The processor is good, and runs great, but be mindful of the watt requirements of the processor. Even if your motherboard documentation states the motherboard supports that processor model 955, there are 2 versions of it. The 125W and the 95W processor. My motherboard only supports the 95W processor, so this specific processor worked, but very slow. In the end, I traded it with a friend for a slower processor that runs at 95W.
That was my mistake (so no negative ratings), and if you plan to buy this processor, check your motherboard website for the watts supported by the motherboard.
Other than that, the processor runs great, and is very fast. At least it runs great on my friends computer, and he likes overclocking. He's really happy with 'my' purchase at least.
So the product is good, but be mindful of the watts required and do not make the same mistake as me. AMD CPU HDZ955FBGMBOX Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 3.2GHz AM3 125W Retail
I am impressed with this processor at this price/performance range. It scored 7.3 on the Windows 7 benchmark test on bootup of a fresh Ultimate Edition install (not overclocked). It's running at a cool 39 degrees celsius with the Zalman aftermarket cooler (my experience with AMD OEM cpu coolers is that they are loud and barely passable so I am leaving it unopened in the box). I highly recommend this processor with any of the equipment below which I would happily award 5 stars when paired with it:
Cooler Master HAF 932 High Air Flow ATX Full Tower Case Black - (RC-932-KKN1-GP)
Gigabyte Socket AM3/AMD 880G/Hybrid CrossFireX/SATA3&USB3.0/A&V&GbE/ATX Motherboard GA-880GA-UD3H
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ955FBGMBOX
Zalman CNPS9900LED Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler
Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 1 GB DDR5 2DVI/HDMI/DisplayPort PCI-Express Video Card 100283-3L
Corsair CMPSU-650HX 650w HX Series 80 Plus Bronze Certified Power Supply
Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL
I like AMD. This processor is the best I have had. Even though I've only built two systems, this processor was everything I wanted and more. I will say that when I first put it to use it seemed to do the same amount of work as my dual core, til I looked online and read how to unleash the beast. Now I convert whole movies in under ten minutes. Which took 30-40 under my dual core. Works through everything I want it to.
I got this CPU for a new budget gaming build. Its essentially this CPU, an ASUS Micro ATX AM3 board, 4GB DDR-1600 memory, and a 5770 GPU.
I am using RaidMax SMilodon case, stock cooler and Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste.
Under stock conditions the GPU ran at 35C idle, and 49-50C load.
I than OCed it to the setting I wanted, 3.6GHz, and my idle jumped to 43-44C and load was 56-58C, which was way to much for me.
I than dropped it to 3.4GHz and my temps went to 39-40C idle and 52-54C load.
I than decided to see if dropping the voltage below stock would keep it stable at 3.4. It did and now at 3.4Ghz and 1.3V it dropped 33-34 and 46-48C load.
So unless I want to break 50C, which I dont, I am limited to 3.4Ghz with stock cooler and a descently well ventilated case. I know I can get a better cooler, but this a budget build, but I was still hoping for a little more :(
I recently did a major overhaul to my PC; upgrading from an AMD Athlon 64 3800+ 2.4 GHz single core to this was a huge leap in performance. Doing so required me to upgrade my mainboard and RAM as well.
Now, with my current specs, right out of the box, CPU usage while playing Batman - Arkham Asylum at full specs and resolution uses around 30% of my CPU resources. ME2 @ about 45% CPU resources.
Enabling AMD's "Cool'n Quiet" feature helps with the noisy OEM fan, reducing the core clock speed from 3200 MHz all the way down to 800 MHz and helps keep CPU core temp down as well. While in Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit playing a movie in DTS at 1080p my core temp is about 35c. This quad core CPU is awesome.
Combined with expanded video, at least 4 GB of RAM and ample HDD space, you can have a pretty mean setup.
My overall rating? Awesome. Worth the $140.
CPUz reports the core voltage (stock) at 1.192 V, core speed at 799.9 MHz with a x4 multiplier. ( [...] )
Windows Experience Index reports the CPU at 7.3 (of 7.9).
Here's my system in a whole:
CPU AMD Phenom II x4 3.2 GHz 955 AM3 125w CPU
MSI 870-G45 ATX system board
4 GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1333 (667 MHz) RAM
2.5 TB HDD (2 x 1 TB SATA, 2 x 250 GB IDE))
nVidia GeForce 9800 GT (eVGA) 512 GB GDDR3 (GPUc @ 600 MHz, Mem @ 900 MHz, Shader @ 1500 MHz)
BFG Tech 650 ATX PSU
Good performance. I already had a 940 processor so it wasn't any great step up in performance but I just upgraded the processor since I was giving this computer to a family member. Make sure you purchase a separate CPU cooler because this sucker is loud -- its louder than the stock cooler I had on my 940. Also the pins were bent in the upper right corner. I must have spent a couple hours trying to figure out if this processor was compatible with my motherboard until finally doing what I didn't want to do and bending the pins straight. I thought about sending it back but didn't want the hassle.
To sum it up: Make sure you buy a third party CPU cooler. And AMD packaging needs to do a better job of protecting the pins during shipping.
This is an excellent processor for gaming and multimedia programs. Haven't run 3ds or any other graphic rendering program but I'm fairly certain that it will surpass the needs on most programs and games. As a gamer on a budget, i chose this processor because of the overclocking capability and price. Little did i know that it does run quite hot, and could lead to future problems with the cpu and cooling of the computer. Pick up a third party cooler and your set. Very easy to overclock and an overall very good value. Currently overclocked to 3.82Ghz, the air flowing out of my computer is room temperature at the hottest. Given I only play WoW and Starcraft 2, these arent very demanding games, the processor doesnt really get taxed too hard.
Case: CoolerMaster Storm Scout
PSU: MC 800 watt
Processor: 955 Black Ed. 3.2Ghz Currently OC'd to 3.82Ghz
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 4GB 1333Mhz
CPU Cooler: CoolerMaster HyperTX3
Video: XFX Radeon 5770
MB: Gigabyte 880'
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