

The only memory issue is the 6 rank of the memory controller, when you populate 4x512MB of DDR, it will underclock it to 333 Mhz for stability. Hence it's recommended to buy 2x1GB DDR.
I got bit by this issue, when I thought 2x512MB was enough, and BF2 caused me to buy another 2x512MB and find out. I wish I had just gone 2x1GB. I can overlock from 200Ghz to 240Ghz and get the RAM back to DDR400, but the system wont reboot.
 
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