need help choosing cpu

[Ma-Xell]

Hi!
I'm building a new PC and I don't know which cpu is better.

AMD Phenom X3 8650 - 2.3Ghz 3 cores

or the newer

AMD Athlon II X2 250 - 3Ghz 2 cores, less cache

They are about in the same price range.
I'm planning to do some gaming.
:thanks:

http://products.amd.com/en-us/DesktopCPUSideBySide.aspx?id=424&id=562

[LoRd_MuldeR]

What do you want to do with that PC?

If your priority is video encoding -and- you are using a multi-threaded encoder that scales well (e.g. x264), then go with the three core CPU!

However for most other tasks three cores won't be beneficial, as most applications simply aren't multi-threaded or don't need that much processing power to begin with.

So for most tasks a "faster" two core machines will give you more performance than a "slower" three core machine. Video encoding is one exception...

[prOnorama]

For gaming the faster clocked dual core is still a better choice for most games

If you plan to encode a lot, I'd get a quad core. Also if you plan to use your PC for a couple of years going quad core could be a better option (since more and more apps get multi-threaded)

I'm very happy with my Phenom X 955 @ 3.2 Ghz, it's fast for encoding and gaming and if I want to save energy (like if I only browse the net) it clocks back to just 4 x 800 Mhz.

The new AMD Athlon II X2 550 is not a bad choice at all, you could always upgrade to a quad core if you'd need more power.

[ghostonline]

you should choose between Phenom II x3 710/720 and Athlon II x2 550.

if you must choose between that 8650 and 250, i would pick 250 for most non-cpu intensive gaming.

[Ma-Xell]

I don't plan to encode much and I know that Phenom II is much better but that is out of my price range :( .
I'm trying to build this pc as cheap as possible and the 250 and the 8650 are in the
same price range. I plan gaming only occasionally and only at 1280×1024 with a 4770.
And btw this pc is mainly for my bro who is 13 so he won't need very powerful machine.
The 8650 seemed like a better option because of the extra core so its more futureproof,
I think 2.3ghz isn't that low (~midrange) but im not so sure which one to choose.

[LoRd_MuldeR]

In that case - video encoding is not a priority - I'd go with the faster dual core. It will give better performance in most applications, including games.

If your brother is 13, he certainly will use the machine for games, I guess ;)

The additional core is pretty much useless, unless you are running applications that are explicitly optimized for multi-threading with more than two cores. And these are still rare!

Video/Image processing and scientific calculations are the kind of tasks that really benefit from many cores...

[helms]

Get a phenom 2 550, if you are lucky you can unlock it and basically have a phenom 2 955 for the price of the 550.

Cheap yet decent motherboard for single video card = MA770-US3 or MA770-UD3. DDR3 route = MA770T-UD3P. Make sure its revision 2 though, only rev2 allows you to unlock any extra cores.