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(More customer reviews)It's pretty clear by now that Intel's desktop processors are at the top of the benchmark list and, accordingly, are the most expensive. That doesn't mean, however, that the value-oriented "build-it-yourselfers" among us are without appealing processor options for our builds. AMD is providing builders with some great performance at an attractive price through its Phenom II X4 quad-core lineup, and the 945 model is no exception. Because I was on a budget when I set out to undertake my PC build, I was aiming for a sub-$1,000 machine that, while not even remotely close to being the most maxed-out system in existence, would be powerful enough to handle my gaming needs. The reason I chose the 945 was because of its excellent performance-to-cost ratio, and its 95-watt power draw. I wanted a cool-running machine that was quiet and would not cost a fortune in electric bills. Here are my components:
AMD Phenom II X4 945 3.0 Ghz 95W
Gigabyte GA-880GA-UD3H AM3 motherboard
NZXT HALE90 550W 80 Plus Gold power supply
Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)
Sapphire 100287VGAL Radeon HD 5670 512MB 128-bit DDR5 PCI express
HT Omega Striker 7.1 Channel PCI sound card
Corsair Nova CSSD-V32GB2-BRKT 2.5" 32GB SATA II internal solid state drive
Samsung Spinpoint 500 GB SATA II hard drive HD502HJ
Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro 92mm Ceramic CPU Cooler
Cooler Master Elite 310 ATX mid tower case
LG GH22LS5022X SATA LightScribe DVD+/-RW
AZiO AWD154a 802.11g 54Mbps Wireless PCI Adapter
I think the total cost of this build was roughly a shade over $900. Pretty darn good, in my book. (If I got rid of the solid state drive, which I use to speed up booting up and to run a game on for fast loading times, the cost would be around $815). This rig handles all my tasks flawlessly, and the 945 processor just flies along, whistling while it works. I have not overclocked this thing because there simply is no need for me to do so; the power it provides is more than ample. I do recommend replacing the stock heatsink and fan with something more robust. Although the reviews of the 945 I found online indicated that it ran fine with the included heatsink/fan, I opted to replace it, just to be safe. Running Windows 7 Pro Edition, 64-bit, the 945 gets a 7.3 on the Windows Experience Index. Every builder has his/her own budget to work with and unique purpose for the build, but I feel that the 945 is the best desktop processor out there for under $140. Folks who want great performance without breaking the bank should definitely consider it.
The last point I will make is that by purchasing a quad-core chip (as opposed to a dual core), you will be "future-proofing" your build to a certain extent, as it is likely that more software in the future will be written to fully take advantage of four core processors. At the current moment, most commonly used applications and games are programmed to take advantage of two cores, at most. Some more intensive specialty applications, such as video editing or rendering software, currently utilize four cores. Future games will likely utilize all four cores, as well. Another tangible benefit of a quad-core processor, at the present time, is that the user can run a ton of different applications at once, without any system slowdown. So, you can have twenty web browser windows open, rip a CD, play a game, etc., simultaneously, without any noticeable performance degradation.
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AMD Phenom II X4 945
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