FX-53 vs. New X2 Dual Cores

[Xab]

Right now I'm running an Athlon FX-53, socket 940 CPU. Performance is fine, but I really hate my motherboard. I would like to get a socket 939 board, and have PCI Express, and get away from Registered RAM.

My question is this, would the new X2 4200+ provide the same as or better performance as my FX-53?

I mostly play games and such, not much video/sound editing.

 

[theMan]

well, it would probably be about the same. and, you could do 2 things at once without killing performance.

 

[Xab]

I do multitask quite a bit, and as long as I get about the same performance in games, I'm happy.

 

[monster64]

If you oc it to 2.4 ghz from 2.2 ghz, you will get basically the exact same performance. The oced fsb will counter the lower 512k cache. And even if you don't oc, you will only loose 3-7% in performance due to lower clock speed.

 

[theMan]

it may be a bit slower in games, im not really sure. its 200mhz slower, but thats made up for with a better memory controller, motherboard, chipset, and new instructions and such.

 

[Unkno]

even if it's 200mhz slower, there's a chance it would be faster than the fx if your running a lot of heavy resource programs in your background during games

 

[Xab]

Well I'm not sure I run anything heavy resource, usually I just have iTunes, Trillian, Firefox going while I game.

Where I think it might be nice is when not gaming, I multitask quite a bit. So as long as for gaming the performance would be about equal, it should balance out. Not to mention faster 7800 video card, so I figure it will make up the slack.

 

[PKing1977]

My wife pushes me to encode her Dvds all the time. However, I does not bother my gaming any more Game performance is really good. I got everything turned up to max rez (for my LCD) and max goodies.. I think you will be very happy with a dual core chip

PKing

 

[Xab]

Bump since more opinions are always helpful.

 

[mOeeOm]

Originally posted by: PKing1977
My wife pushes me to encode her Dvds all the time. However, I does not bother my gaming any more Game performance is really good. I got everything turned up to max rez (for my LCD) and max goodies.. I think you will be very happy with a dual core chip

PKing

You're silly, the reason you can turn it up all high has nothing to do with your processor(well a lil bit), its because you have the al'mighty 7800GTX in your rig....don't suggest a dual-core for gaming when you have a 7800GTX in your comp.

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Yeah, the CPU doesn't matter nearly as much when it comes to gaming...

 

[imported_Kensai]

X2 = Brutal multi-tasking skills. They're still fairly good at gaming too. They overclock like mad.

 

[duckdown]

Originally posted by: Kensai
X2 = Brutal multi-tasking skills. They're still fairly good at gaming too. They overclock like mad.

Brutal at multitasking? I thought thats what they were good for

 

[imported_Kensai]

Originally posted by: duckdown

Originally posted by: Kensai
X2 = Brutal multi-tasking skills. They're still fairly good at gaming too. They overclock like mad.

Brutal at multitasking? I thought thats what they were good for

Brutal = Insanely good.
They'll game like an equivilent K8 Venice. Clockspeed wise. (Until we get multi threaded games)

 

[mOeeOm]

Originally posted by: Kensai

Originally posted by: duckdown

Originally posted by: Kensai
X2 = Brutal multi-tasking skills. They're still fairly good at gaming too. They overclock like mad.

Brutal at multitasking? I thought thats what they were good for

Brutal = Insanely good.
They'll game like an equivilent K8 Venice. Clockspeed wise. (Until we get multi threaded games)

At that point my e-penis will shrink right?

 

[imported_Kensai]

Originally posted by: mOeeOm

Originally posted by: Kensai

Originally posted by: duckdown

Originally posted by: Kensai
X2 = Brutal multi-tasking skills. They're still fairly good at gaming too. They overclock like mad.

Brutal at multitasking? I thought thats what they were good for

Brutal = Insanely good.
They'll game like an equivilent K8 Venice. Clockspeed wise. (Until we get multi threaded games)

At that point my e-penis will shrink right?

Overclock it to make your e-penis bigger.

 

[KaRRiLLioN]

I just switched from a PC with these specs:
FX-53
MSI Neo 2 Platinum 939
ATI X800 XT Platinum Edition
1GB 2x512mb Corsair
WD 75GB Raptor
Seasonic S12 600

(I'm selling this PC on the FS forum now)

to a

X2 4800+
DFI Lan Party SLI-DR
BFG 7800GTX OC
2GB 2x1024mb OCZ
WD 75GB Raptor
Seasonic S12 600

and in gaming with Operation Flashpoint and GTA San Andreas, I've not noticed much of a difference, although there are some issues with GTA on a dual core CPU. I have to set affinity to use only 1 CPU or everything goes 5x faster in the game, i.e. cars going at lightspeed. Kinda funny. Anyway, I've not tried too many brutal multi-tasking tests to see how it compares there. Normally I just some web browsing with email and some musak playing and it's been pretty comparable.

 

[Unkno]

best thing about X2: defrag, scan viruses, encode, and all your other stuff while gaming

 

[Xab]

I pretty much decided on the X2 4200. Anyone know how easy it is to overclock with the stock cooling? Or do I really need to invest in something else?

 

[fuzzynavel]

Sorry to be a party pooper but WHY???????

FX53 is still a pretty near top of the line chip.... why spend the money to get the same performance if you don't multi-task that much.....

In the end it is your money and if it makes you happy then so be it....

LOL rant over...(can you tell I'm skint at the moment!!)

 

[KoolDrew]

If you multitask get the X2.

 

[Arcanedeath]

the only reason to switch from a socket 940 fx-53 is if you want pci-e, but I think you'd be better off just geting a workstation board and keeping all your old parts and overclocking your fx53

 

[Polish3d]

I believe a dual core will perform at about equal or better at identical clockspeed to a single core in gaming.