I decided to take my grad money to the local computer store! After getting suggestions from my fellow computer nerd friends I decided to, among other things, pick up this CPU(AMD Phenom II x4 965 Black Edition AM3 125w) NOT the 145w version.
Just Cause 2 was stable in high resolution settings when outputting to my 40" LCD HDTV in 1360x768. Crysis Warhead runs great on enthusiast(max details) with Anti-Aliasing turned OFF. I'm running the CPU overclocked at 3.85Ghz. Ran Prime95 for 4 hours and it never restarted or hiccuped. When I had it at 3.96 it was not happy and restarted a minute into the stress test. At [...] they got it stable at 3.86. You can go higher but you are taking risks even with a better cooler. I have a Cooler Master hyper 212 Plus.
It runs about 53 degrees at stress. My motherboard (Asus M4A79xtd EVO unlocked all 4 cores)
The CPU seems to handle everything I can throw at it. Video Encoding speeds are decent. A two hour DVD movie ripping to h.264 in 720p will take about 25 to 30 minutes. Sherlock Holmes is a 25gb Blu-Ray disc and it ripped that in roughly 4 hours Full HD movie files are hot. And the file was only 4gb.
My friend has an i7 and I am sure he can encode Blu-Ray faster but at what cost? His i7 core still runs for around $600 and I got this CPU for less than $200!!!
Coolermaster HAF922
Coolermaster hyper 212 plus
Asus m4a79xtd evo am3
A-Data Gaming 4gb (2x2gb)
700w ocz stealthxstream
AMD Phenom II x4 965 Black Edition(3.4Ghz overclocked to 3.85)
Gigabyte Radeon HD5770
Barracuda 2tb + 2tb external Phenom II X4 965 Black AM3 3.4Ghz 512KB 45NM 125W 4000MHZ
Here are the actual specs for anyone interested:
Model / Processor Frequency: AMD Phenom II Processor Model X4 965 (3.4GHz)
L1 Cache Sizes: 64K of L1 instruction and 64K of L1 data cache per core (512KB total L1 per processor)
L2 Cache Sizes: 512KB of L2 data cache per core (2MB total L2 per X4 processor)
L3 Cache Size (shared): 6MB
Total Cache (L2+L3): 8MB
Memory Controller Type: Integrated 128-bit wide memory controller, capable of being configured for dual 64-bit channels for simultaneous read/writes
Memory Controller Frequency: Up to 2.0GHz with Dual Dynamic Power Management
Types of Memory: Unreg. DIMMs up to PC2 8500 (DDR2-1066MHz) and PC3 1333 (DDR3-1333MHz)
HyperTransport 3.0: One 16-bit/16-bit link @ up to 4000MHz full duplex
Total Processor Bandwidth: Up to 37.3 GB/s bandwidth (Up to 21.3GB/s memory bandwidth)
Packaging: Socket AM3 938-pin organic micro pin grid array (micro-PGA) (backward compatible with Socket AM2)
Fab location: GLOBALFOUNDARIES Fab 1 module 1 Dresden, Germany
Process Technology: 45nm (.045-micron) DSL Silicon on Insulator (SOI)
Approximate Transistor count: approx. ~758 million (65nm)
Approximate Die Size: 258 mm2 (45nm)
Nominal Voltage: .0825-1.5 Volts
Max Ambient Case Temp: 65 degress Celsius
Max TDP: 140 Watts
Source: AMD
This baby is so fast that Crysis is begging for Mercy in term of frame rate on 60 FPS on 720p and fast PC Performance and Power Saving , and Silent Fan Sound i give it more than 5 if i can.
Thanks and regards Sulaiman from Kuwait
This cpu is a beast, it runs cooler than my previous Athlon XP 5200+ and it can run everything i throw at it, it's fast, powerful and the price is great for what you're getting. I use my computer mainly for gaming, and the 965 improved my framerates a lot (i have one MSI Radeon 5770 Hawk at Stock clocks), and 4GB of DDR2 pc6400 sticks of memory, there isn't a game that i cannot run at max setting with my actual 19" monitor at 1280x1024 res.
Go ahead and buy this outstanding heart to your machine, you'll not regret about it.
I had doubts about this processor living up to its reputation, and I guess I was used to spending more on Intel products over the past few years to expect the same quality from this processor even though several of my other builds ran great on AMD's. I was wrong. The 965 lives on an ASUS M489GTD Pro/USB3 board with 8 gigs of corsair 1600 mhz memory. On initial start up, the processorclocked 3.67 ghz and seemed to to loaf. I gave it some break in time, and tonight clocked to 3.75 ghz with no problem. The most amazing thing to me is the stability of the system (I had read a review that said the 965 was "unstable") and the fact that working temps are under 100 degrees on the Farenheit scale!! I have read of these chips clocking over 4 ghz, but I am happy where I'm at. The balance of my system is an ATI 5770 graphics card, 8 gigs of Corsair 1600mhz memory, a Hitachi 1 Terabyte HDD in an Antec 300 case. I am amazed. Too, Amazon delivered my board and processor within 36 hours of placing a midnight order. Impressive all around!!!
I have recently completed my first system build. This CPU was my choice for my system due to price differences between Intel and AMD. The top of the line Intel processor is at aleast three times more expensive than this AMD processor. I use Adobe Photoshop for photo editing and have found that this processor does all that I expected it to do. I have 8GB of RAM which helps with the editing program. My previous computer had many problems with Photoshop, which I do not experience with this system. I reccomend this CPU mainly for for cost concerns and also it does a great job with my photo editing chores.
I have always loved the innovation and value AMD has shown since it first released their Athlon processor. Since that time they have lead in innovation ahead and more soundly than its' competitors.
I chose to return again to AMD and compared what it does with its' competitors abilities, application and value (cost to performance) and AMD still comes out on top!
This processor is no exception. The core runs fast and the heatsynch is great without the need to going third party. I have not needed to consider overclocking this processor as it works well with the system motherboard AMD 890 chipset that it is seemless in working. - Quad Core - Am3 - Cpu - Amd'
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