Going to Retire This ol' Work Horse Soon (Phenom 2)

Ive been using this Phenom 2 X4 955 @ 3.6 ghz for 4 years, its given me wonderful performance over the years for a great price in 2010. With me upgrading to my GTX 760 late last year some game's performance did improve some and others didnt hardly change from GTX 560. So im looking on buying an i5 4690k with a Gigabyte Z97 based board, still haven't decided on which model, Z97X SLI, GIGABYTE GA-Z97X-UD3H, or GIGABYTE GA-Z97X- Gaming 5 or 7 models.

I would love to buy another AMD CPU but their performance per clock is no better then my Phenom 2 and even then the games have to use 6 or 8 threads to see a real improvement over ones using 1-4 threads.

Can't go wrong with Gigabyte Gaming 5 or 7.

looking at the ASUS selections the onboard audio is lacking on many models

ASUS mobos worth getting are : Z97 Pro, Z97 Sabertooth Mark 1 & 2, Z97 Ranger, Z97 Maximus VII Hero.

yeah dont plan on spending that much on a motherboard

I remember playing Crysis 3 while using my old Phenom II x4 965 and the first time you get to the section with the field of grass dropped my frame rate to the low 20s and it was my CPU being bottlenecked for once.

I Picked up an i7 4770k for 260USD and a Noctua NH-D14 for 60USD last month.

Also picked up an Asus Maximus VI Hero for 118USD.

I mainly went for the i7 for video editing and compression and for that it makes quite the difference.

The intel cpus are a must for emulating certain games on the Dolphin like Xenoblade and The Last Story so there was another big difference I noticed going from a Phenom II x4 965 to an i7 4770k.

Although the Haswell CPU's runs super hot.....

When stressed out at 100% usage, my CPU at 4.0ghz and 1.2v gets up to the high 60s in Celsius while using the Noctua NH-D14.

And when it's a very hot day with no air conditioning I see the temps rise to the low 70s when it's at 100% usage.

On the bright side,"winter is coming" and I can save money with keeping the heater off because my computer does that job just fine.

@RyviusARC:

Well from what Ive read about the haswell refresh they have much better TIM for the heat spreader allows upto 15C difference. Also Im getting a a Hyper 212+ evo with two Corsair fans from a H100i cooler from a buddy for dirt cheap so I shouldnt have any issue getting the i5 beyond 4ghz

@04dcarraher: I went from my Phenom II x4 940 (OC to 3.6) that I used for 5 years to a i5-4670k (which I currently run at stock) and I saw a jaw-dropping jump in performance from my GTX 570s.

Metro 2033 settings:

• DX11
• Very High
• AA 4x
• AF 16x
• PhysX on
• no DOF
• 1680x1050
• GTX 570s in SLI, stock

Phenom II 940 @ 3.6GHz: Avg frame per second = 48.73

i5-4670k @ stock: Avg frame per second = 74.67

I had similar results on Just Cause 2 when I ran the benchmarks and compared them to my Phenom II.

Just Case 2 settings - Concrete Jungle:

• High
• AA 8x
• AF 16x
• 1680x1050
• GTX 570s in SLI, stock

Phenom II 940 @ 3.6GHs: Avg frame per second = 30.5

i5-4670k @ stock: Avg frame per second = 65.3

While all the games were certainly playable on my Phenom II, it just lacked the power to run two 570s in SLI. Once I saw the difference on these two games, I didn't bother to run the benchmarks on any other games. The results were clear. Also, even though I lack the VRAM for my 5760x1080, I can play some games with a fairly decent FPS....which is something the Phoenom II wouldn't have been able to allow me to do.

i got the 3.2 edition, for its price it does its job quite well.

Well I ordered the i5 4690k got it for $195 ! Then ordered The gigabyte Z97X Gaming 5 for $140

finally you will have a better pc than me carraher but not for long lol

Tomorrow...

Maxwell

O I see how it is! lol

Go with Z97X SLI - excellent MOBO with low price and got everything you'll ever need.

OP was your PC able to run Crysis on very high ?

I spent the little extra for the better lan controller and few more features

Which Crysis?

The original one

My Phenom 2 X4 with 8800GT's in SLI ran the game on very high on 1680x1050 back in the day, just fine.

