Phenom II X3 720 vs i7-14700K - Ashes of the Singularity GT 1030 - Game Performance Benchmarks

Phenom II X3 720 core unlock on A780GM-LESo I got this old pc that I want to update with CPU. Motherboard is ASRock A780GM-LE and some guy is willing to sell me AMD Phenom II X3 720 really cheap. So first thing I checked that CPU is compatable with motherboard which is... But the main thing I want this CPU cuz its possbile to unlock 4th core but im not sure is my motherboard capable to do so, so if you guys can help me with that...

Yes, it is compatible with that board as long as the board has the P1.20 BIOS or later.But looking through the MB manual for the board, I don't see any core unlock options. So I would doubt it.http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/A780GM-LE/?cat=Manual

AMD Phenom II X3 720 Overclocking?Hello there, I was wondering if I can overclock my AMD Phenom ii X3 720 with a cooler that is 3000RPM but with a unknown Power Supply Wattage I have.Questions asked by myself:What voltage should I go? [Current Stock Voltage 1.320V]How do I know how many Wattage I have? [Can't open case without removing whole entire desk and printers with a whole lot of speakers, Bass and Rumble Sound Sticks and others.I'm new to overclocking CPUs so go easy on me and ask me polite questions. Thank You

Having had that processor before, I know you can overclock it a bit mate. Have you investigated unlocking that into a 4 core 9xx series? Those phenom chips can often have a core unlocked, depending on the make and such. I would recommend that avenue, over overclocking it, you won't be able to gain any considerable improvement. If you are intent on overclocking the phenom, that particular variation... Eh, doesn't take OC recovery too well. Very small increases in voltage mate, otherwise you will fry it, they aren't as forgiving at other processors, especially since it isn't a BE/Black edition. You squeezed an extra 200mhz out of mine with a minimal increase in voltage. You may be luckier then I, but don't expect too much out of it.If you need any help with core unlocking, or OCing it, ask away

Phenom II X3 720I assembled my current system almost five years ago now. I never really had intention of upgrading it much, thinking it would last me quite awhile (it has) and then I'd put together a new system.Just recently I got curious if there is anything modest I could actually do at this point to get a little more gaming performance before my next system sometime down the line.CPU: AMD Phenom II X3 720GPU: Radeon HD 4890 1GBMotherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA770-UD3 (rev 1.0)RAM: 4GB DDR2 (not sure of speed)Monitor: BenQ 24 in. native 1920x1200In my quick research, a couple GPUs caught my eye: GTX 660 Ti 2GB and the new GTX 750 Ti 2GB. Overall, I would want to spend more than maybe 200 bucks to put into this system at this stage.The 660 Ti looks the more powerful of the two, and like a similar type of card to my current one in power consumption and noise, while the 750 Ti is very appealing at its price point and because it's so quiet (the 4890 gets really noisy sometimes by my standards).I expect however that my CPU may not keep up well with either of these. Is there a way to tell without actual testing if that would be the case, or how bad the loss would be?Glancing at CPUs, the AM2+/AM3 socket mobo I have doesn't give a lot of worthwhile options. Phenom II X4s and X6s don't look cheap or easy to come by and they wouldn't be worth the cost probably compared to gains from a new system.If my CPU would hamper either of these cards, that leaves me to perhaps overclock. I recall reading ages ago the X3 can possibly have an unlockable 4th core (which I don't think I can with my mobo) and good overclocking.Would it be feasible to overclock enough to remove any CPU bottleneck given one of these new cards? To do so without a lot of investment in additional cooling?

If you get one of those GPUs, or really one any more powerful than what you have, you will have a large bottleneck from both your RAM and CPU, you really need to do a full upgrade for it to be worthwhile. For $200 you can practically build a PC similar to what you have, but for around $300 you can keep your harddrive and case, then get this: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2XcwP . That will be much better than what you have because you won't be getting a video card that is much powerful than the rest of your build.

AMD Phenom II X3 720 Socket?uhm, as the questions says...Is the AMD Phenom II X3 720's socket AM2+ or AM3, since on CPU-World, it shows both.i don't understand, so which socket is compatible with this CPU?

Socket-AM3 Phenom II parts will also work in Socket-AM2+ motherboards, the two are pin-compatible. When in an AM2+ board, these upcoming Phenom II processors will work in DDR2 mode, but when in an AM3 board they will work in DDR3 mode.Jan 8, 2009https://www.google.com/search?q=am2%2B+vs+am3&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8