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Hardware AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition CPU

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Sifter3000, 2 Jul 2009.

  1. Sifter3000

    Sifter3000 I used to be somebody

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  2. Hustler

    Hustler Minimodder

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    Lol.....my new build Pc components have just arrived this morning, which is based around this 550 CPU...

    AMD Phenom II X2 Dual Core 550 3.10GHz Black Edition

    Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 4850 1GB GDDR3

    Gigabyte GA-M720-US3 (Socket AM2+) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard

    OCZ ModXStream Pro 500w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Modular Power Supply

    Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache

    OCZ Gold Edition 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 Dual Channel

    Coolermaster Elite 335 Case - Black

    Pioneer DVR-217FBK 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer LabelFlash ReWriter

    Akasa AK-876 CPU Cooler

    Akasa AK-455 Thermal Compound

    All in it came to £403......

    All the bits are just sitting there on my desk, looking at me,and as this is my first ever build, im a bit nervous about starting to build it...

    With a (hopefully) stable overclock to 3.5ghz, i dont think you can really do better for a budget gaming machine in the £400 price range....

    I looked at going the Intel route, but i just like the look of these new dual cores from AMD.
     
  3. Burnout21

    Burnout21 Mmmm biscuits

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    Dare i say AMD has been doing rather well, with its recession friendly CPU's, alot of bang for the money, this is classic AMD all the way back to the legend of the 2500XP+ and XP-M both of which i loved.

    There DDR2 days sucked, i dont know what was going on with them its as if funding in R&D was lacking and simple making the K8 use DDR2 was hardly a fix.

    Well done AMD, maybe they'll do a classic marketing scheme like they did with the opty 144 and 165, put extremely good cores in the cheap ones, selling buckets of them and win in the long run. I can see alot of X2 550 suddenly becoming very unlockable and a sort over purchase! ATI 4770 anyone?
     
  4. Gremlin

    Gremlin What's a Dremel?

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    I've had the 550 since 2 days after it come out and i was blown away by just how well it performs and just how high it can overclock (Ive had it running game but not prime stable at 4.1) its also a very bloody cool running chip even when overclocked if your cooler is half decent

    Glad to see bit agrees and give it the recommended award!
     
  5. trig

    trig god's little mistake

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    anyone getting better overclocks? i was a little disappointed after what the 250 achieved. based on this review looks like the 250 is the better bang for the buck by a good margin.

    edit:
    and the price you guys have is off. the link is to newegg, and they have it at $114.99.
     
    Last edited: 2 Jul 2009
  6. Gremlin

    Gremlin What's a Dremel?

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  7. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

    The price has changed overnight :(
     
  8. Aracos

    Aracos What's a Dremel?

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    God dammit! Every time I think I'll give intel a go you guys always slap me in the face with these Phenom II reviews >.< Guess I'm staying with AMD forever lol

    On a more serious note: When is issue 72 of CPC out? I fancy reading the MSI review.
     
  9. Sifter3000

    Sifter3000 I used to be somebody

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    Thursday, 23rd July 2009.
     
  10. Aracos

    Aracos What's a Dremel?

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    Thanks, I just opened my eyes and checked the magazine discussion forum when you replied DOH!
     
  11. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

    Mr.Editor over there is literally just editing the labs content this afternoon. (with a biiiiig cup of caffeine LOL :D) /pokes Alex
     
  12. Dave_M

    Dave_M What's a Dremel?

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    Would still have liked to see overclocked power consumption. It is a black edition after all ;)

    Would just be interesting to see how much it goes up by.
     
  13. trig

    trig god's little mistake

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    yeah, i get that dude...what i am saying is it is not an impressive oc considering the 250 got 3.9, and again, the performance increase doesnt warrant the 25-30% price difference..

    those bastages!

    edit:
    on a side note, i checked that link...would love to see the performance of the 550 with 2 cores unlocked at 4.1 ghz...

    does the 250 have the ability to unlock cores?
     
    Last edited: 2 Jul 2009
  14. docodine

    docodine killed a guy once

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    It has the potential to unlock cores, but don't count on it happening every time, and only with certain mobos.

    I recommended this chip to a couple people in build advice threads, and it definitely used to be under $100 on Newegg... Tiger Direct has it for $109, not much better. Hopefully the price will go back down?

    Also, you guys definitely need to snag a decent AM3 cooler. :p
     
  15. dmv915

    dmv915 What's a Dremel?

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    Actually the 250 doesn't have the ability to unlock cores since it is a true dual core. Only the phenom IIs have the ability to do that since they are all based off of a four core chip.
     
  16. trig

    trig god's little mistake

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    if thats the case, then i change my tune...i'll spend the extra dough, and happily...
     
  17. KayDat

    KayDat What's a Dremel?

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    Yep, that's what I thought as well. I just recently (couple of weeks) built a system based on the 550 as well. I'm surprised the review didn't actually attempt the quad core unlock. I suppose it would make the article more future proof, after all as time goes on, the probability of getting a chip that can unlock to quad lessens, but still. I found that when unlocked, the chip runs perfectly stable. Haven't gotten around to overclocking while on quad, but priliminary investigation shows that it doesn't overclock quite as well as when in dual core; surpise surprise. But I guess you can switch back and forth if you really wanted to =P
     
  18. an4rew

    an4rew System Builder

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    I was thinking of getting one, good work from AMD but i went for the X3 720 because the third core is better for my use.

    Overclocked it gives the E8400 a run for the money.
     
  19. Krayzie_B.o.n.e.

    Krayzie_B.o.n.e. What's a Dremel?

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    I just bought a Phenom II X2 550 B.E. as an upgrade from an AMD 7750 B.E. and I have to say that this is my last AMD. I'm not impressed with this chip at all. Especially seeing how the Athlon X2 250 is just as fast! My chip didn't even unlock so there isn't any WOW factor to me even having this paper weight. So just save your $99 and put it towards a Core I7 which completely blows a Phenom II X4 955 BE completly off a wafer. I OC it to 3.98 ghz stable but I don't know it just doesnt seem that much better.
     
  20. Elton

    Elton Officially a Whisky Nerd

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    I've always wondered why people want the i7 when there's a perfectly good Q9550..
     
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