Best AM3 CPU for gaming?

I'm looking to buy a new processor next month (if any good ones for under £100), my 5850 graphics card is enough for what I want to play at the moment but there have been a few games in which my processor has been a bottleneck (I assume so, otherwise I can't explain why). GTA IV, Crysis also regularly goes into 25 and below fps, Planetside 2, a few others also don't run as well as they should.

Anyway... my mobo is AM3 socket, and someone told me AM3+ doesn't work on it, so I need to know what is the best AM3 CPU?

Also what things should I look out for? Cache, L1/L2?

Some of you guys know a lot about this so recommendations are welcome.

My current CPU:

Sorry to bump, glitchspot buried this (no new threads were showing up).

best am3 cpu's are the phenom II x6 1100t and tghen one down is the 1090t and phenom II x4 980. if any of the above are not available the phenom II x4 900 series is probably the best u will get.

alternatively you could get an am3+ motherboard and a cpu for noticeably more money but less than what it would be to go intel

Damn, every thing seems to be sold out. But I can find sh*tty processors easy. I'm in UK BTW, so quite limited.SaltyMeatballs

http://www.misco.co.uk/product/162643/AMD-Phenom-II-X4-965-Black-Edition-Processor-Socket-AM3

heres the am3+ option

http://www.misco.co.uk/Cat/8076/Processors-CPUs?Socket__STRING=Socket+AM3%5bPLUS%5d&Sort=PriceAsc#Sorting

http://www.scan.co.uk/shop/computer-hardware/all/cpus-amd/amd-fx-series-multi-core-socket-am3plus

best am3 cpu's are the phenom II x6 1100t and tghen one down is the 1090t and phenom II x4 980. if any of the above are not available the phenom II x4 900 series is probably the best u will get.

alternatively you could get an am3+ motherboard and a cpu for noticeably more money but less than what it would be to go intel

ionusX

GTA IV and Planetside 2 are two games where per core performance is quite important. Sooo... If running those games well is important to you, you may want to consider the other team.C_Rule

I wouldn't bother keeping the board to only upgrade to something which only provides a small difference. Get a new Mobo and CPU instead of regretting this in a year's time

Not worth the 'upgrade' to be honest. You'd be spending £80 to still have an out of date CPU.

And this is coming from a phenom II owner. It's a good CPU for the money, but not a big increase over what you already have.

So basically I can't be lazy and have to get new mobo, reconnect everything up, possibly a new PSU for future CPU and GPU?SaltyMeatballs

So basically I can't be lazy and have to get new mobo, reconnect everything up, possibly a new PSU for future CPU and GPU?SaltyMeatballs