The real question (just like comparing smartphones) do you actually going to use those extra features? or will it be just a waste of money?

I spent the extra $17 for few more features, I saved $45 on the cpu I'll be just fine

@04dcarraher: Finally you upgraded. I got my 4770K for $270 but paid full price on Maximus VII Hero cuz I got it day one. It's a really nice mobo. You still running 760?

@insane_metalist:

yep still using the GTX 760

What temps do you get with your 4770k when using Prime95?

And what voltage is your CPU at?

On a hot summer day with no air conditioning I've seen my i7 4770k get to the low 70s when using prime95 on a Noctua NH-D14 and that was only with 1.23v and 4.0ghz OC.

@04dcarraher: Finally you upgraded. I got my 4770K for $270 but paid full price on Maximus VII Hero cuz I got it day one. It's a really nice mobo. You still running 760?

Prime95 when it's hot (keep in mind my X2 R9 290's are an absolute heater) - 76C - 78C.
Voltage @ 4.2GHz 1.26 (could probably get it a little lower but too lazy to mess with it right now) - cooling with Corsair H105 Push/Pull but the extra two fans only drop 2C - 3C but every little bit helps.

I wish delidding the CPU didn't void the warranty.

I heard people who delidded their Haswell CPUs and applied good paste which netted them a 10-15C reduction in temps.

@04dcarraher: Finally you upgraded. I got my 4770K for $270 but paid full price on Maximus VII Hero cuz I got it day one. It's a really nice mobo. You still running 760?

I don't care for the warranty on my CPU. Sooner or later ima do it. As of right now there's no need for that.

But you have to be careful when delidding as it's really easy to damage the CPU.....a lot of people have messed their's up.

Most use the clamp and razor trick.

I'm always careful with my hardware, I ain't worried about that. I have a 4670K laying around atm. So if anything, I'll use it temporarily.

Glad the new Devil's Canyon's have the better thermal material, and btw the items shipped should get the cpu on saturday, mobo have no idea lol

Looks like it will be time for overclocking for you.

Of course, no doubt was planning on it

Have fun, I couldn't get past 4.4GHz (stable) on my 4670K. But it looks like Devil's Canyon overclocks better.

From what Ive been reading 4.6 to 4.8 ghz is doable. But personally, I will be happier then a pig in mud even with stock i5 vs my Phenom. But with the overclocking I'll will be content with 4.2-4.4ghz, if I can get 4.6 ghz or more with good temps without needing high voltages will be awesome.

4.3GHz - 4.4GHz is a nice OC. I'm not sure how your temps will be with CM 212 but I think, you'll be alright since Devil's Canyon runs cooler then Haswell.

cpu will get here tomorrow and mobo monday

I know exactly what you mean.

I was a bit cold last week when I woke up, and I literally booted up Guild Wars 2 on my laptop just for the heat. That shit exceeds 95 C before the fans kick in.

1st part came in today... :)

@04dcarraher said:

1st part came in today... :)

finally a good cpu :)

Believe it or not the Phenom 2 did a great job over the last four years.

Get a Mac!

lol how about no

Finally moving up in the cpu world I see. :P

You'll like the improvements you'll get with that cpu. Let us know what you think. I too came from a Phenom 2 (965). Loving this cpu.

yeah I should, it would be almost like getting a new gpu lol

Well its all together and running, had to reinstall a fresh copy of windows. Have not played around with the overclocking yet, its so much faster.

*edit* Is 42C good at 3.9 ghz with prime 95?

Better than my 69-71C prime95 at 4.0ghz reading on my i7 4770k....and that is with a Noctua NH-D14.

Although that was done when my room was in around 34-35C.

The newer Haswell CPUs ran a lot cooler......I am tempted to delid mine but I don't want to void the warranty.

I did notice when I disabled hyperthreading my Temps were usually around 58C instead.

Yeah pretty good. Wish I could get those temps. :P

Any advice to what to disable and setup for overclocking this thing.

Any advice to what to disable and setup for overclocking?

Overclocking on the "K" series CPUs is pretty straight forward unless you are trying to get the highest overclock with the least amount of volts.

I would look for guides that use your motherboard so it's easier to follow.

Different motherboard providers have different setups in their bios.